NJAA Tonight - "Astrophysicist In The Making : A 17 Year old's plan for...

As a follower of this blog, you probably remember that NJAA hosted a party last year for Life Member Mitch Revoalski after he achieved his Doctorate in Astrophysics....  Now NJAA is proud to have student Athena York Basu discuss her love for astronomy and her future plans in astrophysics in a video streamed from the NJAA website on September 26 at 8:30pm   (NOTE: this is scheduled for Saturday the 26th of September NOT today as indicated in the link)

 Kah-Wai Lin saw an opportunity during last night's clear sky to test his new iOptron mount with his Sony A6 and Canon zoom lens. It looks like everything worked fine! I think the Pleiades (M45) image was taken at 300 or 400mm focal length using 30 second subs, while the North America Nebula (NGC7000) was taken at 150mm focal length using 40 minutes of 1 minute subs. Although he took a set of darks he said he didn't use them in post processing.

Excellent images Kah-Wai, especially considering these are your first try at "deep sky" imaging.

Thanks for sharing,

Keith

Pleiades (M45)

North America Nebula (NGC7000)

New Member Kah-Wai Lin's First Deep Sky "Test" Shot

 Welcome to new NJAA member Kah-Wai Lin. A biologist PhD with research experience at Princeton University, he shifted gears and began a career as a professional photographer/lecturer. Travelling to over 60 countries over the years, recently Kah-Wai purchased a new iOptron Sky Watcher Sky Tracker and while testing it out during partly cloudy NJ skies, he took the image below using his Sony A6 camera and Canon  400mm lens.

I wish my first try at deep sky looked this good!  We can look forward to many more of his images here....  Thanks,

Keith

Another great Tim Schott shot...!

 Tim took this great shot of the Cosmic Rosebud Nebula (NGC7129), a reflection nebula in the constellation Cepheus on the night of August 19, 2020

This was taken from his home observatory in Easton, PA, USA
using his 10"Third Planet Optics RC Truss scope on a Losmandy G11 mount with a Nikon D810a camera.

Nice job, Tim...

Keith

This is the same shot sent from Tim as he did some more post processing.... I'm leaving the original shot in the post so you can see the difference that post processing can make in astro imaging.
The last image shows that the nebula is actually much more extensive and colored.

Thanks for the extra work, Tim.

About the nebula; it is about 3,300ly  from Earth and is lit by a young open cluster of more than 130 stars. It's apparent magnitude is 11.7, so you would need a telescope to see it. The rosy-pinkish and gray color is probably "from hydrocarbon rich molecular material" while "three very young stars near the center of the nebula are sending jets of supersonic gas into the cloud. The collision of these jets heats carbon monoxide molecules in the nebula."

The quotes are from Wikipedia

Keith

Comet C/2020 NEOWISE image shows movement over the night sky

Rick Kelly (a NJAA member during the 1970's) and member Al Ernst cooperated on this shot of Comet NEOWISE C/2020, showing it's motion over 2¾ hours. 

Al took the comet's image on the right through a blue/green filter on July 28th at 2:30UTC from his home observatory in Bridgewater, New Jersey while Rick took the unfiltered image on the left from Castro Valley, California at 5:15UTC.

It's a great comparison showing this great comet's movement over the sky during such a short period of time.

Thanks for sharing Al and Rick.

Keith

Here's a great shot of Comet NEOWISE by Mike Peoples

Thanks Mike

Comet Neowise C/2020 image improved by stacking.

Al Ernst improved his image of Comet C/2020 (NEOWISE) by stacking it in Nebulosity. Taken in Martinsville, NJ, USA with a Canon 6D, ISO 1600 using 12x 15 seconds.
Awesome close up Al, thanks.
Keith

N16/NGC 6611 "Eagle Nebula" looks great in NJAA's local area

M16/NGC 6611 - The Eagle Nebula is a star forming region in the constellation Serpens. The gas and dust clouds at the center of the nebula is known as "The Pillars of Creation" as seen by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope's images.
Tim Schott used his 10" Third Planet Optics RC Truss scope with a Nikon D850a on a Losmandy G11 from Easton, Pennsylvania. 
Well done, Tim, looking to see more of your work.
Keith

Comet C2020 (NEOWISE) viewed from a Somerst County Park

I took these images from the parking lot of a local park in central NJ... the important feature there is a view all the way down to the western - northern  horizon. Some small bushes block a little view but I think that adds to the photo! I used a Nikon DSLR with a 28 - 300mm lens at 28mm and 105mm. Exposure was ISO 1000, 10" at f5.6 on a tripod and the self-timer.
Keith Marley

The Pandemic Has A Bright Side

The Covid 19 Pandemic has had a effect on us all, but Tim Schott shows there is still some beauty in the world with this image of the NEOWISE C/2020 Comet. No details of how he got the shot, but its awesome!
Thanks Tim,
Keith