Showing posts with label Astro-Photos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Astro-Photos. Show all posts

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

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Mars Occultation of April 14 2007

Hi friends

Here are some of the pics of Mars Occultation on April 14, 2007 morning, taken with 4" Telescope and Mobile Camera using AFocal Method (Eyepiece and Camera lens in place).

1. 5:44 AM


2. 5:57 AM - Shivering due to Cold ??? - [:D] Just Kidding


3. 5:59 - Touch Down


4. 6:24 AM - Reappearance - faint white dot below core


5. 6:25 AM - Little more contrast but no help :(


Following Photos were taken while waiting for Mars to Reappear.

At 6:05 AM


At 6:06 AM


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This one was taken on March 24, 2007 -

Moon was setting in to Trees of "Yeur Hills" at 11:44 PM. Thin Clouds and polluted horizon make it hard to achive sharp focus...



Have a Nice Time Always
Sameer :)

Monday, March 19, 2007

Partial Solar Eclipse 19 March 2007 - Photos

Hi friends

Here are the pics of Todays that is 19 March 2007 Partial Solar Eclipse. I used my new Mobile to take these photos.... :)

Place: Thane
Camera: Sony Erricson K750i.
Time: Between 6:53 AM to 6:58 AM.
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Please post your comments and photos of eclipse.

- Sameer Thakur

Sunday, March 4, 2007

Photos of Lunar Eclipse of March 3

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These are Photographs of Lunar Eclipse taken By Shailesh Sansare on the night of 3-4 March 2007.

His Equipment
Telescope:= 4" Newtonion Telescope & Konus Spotting Scope 60mm aperture.
Camera:= NIKON E5700 - 5 mega pixel
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ISO := 200
Expo:= 1 Sec
F/Number:= 2.4
Tele:= 280 mm
Time: March 4, 2007 : 6:43 am
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ISO := 200
Expo:= 1/4 Sec
F/Number:= 10
Tele:= 1000 mm - using AFocal method
Time: March 4, 2007 : 6:27 am
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ISO := 200
Expo:= 1/2 Sec
F/Number:= 10
Tele:= 1000 mm - using AFocal method
Time: March 4, 2007 : 6:27 am
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ISO := 200
Expo:= 1/2 Sec
F/Number:= 10
Tele:= 1000 mm - using AFocal method (Konus Spotting Scope)
Time: March 4, 2007 : 6:41 am

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ISO := 200
Expo:= 1 Sec
F/Number:= 10
Tele:= 1000 mm - using AFocal method (Konus Spotting Scope)
Time: March 4, 2007 : 6:42 am
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Please post your comments and if you have taken photos of eclipse please mail me with details i will post it on blog.

Sameer Thakur
thakursam@gmail.com

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

I am really depressed ...

We all have seen brilliant photos of Comet McNaught in First week of Jan. I am really depressed not to see this comet visually. all our attempts to watch comet were unsuccessful due to Hazy and Cloudy Sky in evening, And Now as comet is not visible in Northern Part of Glob; I am depressed even more for being not able to see this comet in it’s full glory..

I hope you too will join list of depressed Amature Astronomers after you see these images of Comet from Southern Hemisphere.

= Click on Images to view in Full Size ===



Robert McNaught:
the Australian who discovered this comet that bears his name, finally got to photograph it this week when it became visible from the Southern Hemisphere.
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Pitt: This photograph was taken at Lake Macquarie on the NSW central coast on Saturday, 20th January using a NIKON 5700. The exposure was 8 seconds, f2.8 set at ISO 400 and with a focal length of 8.9 mm. On a balmy summer evening many interested people stopped to view the cosmic spectacle.
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Peter Terren:
Bunbury AustraliaJan. 22, 2007
The huge fan is visible far more than the naked eye can see in this 3 minute exposure with a Nikon D70s.
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Ashley Marles:
Christchurch, New ZealandJan. 22, 2007
Photo details: Canon 20D, ISO400, lens 24mm, 35mm, and 200mm piggybacked on Celestron C8
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Noel Munford:
Levin, New Zealand overlooking Lake HorowhenuaJan. 17, 2007
Photo details: Fuji S3, 70-200 zoom lens, Meade 1000mm f/10, 800 ISO, 2 sec.
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Graham Palmer:
Hastings New ZealandJan. 18, 2007Comet McNaught simply floored me with its beauty. I just didn't expect to see that. All images shot with a Canon 350D
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Sam Kay:
near Peaks Crossing, SW of Brisbane, AustraliaJan. 20, 2007 : = Red glow on horizon of setting comet tail.
Photo details: Nikon D50, 20sec, f1.8 50mm lens, ISO 1600. Image is about 20 deg wide.

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David Headland:
Oamaru, South Island, New ZealandJan. 22, 2007
Photo details: Canon EOS 20D, 70mm lens,
photo 1: 25s f/2.8 3200ISO
photo 2: 6s f/2.8 1600ISO

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Morton Henderson:
Wangi Wangi, Lake Macquarie, NSW Australia.Jan. 20, 2007
The tail is so big now, it's too big to fit in the field of view, and I left my wide angle at home!
Photo details: Canon EOS 10D, ISO 400, 70mm lens, approx 10 seconds.
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Emmanuel Jehin:
Paranal Observatory (VLT), Chile (2500m, Atacama desert)Jan. 18, 2007
A comet or an aurora ? That was just incredible ... the show of MacNaught is way above the Hale-Bopp display in 1997. I dont know to which comet to compare. Ikeya-Seki (1965), West (1976) or even the great comet of 1744 ? During nearly one hour after the comet had disappeared in the Pacific Ocean we could see the upper part of the tail shining like an aurora. The structure in the tail is amazing and reflects the activity of the comet in the past weeks as well as the competion between solar radiation pressure and gravity on dust particules of different masses.
Photo details: Canon EOS 350D, 35mm lens, 30 sec exposure, 1600 iso
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NOTE: While the comet is in the southern hemisphere, the comet's tail is so long it can be seen half a world away--in the northern hemisphere.

This report comes from Colorado:
Paul Robinson reported spotting the tail on Jan 16 west of Boulder CO. As he described, the multiple streamers looked like faint auroral rays. 10 degrees was the maximum length I saw for the brightest streamer in 10x40 binoculars. Brightest star in the image is Enif, and Delphinus is near the lower right.

Photo details: Canon 20D, ISO 1600, f/4, 17mm lens, 20 seconds. Taken at 0038 UT on Jan 18 2007, 1838 MST on Jan 17.

The tail was visible in binoculars about when Venus set.

Suggestion: Find the darkest western sky you can, and look at latest by an hour after sunset. A site with zodiacal light visible would be best. Cheers, Dan Laszlo, Northern Colorado Astronomical Society.

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HOPE you are depressed too :(

Friday, December 15, 2006

For Those Who Missed the Show




Hi All,

This is the Photograph of Geminid Meteor by Sagar Godambe taken from Vangani on the night of 13-14th December.

You can see faint vertical steak of meteor on right side of bright star in the field. Due to heavy light pollution sky is fogged and meteor appears faint steak.


You might think what’s great in posting photo of faint steak which is barely visible, and then just try to figure out efforts required for capturing one.

1. Spending Nights out on Odd Days and traveling to out station to get as much as possible clear sky.
2. Meteor falling rate is very low around 1 meteor per 5 mins.
3. Out of 360 of Sky camera can capture only 50 degrees at times.
4. Though during Meteor Shower radiant of meteor is from particular point in sky but meteor may fall any where in whole sky. So targeting sky for photo and getting meteor in frame is all left to your luck.
5. And most important is "YOUR PATIENCE and PERSISTANCE and NEVER QUITE ATTITUDE" even after many repeated failures in Capturing Meteors on Frame.

HATS OF TO SAGAR..

Monday, December 11, 2006

Our Milky Way on Desktop


One of the best photo of milkyway.
Looks really nice as Wallpaper..
Click on Image to open Fullsize Image..