Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Astrophotography - Orion Nebula Core Details...

Dear Friends,

On the Night of 22nd Jan me and Nilesh Desai tried to capture Beautiful Core of Orion Nebula in the Constellation of Orion.

The Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) is a diffuse nebula situated south of Orion's Belt. It is one of the brightest nebulae, and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky. M42 is located at a distance of 1,344 ± 20 light years and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. The M42 nebula is estimated to be 24 light years across.

The Nebula is in fact part of a much larger nebula that is known as the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. The Orion Molecular Cloud Complex extends throughout the constellation of Orion and includes Barnard's Loop, the Horsehead Nebula, M43, M78 and the Flame Nebula. Stars are forming throughout the Orion Nebula, and due to this heat-intensive process the region is particularly prominent in the infrared.

The Orion Nebula contains a very young open cluster, known as the Trapezium due to the asterism of its primary four stars. Two of these can be resolved into their component binary systems on nights with good seeing, giving a total of six stars. The stars of the Trapezium, along with many other stars, are still in their early years. The Trapezium may be a component of the much-larger Orion Nebula Cluster, an association of about 2,000 stars within a diameter of 20 light years. Two million years ago this cluster may have been the home of the runaway stars AE Aurigae, 53 Arietis, and Mu Columbae, which are currently moving away from the nebula at velocities greater than 100 km/s.

Observers have long noted a distinctive greenish tint to the nebula, in addition to regions of red and areas of blue-violet. The red hue is well-understood to be caused by Hα recombination line radiation at a wavelength of 656.3 nm. The blue-violet coloration is the reflected radiation from the massive O-class stars at the core of the nebula.

The green hue was a puzzle for astronomers in the early part of the 20th century because none of the known spectral lines at that time could explain it. There was some speculation that the lines were caused by a new element, and the name "nebulium" was coined for this mysterious material. With better understanding of atomic physics, however, it was later determined that the green spectra was caused by a low-probability electron transition in doubly ionized oxygen, a so-called "forbidden transition". This radiation was all but impossible to reproduce in the laboratory because it depended on the quiescent and nearly collision-free environment found in deep space.

Orion Nebula is the most observed and photographed object in the Sky. As a matter of fact on September 30, 1880, M42 was the first nebula to be successfully photographed, by Henry Draper. Consequently, on March 14, 1882, Henry Draper obtained a second, better, deeper, and more detailed photograph of the Orion Nebula, a 137-minutes exposure, which also clearly shows M43. Todays advancement in photography allows anyone to get better photos of Orion Nebula than what Henry got in 1882.

Its the object of Beginner Astrophotographers, I bate every astrophotographer starts with M42 as first deepsky object, so do we :D

This is our attempt to show beautiful details of the Core of Orion Nebula, which are normally lost in photos as its get overexposed but visible nicely when observed with Large Telescopes.

Here is the result of our attempt...
Orion Nebula Core

Comments and Critiques welcome..

Have a Nice Day
Sameer

Monday, January 17, 2011

Morning Walk in Karnala on Jan 16 2011

Dear Friends,

On 16th Jan 2011, I went to Karnala. It was my most awaited trip since I started with Bird Watching. Being nearest Bird Sanctuary to Mumbai, I was planning for this since long, but somehow it was never materialized until last Sunday. Though I have been to Karnala 3-4 time before for Trekking and Climbing, And never noticed any bird in sanctuary then (Never Tried to see :P )

I left from Thane early morning and reached Karnala Gate by 7:00 AM. After getting ticket for entry I walked till Rest Houses. One the way can see many small birds like sunbirds, Red whiskered bulbul, Red vented Bulbuls, Drongo. I waited at rest house area for 10-15mins. As soon I reached there I saw one flock of Pompadour Green Pigeon came and rested on one tall tree, the Sun was not up and pigeons were waiting for it. While observing those I suddenly heard bird call from my right, saw Rufous Paradise-flycatcher, before I could get any shot it vanished in dense jungle, never seen again. (Thats the Largest Bird I saw that day apart from Parrots)

I could hear beautiful song of some bird and I guess that must be Shama, but never seen it. Saw Drongo sitting on the top of the tree and making noises, I guessed it irritated Erasian Golden Oriole, who swiftly jumped to that branch and drove away Drongo. Red Whisker Bulbuls were keeping me company everywhere I go so as Sunbirds flying in groups of 3-4 and making all possible noises they can.

I returned to Hariali Trail from Rest house, and started walking. Saw Purple Sunbird and Crimson Backed Sunbirds, Black Drongo, Bronze Drongo, Small Minivets, White-rumped Munia, Rufous tailed Shrike (confirmation required) , Reed Warbler, Brown Cheeked Fulvetta, Red Throated Flycatcher Female and Thick Billed Flowerpecker.

From Hariali trail i moved to Mor Taka Trail, this trail is longer and narrow. The jungle is more dense around this trail, On this trail I saw Plum Header Parakeets, Chestnut Shouldered Petronia, Golden Fronted Leaf bird, Rose Ring Parakeets. Also Saw in dense bushes Gray JungleFowl also one bird like and size that of hen but Brown-red colored might be Grey JungleFowl female, could not confirm as it was just fleeting view.

Though it shows on map that Mor Taka trail comes back to Rest house, but I notice that trail simply vanishes at one point and one is left with dense jungle ahead. I returned to Rest house and then returned back, did not attempted to go to fort way.

Final List of Birds seen after identifying unknow birds, Thanks to Dr. Vaibhav and P K Srivastava for identifying birds.

1. Red Whiskered Bulbul
2. Red Vented Bulbul
3. Pompadour Green Pigeon
4. Rufous Paradise-flycatcher
5. Black Drongo
6. Bronze Drongo
7. Erasian Golden Oriole
8. Purple Sunbird
9. Crimson Backed Sunbird
10. Small Minivet
11. White-rumped Munia
12. Rufous tailed Shrike
13. Reed Warbler
14. Plum Header Parakeet
15. Rose Ring Parakeet
16. Chestnut Shouldered Petronia
17. Golden Fronted Leaf bird
18. Gray JungleFowl
19. Brown Cheeked Fulvetta
20. Red Throated Flycatcher (female only)
21. Thick Billed Flowerpecker
22. White Throated Kingfisher

Following are some of the photos i clicked on the way.

Rufous tailed Shrike


White-rumped Munia


White-rumped Munia


Golden Fronted Leaf bird


Crimson Backed Sunbird


Crimson Backed Sunbird


Bronze Drongo


Chestnut Shouldered Petronia


Pompadour Green Pigeon


Small Minivet


Plum Headed Parakeet - Male


Plum Headed Parakeet - Female


Rose-ring Parakeets


Reed Warbler


Brown Cheeked Fulvetta


Red Throated Flycatcher Female


Thick Billed Flowerpecker


Thanks and Regards,
Sameer

Monday, January 10, 2011

Kharghar Hills Birding with BNHS on 9 Jan 2011

Dear Friends,

I went to Kharghar Hills Birding Trail with BNHS on 9th Jan. Kharghar Hills is Part of Hills which Covers CBD Belapur on North West Side. The easy way to reach Hills is from CBD Belapur Bus Depot, its hardly 10 min walking distance. The gate is along the Sion-Panvel Highway, but not directly on the highway, there is one road going parallel to highway, the gate is just 50-100 meters from the end of the bridge towards panvel side. Kharghar Hills is declared as Nature Park by Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation. Access to this areas is allowed from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM only.

I reached the gate by 7:25 AM. Few people were already there. Once we registered with BNHS Volunteer Rahul. The trail guide was Julius, a knowledgeable volunteer of BNHS. Total some 20-25 people were there for the trail. We can hear lot of chirping of birds at the Gate itself.

This Nature Park has Motor-able Road through out. People from nearby area came here for Morning Walk, few came walking and many came by Cars !!!

Once Started on Trail along with Mr. Julius, we saw small birds commonly found in bushes. Julius was identifying birds by Call or by visual confirmation. He was also explaining about trees and bushes found along the trails. It was quite informative.

Looking at big mob birds were keeping safe distance from us, could not get any good photo of any bird. We walked till 10:30 AM looking for birds, trying to catch them in Camera. I saw few birds for the First time along with few commonly available everywhere.

Following is the list of Birds I saw:
- Tawny-bellied Babbler
- Plain Prinia
- Grey Breasted PRinia
- Ashy Prinia
- Golden Oriole
- Common Iora
- Purple Sunbird
- Palm Swallow
- Dusky Crag Martin
- Red vented Bulbul
- Red Whiskered Bulbul
- Oriental Magpie Robin
- White Throated Fisher
- Drongo
- Greater Coucal
- Green Bea eater
- Rose Ringed Parakeet
- Dove (Could not identify as flying fast)
- Indian Robin
- Black Kite
- Black Shouldered Kite
- Common Krestrel
- Booted Eagle (Pale Morph)
- Oriental Honey Buzzard - (Could not confirm)

After trail, I went along with Suvrashish Sarkar, to Vashi Mini Choupati, in hope to see some water birds, but the Shore Line was too far from Choupati, hence we came back empty handed.

Following are some of the photos I could manage to catch..

Tawny-bellied Babbler


Black Kite


Common Krestrel


Black Shouldered Kite






Dusky Crag Martin


Purple Sunbird Female


Indian Robin


Plain Prinia


Ashy Prinia


Golden Oriole


Common Iora


Booted Eagle (Pale Morph)


Oriental Honey Buzzard ( We guessed, no clear visual or picture)


Some Warbler


Milk Weed Seeds


Comments and Critiques Welcome

Have a Nice day
Sameer