Galaxy M77

Galaxy Messier M77 is located in constellation Cetus at a distance of 47 million light years away from Earth.

Details : picture was taken with Nikon D7500 and TLAPO80/480 f/6. Total exposure of 9 minutes, each picture 30s exposure and ISO6400. Raw pictures converted to DNG and stacking using DeepSkyStacker. Tiff32 bit files edited in CS4 and saved as 8bit Jpg. The picture was also uploaded in Astrometry resulting in finding more galaxies : NGC 1055, 1087 and 1090.

Western Veil Nebula NGC6960

A couple of days ago I photographed the Eastern Veil Nebula, last night I made a picture of the Western Veil Nebula, NGC6960. The nebula is located in constellation Cygnus.

Details : picture was taken with Nikon D7500 and TLAPO80/480 f/6. Total exposure of 26 minutes, each picture 30s exposure and ISO6400. Raw pictures converted to DNG and stacking using DeepSkyStacker. Tiff32 bit files edited in CS4 and saved as 8bit Jpg.

North America Nebula

Part of the North America Nebula NGC7000 in constellation Cygnus.

Details : picture was taken with Nikon D7500 and TLAPO80/480 f/6. Total exposure of 23 minutes, each picture 30s exposure and ISO6400. Raw pictures converted to DNG and stacking using DeepSkyStacker. Tiff32 bit files edited in CS4 and saved as 8bit Jpg.

Andromeda Galaxy M31, M32, M110

With a clear sky, no city lights after midnight and no time constrainst I was able to make to photograph the Andromeda Galaxy Messier M31. On the picture is also M32 and M110. The result is amazing and personnaly I'm very proud I'm able to make these kind of pictures myself.

Details : picture was taken with Nikon D7500 and TLAPO80/480 f/6. Total exposure of 40 minutes, each picture 30s exposure and ISO6400. Raw pictures converted to DNG and stacking using DeepSkyStacker. Tiff32 bit files edited in CS4 and saved as 8bit Jpg.  

August 31 Observation

Clear sky and perfect to observe and making pictures :
- Andromeda Galaxy M31
- Galaxy M77
- Planets Uranus and Neptune
- Western Veil Nebula NGC6960
- North America Nebula NGC7000

Also a couple of Perseid (2) and one Aquarid meteors observed. Picture will be posted later.

Crescent Moon

The Moon is low above the eastern horizon and only 7% illuminated.

Globular Cluster M55

Globular Cluster M55 is located in constellation Sagittarius and about 17500 light years away from Earth.
This one picture was made low above the southern horizon with Nikon D7500 and TAL200K f/8.5 and setting ISO800 during 30s exposure. Editing in CS4.

Globular Cluster NGC6342

Globular Cluster NGC6342 is located in constellation Ophiuchus and about 28.000 light years away from earth.
Picture is taken with Nikon D7500 and TAL200K f/8.5. Total exposure 6,5 min, each picture with settig ISO800 and 30s exposure time. Raw data converted to DNG and stacked using DeepSkyStakker. Final editing in CS4.

Moon this morning with earthshine

This morning the moon was low above the eastern horizon and 15% illuminated and with a bright earthshine.

NGC 6992 Eastern Veil Nebula

NGC 6992 is a supernova remnant located in the constellation Cygnus. The star exploded about 8000 years ago at a distance of 1470 light years from Earth.
The picture was taken from another location then my backyard with Nikon D7500 and TLAPO 80/480 f/6. Setting : 30min exposure with each picture 30s and ISO3200. Raw data converted to DNG and stacked using DeepSkyStakker. Final editing with CS4.

Extreem color balancing in CS4

Dark Matter & Dark Energy

Send by iPhone 6 iOS 11.2.5




Little reading and understanding about the topics dark energy and dark matter.

Star Vega

The bright star Vega in Lyra with Bahtinov mask.

Globular Cluster M80

Low above my southern horizon I could observe the globular Cluster M80. It's  located in the constellation scorpius and about 32000 light years away from Earth.
As the picture was taken low above the horizon and having the impact of city lights the picture is not fantastic. Picture was taken with Nikon D7500 and TAL200K f/8.5. Settings are ISO800 and 30s with a total of 4,5 minutes exposure. The raw format was converted to DNG format and stacking using DeepSkyStakker. Final editing and cropping in CS4.

Omega Nebula M17

The Omega Nebula or Swan Nebula (Messier M17) is located in the constellation Sagittarius and about 5000 light years away from Earth.
The picture is taken with Nikon D7500 and TAL200K f/8.5. Total exposure of 15 minutes : each picture exposure time 30s and ISO1600. Raw pictures converted to DNG and stacked using DeepSkyStakker. Final editing in CS4. The line below is the track of an airplane.

Lagoon Nebula M8

The Lagoon Nebula, Messier M8 is an interstellar cloud in the constellation Sagittarius and about 4100 light years away from Earth.
The picture was taken with Nikon D7500 and TAL200K f/8.5, with settings : ISO3200 and exposure of 19 minutes (each picture 30s). Stacking using DeepSkyStakker and final editing using CS4. On the left, open star cluster NGC6530.

Dumbbell Nebula M27

Messier M27 or Dumbbell Nebula is a planetary nebula in the constellation vulpecula. It's located at a distance of about 1227 lightyears from Earth.
The picture was taken with Nikon D7500 on TAL200K with ISO6400 and 40 minutes exposure. Raw files converted to DNG and stacked using DeepSkyStakker. Final editing with CS4.

Apollo 11 - movie reviews

50 years ago, on 20 July 1969 (UT20h17), the Eagle module from Apollo 11 landed at Tranquility Base. Hours later, at UT02h56, Neil Armstrong made history by becoming the first man to walk on the Moon.

Recently I watched two movies going back in time. The first one is "First Man". The movie is a bioptic of Neil Amstrong and follows the years leading up to the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon. The movie gives insight on the life of Neil Armstrong, his family and other astronauts.

The other movie is "Apollo 11" and a documentary film. It tells the story of the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, the first spaceflight from which men walked on the Moon. The film consists solely of archival footage, including 70 mm film previously unreleased to the public, and does not feature narration, interviews or modern recreations. The Saturn V rocket, Apollo crew consisting of Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins, and Apollo program Earth-based support staff are prominently featured in the film.

What a picture, but the movie gave even a shot taken from this ring - WOW

I saw Apollo 11 at the IMAX theatre in Brussels with two Helios friends. Personally this is my favorite and really amazing as the images and the sound gave a feeling being part of the launch and mission. Some part of the film I never saw before or I did not even knew. So a must-see-movie.

Dozens of rows with engineers sitting in form theis "desks", mosthly double seated - I Never saw this before!

Thunderstorms and Lightning : Live coverage website

Current Thunderstorms and lightning : see this website for live coverage blitzortung.com

d Lightning : see

Center of Milky Way Sgr A* very active

Galactic Center at the sky

The area of our Galactic center with the supermassive black hole, Sgr A*, showed an increase by a factor 75 in the near-infrared over a 2h period. Observations were done with VLT & Keck telescopes. It's not clear what the root cause is and more observations are needed, but this is the first time ever such increase is seen. 

Source : see this link.

Double Rainbow with Alexander's band

Bright double rainbow this evening. The dark area between the two rainbows is clearly visible and known as Alexander's band.

Saturn

Again a clear sky but seeing is moderate; later, at midnight, seeing is very bad. Picture taken with TAL200K, ASI224MC, Barlow x2 and ADC. Exposure time was 3 minutes. Stacking with AutoStakkert and final editing in CS4.

Backyard StarTrail

Backyard Startrail with Nikon D7500 and Tamron lens 10-24mm f/3.5. Setting f/3.5 10mm, exposuere 322x30s and ISO1250. Startrail with Startrails v2.3.

Planetary Nebula NGC7094

The very faint planetary nebula NGC7094 is located in Pegasus. Total exposure time was 17,5 minutes with Nikon D7500 and TAL200K f/8.5. Pictures are converted to DNG and stacking using DeepSkyStacker. Final editing with CS4.

Globular Cluster Messier M15

Globular Cluster Messier M15 in constellation Pegasus is estimated 12billion years old and located at a distance of about 33.000 light years from Earth.
The picture is the result of stacking 15 pictures each 30s exposure, ISO6400 with TAL200K f/8.5 and Nikon D7500. Raw photo's are converted into DNG format and stacking is done using DeepSkyStacker and final editing in CS4.

Jupiter with GRS

Clear sky but very poor seeing. The Great Red Spot (GRS) was central around 22h. I used my TAL200K, ASI224MC with barlow x2 and ADC. Sharpcap was used as capture tool and pictures are stacked using AutoStackert. Final editing in CS4.

Yearbook Royal Observatory Of Belgium

The Royal Observatory of Belgium publishes annualy a Yearbook. This is a must have for all amateur astronomers. The yearbook provides all kind of astronomical information mostly specific for Belgium. All recent editions are avaible in PDF format. See this link for the yearbooks.

My NLC picture in magazine Heelal

My pictures of  the NLC outbreak during the night of June 21 is published in the magazine "Heelal - Jaargang 64, number 8, August 2019.

Jupiter Moon Antares Conjuction

After sunset both the Moon, Jupiter and the bright star Antares (alpha scorpii) could be observed low above the southern horizon.

Perseid Meteors

Milky Way with Tumbling Satellite

A clear sky this morning and no moon. So a good beginning for observing Perseid Meteors. During a period of 15 minutes I could observe 3 bright meteors and a couple of satellites of which two tumbling ones. Unfortunately the meteors did not did not showed up on my pictures.

Milky Way

July Weather Summary with temperature record

July 2019 was not the hottest month but July recorded the hottest temperature since the start of the keeping records in Belgium (and by myself :) )
On July 25th, a temperature of 44°C was recorded. Be aware the equipment is located in direct sunlight; so official temperature will be lower as registrated by KMI in Uckle (39.7°C).
I counted 5 raindays with rainfall comparable as previous year.

Halo with Sundogs

During cycling in Bangkok I was able to make above picture of a halo with on both sides very bright sundogs. Picture was taken using iPhone 6.

Very Bright Halo

On July 17, somewhere in the National Park of Kanchanaburi (Thailand), I could make this picture of a very bright Halo. It's one of the most brightest ones I ever could observe.