The solar eclipse from Edmonton! Not as spectacular as a total eclipse but nonetheless interesting! We were thousands of km off the eclipse path so only caught about 34% of the eclipse. Interesting, however, is the graph below which shows the power output from our solar panels today! The eclipse is clearly visible as the dip that occurs betweem 11:30 and 1:30 pm.

Click on the image of the sun for a larger view of the eclipse.

Image Details: April 8, 2024

• Camera :ZWO 174mm
• • Stellavue 102RT @ 714mm fl
  • Best 400 frames from a stack of 4000
• Software: Autostakkert, Registax, Photoshop

 

Image on the Left: This is another view of the Milky Way core taken under slightly hazy conditions at Lake Tekapo, New Zealand. In this case the natural greenish air-glow present in the image shown on March 27 has been removed to yield a truer representation of the actual colours in the galaxy. Click on image for a much larger view.

Image Details: March 13, 2024

• Camera :Canon 6D
• • Samyang 24mm @f2, iso 1250
  • Panel of 3 exposures - 137 s (tracked with iOptron Skyguider Pro)
• Software: PixInsight, Photoshop, ICE

Image on the Right: The two cloudy patches in the image are the famed "Clouds of Magellan" - so named after the circumnavigating explorer Ferdinand Magellan's expedition in 1519-1522. The clouds are dwarf galaxies caught in the gravitational tug of the much larger Milky Way. Click on image for a larger view.

Image Details: March 7, 2024

• Camera :Canon 6D
• • Samyang 24mm @f2, iso 800
  • Panel of 2 exposures - 120 s (tracked with iOptron Skyguider Pro)
• Software: PixInsight, Photoshop, ICE

 

Another view of the Milky Way and Church of the Good Shepherd at Lake Tekapo, NZ early morning on March 13, 2024. A very thin layer of mist helped to "bloat" the brighter stars which accentuates their colour in the image Visible at the very top - slightly right of center - is the famed Southern Cross. The slight greenish cast on the horizon is natural airglow. Click on image for a larger view.

Image Details: March 13, 2024

• Camera :Canon 6D
• • Samyang 24mm @f2, iso 1250
  • 6 exposures (2 panels of 3) - 120 s (tracked with iOptron Skyguider Pro)
• Software: PixInsight, Photoshop, ICE

 

The southern hemisphere Milky Way and the iconic Church of the Good Shepherd in Lake Tekapo, New Zealand. This is an untracked panoramic image from 160 exposures (making a mosaic of 10 panels) - each exposure 14s using Canon 7D mii, Sigma Art 18-35mm @ 18mm, f2 and iso 6400. Image was taken early morning of March 14 while on a trip to New Zealand. Click on image for a larger version.

Image Details: March 14, 2024

• Camera :Canon 7D mii
• • Sigma Art 18-35mm lens @f2, iso 6400
  • 160 exposures - 14 s (untracked)
• Software: PixInsight, Photoshop, ICE

 

Part of our cosmic origins start in beautiful star forming regions like this one! This is the Great Nebula in Orion (M 42) which is visible under a dark sky to the unaided eye as a fuzzy patch in the sword of Orion. The image was taken through a series of coloured filters and with a wide variety of exposure lengths (from 10 s to 300 s) with a total of approximately 4 hours of data being collected. Many different processing techniques were used to preserve both the faint nebulosity in the outer regions of the nebula while also keeping the bright inner core from saturating. The image was taken using a Stellarvue 102 mm refractor and the ZWO ASI 1600 camera. Click on the image for a full-screen view.

Not the Geminids that I was hoping for! This shot was taken where I had planned on photographing the Geminid Meteor Shower. The image was taken on a cold and very windy Tuesday - December 12 night which was about a day and a half before the expected peak of the meteor shower. Already cloud is obscuring the area and the next two nights were completely overcast. Despite this a rather pleasant shot of Orion peeking over the roof of the old Vermilion Valley School of Holden, Alberta. Thanks to Dave Maruszeczka  - Curator Holden Museum in identiying the school!

Image Details: December 12, 2023

• Camera :Canon6D
• • Samyang 14mm f2.8, iso 1000
  • 120 s exposure
• Software: PixInsight, Photoshop

 

 

Colourful aurora on the evening of Dec 1, 2023. A series of coronal mass ejections earlier in the week spawned some very colourful aurora. Unfortunately sky conditions were not optimal - nonetheless a lovely display. Click on mage for larger view.

 

Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks imaged on the evening of November 24, 2023. The image is a sum of 50 images, each of 60 s exposure taken at TKUO #2 using the 250mm f8-RC and ZWO 294mc camera. This small comet (discovered in 1812) orbits the sun with a period of 71 years. Although normally peaceful as it passes earth on this passage the comet underwent a significant outburst of icy material as it approaches the sun. This caused a dramatic brightening (still much too faint to be seen with the naked eye) and ejected a large halo of icy vapours. Pons-Brooks will reached closest approach to the sun on June 2, 2024 so will continue to brighten over the next few months. Click on mage for larger view.

Image Details - November 24, 2023

• Telescope: Ritchey-Chretien 150mm f/8 @ 2000 mm fl
• ZWO-ASI 294mc
• Paramount MX - Observatory #2
• OSC
• Pixinsight 1.8 processing

 

Stars over the Elizabeth-Parker Hut. Image on the left was taken just after sunset on September 21 with the Milky Way setting over the hut. Six hours later - as the level of snoring in the hut drove me outside, Orion was rising over a very frosty hut! Each image is a mosaic made from many non-tracked shots 12s in duration. Click on each image for full screen view.

Image Details: September 21, 2023

• Camera :Canon7D mii
• • Sigma Art lens - 18mm - 35mm, f2, iso3200
  • 6 panels (15 exposures x 12 s)
  • un-tracked
• Software: ICE, Raw Therapee, Pixinsight, Photoshop

 

An unexpected fall treat! A bright aurora developed early in the evening of October 4 and developed into a colourful arc and ray combination. Click on image for full view.

Image Details: October 4, 2023

• Camera :Canon6D
• • Samyang 24mm, f2.8, iso1600; 4s
• Software: Photoshop

 

No - this is not a moonscape! This is Red Rock Coulee - a unique natural area south of Medicine Hat, Alberta that contains numerous large boulders many of which are perfectly spherical! The amazing skies of south-eastern Alberta are among the darkest in Canada and provide a wonderful view of the Milky Way. Unfortunately on the night this shot was taken (August 14) the winds were very strong which compromised the image somewhat. The image is a panorama made from 9 sets of images stitched together.

Image Details: August 14, 2023

• Camera :Canon6D
• • Samyang 14mm, f4, iso 800
  • 9 panels (3 exposures x 120 s)
  • Ioptron StarGuider
• Software: ICE, Raw Therapee, Pixinsight, Photoshop

 

Part of the Milky Way as seen from The Tolman Bridge Campground - east of Trochu, Alberta on the evening of August 13, 2023. This a panorama of 17 panels (each consisting of 3 exposures of 2 minutes) taken using a 50 mm lens. At this focal length considerable detail begins to emerge in the Milky Way revealing numerous dust lanes, nebulae, star clusters and lots of stars! Click on image for larger view.

Image Details: August 14, 2023

• Camera :Canon6D
• • Pentax 50mm, f4, iso 800
  • 17 panels (3 exposures x 120 s)
  • Ioptron StarGuider
• Software: ICE, Raw Therapee, Pixinsight, Photoshop

 

A remarkable sight! Bright aurora from a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) several days earlier in a lightning storm! With the sound of thunder all around the northern lights danced overhead - glorious! Bright display started just before midnight August 4, 2023. Click on each image for a larger view.

Image Details: August 4, 2023

• Camera :Canon6D
• • Samyang 14mm, f2.8
  • 4s exposures, iso 1600
• Software: Photoshop

 

A different look at the Sun using the TKUO Spectroheliograph. In this image (and the two below) the sun was viewed in two different wavelengths on either side of the central wavelength of light produced by Hydrogen Alpha. The blue regions represent gases moving toward you at about 15 km/s while the bright orange regions are gases descending into the sun at 15 km/s. This is an example of the Doppler Effect (same principal that traffic cops use to reduce your net worth!)

Interesting dynamics around a major sunspot group. Also, note the small prominence midway on the solar limb.

A minor solar storm sparked a brief but lovely aurora just after midnight on July 25/26. This is a panorama of 4 frames (1s @ f1.8, iso 3200) taken in rapid succession. Click on image for full view.

Image Details: July 26, 2023

• Camera :Canon 7Dmii
• • Sigma 18 @ f1.8
  • 1s exposures, iso 3200
• Software: Photoshop

 

The historic grain elevators in Rowley, Alberta with the Milky Way core in the background. These iconic prairie landmarks are rapidly disappearing. Rowley is a tiny hamlet ("Ghost Town") located about 50 kms north of Drumheller. The bright glow on the horizon is due to light pollution from Drumheller and several small towns that was exacerbated by forest fire smoke lingering in the area. This image is a combination of still foreground shots and a mosaic of 6 different panels (3 x 2minutes) for the night sky. Click on the image for a larger version.

Image Details: July 24, 2023

• Camera :Canon 6D
• • Rokinon 24mm@ f2.8
  • Sky 120s exposures, iso 1600
  • tracked
• Software: PixInsight, Raw Therapee, Photoshop

 

 

Moonrise and Milkyway above the Red Deer River just south of East Coulee, Alberta. Image takenin the early morning of June 8. Click for larger view.

Image Details: June 8, 2023

• Camera :Canon 6D
• • Rokinon 14mm@ f2.8
  • Set of 10, 10s exposures, iso 6400
  • untracked
• Software: PixInsight, Raw Therapee, Photoshop

 

Sunspot AR3315 has been wreaking havoc over the past two weeks with numerous flares that have triggered radio blackouts in northern and southern latitudes around the globe. The above panel shows the sunspot group images in the light produced by Sodium atoms (left), Magnesium atoms (middle) and Hydrogen. The colours represent the colour of the respective parts of the spectrum for these 3 elements. The Hydrogen beta (blue) image is decidedly different - it originates higher in the solar atmosphere and gives a clear indication of the magnetic fields around sunspots. All three images were taken with the TKUO spectroheliograph (SHG V2). Click on the image for a larger view.

Note: The King's Observatory now has a separate web page for solar observations. It is a bit "nerdy" but shows full resolution views of scans taken at TKUO #3. To see this go to https://martin.kcvs.ca/astro/course/solarGallery.html

Image Details:May 28, 2023

• Telescope: SV100R and SHG V2 at TKUO Obs#3
• HEQ5 mount
• Camera: Neptune-M
• Software: SHG-Main, AS3!, Photoshop

 

 

Top image shows a triptych of the sun imaged in 3 different wavelgths: left and right images are light emitted by hydrogen gas while the centre is from light produced by sodium gas. The image on the bottom is the red (Hydrogen alpha) image before colour is applied. All of the images start out as monochrome and this is often a more useful way to view very fine detail on the solar surface. Click on either image for a full screen view.

Image Details:May 24, 2023

• Telescope: SV100R and SHG V2 at TKUO Obs#3
• HEQ5 mount
• Camera: Neptune-M
• Software: SHG-Main, AS3!, Photoshop

 

SHG V2 image of the Sun on May 21 under very smoky conditions. Click on image for larger view. TKUO #3 image.

First image with the newly completed and larger spectroheliograph SHG V2. The solar surface is imaged in Hydrogen alpha light and shows a significant improvement in resolution over previous images taken with the smaller SolEx at TKUO #3. Click on image for larger view.

The newly completed spectroheliograph SHGV2 installed in TKUO #3 on the Stellarvue 102RT refractor. The red cylinder in the center of the frame is the imaging camera used to scan the solar surface. The instrument is being further refined and tweaked. The body of SHG V2 was printed on a 3D printer!

A glorious spring day sun festooned with prominences and filaments!

Image Details: April 8, 2023

• Telescope: SV70 and SolEx SHG TKUO Obs#3
• HEQ5 mount
• Camera: Neptune-M
• Software: SHG-Main, AS3!, Photoshop

 

The Northern Lights dance over Ardrossan during a brief display on the evening of March 30. If it seems to you that we have been having more northern lights recently you are right! The Russell-McPherron effect has been known for about 5 decades and helps to explain why we get an increase in aurora at the times around the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. Click on image for a full-screen view.

Image Details : March 30, 2023

• Canon 6D , iso 1600
• 14 mm Rokinon@f2.8
• exposure 2s
• Fixed tripod
• Photoshop processing

 

The magnificent Whirlpool Galaxy or Messier 51 (or NGC 5154) in Canes Venatici is a "nearby" galaxy - a mere 31 million light years from Earth!. The galaxy is a textbook example of galactic interactions as it collides with the smaller galaxy NGC 5155 in the upper right. The faint spray of light around the smaller galaxy is actually composed of stars and dust from both galaxies. Image was a 7 hour exposure through L,R,G,B filters and taken at TKUO #1 with the C14 telescope. Click on image for a larger view.

Image Details - March 24, 27, 28, 2023

• Telescope: Celestron C14 @ 2030 mm fl
• ZWO-ASI 1600 mm
• Custom Mount - Observatory #1
• filters

  • L: 97 x 120 s
  • R: 52 x 120 s
  • G: 30 x 120 s
  • B: 30 x 120 s
• Pixinsight 1.8 processing

 

 

A very active Sun seen in H-alpha on March 27, 2023. Image taken with TKUO Observatory #3 SolEx - Spectroheliograph. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details: March 27, 2023

• Telescope: SV70 and SolEx SHG TKUO Obs#3
• HEQ5 mount
• Camera: Neptune-M
• Software: SHG-Main, AS3!, Photoshop

 

Galaxy Season is here! Early spring is the best time for peering out of our own galaxy and into the depths of the cosmos. The constellation Leo contains many galaxies. The three galaxies featured here are Messier 105, NGC 3384 and NGC 3384. The top two galaxies are approximately 40 million light years from us while the bottom (bluish spiral) is closer to 70 million light years away. Messier 105 is interesting - in its center lurks a super massive black hole (about 200 million times the mass of our Sun!).This is an 8.6 hour exposure through LRG & B filters. Click for larger view.

Image Details - March 19,21,22,24, 2023

• Telescope: Celestron C14 @ 2030 mm fl
• ZWO-ASI 1600 mm
• Custom Mount - Observatory #1
• filters

  • L: 74 x 120 s
  • R: 63 x 120 s
  • G: 60 x 120 s
  • B: 62 x 120 s
• Pixinsight 1.8 processing

 

The Sun in the wavelength emitted by Hydrogen gas (Hydrogen Alpha). This is a very high spectral resolution image that shows the chromosphere of the sun. Without a special instrument - such as the Spectroheliograph used here - the chromosphere is only visible during a total solar eclipse. There are 3 large sunspot groups visible and numerous dark "filaments" snaking across the solar surface. These are actually large arcs of hot plasma projecting in loops from the solar surface. When we see them at the solar edge they are called prominences but when seen face-on they are called filaments. This image was taken with the SolEx spectroheliograph at a spectral resolution of 0.12 A. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details: March 22, 2023

• Telescope: SV70 and SolEx SHG TKUO Obs#3
• HEQ5 mount
• Camera: Neptune-M
• Software: SHG-Main, AS3!, Photoshop

 

Aurora over Islet Lake. Back to back coronal mass ejections lead to several nights of intense auroral activity - this is a sample! The images were taken Monday evening and came near the end of the auroral storm. Click on images for a larger view.

mage Details: February 27, 2023

• Camera :Canon 6D
• • Rokinon 24 mm f2.8
  • 5 s @ iso1600
• Software: Photoshop

 

The start of a lovely week of Jupiter (upper left) and Venus conjunctions - this time with a very thin crescent moon. Keep looking in the south-west at sunset!

mage Details: February 21, 2023

• Camera :Canon 6D
• • Samyang 135 mm f2.8
  • 0.2 s @ iso 400
• Software: Photoshop

 

The Rosette Nebula (Caldwell 49) is a bright cloud of glowing Hydrogen, dust and a smattering of other elements located 5200 light years away in the constellation Monoceros. The nebula measures 65 light years across and in the center lies the recently formed star cluster NGC 2244. The bright bluish stars in the center are all massive (and rare) O-stars which tells us that this cluster is only about 5 million years old. Processing of the image used spectrophotometric data from the Gaia space telescope to provide accurate colours of the nebula and surrounding stars. The image is a re-working of data from a TKUO pic of the week in February 2018. Click on image for bigger view.

Image Details - January 22, February 3,5, 2018 - reprocessed February 20, 2023

• Telescope: StellarVue 102RT @ f/5.6
• ZWO-ASI 1600 mm
• Paramount MX
• filters

  • L: 18 x 300 s
  • R: 18 x 300 s
  • G: 18 x 300 s
  • B: 18 x 300 s
  • Halpha: 4 x 600 s
• Pixinsight 1.8 processing

 

Say goodbye to Comet C/2022 E3 - won't be back this way for another 50 000 years!

Image Details - February 8, 2023

• Telescope: StellarVue 102RT @ f/7 TKUO #2
• ZWO-ASI 294MC
• Paramount MX
• 60 x 60 s
• Pixinsight 1.8 processing

 

Another image from a September 2022 road trip through Utah and Arizona. This is the Owachoma Bridge in the Natural Bridges Monument, Utah. The image was taken on the evening of September 25 and is a combination of a still foreground shot and a series of tracked images of the sky.

Image Details: September 23, 2022

• Camera :Canon 6D
• • Samyang 14mm f2.8
  • stack of 5, 120s exposures, iso800 (stars)
  • iOptron Star Guider Pro
• Software: PixInsight, Raw Therapee, Photoshop

 

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) silently drifts in the northern sky! This relatively bright comet is visible to the naked eye (under very dark skies) and put on a fine showing through a small telescope. In this image the bright coma of the comet is surrounded by gases that are released as the comet warms in the inner solar system. The long tail going up the page is the ion-tail while the grayish mass above and left of the nucleus is the dust tail. The ion tail always points directly away from the sun and is caused by the interaction of charged particles from the sun (solar wind) pushing these ions away from the sun. The dust tail forms as dusty debris embedded in the comet is released as the nucleus heats. To the lower right a faint "anti-tail" is visible. An anti-tail in a comet is a type of tail that appears to point in the opposite direction of the comet's actual tail. It is caused by the perspective effect of the observer's point of view. When a comet is close to the Earth and its orbital plane is inclined at a large angle to the line of sight, the tail will appear to be pointing in the opposite direction of its actual direction of motion. This is because the tail is pointing away from the sun but the observer is viewing the tail from a different angle. This is known as an "anti-tail" and it is an optical illusion caused by the observer's point of view, rather than an actual physical feature of the comet.

This comet last graced our skies more than 50 000 years ago! Click on image for a larger view.

Image Details - January 24,2023

• Telescope: StellarVue 102RT @ f/7 TKUO #2
• ZWO-ASI 294MC
• Paramount MX
• 60 x 60 s
• Pixinsight 1.8 processing

 

Orion through light cloud. This image was taken on January 20 from Nordegg, Alberta in the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. The light cloud gives the stars a subtle "glow". Also visible in the image is Mars in the upper right and the Pleiades a bit below right. Click on image for a larger view.

• Camera :Canon 6D
• • Samyang 14mm f2.8
  • 5 x 16s exposures, iso6400 (untracked)
• Software: Pixinsight, Photoshop

 

The beautiful nebula in Orion (M 42) is a wonder through any size telescope! Under a very dark sky and a larger sized telescope the nebula glows green with touches of rose. This is a star forming region 1500 light years away in the Orion complex and can be seen with the unaided eye as a fuzzy patch in the sword of Orion. Click on the image for a larger view.

Image Details - January 4,2023

• Telescope: StellarVue 102RT @ f/7 TKUO #2
• ZWO-ASI 294MC
• Paramount MX
• 40 x 60 s
• 60 x 20 s
• Pixinsight 1.8 processing

 

Three images: Top - a warm welcoming home on a frosty winter night with Orion, The Pleiades and Mars hovering silently over head. Bottom two - a colourful aurora dancing in the eastern sky.

The Crab Nebula in Taurus is what remains from a star that exploded (i.e. a Supernova) nearly a thousand years ago ( 1054 AD in our time frame). The Crab is about 6500 light years away and the progenitor supernova was visible during the day and for many months in the night sky. The abiding mystery is that while it was fully studied by Chinese astronomers there is no known record of it in European writing. This image was taken at TKUO #1 using the Celestron 14. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details:December 14, 2022

 

The star Maia (20 Tau) in the Pleiades star cluster illuminates fine carbon grain dust giving the lovely blue reflection nebula that graces the Pleiades or Seven Sisters. The Pleiades is located about 440 light years away in the constellation Taurus and appears as a tiny dipper shape in the Fall and Winter sky. See the November 10, 2017 pic of the week below for a shot of the entire cluster. Click on image for a larger view.

Image Details:December 14, 2022

 

A rare occultation of Mars on the evening of December 7, 2022. Image was taken at TKUO#1 with the C14 @f11 and shows Mars emerging from behind the moon. Click to see a movie of this event (with sincere aplogies to Gustav Holst)!

Image Details: December 7, 2022

 

The central regions of our Milky Way galaxy as seen from Cape Royal - north face of the Grand Canyon. This is a very dark site with the glow of Winslow and Flagstaff, Arizona and the south face Grand Canyon village along the horizon. In the distance a thunderstorm was also active adding to the drama! Click on image for larger view.

Image Details: September 27, 2022

• Camera :Canon 6D
• • Samyang 14mm f2/8
  • stack of 14, 12s exposures, iso3200
• Software: PixInsight, Raw Therapee, Photoshop

 

September 23, 2022 image of the Milky Way core taken at Arches National Park, Utah. A Canon 6D and 35mm lens were used for this shot with an exposure of 360 s on the stars and 120 s on foreground at iso 800.

Image Details: September 23, 2022

• Camera :Canon 6D
• • Samyang 35mm f1.4
  • stack of 3, 120s exposures, iso800
  • iOptron Star Guider Pro
• Software: PixInsight, Raw Therapee, Photoshop

 

IC 2118 (aka the "Witch Head") is a reflection nebula located 900 light years away on the border between constellations Eridanus and Orion. The nebula, which is about 45 light years long, consists of gas and dust in our galaxy and is illuminated by the bright star Rigel - just seen in the upper right corner of the image. The Witch Head is an extremely faint object and requires very dark skies to image. Since it is low in the southern sky from Alberta I used the Telescope Live Network remote telescope located in Yass, New South Wales, Australia to acquire the data. Click on image to see a larger version.

Image Details: Heaven's Mirror Observatory - Yass NSW

 

A unique view of the Milky Way above Horse Shoe Bend in Paige, Arizona. The deep orange glow in the image was due to a wildfire near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and my destination the next day! The image was taken September 27 on a recent trip to photograph the night sky in Arizona and Utah. Click on image for a larger view.

Image Details: September 27, 2022

• Camera :Canon 6D
• • Samyang 16mm f2.8
  • stack of 15, 12s exposures, iso3200
• Software: PixInsight, Raw Therapee, Photoshop

 

Graceful filaments and prominences surround the sun. Solar prominences are large plumes of hot hydrogen gas projecting outward from the solar limb. Filaments are prominences seen directly over the solar disc and form dark sinuous strands on the face of the sun. "Filaproms" is the name given to large filaments at the solar edge that transition into prominences. A large filaprom is visible in the 11 o'clock position. Hover over the image to see the colours inverted. This makes the filaproms stand out more clearly and also gives a more 3-dimensional appearance to what is happening. This image was taken with the scanning Spectroheliograph at King's Observatory #3.

Image Details: October 17, 2022

 

The Milkyway from Monument Valley, Arizona. On a recent road trip through Utah and Arizona a number of night shots of the Milkyway were realized. This one is from the iconic Monument Valley showing the "Three Sisters". Click on image for ful-screen view.

Image Details: September 26, 2022

• Camera :Canon 6D
• • iOptron Skyguider Pro
  • Samyang 35mm f2.8
  • stack of 5, 2-minute exposures, iso1600
• Software: PixInsight, Raw Therapee, Photoshop

 

Our Sun imaged on October 9, 2022 in full spectrum light (left) and Hydrogen Alpha (right). Very large sunspot groups have thus far produced no significant flare or mass-ejection events. The image on the right shows a more dramatic view with numerous filaments and prominences. Click on either for a larger view.

Image Details: October 9, 2022

 

Asteroid 4 Vesta silently drifts by over a 2.5 hour span on September 14, 2022. Vesta is one of the largest objects in the Asteroid Belt at a diameter of about 600 km. It is not spherical - rather it looks like a big rock! Vesta was discovered in 1802 by the German astronomer Olbers and is named in honour of Vesta - the Greek goddess of home and hearth.

mage Details: September 14, 2022

 

Our active star imaged on Tuesday, September 13 at 11:30 MDT. Several large prominences as well as numerous filaments and plages are visible in the Hydrogen-alpha image produced with the spectroheliograph at King's Observatory #3. Click on image for larger view. This is a sum of 10 scans of the solar surface.

Image Details: September 13, 2022

• Telescope: SV70 and SolEx SHG TKUO Obs#3
• HEQ5 mount
• Camera: Neptune-M

  • Lunt Herschel Wedge
• Software: Ser_Recon, AS3!, Photoshop

 

Stephan's Quintet in the constellation Pegasus has long been a source of controversy. Five galaxies appear to be interacting with one another. While galactic interactions are common what is unusual here is the disparity of redshifts ( a proxy for distance) between the center "bluish" galaxy and the other four galaxies. Stephan's Quintet was one of the James Webb Telescopes first targets and it corroborates what the Hubble and other telescopes reveal - the bluish galaxy (NGC 7320) is much closer to us at 39 million light years than the remaining four galaxies - approximately 300 million light years away. In this image taken at TKUO #1 with the C14 very faint background galaxies (tiny fuzzy blobs!) can be seen at distances greater than 1 billion light years! Click on image for a larger view.

Image Details: August 29 - September 1, 2022

 

Our delicately patterned sun! This image was taken August 31 in TKUO#3 under excellent seeing conditions using the King's SpectroHelioGraph (SHG) at very high spectral resolution (R = 40 000) at a wavelength of 6562.8 Angstroms - light produced by hydrogen gas in the solar chromosphere. The numerous swirls, reminiscent of iron filings around a magnet help delineate the magnetic structure of our star! The image was constructed from a scan of approximately 3500 frames captured over a 17 s interval. The colour has been added to help distinguish features. Click on image for a larger view.

Image Details: August 31, 2022

• Telescope: SV102 and SolEx SHG
• HEQ5 mount
• Camera: Neptune-M

  • Hoya ND16 filter
• Software: Ser_Recon, Photoshop

 

A rather faint aurora at 11:30 pm over Islet Lake. What makes this "special" however is the very strong STEVE event that accompanied the aurora. STEVE is an acronym for Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement and is the result of hot gases from the solar wind flowing through Earth's ionosphere. This was a particularly strong STEVE and was for an hour or so brighter than the aurora. The aurora was only a few degrees above the NE horizon while STEVE bisected the sky overhead - hence the two phenomena were separated by hundreds of kilometers. Click on each image for a larger view.

Image Details: August 29, 2022

• Camera :Canon 6D
• • Samyang 14mm f2.8
  • 5 s exposure, iso 3200 for aurora
  • 15 s exposure, iso 3200 for STEVE
• Software: Raw Therapee, Photoshop

 

A gentle aurora over Islet Lake - late evening August 18.

Image Details: August 18, 2022

• Camera :Canon 6D
• • Samyang 14mm f2.8
  • 5 s exposure, iso 1600
• Software: Raw Therapee, Photoshop

 

 

Moon in 3rd quarter under good seeing conditions in the early morning hours of August 18. Click on the image for a full view. You can spend hours exploring the lunar surface in this shot!

Image Details -August 18, 2022

 

Jupiter with moons Europa (lower left) and Io. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details -August 15, 2022

 

• TKUO #1
• Telescope: C14 @ f6.6 (2329 mm fl)
• zwo 294mc
  • L: 1100 frames @ 22 fps
• Custom Mount
• Lucky imaging with Sharpcap, Autostakkert, Registax, Photoshop

The active sun imaged with the King's Observatory scanning spectroheliograph (SHG). The image is taken in the light emitted by Hydrogen atoms in the upper atmosphere of the sun (Chromosphere) and is produced by scanning across the face of the sun while recording images at a rate of 275 frames/second. The roughly 2500 frames are then added together to form an image of the entire disk. The colour has been added. Along the limb of the sun are many small loops or prominences while the centre of the disk is crisscrossed by dark bands called filaments. These are prominences seen face on. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details: August 12,, 2022

• Telescope: SV70 and SolEx SHG
• HEQ5 mount
• Camera: Neptune-M

  • Hoya ND16 filter
  • Baader Halpha filter
• Software: Inti

 

Abraham Lake with the Milky Way on the evening of Saturday, July 30. The greenish "haze" in the lower part of the sky is air glow - a naturally occuring emission from molecules in the Earth's atmosphere. This image was the result of 20 untracked exposures - each 20 s in duration - aligned and summed. Click on the image for a larger view.

Image Details: July 30, 2022

• Camera:Canon 6D
• • Samyang 14mm f2.8
  • 20 - 20 s untracked iso 3200
• Software: Sequator, Raw Therapee, Photoshop

 

The solar chromosphere and prominences (colour added) taken with SolEx SHG showing filaments, prominences and other active regions. Some rasterization in the image is the result of "tweaking" still being made in the SHG which requires a precise match between the scan rate and camera frame rate.

Image Details: July 28, 2022

• Telescope: SV70 and SolEx SHG
• Camera: Neptune-M

  • Hoya ND16 filter
  • Baader Halpha filter
• Software: Inti

 

For Science Nerds! This image is a Doppler image showing solar rotation that was taken with a Spectroheliograph (SHG) currently under construction at the observatory. The unit is called SolEx and was built from plans published by Christian Buil. Images of the sun are created by scanning a very precisely tuned spectral line (in this the 6562.8 Angstrom line of Hydrogen or H alpha) across the solar disk in a series of several thousand small slices. These images are assembled in software to produce a complete solar image. In this image the rotation of the sun causes a blue shift on the one edge of the sun approaching us while the other edge is red shifted as the limb recedes. The dark "streamers" on the solar surface are actually silhouettes of prominences - large arcing loops of hot gas rising from the solar surface.

Image Details: July 27, 2022

• Telescope: SV70 and SolEx SHG
• Camera: Neptune-M

  • Hoya ND16 filter
  • Baader Halpha filter
• Software: Inti

 

July 13, solar activity is steadily increasing as we head towards solar maximum expected in 2025. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details: July 13, 2022

• Telescope: SV102 RT
• Camera: ZWO 174MC

  • Lucky Imaging - 2000 frames
  • Baader solar film
• Autostakker, Registaxt and Photoshop processing

 

Sunspots and faculae (the brighter areas around and near the spots) on the solar surface. Earth could easily fit inside the larger spot in the upper left. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details: July 8, 2022

• Telescope: SV102 RT + 2.5x Barlow 1785 mm effective focal length
• Camera: ZWO 174MC

  • Lucky Imaging - 2000 frames
  • Baader solar film
• Autostakker, Registaxt and Photoshop processing

 

Just below centre, in the brilliant swirl of yellow-gold, is the star Antares in the constellation Scorpio. At a distance of 550 light years, this amazing star is almost 700 times bigger than our sun and if placed in our solar system would engulf all 4 of the inner planets reaching twice as far out into the solar system as the orbit of Mars! Unfortunately this beautiful summer star never gets higher than 10 degrees above our southern horizon. This image was acquired using the Telescope Live facility in Chile and represents nearly 4 hours of data taken over 4 nights in Red, Green and Blue filters to produce a stunning and accurate representation of the region around this star. Just to the right of Antares is the globular cluster M4. Click on the image for a larger view (Note - this is a BIG file!)

Image Details: May , 2022

• Telescope: Telescope Live CHI-5 remote -Nikon 200mm/f2
• FLI ML16200 camera

  • R 15 x 300 s
  • G 16 x 300 s
  • B 15 x 300 s
• Pixinsight processing

 

The Sun has been very active with two large sunspot groups which have created a number of strong x-ray flares over the past week. Both images were taken May 22 using "Lucky Imaging" - several thousand frames filtered and added.

Image Details: May 22, 2022

• Telescope: SV102 RT
• Camera: ZWO 224MC
  • Lucky Imaging - 2000 frames for each
• Autostakkert and Photoshop processing

 

A beacon in the night! Identified in the roll-over image, the bright star in the center of the frame is Supernova 2022 HRS (SN2022HRS) in the small spiral galaxy NGC 4647 located in the Virgo cluster of galaxies 63 million light years away. Directly above and to the right is the larger elliptical galaxy Messier 60. The supernova was discovered April 16, 2022 by Japanese astronomer Koichi Itagaki. Supernovae such as this are vital "standard candles" that we use to probe the depths of intergalactic space and tell us such thing as the accelerating expansion of the universe!

Image Details -April 24, 2022

 

Solar Cycle 25 is well underway and much more active than had been predicted a year ago. Several very large sunspots are visible in this white light image (orange colour has been added to help delineate the spots and other surface features. Active regions such as these can trigger Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) which in turn can spawn aurora. This image was taken using a Baader Solar Film filter and "Lucky Imaging" with the ZWO 294MC camera and approximately 1000 frames. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details: April 24, 2022

• Telescope: SV102 RT
• Camera: ZWO 294MC
  • Lucky Imaging - 1000 frames
• Autostakkert and Photoshop processing

Orion - a last look for the season! The image shows the very luminous belt stars (L to R: Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka) and the intricate regions of gas and dust that form part of the Orion complex. Just below Alnitak is the Horsehead Nebula. This image was taken using the Telescope Live remote AU-2 installation in NSW, Australia. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details: April , 2022

• Telescope: Telescope Live AU-2 remote - Takashashi 106
• FLI Proline PL9000 camera
  • L 2 x 600 s
  • R 22 x 600 s
  • G 12 x 600 s
  • B 2 x 600 s
• Pixinsight processing

 

A "gentle" aurora makes a brief appearance in the early morning hours on February 25, 2022. Although there have been several huge coronal mass ejections in the past few weeks none have been directed towards Earth. It's just a matter of time until we get the next major storm. In the meantime there are often gentle aurora like the one shown here on many clear nights for those of us living in northern latitudes. Click on images for full-screen view.

Image Details:February 25, 2022

• Canon 6D, 14 mm @ f4, ISO 3200, 4 s.

 

Messier 83 - sometimes known as The Southern Pinwheel - is a beautiful galaxy best viewed from the Southern hemisphere. M 83 is a barred spiral galaxy located approximately 15 million light years away in the constellation Hydra. For a comparison - see the "Northern Pinwheel" featured as the April 25, 2020 TKUO Picture of the Week. Since it barely rises above our southern horizon from TKUO this image was produced form 11 hours of data acquired remotely using the 0.6m CDK-24 telescope at El Sauce Observatory in Chile between February - August 2021. This is a first class observing site under the dark and steady skies of Chile and part of the "Telescope Live" network. Click on image for a larger view.

 

Image Details: February - August , 2021

• Telescope: CDK 0.6 m f6.5 (3900 mm fl) @ El Sauce Observatory, Chile
• FLI Proline PL9000 camera
  • L 16 x 600 s
  • R 20 x 600 s
  • G 19 x 600 s
  • B 19 x 600 s
• Pixinsight processing

A rare "Double Sundog!" is one consolation from our recent extreme cold. More technically these are parhelion arcs and while a single arc is common in cold weather a double arc only occurs under extreme conditions with lots of ice crystals aloft. Also - note that at the top of the inner arc (just at the tip of the spruce tree)there is another inverted arc. This image was taken in the late morning on December 29 with the outside air temperature in the -26C range. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details: December 29, 2021

• Canon 6D, 14 mm @ f11, ISO 200, 1/500 s.

 

A beautiful planet ray alignment - from Lower right to top left: Venus = Saturn -Jupiter with a lovely crescent moon beneath Venus! Early evening just after sunset on Monday, December 6.

Image Details: December 6, 2021

• Canon 6D, 135 mm @ f4, ISO 1600, 0.4 s.

 

Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard) - in the words of Gerard Manley Hopkins - " she grows and sizes And spins her skirts out, while her central star Shakes its cocooning mists;". On December 3 Leonard passed close by the globular cluster Messier 3 as it journeys toward the sun. This is a composite of 60, 1 minute integrations early morning December 3, 2021 from TKUO #2. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details: December 3, 2021

• Telescope: SV 102@ f5.6 (572 mm fl)
• zwo 294 mc
  • 60 x 60 s
• Paramount MX
• SkyX, Pixinsight processing

 

Click on above image to see a movie of Comet Leonard drifting against background stars over a span of 80 minutes.

M 76 is a lovely planetary nebula in the constellation Perseus. It sometimes goes by the name "The Little Dumbell' (see TKUO pic from July 9, 2021) or the "Cork Nebula". Planetary nebulae are one of the final stages in the evolution of solar-mass stars. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details -October 30,31 - 21, 2021

 

Messier M 110 is a dwarf elliptical galaxy that is a satellite companion to the Great Andromeda Galaxy M31 (see TKUO pic for October 17, 2018). This is a typical pattern where small dwarf galaxies are found orbiting larger bodies. Our own Milky Way has a number of smaller satellite galaxies - The Clouds of Magellan being notable examples. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details: October 29, 2021

• Telescope: C14 @ f6.6 (2329 mm fl)
• zwo 294 mc
  • 50 x 180 s
• Custom Mount
• NINA, Pixinsight processing

 

• Telescope: C14 @ f6.6 (2329 mm fl)
• zwo 1600 mm
  • Ha: 12 x 300 s
  • OIII: 24 x 300 s
  • SII: 24 x 300 s
• Custom Mount
• NINA, Pixinsight processing

Milkyway in Sagittarius with the Lagoon Nebula (M 8) and the Trifid Nebula (M20) in the middle right. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details -September 7, 2021

 

The amazing "starcloud" in the Scutum region of the Milkyway. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details -September 7, 2021

 

Milkyway in Aquila - Altair is the bright star in the centre with Terazed to the upper right. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details -September 7, 2021

 

The Milkyway over the Sweetgrass Hills as seen from Writing On Stone Provincial Park. The bright "stars" in the image are Jupiter (far left) and Saturn. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details -September 6, 2021

 

The North American Nebula (NGC 7000 or Caldwell 20) is a bright nebula of hot hydrogen gas situated about 2500 light years away in the constellation Cygnus. To the right and some what fainter is another emission nebula - The Pelican Nebula (IC 5070). The bright star in the centre of the frame is Deneb - the northern most star in the Summer Triangle. The milky way in this region is a wonderful complex of nebulae and star clusters and is high in our late summer skies. Click on the image for a much larger view.

Image Details -September 3, 2021

 

Video compiled from 350 frames, 15s each using Canon 6D, Samyang 14mm f2.8 at iso 3200. Numerous Perseid meteors and occasional satellites are visible in the over 1.5 hour span that this video covers. image was taken August 13, 2021 at Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan.

Milkyway in Cygnus as seen from Grasslands National Park. Image produced from 40 frames - 60 s each using Canon 7D mII and Samyang 16 mm f2.0 lens at iso 1600. Click on image for larger view.

NGC 7331 is a bright, large galaxy located 40 million light years in Pegasus It is roughly the same size as our own Milky Way galaxy and is the largest member of the NGC 7331 group of galaxies with many of the smaller members of this group also visible in this image. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details -July 10,13- , 2021

 

The "Dumbbell Nebula (aka Messier 27) has been featured several times in "Pics of the Week". This time it was used a s a test object for recent modifications made to the custom made mount in Observatory #1 using the Celestron C14 and zwo 1600mm camera. This object (technically a planetary nebula) represents the end-game for a solar-mass star. In roughly 7 billion years this will be the colourful demise of our Sun. The planetary nebula phase is a relatively peaceful end to the life of a low mass star with the outer envelope of the star shedding and drifting into interstellar space. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details -July 9- , 2021

 

Noctilucent clouds just before midnight on June 27, 2021. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details : June 27, 2021

• Canon 6D, iso 400
• 14 mm Rokinon @ f8
• exposure 1.6 s
• Fixed tripod
• Photoshop processing

 

• Telescope: C14 @ f7 (2718 mm fl)
• QSI 516
  • L, R,G,B: 118 x 60 s
  • R: 20 x 120 s
  • Halpha: 20 x 120 s
• Custom Mount
• Pixinsight processing

Another view of M 921 - a summer-time favourite. This magnificent globular cluster was last imaged as a pic of the week on May 2018. The current image is at a larger scale (0.68"/px) and was taken with the 0.34 m C14 Schmidt-Caeesgrain in TKUO Observatory #1. Total integration time through LRGB filters was 168 minutes. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details -June 4, 11,12 - , 2021

• Telescope: C14 @ f7 (2718 mm fl)
• QSI 516
  • L, R,G,B: 168 x 60 s
• Custom Mount
• Pixinsight processing

 

The Draco Triplet (located in the northern constellation Draco - the Dragon) comprises three galaxies - from L to R they are: NGC 5981, NGC 5982 and NGC 5985. These galaxies are approximately 120 million light years distance from Earth. Numerous "fuzzy" dots in the background are very distant galaxies - some more than 2 billion light years away! This image was taken over three nights and represents 10 hours exposure through L,R,G and B filters. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details :May 5,9,11- 2021

• Telescope: RC10 @ f8; 2000 mm fl
• AI 1600 camera, TKUO #2

  • L: 94 x 120 s
  • R: 33 x300 s
  • G: 20 x 3000 s
  • B: 33 x 300 s
• Paramount MX mount
• Pixinsight and Photoshop processing

 

The "Needle Galaxy" or NGC 4565 is a large spiral galaxy seen edge-on and is located about 40 million light years away in the northern constellation Coma Berenices. The image above represents nearly 20 hours of data captured over 4 nights in early April. Click on the image for a larger view.

Image Details :April 12,13,14,15 - 2021

• Telescope: RC10 @ f/5.3; 1340 mm fl
• QSI 616 camera, TKUO #2

  • L: 198 x 180 s
  • R: 48 x300 s
  • G: 34 x 3000 s
  • B: 36 x 300 s
• Paramount MX mount
• Pixinsight and Photoshop processing

 

Markarian's Chain is a string of galaxies that are part of the Virgo Cluster - a massive family of more than 2000 galaxies located about 60 million light years from Earth in the spring constellation Virgo. The chain is named in honour of the American astrophysicist Benjamin Markarian. This 2.5 hour total exposure image was taken in the early morning of April 5, 2020. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details - April 5, 2021

 

Located 30 million light years away in the constellation Canes Venatici, NGC 4631 is a spiral galaxy seen edge-on. The small reddish region in the centre indicates that this is a starburst galaxy - it is undergoing an episode of intense star formation (or at least it was 30 million years ago!!). This image represent 12 hours of data acquired over 3 nights. Click on image for larger view. Can you guess its popular name? (Hint: Herman Melville would concur with the name!)

Image Details : March 6,9,10 - 2021

• Telescope: RC10 @ f/5.3; 1360 mm fl
• QSI 616 camera, TKUO #2

  • L: 60 x 60 s, 49 x 180s
  • R: 36 x300 s
  • G: 24 x 3000 s
  • B: 24 x 300 s
• Paramount MX mount
• Pixinsight and Photoshop processing

 

NGC 3184 is a spiral galaxy located 40 million light years away in the constellation Ursa Major. The bright reddish star at the top of the frame is the cool M-giant star GP Ursa Majoris and is a "mere" 1000 light years away! This image represents 5 hours of data collected over two nights in February and March. Click on image for a larger view.

Image Details :February 19, March 6 - 2021

• Telescope: RC10 @ f/5.3; 1360 mm fl
• QSI 616 camera, TKUO #2

  • L: 120 x 60 s
  • R: 30 x 120 s
  • G: 30 x 120 s
  • B: 30 x 120 s
• Paramount MX mount
• Pixinsight and Photoshop processing

 

Another aurora movie! A delicate aurora and bright moonlight above Islet Lake near midnight on Februaury 23, 2021. It was a magical night with the lake ice groaning and singing beneath us! A coronal mass ejection a few days earlier spawned a series of weak aurora at high latitudes. The movie was produced from a sequence of 40, 5s exposures.

Image Details : February 23, 2021

• Canon 6D , iso 1600
• 14 mm Rokinon@f2.8
• exposure 5 s
• Fixed tripod
• Photoshop processing

 

A short lived aurora developed around 11:00 pm on Monday evening, January 11, 2021. The animation above was produced from a series of 2 second exposures taken at my residence east of Sherwood Park, Alberta.

Image Details : January 11, 2021

• Canon 6D , iso 3200
• 14 mm Rokinon@f2.8
• exposure 2 s
• Fixed tripod
• Pixinsight and Photoshop processing
  
  

 

NGC 2403 is a relatively nearby galaxy (8 million light years away) in the constellation Camelopardalis and is a member of the M 81 group of galaxies. The galaxy measures about 50 000 across and contains many star forming regions which appears as reddish knots of colour. The image was captured on the evenings of January 9 and 10 and represents 9 hours of exposure through multiple filters. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details :January 9,10 - 2021

• Telescope: RC10 @ f/5.3; 1360 mm fl
• QSI 616 camera, TKUO #2

  • L: 68 x 180 s
  • R: 20 x 300 s
  • G: 16 x 300 s
  • B: 20 x 300 s
• Paramount MX mount
• Pixinsight and Photoshop processing

 

Orion is the most recognizable of the Winter-sky constellations. The image above is a 38 minute combined exposure taken at Islet Lake (a moderately dark location) on January 8, 2021. Prominent in the image are the three bright belt stars - Alnilam, Alnitak and Mintaka (from L - R) as well as the famed Horsehead and Great Nebula (each featured as TKUO pics of the week). If you click on the image for a larger view you can explore this region and see that it is riven by numerous dust lanes. All of this is further evidence of the high degree of star formation occurring in the Orion complex.

Image Details : January 8, 2021

• Canon 6D , iso 1600
• 135 mm Rokinon@f2.0
• exposure 38 x 60 s
• I-Optron - Skytracker Pro
• Pixinsight and Photoshop processing
  
  

 

The Cone Nebula in the constellation Monoceros is part of a large star forming region in the Orion complex. This image combines 2.7 hours of Hydrogen alpha data with data taken in February 2020 (TKUO pic of the week - February 21, 2020). Click on image for larger view.

Image Details : February 18,19 - 2020, January 8 - 2021

• Telescope: RC10 @ f/5.3; 1360 mm fl; TKUO #2
• QSI 616 camera

  • R: 43 x 180s
  • G: 36 x 180s
  • B :24 x 180s
  • Ha 16 x 600 s (Jan 2021)
• Paramount MX mount
• Pixinsight processing

 

The moon imaged under fair condition on Tuesday evening with TKUO #1 Celestron 14 at high magnification (3.91 m focal length). Rollover the images to identify prominent features Both images produced using "Lucky Imaging" from a video stream of approximately 2000 frames each.

Image Details : December 22, 2020

• Telescope:Celestron C-14, 3.92 m focal length f/11
• ZWO - ASI 174 camera
• Autostakkert, Registax and Photoshop.

 

Almost touching! Saturn and Jupiter as they appeared on December 20, 2020.

Image Details : December 20, 2020

• Canon 6D, iso 1200
• 135 mm @f8.0
• exposure 0.5

 

A beautiful prelude to the "great conjunction of Decemeber 21, 2020" as the thin crescent moon appears beneath Saturn and Jupiter at approximately 5:30 on December 15, 2020. If you look closely you can see Jupiter's moon Ganymede to the lower right of the planet.

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Image Details : December 15, 2020

• Canon 7D mII, iso 800
• 135 mm @f2.0
• exposure 0.5 s
  

NGC 1579 - sometimes known as the "Northern Trifid" (a reference to its more famous cousin in the summer sky) is a diffuse nebula in Perseus. The nebula is a star forming region stretching about 4 light years across and about 2100 light years from earth. The bright red glow is ionized hydrogen gas and the dark lanes are dusty regions - all the stuff to make stars! This image is a 13.6 hour exposure collected over several nights in November and December. Click on image for a larger view.

Image Details : November 14, December 4, 10- 2020

• Telescope: RC10 @ f/5.3; 1360 mm fl
• QSI 616 camera, TKUO #2

  • L: 30 x 180 s
  • L: 61 x 60 s
  • R: 54 x 300 s
  • G: 44 x 300 s
  • B: 36 x 300 s
• Paramount MX mount
• Pixinsight and Photoshop processing

 

One of the best Martian oppositions in decades is drawing to a close. The image on the right was taken shortly after sunset on December 10. Note how much smaller the planet is compared to earlier this fall. Also - notice how the "phase" of Mars changes from a waxing gibbous to a waning gibbous shape - just like our moon! All of the images were taken at TKUO #1 using the C14 at a focal length of 10 m and using "lucky imaging" with a ZWO ASI-224MC camera.

Keep your eye on Saturn (upper left) and Jupiter! You may have noticed them all summer and also that they are getting closer. On December 21 we will be treated to a very rare conjunction when the two planets "merge" into one much brighter "planet"! This image was taken shortly after sunset on December 10.

Image Details : December 10, 2020

• Canon 7D mII, iso 800
• 135 mm @f2.0
• exposure 0.5 s
  

 

Early this morning - under less than ideal conditions - a close-up view of Mare Humorum ("Sea of Moisture") with Gassendi crater in the lower left was taken. You can spend hours pouring over the many details in the image that tell much about the history of our lovely celestial companion. The small craters in the smooth lava flood-plain of Mare Humorum remind us that asteroidal and cometary bombardment are a feature of our solar system environment. This image was taken in TKUO #1 using the Celestron 14 telescope and "lucky imaging" with a ZWO - ASI 174 camera. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details : December 9, 2020

• Telescope:Celestron C-14, 4 m focal length f/11
• ZWO - ASI 174 camera
• Autostakkert, Registax and Photoshop.

 

IC 342 (aka "The Hidden Galaxy") is a nearby galaxy in the Maffei group of galaxies. At a distance of "only" 10.7 million light years IC 342 should be visible to the naked eye. However, it is located in the constellation Camelopardalis and its light is heavily absorbed by dust in our own Milky way galaxy. Thus the galaxy, although quite large in extent is also very faint. Classed as an intermediate spiral galaxy, IC 342 contains about 100 billion stars. This image was produced at TKUO #2 over four nights in November and December for a total exposure time of 15.7 hours. The distinct red "splotches" are Hydrogen emission nebulae (huge clouds of hot Hydrogen gas.) Click on image for a larger view.

Image Details : November 8,11- 2020

• Telescope: RC10 @ f/5.3; 1360 mm fl
• QSI 616 camera, TKUO #2

  • L: 40 x 180 s
  • L: 30 x 300 s
  • R: 40 x 180 s
  • G: 20 x 180 s
  • G: 20 x 300 s
  • B: 30 x 180 s
  • Ha: 30 x 600s
• Paramount MX mount
• Pixinsight and Photoshop processing

 

On a frosty November 11 evening Comet C/2020 Atlas M3 silently drifted through the constellation Orion. Atlas is one of literally dozens of comets that silently pass by each year. Not another Neowise but still an object of interest as it dates from the earliest epoch in the history of the Solar System. The greenish colour of comets like Atlas is the result of ultraviolet light from the Sun exciting molecules of Cyanogen (CN) and diatomic carbon (C2) that are contained in the mostly icy mix of water and carbon dioxide ices. Sadly - new and future comets like Neowise and Atlas will not have romantic names in honour of their discoverers (Halley, Hale-Bopp etc). Instead they are discovered by robotic telescopes and automated detection systems and thus are named for the system responsible for their detection. Click on image for a larger view.

Image Details - November 11, 2020

• Telescope: StellarVue 102RT @ f5.6
• Canon 6D; 19 x 120s exposures
• Paramount MX
• Pixinsight processing

The first major sunspot group in the new Solar Cycle (number 25). This one is designated AR2778 and stretches more than 100 000 km across the Solar surface. This suggests that we are finally emerging from what has been a protracted solar minimum. Over the next few years we should see an increase in solar activity and this will mean an increase in Northern Lights! Compare this group with the last major group (TKUO pic of the week September 6, 2017).

Image Details - October 28, 2020

• Telescope: StellarVue 102RT @ f7
• ZWO-ASI 174 mm (approximately 4500 frames added )
• Paramount MX
• filters
  • Baader full aperture film
• Auto Stakkert and Registax 6 processing

Mars at opposition! One of the best alignments in years has given us wonderful views of this enigmatic planet. Image was taken through broken cloud and used "Lucky" imaging. Ten thousand video frames were stacked and sorted then the "best" 2500 were combined to produce the image. This helps remove blurring from the otherwise turbulent atmosphere.

Image Details : Ocrober 13, 2020

• Telescope:Celestron C-14, 10 m focal length f/28
• ZWO - ASI 224mc camera
• Autostakkert, Registax and Photoshop.

 

Two wide angle shots of the Milkyway taken from a Bortle 3 site north of Rocky Mountain House, Alberta on the evening of September 23, 2020. image on the left - centred on the Summer Triangle - was taken with a Canon 6D and 14 mm f2.8 Rokinon lens. On the right is a close-up of nebulosity in the Deneb-Sadr region in Cygnus taken using a Canon 7D mII and 135 f2mm Rokinon lens. Click on images for larger view.

Image Details : Sept 23,2020

• Canon 6D , iso 1600
• 14 mm @f2.8
• exposure 15 x 60 s
  
• Canon 7D mII, iso 1600
• 135 mm @f2.8
• exposure 5 x 30 s
  

 

NGC 6946 - aka The Fireworks Galaxy - is a classic spiral galaxy with a very tight core. The galaxy is located 25.2 million light years away in the Cepheus-Cassiopeia region of the sky. One interesting feature (try to find it!) is a large "supernova bubble" - the remnant of an ancient supernova that is more intact than the Veil Nebula which appears as pic-of-the-week for September 5, 2020. Click on the image to get a bigger view.

Image Details : September 20- 2020

• Telescope: RC10 @ f/5.3; 1360 mm fl
• QSI 616 camera, TKUO #2

  • L: 60 x 180 s
  • R: 30 x 180 s
  • G: 30 x 180 s
  • B: 30 x 180 s
• Paramount MX mount
• Pixinsight and Photoshop processing

 

Shown above is a 6-hour exposure of NGC 6823, a young star cluster embedded in a hydrogen emission nebula in the constellation Vulpecula (The Fox). This is a very young cluster - only about 2 million years old and is located about 6000 light years from Earth. The dark lanes that crisscross the image are evidence of the molecular clouds from which the stars formed. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details : September 8,10- 2020

• Telescope: RC10 @ f/5.3; 1360 mm fl
• QSI 616 camera, TKUO #2

  • L: 30 x 120 s
  • R: 44 x 180 s
  • G: 30 x 180 s
  • B: 30 x 180 s
• Paramount MX mount
• Pixinsight processing

 

At distance of 7500 light years, the "Double Cluster" in Perseus is easily visible to the unaided eye under a dark rural sky. It consists of two rich star clusters - NGC 869 and NGC 884 and has a total mass of about 20 000 solar masses. It is believed that both cluster are 12.8 million years old which makes them a very young collection of stars. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details - August 28, 2020

 

High in the summer sky and just north of the bright star Deneb you will find this knot of bright blue stars. Messier 39 is a small open cluster located about 1000 light years away and is believed to be approximately 250 million years old (roughly 1 galactic year!). Click on image for larger view.

Image Details - August 28, 2020

 

Sharpless 101 (Sh2-101) is perhaps better known by its more common monicker - The Tulip Nebula. This bright Hydrogen emission region is located in the constellation Cygnus, about 6000 light years from Earth and measures roughly 70 light years across. The image on the left shows only light emitted by Hydrogen atoms ("narrowband") while the image on the right shows the Tulip in all wavelengths ("broadband").Click on images for larger views.

Image Details : Aug 4,10,12,13 - 2020

• Telescope: RC10 @ f/5.3; 1360 mm fl
• QSI 616 camera, TKUO #2

  • L: 78 x 60 s
  • R: 30 x 180 s
  • G: 30 x 180 s
  • B: 30 x 180 s
  • Halpha 12 x 600 s
• Paramount MX mount
• Pixinsight processing

 

NGC 7789 (sometimes called The White Rose Cluster or Caroline's Rose) is an open cluster of several thousand stars discovered in 1783 by Caroline Herschel. This lovely cluster is located about 7600 light years away in the constellation Cassiopeia and is approximately 50 light years across and about 1.7 billion years old. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details - August 7, 2020

 

A medley of Comet Neowise pictures over the past week. Unfortunately we have not had good sky conditions and all of these images are either through thin cloud or small breaks in the cloud. Click on each image for a larger view.

Bottom Right shows Comet Neowise in the early morning of July 16, 2020 through a combination of tropospheric and noctilucent clouds. (Canon 7D mii, 50mm f1.7, 30 s @iso 400)

Bottom Left shows the comet on July 20,2020 as seen from Islet Lake, Alberta at approximately 11:45 pm (Canon 6D , 50mm f1.7, 20 s @iso 400)

Top Left shows the comet on July 21,2020 as seen from Islet Lake, Alberta at approximately 1:45 am (Canon 6D , 50mm f1.7, 30 s @iso 400)

Top Right shows the comet on July 21,2020 as seen from Islet Lake, Alberta at approximately 1:00 am (Canon 6D , 135mm f2.8, 60 s @iso 800) This image shows clearly BOTH tails of the comet. The fainter bluish-purple tail is the ION TAIL - it is a straight tail produced by the solar wind blowing outward from the sun and causing entrained gases to glow in their respective colours. Most comets will exhibit an ion tail (albeit faint at times). The brighter white "Dust Tail" is produced by the debris of fine "dirty-icy" particles boiling off the comet's nucleus. The fan shape of this tail actually delineates the orbital path of the comet as it swings around the sun. The brightness of the dust tail varies greatly between comets and is a function of how much dusty material is contained in the cometary ices.

Comet C/2020 F3 - aka "Neowise" has become an unexpected summer sky guest - one of the finest naked eye comets in the past decade. This image was taken at about 1:30 am July 12 as the comet skimmed the northern horizon. What is particularly nice are the noctilucent clouds just below and to the left of the comet.  These are clouds that form high in the stratosphere/mesosphere (80 km up) and are what happens when water vapour condenses on the "smoke" created by in-falling meteors.  What is really cool, however, is the fact that most of this meteoritic dust comes from the tails of comets!!  Comet Neowise has an unusually large nucleus which is why it has brightened so dramatically over the past weeks. The camera was tracking the comet and stars which is why the foreground trees are slightly "blurred". Click on the image for a full-screen view.

Image Details : July 12 ,2020 - 1:30 am

• Canon 7D, iso 100
• 50 mm @ f4
• exposure 30 s
  

 

A very pretty display of Noctilucent Clouds to celebrate Canada Day!

Image Details : July 1 ,2020 - 11:30 pm

• Canon 7D, iso 800
• 50 mm @ f4
• exposure 2 s
  

 

The Owl Nebula (aka Messier 97) is a textbook example of a planetary nebula or the end stages in the life of a sun-like star. The nebula is a shell of gas expelled approximately 8000 years ago by the aging star seen at the centre of the image. The nebula is approximately 1.8 light years in diameter and is located about 2000 ly away in a region just beneath the Big Dipper. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details : May 12,2020

• Telescope: RC10 @ f/5.3; 1360 mm fl
• QSI 616 camera, TKUO #2

  • L: 24 x 180 s
  • R: 12 x 300 s
  • G: 6 x 300 s
  • B: 6 x 300 s
• Paramount MX mount
• Pixinsight processing

 

The majestic Pinwheel Galaxy or M 101 is a classic example of a grand-design spiral galaxy. Located about 21 million light years away and situated just above the handle of the Big Dipper, M 101 is huge - almost twice as big our own galaxy and home to more than a trillion suns! Its asymmetric shape is the result of gravitational tugs exerted by other nearby galaxies. This image represents 23 hours of exposure over a series of evenings in April. Click on the image for larger view.

Image Details : April 12,18,20,21,22,24 - 2020

• Telescope: RC10 @ f/5.3; 1360 mm fl
• QSI 616 camera, TKUO #2

  • L: 11 hours
  • R: 4 hours
  • G: 4 hours
  • B: 4 hours
• Paramount MX mount
• Pixinsight processing

 

"I coulda been a contender!" In early January Comet C/2019 Y4 (aka Atlas) brightened dramatically and many of us were hoping for a Hale-Bopp class comet in early May. Alas comets are fickle creatures and two weeks ago the nucleus of the comet began to break up. The movie shown above captures 2 hours in the life of Comet Atlas as it drifts across the background stars high in the northern sky. The tip of the comet is stretched into a rather bright line - indicating multiple chunks shedding from the nucleus.

Image Details : April 11 - 2020

• Telescope: RC10 @ f/5.3; 1360 mm fl
• QSI 616 camera, TKUO #2

  • L: 120 x 60s
• Paramount MX mount
• Pixinsight processing

 

Spring is Galaxy Season! From March through May we are treated to views of truly distant worlds. This is NGC 4725 situated 40 million light years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. This is an "active galaxy" and harbours a supermassive black hole in its centre. This image was taken over a number of nights in March and early April and represents 11.5 hours of total exposure through 4 different filters. Click on image for full view.

Image Details : March 20, April 2 - 2020

• Telescope: RC10 @ f/5.3; 1360 mm fl
• QSI 616 camera, TKUO #2

  • L: 54 x 300s
  • R: 18 x 600s
  • G: 12 x 600s
  • B :12 x 600s
• Paramount MX mount
• Pixinsight processing

 

An unusual star - UU Auirgae! This is a faint star in the constellation Auriga and its lovely red-orange colour is easily visible in binoculars or a small telescope. The star belongs to a very cool class of "Carbon Stars". With temperature of about 2700K these stars have complex atmospheres that produce fine particles very similar to "soot". These are carbon and Silicon-Carbide dust grains that can be ejected as dusty clouds that will cause periodic dimming of the star. Click for a full-screen view.

Image Details :

• Telescope: RC10 @ f/5.3; 1360 mm fl
• QSI 616 camera, TKUO #2

  • L: 15 x 5s
  • R: 15 x 8s
  • G: 15 x8s
  • B :15 x 8s
• Paramount MX mount
• Pixinsight processing

 

Messier 106 (NGC 4258) is a beautiful galaxy is the constellation Canes Venatici. The galaxy is located about 25 million light years away and spectroscopy tells us that the core of the galaxy contains a very hungry supermassive black hole! This image represents a total of 14 hours exposure on the evenings of February 21,22. Click on image for a larger view.

Image Details : February 21,22 - 2020

• Telescope: RC10 @ f/5.3; 1360 mm fl
• QSI 616 camera, TKUO #2

  • L: 72 x 300s
  • R: 36 x 300s
  • G: 36 x 300s
  • B :24 x 300s
• Paramount MX mount
• Pixinsight processing

 

Orion as seen from The Blackfoot Recreational Area on the evening of Friday, February 21. Currently the star Betelgeuse is doing something very strange - it has been steadily dimming to unprecedented faintness since we have been recording stellar brightness. What's going on? We don't know! But, we do know that sometime in the next 100 000 years Betelgeuse will explode to produce a brilliant supernova appearing as bright as the full moon and visible during the day. Is it about to "blow"? Astronomers world-wide are carefully watching what was once the brightest star in Orion. To compare with a similar shot taken 2 years earlier go to the February 18, 2018 TKUO pic of the week (scroll down). Click on image for larger view.

Image Details :February 217 - 2020

• Canon 7D Mark II, 20 x 30s exp. @ iso 1600
• 16 mm f/2 Rokinon lens

 

The Cone Nebula shown above is part of an elaborate star-forming region and young star cluster which collectively is called NGC 2264. This lovely object is in the constellation Monoceros (immediately east of Orion) and located about 2700 light years from Earth. Of note is the dark, dusty region in the right half of the image. If you look carefully you will see many deeply red stars. These are stars whose light is being heavily filtered by the dust that lies between them and us - the same phenomenon that produces red sunsets on Earth! This image was captured in a 5h exposure over two nights from King's Observatory #2 using the 0.25 m Ritchey-Chretien telescope and QSI camera. Click on image for full-scale view.

Image Details : February 18,19 - 2020

• Telescope: RC10 @ f/5.3; 1360 mm fl
• QSI 616 camera

  • R: 43 x 180s
  • G: 36 x 180s
  • B :24 x 180s
• Paramount MX mount
• Pixinsight processing

 

Messier 95 (NGC 3351) is a classic example of a barred spiral galaxy and is located about 33 million light years away in the constellation Leo. This image was captured over three nights in late January and early February and represents a12 exposure through 4 different filters. Click on the image for a larger view.

Image Details :January 25,28, February 3 - 2020

• Telescope: RC10 @ f/5.3; 1360 mm fl
• QSI 616 camera

  • L: 89 x 180s
  • R: 78 x 180s
  • G: 50 x 180s
  • B :50 x 180s
• Paramount MX mount
• Pixinsight processing

 

Messier 53 (NGC 5024) - at a distance of 58 000 light years - is one of the more distant globular clusters that orbit our galaxy. This is a very old object (about 12.7 billion years old) and has a mass of about 850 thousand times that of our sun. Click on image for a larger view.

Image Details :February 3, 2020

• Telescope: RC10 @ f/5.3; 1360 mm fl
• QSI 616 camera

  • R: 12 x 180s
  • G: 12 x 180s
  • B :12 x 180s
• Paramount MX mount
• Pixinsight processing

 

A lovely aurora and hoar frost on trees! This is a re-processed image from January 2016 and hopefully will become a more frequent sight as the Sun emerges from the last solar minimum. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details : January 21, 2016

• Canon 1100D @iso 800, 8s
• 85 mm f2.8

 

• Telescope: SV102 @ f/7; 714 mm fl
• ZWO-ASI 1600mm camera
  • Ha: 0.015s
  • Baader Neutral Density
• HEQ5 mount/ raspi4 control
• Pixinsight processing

• Telescope: SV102 @ f/7; 714 mm fl
• ZWO-ASI 1600mm camera
  • Ha: 32 x 300 s
  • OIII: 24 x 300 s
  • SII: 24 x 300 s
• HEQ5 mount/ raspi3 control
• Pixinsight processing

In the centre of the image is a remarkable star in Cygnus designated WR 134 (mouse over to see it). WR stands for two 19th century astronomers - Charles Wolf and Georges Rayet who first noticed the very odd spectra produced by these stars. While most stars produce "ROYGBIV" spectra with lots of thin dark lines (absorption lines in the bottom spectrum on the right) the WR stars have very bright and "fat" emission lines (top spectrum). We now know that these stars are very massive, hot stars. The fluorescent blue arc below centre in the image may well be an ancient ejection from WR 134. If you click on the spectral profile (top right) you will see an identification of the elements that are producing these bright lines. All of this tells us that not only are these stars hot (50 000 K or so) but they are ejecting material into space at great velocity. A simple measurement of the spectrum suggests that gas is streaming away from WR 134 at a speed of more than 2000 km/s (7.2 million km/h!!) which is why the lines are as broad as they are. Click on the image of WR 134 to get a bigger view.

Details for:

Spectrum: September 5 - 2019

• Telescope: C14 observatory #1
• ALPY600 spectrograph, ATIK 314L+ camera
• Custom mount
• ISIS processing

Image: August 22,24,26 - 2019

• Telescope: SV102 @ f/7; 714 mm fl observatory #3
• ZWO-ASI 1600mm camera
  • Ha: 24 x 300 s
  • OIII: 30 x 300 s
  • SII: 37 x 300 s
• HEQ5 mount/ raspi3 control
• Pixinsight processing
  

The Northern Cross (part of Cygnus the Swan) is almost directly overhead in the early September sky. Located in the middle of the cross is the bright star Sadr. This region is rich in emission nebulae and cold, dark knots of dust and lies about 3700 light years away in one of the spiral arms of our galaxy. This image was taken using two filters - one passing light from Hydrogen, the other Oxygen. The bright ring in the upper left is caused by internal reflections in the camera due to Sadr - just visible on the edge of the field of view.

Image Details : September 2 - 2019

• Telescope: SV102 @ f/7; 714 mm fl
• ZWO-ASI 1600mm camera
  • Ha: 20 x 300 s
  • OIII: 16 x 300 s
• HEQ5 mount/ raspi3 control
• Pixinsight processing

NGC 7331 is a large spiral galaxy 40 million light years away in the constellation Pegasus. In the background and and above the galaxy are a number of much more distant galaxies - about 400 million light years away. Click on image for larger view. Below the galaxy image is a low resolution spectrum of the combined light from the galaxy taken at The King's University Observatory in August 2017. The faint dark absorption lines in the spectrum (primarily due to Iron, Magnesium and Hydrogen) are red shifted and measurements indicate that the galaxy is receding from us at 800 km/s - evidence for the expanding universe.

Image Details : August 23, 28 - 2019

• Telescope: RC10 @ f/5.3; 1360 mm fl
• QSI 616 camera

  • L: 60 x 120s
  • R: 60 x 120s
  • G: 60 x 120s
  • B :60 x 120s
• Paramount MX mount
• Pixinsight processing

 

Five wide field images from a lovely late August evening at Long Lake Provincial Park. The top shows what is likely a "straggler" Perseid meteor (from the Perseid shower which peaks around August 11 but is active through most of August). This image is a composite of 11 frames on which one captured the meteor - passing through the summer triangle (the bright 3 stars in the image) and bisecting the dust lane of the milky way. Some high cloud was in the area hampering observations a bit.

The next two images show starlight and a soon to rise moon reflecting off the water of the lake. The last two images are of constellations Cassiopeia and Perseus. Click on each image for a full screen view.

Image Details : August 20 - 2019

• Canon 7D mark ii
• Rokinon 16 mm,m f2
  • 20 s untracked exposures @ iso 800 - iso 6400
• Pixinsight processing

NGC 281 is a bright emission nebula located about 9500 light years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. The nebula is located in the Perseus arm of our galaxy and is about 48 light years in diameter. This image is a "work in progress" - data here represents 5 hours exposure through Hydrogen, Oxygen and Sulphur filters under marginal sky conditions. Click on image for full screen view.

Image Details : August 13,16 - 2019

• Telescope: SV102 @ f/7; 714 mm fl
• ZWO-ASI 1600mm camera
  • Ha: 32 x 300 s
  • OIII: 31 x 300 s
  • SII: 33 x 300 s
• HEQ5 mount/ raspi3 control
• Pixinsight processing

IC5146 - The Cocoon Nebula - was featured as the July 22 TKUO pic of the week. Here is the same object as imaged at higher magnification at TKUO observatory #2 on three evenings in July 29 - August 3, 2019. Click on image for larger view.

Again - another dust cloud region in the Cygnus arm of the Milkyway. Pictured above is the "Cygnus Wall" region of the North American Nebula (NGC 7000 - see the July 27, 2018 pic of the week for a full view of this area). The luminous blue is primarily due to light emitted by Oxygen atoms (doubly ionized) while the orange regions are combined light of Hydrogen, Oxygen and Sulfur. This image was produced over 3 nights using narrow band filters and a combined exposure time of 5 hours. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details : July 29-August 3, 2019

• Telescope: SV102 @ f/7; 714 mm fl
• ZWO-ASI 1600mm camera
  • Ha: 20 x 180 s
  • OIII: 40 x 180 s
  • SII: 40 x 180 s
• HEQ5 mount/ raspi3 control
• Pixinsight processing

Barnard 150 (or the "Sea Horse Nebula") is one of 366 objects catalogued in the early 20th century by the American astronomer E.E. Barnard. It is an example of a dark molecular cloud which consists of very fine soot-like particles of interstellar dust. Such objects are ideal "chemistry labs" - their interiors are very cold. At only a few tens of degrees above absolute zero collisions between atoms are very gentle and allow the formation of simple molecules. These regions are also mark the eventual birth sites of new stars. This object is located about 1200 light years away in the constellation Cepheus. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details -July 25, 2019

• Telescope: SV102 @ f/7; 714 mm fl
• ZWO-ASI 1600mm camera
  • L: 20 x 120 s
  • R: 20 x 120 s
  • G: 20 x 120 s
  • B: 20 x 120 s
• HEQ5 mount/ raspi3 control
• Pixinsight processing

IC5146 or the "Cocoon Nebula" is an active star forming region located about 4000 light years away in the heart of the arm of our galaxy that sweeps through the summer-time constellation Cygnus - "The Swan". The nebula is about 15 light years across. A darker lane of dust (Barnard 168) can be seen surrounding the nebula and projecting diagonally to the lower right.

This image was taken on the nights of July 21,22 and represents a total exposure of 2.5 hours. Click on the image for a larger view.

Image Details -July 21,22, 2019

• Telescope: SV102 @ f/7; 714 mm fl
• ZWO-ASI 1600mm camera
  • L: 19 x 120 s
  • R: 19 x 120 s
  • G: 19 x 120 s
  • B: 19 x 120 s
• HEQ5 mount/ raspi3 control
• Pixinsight processing

Ghostly wisps of Noctilucent Cloud weave low across the northern sky of the Edmonton region at 2:00 am June 14. These subtle and graceful clouds are formed very high in the Earth's stratosphere at roughly the same height of aurora (80 km) and are believed - in part - to form when traces of water vapour condense on meteoritic dust. They are normally only seen at high latitude in the few weeks around the Summer Solstice. You can contrast the lovely and very bright white of these clouds with a much lower "normal" cloud seen at the top of the frame. This was a particularly bright display of noctilucent clouds. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details - June 14, 2:00 a.m. 2019

• Canon 7D mII, 55mm f5.6
  • 1 x 4 s

 

 

 

The famous "Whirlpool Nebula" (aka Messier 51 or M 51) is a favourite spring target. This was the first "Island Universe" observed to have a spiral structure - this was done visually in the mid 1850s using the Lord Rosse telescope which is located in Birr, Ireland. M 51 is a classic spiral galaxy 23 million light years away in the constellation Canes Venatici and also shows a collision between the main galaxy (M 51) and a smaller galaxy (just beneath). The faint glow around the galaxies is created by millions of ejected star systems.

This image was taken over several nights in April and represents a total exposure of 13.5 hours. Click on the image for a larger view.

Image Details - April 23,24,25, 2019

• Telescope: RC10 @ f/8; 2000 mm fl
• ZWO-ASI 1600mm camera
  • L: 38 x 300 s
  • R: 30 x 300 s
  • G: 30 x 300 s
  • B: 25 x 300 s
  • Ha: 19 x 600 s
• Paramount MX mount
• Pixinsight processing

A monster galaxy in the heart of the Virgo cluster! This image shows Messier 87 (M 87)- an enormous elliptical galaxy 55 million light years away - in the very core of the large cluster of galaxies known as the "Virgo Cluster". M 87 has fascinated astronomers for decades, not only because of its enormous size (more than 5 times the mass of our own galaxy) but also because of a huge jet of material squirting out of the galaxy and traveling at close to the speed of light. This is produced by a massive black hole (more than 2.5 billion solar masses) located at the centre of the galaxy. In early April of this year, after a two-year study using the Event Horizon Telescope Array - a first ever image of a black hole was released showing the black hole in the centre of M87.

The images above were produced at The King's University Observatory #2 on the evening of April 11, 2019. The bottom image shows M87 at the centre of the frame while the top image provides a close-up roll-over image that has been re-processed using a High Dynamic Range stretch to show the relativistic jet projecting from the galaxy. If you trace this jet back to the centre of M 87 you will find the location of the black hole.

Image Details - April 11, 2019

• Telescope: RC10 @ f/8; 2000 mm fl
• ZWO-ASI 1600mm camera
  • R: 10 x 180s
• Paramount MX mount
• Pixinsight processing

NGC 2903 is a beautiful example of a barred-spiral galaxy. Careful inspection of this image shows a long bar-structure cutting through the middle of the galaxy from roughly the "1 o'clock position to 7 o'clock. Bars are common - our own Milkyway galaxy is also a barred spiral. This particular galaxy is located about 30 million light years away in the constellation Leo. Click on the image for a full-screen view. The image was captured over several nights in February and March - total exposure of more than 200 images through 4 filters was approximately 13.5 hours.

Image Details - February 25, 27, March 3,4, 5

• Telescope: RC10 @ f/8; 2000 mm fl
• ZWO-ASI 1600mm camera
  • L: 30 x 180s, 22 x 300 s
  • R: 30 x 180s, 22 x 300 s
  • G: 30 x 180s, 20 x 300 s
  • B: 48 x 180s, 20 x 300 s
• Paramount MX mount
• Pixinsight processing

The "Horse head Nebula" (technically known as IC 434 or Barnard 33) is a challenging object to image from our light polluted Edmonton skies. The horse head is a dusty region in the belt of Orion, the bright red glow is caused by hot hydrogen gas glowing with its characteristic red colour. This image is a 7.5-hour exposure taken over five nights in late January through early March. ( Click on image for a larger view)

Image Details - January 21, February 25, 27, March 3, 5

• Telescope: RC10 @ f/8; 2000 mm fl
• ZWO-ASI 1600mm camera
  • Halpha 9 x 600 s
  • L 30 x 180 s
  • G 60 x 180 s
  • B 3x 180 s
• Paramount MX mount
• Pixinsight processing

 

Lunar Eclipse of the "Wolf-Moon" - January 20, 2019. This image was taken at TKUO#3 under very poor conditions. Despite this the coppery colour of the lunar eclipse shows in this 2-second exposure.

Image Details - January 20, 2019

 

NGC 7380 or the "Wizard Nebula" is a rather faint emission nebula in the constellation Cepheus. This 6-hour long narrow-band image was taken on the evenings of October 22 and 23. The greenish glow is due to hydrogen gas that is energized by numerous newly formed stars. The background shows faint traces of hydrogen emission and clouds of dust. The "Wizard" can be seen in profile in the bright central part of the nebula (if you have a good imagination!). Click on image for full-screen view.

• October 22,23 2018
• Telescope: SV 70T, f4.8
• ZWO-ASI 1600mm camera
  • Halpha 18 x 600 s
  • OIII 15 x 600 s
  • SII 15 x 600 s
• HEQ5 mount
• Pixinsight processing

 

The Andromeda Galaxy or M 31 is our nearest, large galactic neighbour. Visible to the naked eye, this massive spiral galaxy in the constellation Andromeda contains nearly a trillion stars and is located 2.2 million light years from us. Currently M31 is approaching our Milky Way galaxy at a velocity of 300 km/s. In about 2 billion years our two galaxies will collide. This LRGB image was taken through 4 separate filters on the evenings of October 17, 19. Click on the image for a full-screen view.

Image Details - October 17,19 - 2018

 

NGC 1499 , also popularly known as the "California Nebula", is an emission nebula located high in the northern sky in the constellation Perseus. Like most gas clouds in the Milky way this is illuminated by numerous nearby bright young stars. In the case of NGC 1499 the illuminating star is the bright blue star Menkib located in the upper left corner of the image. This image was taken October 16, 2018 over a span of 6 hours through narrow band filters. Click on the image for a full screen view.

Image Details - October 16 - 2018

 

IC 1396 is the name given to the region pictured above. This is a cloud of gas and dust situated in the northern constellation Cepheus. At 2400 light years away and more than 100 light years across, the entire nebula is energized by the bright, multiple star system HD 206267 located in the center of the image. To the immediate left is a tongue of gas and dust commonly referred to as the "Elephant Trunk" nebula. (A magnified image of this was presented in the TKUO pic-of-the-week on September 15, 2016.) This is a site of active star formation. This image is the result of nearly 10 hours of data collected over 3 nights using narrow-band filters and rendered in the "Hubble Palette". Hydrogen gas is rendered green, Sulphur red and Oxygen blue. Click on the image for a full screen view.

Image Details - September 5, October 3,4 - 2018

 

 

I am like a slip of comet,
Scarce worth discovery, in some corner seen
Bridging the slender difference of two stars,
Come out of space, or suddenly engender'd
By heady elements, for no man knows;
But when she sights the sun she grows and sizes
And spins her skirts out, while her central star
Shakes its cocooning mists; and so she comes
To fields of light; millions of travelling rays
Pierce her; she hangs upon the flame-cased sun,
And sucks the light as full as Gideons's fleece:
But then her tether calls her; she falls off,
And as she dwindles shreds her smock of gold
Between the sistering planets, till she comes
To single Saturn, last and solitary;
And then she goes out into the cavernous dark.
So I go out: my little sweet is done:
I have drawn heat from this contagious sun:
To not ungentle death now forth I run

Gerard Manley Hopkins, 1864

 

Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner imaged August 21, 2018. Every year dozens of minor comets pass us silently in their journeys around the Sun. Comets are the oldest bodies in the solar system, predating the formation of the Earth and each one a "travelling museum" of our Solar System's birth and early history. Comet Giacobini-Zinner is nearing closest approach tot he Sun later this fall, It will continue to brighten until mid September. At this time it will be visible through binoculars from a dark sky region. Click on image for a fullscreen view.

• Telescope: SV 70T, f4.8
• Canon 7D MII camera, iso 3200
  • 30 x 60 s

The Milky way from Writing on Stone Provincial Park in southern Alberta is truly humbling! These images were taken during the evenings of August 13, 14 at the tail end of the Perseid Meteor shower.

Image on the left: The faint streak in the top middle of the image on the left is not a meteor - rather a "pesky" satellite! The bright blob on the lower left is the planet Mars shining through a thin layer of smoke-haze. This is a single 10 s exposure, untracked. Click on the image for a full screen view.

Image on the right: A composite of 19, 30 s exposures revealing a stunning number of stars and the subtle colours of this spiral arm of our galaxy. Among the myriad of stars you can see three very bright ones - the Summer Triangle. Top left is Deneb, middle right is Vega and lower middle is Altair. If you look next to Deneb you can spot the North American nebula which was the TKUO pic of the week on July 15 and again July 27 this summer. Click on the image for a full screen view.

Image Details - August 13,14, 2018

 

Narrow band image of NGC 7000 (aka The North American Nebula) and IC 5070 (aka The Pelican Nebula) in the constellation Cygnus taken over three nights (July 27,28,29). This are large clouds of gas and dust located in a spiral arm of our galaxy and illuminated by bright stars. The image was taken through 3 separate filters with a total exposure time of 6 hours and shows the light emitted by Hydrogen, Oxygen and Sulphur atoms present in the galaxy. Click on the image for a full-screen view.

Image Details - July 27,28,29, 2018

• Telescope: SV 70T, f4.8
• ZWO-ASI 1600mm camera
  • Halpha 12 x 300s, 6 x 600 s
  • OIII 12 x 600 s
  • SII 12 x 600 s
• HEQ5 mount
• Pixinsight processing

A wonderful conjunction between the Moon and Venus as it appeared Sunday, July 15 2018. Click on the image for a bigger view. Does this remind you of the flag from a Middle-Eastern nation? Click on the image to get a bigger view.

Image Details - July 15, 2018

• Canon 7D Mark II

• Telescope: Coronado SolarMaxII
• ZWO-ASI 1600 mm , 3000 frames
• HEQ5 mount
• Registax 6, Photoshop CS5 and Autostakkert processing

Messier 92 is the "other" great globular cluster in Hercules. M 92 is located 26 700 light years away, contains about 200 000 stars and is one of the oldest known globular clusters. It could be as much as 2 billion years older than M13 pictured below. Click on image for bigger view.

Image Details -May 22, 2018

• Telescope: RC10 f/8
• ZWO-ASI 1600mm
  • R,G,B: 12 x 300 s
• Paramount MX
• Pixinsight processing

 

The return of warm spring evenings also marks the return of the great globular clusters! Pictured above is Messier 13 - the Great Globular in Hercules. This image was taken in May 2016 but just processed now! Globular clusters are very old objects that formed before the galaxy itself and orbit our galaxy at distances of thousands of light years. M13 is thought to be 11.65 billion years old and is located 25 thousand light years away. It contains about 300 000 stars and is 180 light years across. Even through a small telescope under a dark sky it is an amazing sight! Click on image for a larger view.

Image Details -May 13, 2016

• Telescope: RC10 f/8
• QSI 616
  • R,G,B: 6 x 500 s
• Paramount MX
• Pixinsight processing

 

An aurora named STEVE (aka Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement) makes an appearance in the southern sky over Edmonton Friday night! This still poorly understood auroral type was identified first by an Alberta group of aurora enthusiasts who suggested the name "Steve" in jest and the name stuck. Eventually space scientists came up with the rather tortured acronym Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement!

Image Details - May 11, 2018; 22:10 MDT

• Canon 7D, 16mm f2.0, iso 3200, 20s exposure

 

A very quiet day on the sun! One tiny sunspot lingers in the lower left quadrant (can you find it?) while there is a faint prominence on the solar limb at the 2 o'clock position. This image is the sum of 2000 images captured in Hydrogen alpha light. Click on the image for a full screen view.

Image Details -May 11, 2018

• Telescope: Coronado SolarMaxII
• ZWO-ASI 1600 mm , 2000 frames
• HEQ5 mount
• Registax 6 and Autostakkert processing

A solar storm spawned a rather faint and short-lived display Sunday night over Alberta. The image shown above was taken at 10:16 pm and shows the characteristic greens of atmospheric oxygen as well as some purple emission from Nitrogen. Click on image for full-screen view.

Image Details - May 6, 2018

• Canon 7D, 16mm f2.0, iso 3200, 4s exposure

 

The scarred face of our moon! If you inspect each image carefully you can begin to see a history of the moon reveal itself. Older, "submerged" craters are still visible through the smooth "lava-plains" that flowed several billion years ago on the lunar surface. Numerous tiny craters (as well as the dominant ones in each image) are more recent and remind us that asteroidal impact events still occur in the solar system. Small "rivulets" that were at one time lava-rivers are also visible. Rupes Recta (panel on the right) is a 100 km long escarpment. Click on each image for a larger view. The images were taken using "lucky-imaging" - several thousand frames from a video stream are combined with mathematical filtering techniques rejecting frames blurred by the atmosphere. Each of these images represents several thousand frames captured at roughly 50 frames per second over a continuous span of many minutes.

Image Details - April 23, 2018

• Telescope: Celestron C-14 @ f11 (4.0 m fl)
• ZWO-ASI 224MC (UV/IR cut filter)
• Custom mount

 

An unexpected bright aurora Thursday evening - just before the clouds rolled in! Click on image for full screen view.

Image Details - April19, 2018

• Canon 7D, 16mm f2.0, iso 1600, 4s exposure

 

Mercury and Venus make a rare appearance! For the next few nights you will be able to see Mercury quite high above the western horizon. What makes this conjunction unusual is how bright Mercury is - it is seldom this easy to see and indeed few people will have seen the inner most of the planets. Keep watching over the next few nights as the planets move closer together and Mercury fades - but don't wait too long! Mercury always sets (or rises) close to the sun. This image was taken at 8:32 pm. (Click on image for larger view)

Image Details - March 12, 2018

• Canon 7D, 16mm f2.0, iso 1250

 

When you see the constellation Leo the Lion rising in the east at sunset you know spring is fast approaching! Leo is a region of the sky rich in galaxies and pictured above is a lovely trio - the Leo Triplet which comprises Messier 65, Messier 66 and NGC 3628 (from left-right and top-bottom). This cluster is about 35 million light years from earth and reminds us that galaxies are a gregarious lot and like to live in families! Messier 66 was featured as TKUO pic of the week April 18, 2012 while NGC 3628 was pic of the week for April 11, 2015. Click on the image to get a full screen view.

Image Details - February 22, March 7,8, 2018

• Telescope: StellarVue 102RT @ f/5.6
• ZWO-ASI 1600 mm
• Paramount MX
• filters

  • L: 40 x 120 s
  • R: 30 x 180 s
  • G: 30 x 180 s
  • B: 30 x 180 s
• Pixinsight 1.8 processing

 

NGC 2174 (or "The Monkey Head Nebula") is an emission nebula in the Orion star-forming region of the sky. (The "monkey" is seen in a 1/4 profile looking to the left with its head tipped slightly upward!). This image is taken through Hydrogen, Oxygen and Sulphur narrow-band filters and using the Hubble Palette which assigns blue to OIII, green to H-alpha and red to SII emission. Click on this image for a full-screen view.

Image Details - February 22,26,28, 2018

• Telescope: StellarVue 102RT @ f/5.6
• ZWO-ASI 1600 mm
• Paramount MX
• filters

  • Halpha: 9 x 600 s
  • OIII: 12 x 600 s
  • SII: 12 x 600 s
• Pixinsight 1.8 processing

 

A brief burst of geomagnetic activity above the Edmonton region! This playful aurora appeared in the early evening of February 26 and just as quickly disappeared! (You can catch events like this with the aid of Spaceweather.com). Click on each image for a full-screen view.

Image Details - February 26, 2018

• Rokinon 16 mm f2.0 lens on Canon T3 camera ("un-modded") @ ISO 800
• Fixed mount
• exposures - 4s

 

The Rosette Nebula through "Alien Eyes"? Imagine if our eyes responded only to the light emitted by Sulphur, Hydrogen and Oxygen atoms. Then perhaps the Rosette nebula would look like the image on the left. This image was taken through filters that only pass a very small slice of the visible spectrum. The green areas are due to the emission of light from Hydrogen, the red areas from Sulphur and the blue areas from Oxygen. This form of presentation is called the Hubble Palette and is a common colour-coding used by the Hubble Space Telescope. Click on the left-hand image for a full screen view.

 

The stunning Rosette Nebula (aka Caldwell 50) is a winter sky gem. Tucked away in the constellation Monoceros ("The Unicorn") at a distance of 5000 light years, the Rosette Nebula is a star forming region and part of the much larger Orion-star forming complex. In the centre of the nebula is the bright young cluster of stars - NGC 2244. The two objects are related - the gas and dust of the nebula has provided the stuff from which the stars were born. Click on the image for a full-screen view.

Image Details - January 22, February 3,5, 2018

• Telescope: StellarVue 102RT @ f/5.6
• ZWO-ASI 1600 mm
• Paramount MX
• filters

  • L: 18 x 300 s
  • R: 18 x 300 s
  • G: 18 x 300 s
  • B: 18 x 300 s
  • Halpha: 4 x 600 s
• Pixinsight 1.8 processing

 

The Open Cluster Messier 35 (middle of image) is a family of roughly 1000 stars located 2800 light years from Earth in the constellation Gemini. The cluster is relatively young having formed about 150 million years ago. Below and to the right is the much more distant cluster NGC 2158. At a distance of 11 000 light years, this object was once thought to be a globular cluster but now it is believed to be a very old open cluster (about 2 billion years old).

Image Details - January 22, 2018

• Telescope: StellarVue 102RT @ f/5.6
• ZWO-ASI 1600 mm
• Paramount MX
• filters

  • L: 12 x 120 s
  • R: 12 x 120 s
  • G: 12 x 120 s
  • B: 12 x 120 s
• Pixinsight 1.8 processing

 

The Great Nebula in Orion (NGC 1976) is a marvelous sight in a small telescope and spectacular in a large one! Located in the Sword of Orion and visible to the unaided, M42 is an active star forming site located approximately 1300 light years away and is the closest star forming region. The intricate wisps and variety of colours tell us about the chemical composition and structure of the cloud. Beneath the nebula lies "The Running Man Nebula" (Sharpless 279) where the bright blue colour derives from scattering of starlight from fine dust grains in the nebula. Click on image for a full-screen view.

Image Details - January 4,5,11, 2018

• Telescope: StellarVue 102RT @ f/5.6
• ZWO-ASI 1600 mm
• Paramount MX
• filters

  • L: 12 x 10 s, 12 x 30 s, 12 x 120 s, 6 x 300 s
  • R: 12 x 10 s, 12 x 30 s, 12 x 120 s, 6 x 300 s
  • G: 12 x 10 s, 12 x 30 s, 12 x 120 s, 6 x 300 s
  • B: 12 x 10 s, 12 x 30 s, 12 x 120 s, 6 x 300 s
• Pixinsight 1.8 processing

 

Magnificent aurora captured by King's astronomy student and professional photographer Chris Wood at the conclusion of an Astro 200 evening lab at the TKU Observatories on September 27, 2017. Click on each image for a full screen view.

Stars are Born - in dust clouds such as this - NGC 6820 in the constellation Vulpeculae! Vulpeculae or The Fox is a faint constellation in the northern summer sky situated just above Altair, the bottom star in the summer Triangle. This is part of our Milky Way, about 6000 light years away and is a vast star forming region. This image represents "a work in progress". If skies permit, over the next several weeks more data on this image will be acquired and eventually a colour image of the region will be produced. The image shown above was taken through a broadband "L' filter on Sunday evening, September 10. Click on this image for a larger view.

Image Details - September 10, 2017

• Telescope: StellarVue 102RT @ f/5.6
• ZWO-ASI 1600 mm
• Paramount MX
• filters
  • L: 20 x 300 s
• Pixinsight 1.8 processing

 

A spectacular group of sunspots is currently populating the solar surface. These are HUGE spots and can even be seen with the unaided eye and an appropriate filter. What makes these odd is the fact that the sun should be approaching solar minimum - a time in which we usually see very few sunspots. Often accompanying such large spots is increased flare activity and the potential for bright northern lights. This image was produced by taking roughly 1500 frames - each of 0.01 s duration and then summing them. Click on this image for a larger view.

The image on the right is a close-up of the major sunspot group. In this image you can see the dark area (umbra) surrounded by the lighter penumbra of the sunspots.

Image Details - September 6, 2017

• Telescope: StellarVue 102RT @ f/5.6
• ZWO-ASI 1600 mm (approximately 1500 frames added )
• Paramount MX
• filters
  • Baader full aperture film
• Auto Stakkert and Registax 6 processing

A very active sun! Two huge solar prominences and lots of smaller ones along the solar limb as well as an extended sunspot group on the solar surface. This is a composite image produced by stacking 2000+ images of the solar surface and limb details. Click on image for a larger view.

Image Details - August 17, 2017

• Telescope: Coronado SolarMaxII
• ZWO-ASI 1600 mm
• HEQ5 mount
• Registax 6 and Autostakkert processing

The "jellyfish-like" object in the centre of the frame goes by a number of names: The Crescent Nebula, NGC 6888, Sharpless 105 or Caldwell 27. This is the end-stage in the life of a massive star destined to become a supernova - likely sometime in the next few thousand years! Just off centre in the nebula is the progenitor star WR136 or HD192163. This is a Wolf-Rayet star which is a rare class of stars (only about 150 are known in our galaxy) that is the inner core of a star that has blown much of its outer envelope into space. The large nebula is the result of rapidly moving material from the star colliding with an earlier episode of mass ejection in the star's recent past. This star has a mass of more than 20 times the sun's mass and is about 4.7 million years old. The image shown here was produced over two nights and is "bi-colour" - the result of combining an image of light emitted by Hydrogen atoms (reddish hues) and Oxygen atoms (bluish hues). Click on the image for a full-screen view.

Image Details - July 25,29, 2017

• Telescope: StellarVue 102RT @ f/5.6
• ZWO-ASI 1600 mm
• Paramount MX
• filters
  • Halpha: 12 x 60 s
  • OIII: 11 x 600 s
• Pixinsight 1.8 processing

Lovely solar prominences today (July 7)! The delicate brush-like structure at the "8o-clock" position is sometimes referred to as a hedgerow prominence. Above appears a small sunspot group and a brighter area known as a plage. The delicate swirling pattern delineates the strong magnetic fields that accompany sunspots. Click on this image for a larger view.

Image Details - July 7, 2017

• Telescope: Coronado Solar MaxII - Double Stack H-alpha telescope, 2X Barlow lens
• ZWO-ASI 224MC camera
• AutoStakkert & Registax processing

During our lovely summer evenings the Milkyway arm of our galaxy bisects the night sky. The image shown above represents a total exposure time of 8 hours and was taken over two nights at King's Observatory #2. If you look up and find the summer triangle (an asterism marked by the bright stars Deneb, Vega and Altair) you will see a faint glowing band. The image shown here is a small portion of the Milkyway, replete with clouds of glowing gas, near Deneb. This image uses the Hubble Space Telescope colour palette - Hydrogen gas is shown in green, Sulfur in red and Oxygen in blue. Dark areas in the image are dusty regions full of "star stuff"!

Click on image a really big view!

Image Details - July 3,4, 2017

• Telescope: StellarVue 102RT @ f/7
• ZWO-ASI 1600 camera
  • Halpha 32 x 5 min; SII, OII; 24 x 5min each filter
• Paramount MX
• Pixinsight processing

Our Sun's ever changing face! This image was taken in Hydrogen-alpha light on the afternoon of June 25, 2017. Solar prominences are dynamic phenomena tracing the movement of hot, hydrogen gas threading along the magnetic field lines of the sun. These structures evolve over the span of just a few hours. This particular one is several times larger than Earth and has been visible for the past several days. Click on image for larger view.

Image Details - June 25, 2017

• Telescope: Coronado Solar MaxII - Double Stack H-alpha telescope, 2X Barlow lens
• ZWO-ASI 224MC camera
• Registax processing

A solar inferno! This image was produced using a very special kind of telescope that focuses the red light emitted by Hydrogen atoms. This allows you to see delicate features not visible in white light (for example - compare this image to the TKUO pic of the week for March 29) . The mottled surface and twisting shapes show how the electrically charged plasma of the sun follows the tangled magnetic field lines that poke up through the solar surface and then back into it. At about the "one o'clock" position on the limb of the sun you can see a solar prominence. This is an arc of hot hydrogen gas leaping off the solar surface and following the magnetic field. The dark, long wisps (or filaments) on the solar surface are prominences seen from above and form a silhouette against the solar surface. To help give a bit more perspective - at the upper right corner is a tiny insert showing the size of the Earth in comparison to the features in this image. If you click on the image a full size pop-up will appear.

Image Details - June 19, 2017

• Telescope: Coronado Solar MaxII - Double Stack H-alpha telescope
• ZWO-ASI 224MC camera
• Registax and Pixinsight processing

The early summer sky in the constellation Lyra is dominated by the bright star Vega. Close by is a remarkable sight - the "Smoke Ring" nebula or Messier 57. This is a classic example of a planetary nebula - one of the last phases in the evolution of a star like our sun. The nebula is located about 2000 light years away and is roughly 1 light year in diameter. Planetary nebulae are short-lived stages in stellar evolution lasting only about 10,000 years in this form before gently dissipating into interstellar space. Click on this image to get a close-up view of the Ring Nebula.

Image Details - May 28, 2017

• Telescope: StellarVue 102RT @ f/7
• ZWO-ASI 1600 camera
  • LRGB; 10 x 2min each filter
• Paramount MX
• Pixinsight processing