Horsehead and Flame Nebula reworked using Starnet++

I followed a lecture on postprocessing of deepsky images by Astronomy club Altair (Sint-Truiden). The learning I took away was to remove the stars and edit both the nebula and star image seperate. Once completed combine both images again.

I used starnet++ to remove the stars and editing was done using CS4 and DeNoise AI. The result is better as my stars aren't that big any more compared with the nebula.

Sol'Ex and Doppler Image of the Sun

Finaly some sun! It was only in the morning and with high clouds. I could record a couple scan using my Sol'Ex pro. Setting is not yet 100% due to my new camera. In order to get this back to 100% I need more "sun" time.

The image taken was during an outburst C2.9 in AR3928 with huge prominences. 

Setting: Sol'Ex Pro with TLAPO60/360 and Herschel Wedge

Camera  ASI678MM 

Software: SharpCap 4, Inti, JSolex

I managed to get the X/Y as the tilt close to 1.

Lecture Prof. Frank Verstraete and Céline Broeckaert

Selfie with Prof Frank Verstraete and writer Céline Broeckaert

Together with Helios members Walter and Henk, I attented a lecture by Prof Frank Verstraete and writer Céline Broeckaert. The title of the lecture was the same one as the title of their book "Waarom niemand kwantum begrijpt en iedereen er toch iets over moet weten" (Why No One Understands Quantum and Yet Everyone Needs to Know Something About It). 

The lecture gives an overview of quantum physics by talking about Planck, Einstein, Heisenberg, Schrodinger, de Broglie, Feynman, ... and for me a new name Emmy Noether (see link to wikipedia)

Beside the famous names following concepts were talked: 

• wave-particle duality
• superposition
• quantum entanglement
• quantum uncertainty
• quantum interference
• qauntum spin
• quantum computing
• and sysmmetry

As a conclusion, a very well presented lecture with a brief historical overview and good real life examples of quantum physics. After the lecture, by a drink, we kept on discussing, even with the professor.

Bibliography

Frank Verstraete (51) studied civil engineering at KU Leuven and later physics at Ghent University. After a PhD in Leuven, he moved to the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Munich and Caltech in California. In 2006, he became a professor at the University of Vienna. He built up his own research group at Ghent University. Since 2022, he has been the Leigh Trapnell Chair of Quantum Physics at the University of Cambridge. Verstraete gained fame with the development of a language that allows many-particle problems in quantum physics to be described. For this work, he received the Francqui Prize in 2018, also known as the Belgian Nobel Prize. Céline Broeckaert (43) studied theatre directing at the Ritcs and language and literature at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and in Bologna. She taught Dutch to non-native speakers and worked for many years at Theater Antigone and Muziektheater LOD. Since 2015 she has been an impact producer for documentaries. 

Sun in H-alpha, H-beta and CaIIK

Setting of images in H-Alpha, H-Beta (with some smal flares), CaIIK

TS TLAPO60/360, Sol'Ex Pro, ASI678MM on EQ6

Herschel Wedge

SSD Disk

Software: SharpCap, Inti, JSolex, CS4

Sun in H-Beta

The Sun imaged in H-beta using my Sol'Ex and new ASI678MM camera.

Jupiter - One week before Opposition

First time this year that I captured Jupiter. Temperature was 1°C and declining.

Setting:

TAL 200K @ f/23 with Barlowx2, ADC and IR/UV cut

ASI224MC camera

Software : SharpCap, AstroSurface and CS4

Sol'Ex with new ASI678MM

My last observation of the Sun dated from September 21. Today I had a day off and luckely with some good weather and a lot of sun. Unfortunatenly some high clouds made it unpossible to image the sun in the afternoon. 

Sunshine on this Black Friday November 29, 2024

To image the Sun I used my classic set up with TS TLAPO60/360 with Sol'Ex Pro and my new ASI678MM camera. This camera has 2micron pixels, much smaller then my 2,9 micron pixel 290MM camera. Both telescope and Sol'Ex are mounted on my EQ8R.

Imaging was done in H-alpha and H-beta and all H-alpha data was also send to Bass2000 as part of the Solap (ProAM) program . 

My Image of Sol'Ex H-alpha on main Bass2000 portal

Setting:

- TS TLAPO60/360 with Sol'Ex Pro and ASI678MM

- Herschel Wedge

- Software SharpCap, Inti and CS4

- Pro-AM FileZila Client

Reworking 2017 Eclipse pictures using Larson-Sekanina

After attending the The Dark Day (DDD see https://pascalhilkensastropage.blogspot.com/2024/11/dr-sebastian-voltmer.html) I searched my 2017 Solar Eclipse images.

I found two sets: 1/15s and 1/50s. Each set was stacked and then treated with special Larson-Sekanina filter (low radius, low rotation) in Fitswork 4. The stacked image and the LS filter image are substracted; The results of the two sets are then stacked and edited. The final image shows the low and high corona.

Dr Sebastian Voltmer

Selfie with Dr Sebastian Voltmer

During the DDD (De Duistere Dag - The Dark Day) on Saterday November 16, 2024 a lecture was given by Dr. Sebastian Voltmer. Voltmer is beside a movie director, composer also an astrophotograph.

During his lecture he showed many images including eclipse pictures from Mexico (April 8, 2024). 

Some links : 

• Youtube Spacemovie : https://www.youtube.com/@spacemovie
• Wikipedia : https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_Voltmer
• Flickr : https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacemovie/
• Webpage : https://voltmer.de/

Some tips he gave:

• use of bracketing
• use two camera's for eclipse photography; one 135mm, the other 700mm in order to image the entire corona
• sort eclipse images by exposure time, stack and edit the result using Larsen-Sekanina filter Fitswork
• Finaly stack all edited images to one image; this image can be edited aswell

Below some images from Sebastian : eclips 2017 and Mercury with sodium tail.

New Weatherstation Levenhuk PRO LP500

I replaced my Oregon WMR200 and BAR928 with a new weatherstation Levenhuk Pro LP500. Both Oregon stations are >10 years old and the sensors did not work anymore. My preference for Levenhuk Pro LP500 was based on following criteria:

• Measuring in/outdoor temperature, humidity, rain, winddirection, windspeed and pressure
• Data capturing of all data in order to do analysis
• Samrtphone connection 

The Pro LP500 forfills all criteria and has following extra's:

• moon phases
• sunrise, sunset and sunpath
• UV index
• Solar radiation (Lux/W/m2)
• automatic time
• link to Ecowitt and WUnderground and thus linked to smartphone
• datacapturing via microSD or direct PC connection
• weather forecast

Using PWS Monitor app, you can find my weatherstation with ID = ISCHER75

First HDR image using bracketing - Moon Halo with Mars

To capture a halo around the Moon I applied bracketing using my Nikon D7500. Postprocessing was done using all 5 "bracketing" images with CS4 (Menu Automatic, Merge to HDR). Once the image is made, some minor editing and noise reduction was done. The final image has some more details using this HDR technic.

Moon Halo with Mars

Freezing temperatures and a Moon with a 360° Halo and Mars. Image taken with Nikon D7500 and bracketing setting. 

Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas reworked APP

I reworked my images of Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas using APP v2.0.0 beta 29 with MAD setting.

Settings APP:

Integrate : Median

Filter MAD rejection

Kappa Low: 8

Kappa High: 2

Comet C/2023 A3 as seen by the STEREO-A SECCHI HI-1 coronagraph.

Comet C/2023 A3 as seen by the STEREO-A SECCHI HI-1 coronagraph. Striations can be seen in the dust tail, and interactions between the faint ion tail and the solar wind can be observed.
The solar Corona was subtracted out to show the solar wind more clearly. The contrast of the comet tail and the solar wind was enhanced with local histogram equalization.
The vertical lines above Venus on the left and the comet are saturation artefacts from the CCD sensor.

Credit: NASA / STEREO-A / SECCHI HI-1 / Simeon Schmauß
processed from the raw data: secchi.nrl.navy.mil/postflight/hi_1/L0/a/img/20241004/

Click on picture to start video

My input: these images show aswell how to interpret the antitail of the comet.

Heliophysics Big Year - Coffies

 

I followed an online solar lecture as part of Nasa's Heliophysics Big Year. When searching for more solar lectures I found following previous recorded lectures :

* The Sun touches everything - see this link
Dr Shea Hess-Webber, Stanford University

Prof. Amy Keesee, University of New Hampshire

Erick Powell, Boston University
This lecture is aswell part of Coffies Seminars (Consequences of Fields and Flows in the Interior and Exterior of the Sun

* Solar Cycle 25 by Dr. Lisa Upton, Southwest Research Institute - see this link

New astrobooks

I bought two second-hand astrobooks in "De Slegte" :

- Witte gaten (translated from Buchi bianchi) from Carlo Rovelli and

- Het tijdperk van onzekerheid (translated from Das Zeitalter der Unschärfe) from Tobias Hürter 

With those two books my library counts 65 astronomical books.

Compilation video of Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas

I made a video of my best images of Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS. Click on the picture below to start the video; video is best seen on your PC

Selfie with Dr Thierry Pauwels - Minor Planets

During the celebration of 50y Aquila I took the opportunity the make a selfie with the Belgian astronomer and >100 minor planet discoverer Dr. Thierry Pauwels.

Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan Atlas October 25

A combination of clear and cloudy skies. I did set up my Star Adventurer 2i with Nikon D7500 but Snap connection failed again. I really need to solve this .. maybe getting a complete new snap connector. 

Next to this I set up my EQAZ6 with TLAPO80/480 and ASI2600. Polar allignement was "excellent" and I used sharpcap to capture images. Increasing the exposure time resulted in an error. Switching over to N.I.N.A. wasn't successful either. Finally, I switched over to ASIStudio and found out that ASI2600 power was disconnected. I could fix this but in the meantime the Comet was about 5° above the horizon. 

Some images shot are posted below; I'm still seeing the a faint anti-tail, the huge dusttail but no plasmatail. I made some images using my OIII filter; no more details vissible. 

Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan Atlas October 22

Clouds dissapeared for a half hour, enough to take some images of comet C/2023 A3 TsushinShan Atlas. The comet still has a anti-tail but under a bigger angle.

Image were taken with Nikon D7500 on my Star Adventurer 2i mount. Total integration time was 340s (17x20s).

Stacking was done using APP and final editing with CS4 en DeNoise AI.

Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas stacked with APP 2.0.0. beta 29

I reworked my images of the Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan Atlas using the beta 29 version of APP 2.0.0.

 

My picture of Lunar Occultation of Saturn published in Heelal

My picture and article of the Lunar occultation of Saturn are published in the astronomical magazine Heelal.

This is the link to my article on my blog.

Comet A3 Tsuchinshan Atlas Stacked

Stacking of 23 images with APP. The anti-tail is becoming more visible after stacking.

Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan Atlas with anti tail

Yesterday evening I planned my trip after investigating the weather forecast using different models. Only two of the models forecasted the same weather : alaro and meteoblue. West of Brussels was the best chance of having a clear sky. This morning weather forecast changed but at noon conditions became better again. So I took my chance a drove to Denderleeuw were I met with my colleague Walter. After a drink and a small snack we drove south towards Nederhasselt, near Ninove. 

In an open field with a 270° view and no clouds this was our chance to see Comet C/2023 Tsuchinshan Atlas. Only at UT17h43 we could spot the comet using my camera. As from then, it went better and better and we were able to see the comet with the naked eye and a tail of 20°. Using the camera the anti tail was visible aswell. 

It was worth doing the trip and both were very satisfied!

Nightscape with Venus

Nightscape with Venus. The objective was to find the Comet A3 but without any result. Venus was bright a enough and with the trees in front a beautiful nightscape. 

 

Lecture Thomas Hertog - On the origin of time.

Together with Helios colleague Walter we went for the first time to Tabloo in Dessel; which is in the backyard of the Graspop Metal Festival area. This rather new visitor center is the visitor and meeting centre in dessel about radioactivity, radioactive waste management and research into nuclear applications. Thomas Hertog took us on a whirling space journey. In between the black holes and the cosmic holograms, he also tells about his special friendship with Stephen Hawking, with whom he worked on an innovative theory about the origin of the universe.

Selfie with Thomas Hertog

Selfie with Jean-Marie and Walter 

Helium D3 Line with Sol'Ex

Imaging the Sun in HeI D3 line with Sol'Ex Pro. Editing using JSolex and CS4.

Saturn Tilting Ring

The image shows how the rings of Saturn are closing. It also shows my imaging skills.