NGC5566 (ARP286)

A trio galaxy in Virgo : NGC5560, 5566 and 5569 all at a distance of 65 million ly away from Earth. The trio is also known as ARP286

Setting : Nikon D7500 with TAL200K f/8.5. ISO400, exposure time 60x60s with darks, flats, darkflats and bias. Stacking using APP and final editing with CS4.

Mercury is fading away

Mercury is almost invisible and fading away. Venus is getting brighter and moving higher in the sky.

NGC4274 with new setting

NGC4274 is located in Coma Berenices and is about 45 million ly away from Earth. Galaxy NGC4274 was photographed using new settings :
- Low ISO 400 instead of using higher ones I typically use (1600, 3200)

- Total Exposure time 1hour; previous I choose between 30-45minutes

- Exposure time of each picture 60s

- Use of Bias, Darks, Flats and Darkflats 

Instrumentation : Nikon D7500 and TAL200K f/8.5; stacking was done using APP and limited editing with CS4.

Circumzenithal Arc

Yesterday beside a small halo around the Sun I could also observe a circumzenithal arc.

My picture of Mars with M35 published in the latest edition of Heelal

My picture of Mars and open starcluster M35 is published in the latest edition of Heelal magazine (Jaargang 66, nummer 6, juni 2021, p22).

Venus and Mercury low above horizon

Yesterday, but also the next couple of days, Mercury will get closer and closer towards Venus (relativ). Below picture was taken yesterday evening with Mercury very faint north above Venus.

Upcoming MAI-75 SSTV event on June 9 and 10

On June 9 and June 10, Moscow Aviation Institute MAI-75 will be operating SSTV for a few ISS passes that overfly Moscow.

For more information see this link and my first experience MAI-75 early december 2020

New release v3.1.1 of Topaz DeNoise AI

I installed the latest version 3.1.1 of Topaz DeNoise AI. This update is available since this week and should be better and faster. To evaluate the update I used one of my astropictures from Comet Neowise... and let you decide yourself.

Satellites observing our Sun

A graphic overview of satellites observing our sun with the objective the understand how our sun works and the interaction with Earth.

Picture on Facebook

My picture from thursday evening of the Moon with planet Mercury was posted on facebook Sterrenkunde Forum VVS. The picture can be seen using this link on facebook.

Currently more then 100 people did like my picture.. my previous record was 75 likes with my picture of Saturn last year. It's always nice to see that others like my pictures :)

Moon Mercury and Venus after sunset

Yesterday evening, after sunset, both the Moon (3.5% illuminated), Mercury and Venus could be observed. At the moment of the picture, Venus was only 5° above the horizon.

 

Picture of the Week : my photo from Mercury and Pleiades

My picture from Mercury with the Pleiades on May 2nd, 2021 was selected as the Picture of the Week. This was published in AstroLab Hemeljournaal of May 10th.

See the link to the Journal fro AstroLab Iris

Venus and Mercury in evening twilight

Yesterday evening, during evening twilight, I could observe Venus only 3° above the north-western horizon. North of Venus, planet Mercury is visible.

Half an hour later Mercury could be seen with the naked eye.

 

Bright Halo

From this morning onwards the Sun is accompagnied by a Halo. A bright and 360' one could be observed around midday.

Mercury and Pleiades

This evening, low above the north-western horizon, Mercury and Pleiades.

One week to go : ATT Essen 2021 Digital

The famous ATT (Astronomy and Technology Meeting) in Essen is a trade show especially for amateur astronomers and one of the largest event of its kind in Europe. This year the event will go digital with different speakers and more then 30 exibiters. All this will go live on May 8, 2021 from AM10h.

See facebook link
See website link

Comet Neowise C/2020 F3 reworked with APP betaversion 1.083 beta1

My pictures from last year of the bright comet Neowise C/2020 F3 are reworked using AstroPixelProcessor (APP) beta version 1.083 beta 1. With this version the option comet can be used under chapter 4 "register". There is also a way to clean the picture from startrails under chapter 6 "integrate" by choosing filter "MAD rejection" (and integrate mode avg or median) with kappa low (8) and high (2).  Last year I used DeepSkyStacker to stack the pictures. 

My picture of Mars published in magazine Heelal

My picture of Mars near Open Starcluster NGC1746 is published in last edition of magazine Heelal (volume 66, number 5, May 2021). Nice recognition :)