Cloud formation

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Beautiful cloud formation #averbode

Arecibo Message

On November 16th, 1974 the Arecibo telescope was used  to send a message in the direction of the Hercules constellation. More specific in the direction op Globular Star Cluser Messier M13.

M13 contains approximately 300.000 stars and is located at a distance of 25.000 light years from Earth.

The message is build around 1679 pulses of binary codes (zero and one's) and contains information about our numerical system, chemical elements, human beings, our planet, our solarsystem and the telescope itself.  It was sent by the Arecibo telescope using radio signals.

Photokina 2018

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Arrival at the annual imaging unlimited fair at Cologne.

Planet Neptune

Picture of Planet Neptune.

Planetary Nebula M27 and M57

Both planetary nebula M27 (Dumbbell Nebula) as the Ring Nebula (M57) are photographed using Nikon D7500 with TAL200K f/8.5. Darks are taken and raw pictures converted to DNG. Stacking with DeepSkyStacker and final editing using CS4.

Bubble Nebula NGC7635

Astropictures of the Bubble Nebula NGC7635 both with TLAPO80/480 f/6 as TAL200K f/8.5. The Bubble Nebula is located in the constellation Cassiopeia and located at a distance of 7500ly from Earth.

In both cases darks were taken, and raw files converted to DNG. DeepSkyStacker is used for stacking and CS4 for final editing.

Dumbbell Nebula M27

First usage of darks and the object I used to get an idea is the Dumbbell Nebula Messier M27. A total of 7 darks and M27 was 7 minutes exposed. The pictures were taken with Nikon D7500 on TAL200K. Stacking in DNGformat using  DeepSkyStacker and final editing in photoshop CS4.

Compare the pictures between TAL200K above and TLAOP80/480 f/6 below.

Moon 96% Illuminated

Clear sky with bright Moon 96% illuminated.

Double Rainbow and Alexander's Band

Alexander's band lies between thetwo rainbows and is darker then the surrounding area.

Double Rainbow

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Very Bright Double Rainbow above #aarschot and surrounding areas.

Messier M57 Ring Nebula

Picture was taken beginning of August with Nikon D7500 on TALAPO80/480 f/6 (Stacking 13 DNG pictures using DeepSkyStacker and final editing by CS4) . The insert was taken on June 17, 2017 with ASI224MC on TAL200K.
M57 aka The Ring Nebula was one of my first aha looking in my first scope, a reflector 11cm. At that time I never thought I could make such great pictures of it.

Ready for Photokina 2018?

This week the doors open in Cologne (Germany) of the world's leading fair for imaging: photokina.

Don't miss it. 

Halo, Upper Tangent Arc, Sundogs and Circumzenithal arc

Combination of 2 pictures with on top the bright circumzenithal arc and 46° halo
In the middle the upper tangent arc and left/right from the Sun are sundogs.

Last Sunday, Sept 16 UT16h00, different halo's could be observed around #Averbode, #Diest, #Wolfsdonk.
Beside the two sundogs, east and west from the sun, a very bright circumzenithal arc could be seen at the zenith. Between the Sun and the circumzenithal arc is the faint upper tangent arc. Both 22° and 46° halo showed up aswell.

Sundogs, 22° Halo and upper tangent arc

Autumnal Equinox : start of Autumn

At 3h54 local time (UT1h54) the Sun is exactly above the Equator and day and night are of equal length;  In the Northern Hemisphere the autumnal equinox marks the beginning of Autumn.

Lezing Ruimteweer

Binnen enkele minuten start de lezing over de gevaren van Ruimteweer. Deze gaat door in de volksterrenwacht Mira te Grimbergen. De lezing wordt verzorgd door Prof Stefaan Poedts van KU Leuven.

NGC Open and Globular Star Clusters

Astropictures of a couple of NGC Open and Globular Star Cluster.

NGC 6633 : Open Star Cluster - Italy Cluster
NGC 6517 : Globular Star Cluster
NGC 6709 : Open Star Cluster - Flying Unicorn
NGC 6760 : Globular Star Cluster
NGC 6535: Globular Star Cluster

All pictures taken with Nikon D7500 on refractor TLAPO80/480 f/6. Pictures in DNG and stacked using DeepSkyStacker with final editing in CS4.

Plane with Pleiades M45

Funny, plane crossing Pleiades M45.

21P Giacobini-Zinner

Comet 21P Giacobini-Zinner this morning UT02h13. Setting ISO1600, 30s, single shot.

Pleiades Messier M45

Restacking my 77 pictures using DeepSkyStacker to remove the planes :)

Comet 21P Giacobini-Zinner

The Comet 21P Giacobini-Zinner, this morning UT02h15 as seen in the constellation Gemini. It's current distance is about 60 million km from Earth.

Pleiades Messier M45

Astropicture of the Seven Sisters or the Pleiades (Messier M45) can be fount in the constellation Taurus. The open star cluster is located at a distance of 444 light years from Earth.

The picture is the result of a long exposure of 40 minutes. It's a combination of ISO800, ISO3200 and ISO6400 with exposure each time 30s. Pictures are converted to DNG and stacked using DeepSkyStacker; final editing using CS4 16bits and result below is Jpeg.
The green line is probably an airplane.

Open Star Clusters NGC1039, 1342, 7281 and 7261

Astropictures from Open Star Cluster

- NGC1039 or Messier M34; the Spiral Cluster - the picture also shows Galaxy NGC1053
- NGC1342
- NGC7281
- NGC7261

All pictures made using Nikon D7500 on TLAPO 80/480 f/6. DeepSkyStacker is used to stack the DNG files. Photoshop CS4 is finally used to edit the DeepSkystacked Tiff files.

Astropictures Cluster, Nebula and Galaxy

Some beautiful sky objects :

- Double Cluster NGC884 & NGC869 in Perseus

- Open cluster M52 with NGC7635 Bubble Nebula

- Little Dumbbell Nebula M76

- NGC457 Dragonfly Nebula

- NGC1023 Galaxy

- Iris Nebula NGC7023

All pictures taken with Nikon D7500 on TLAPO80/480 f/6. Stacking done unsing DeepSkyStacker and editing with CS4. File format DNG.

Open Star Clusters in Auriga and IC405 Flaming Star Nebula

It's still "summer" but the constellation Auriga rises above the horizon in the early morning. Some beautiful Open Star Clusters can be observed like M36, M37 and M38.
I took some pictures using Nikon D7500 with TLAPO80/480 f/6. Stacking was done with DeepSkyStacker and limited editing in CS4.

The Flaming Star Nebula IC405 is located 10° west from Messier M38

Some more detail of Comet 21P Giacobini-Zinner with Messier M35

A snapshot of Comet 21P Giacobini-Zinner with Open Star Cluster Messier M35.

Comet 21P Giacobini-Zinner and Messier M35 : astrophotography highlight

An astrophotography highlight this morning : Comet 21P Giacobini-Zinner together with Open Star Cluster Messier M35. The "Green Comet" was passing in front of M35, an open star cluster in the constellation Gemini. The picture below shows also star cluster NGC2158 en IC2157.
The picture was taken with Nikon D7500 on TLAPO80/480 f/6. Editing was done using CS4.

It's interesting to see how "fast" the Green Comet is moving against the stars. Below picture was taken this morning with a time difference of 1hour.

Alrediph Delta Cephei the prototype standard candle

Alrediph or Delta Cephei, is the prototype star of the class of  Cepheid variables and located in the constellatioin Cepheid. Its apparent visual magnitude at minimum is 4.34 and at maximum 3.51, changing in a regular cycle of about five days and nine hours. Its variations in brightness is imporatant becayse there’s a relationship between the length of each beat and the star’s brightness. Astronomers can use that relationship to measure the star’s distance. That makes them valuable tools or standard candles for helping to measure the scale of the universe.

Stock 7 and Stock 23

Two pictures of open starclusters Stock 7 (stacked) and Stock 23 (sigle shot).
Stock 7is located near the Heart Nebula and the Fishhead Nebula.
All pictures are taken using refractor TLAPO 80/480 f/6 with Nikon D7500. Stacking was done with DeepSkyStakker and editing with CS4.