Any star gazers and amateur astronomers ?

https://x.com/spacedotcom/status/1725499411323637997?s=46

 

Here’s to clear skies where you are:
https://x.com/csa_asc/status/1725589623844323476?s=46

 

The Monkey Head Nebula mosaic. 1576 10 second subs, Dual Band filter.
The Monkey Head Nebula is an emission nebula located in the constellation Orion, the Hunter. The nebula is an H II region, a large cloud of ionised gas in which new stars are being formed. The low-density cloud is a site of intense star formation.

Orion is just starting to become available to me as it's rising above trees to my south.

RGB version


Hubble Palette Version

 

The Wizard Nebula mosaic. 1443 10 second subs, Dual Band filter. This is a collection of interstellar gas surrounding the open star cluster, NGC 7380. It lies approximately 7200 light-years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 7.2 in the constellation Cepheus.

Was supposed to be mostly cloudy per the news forecast. Clear skies at sunset so I set up and was able to get almost 3 hours of integration on this target. The extended time really allowed for nice detail in the gas cloud!

 

I have been watching presentations put on by iTelescope for some time. They're more active during the winter months but are usually offered every few weeks throughout the year. Usually Friday during the morning (10 or 11 am).

Today's presentation was on Cultural Astronomy given by Ana Maria Milla who operates Planetarium Cusco located in Peru and I thought it might be of interest to some. They don't have much when compared to the average backyard astronomer in this group but they're bringing it to the people! The presentation will be available on the iTelescope YouTube channel in the next day or two. https://www.youtube.com/@itelescopewebinars. Anyway, I enjoyed the presentation and the connection of the Inca culture to direct astronomy. As amateurs, it's pretty cool to be able to tie them together however loosely. You can find out more about Planetarium Cusco here: https://planetariumcusco.com/.

Erwin Salazar wrote a book about the subject that is available from Amazon Kindle for $10. Ana Maria mentioned she is related to Erwin Salazar.

$10 The Inka Astronomy Handbook: Cultural Astronomy: Archaeo & Ethno Astronomy

https://www.amazon.com/Inka-Astrono...00854320&sprefix=erwin+salazar,aps,149&sr=8-2

 

Crappy, but kind of cool imho, iphone pic from tonight - the extra blob by the moon is an artifact:

 

Bubble nebula and M52 mosaic widefield with CovalENS, Dual Band Filter and Affinity Photo 2. 811 10 second subs

 

Pacman Nebula mosaic with CovalENS. 1136 10 second sub exposures. Rendered starless in Astro Cooker and star recomposition in Siril. Almost full moon

 

Photo op tonight:
https://x.com/spacedotcom/status/1728775989130375638?s=46

 

This is a bright wall of interstellar gas. Stars are forming in this ridge of emission known as the Cygnus Wall Complex. It is part of a larger emission nebula (NGC 7000) also known as the The North America Nebula.

This ridge is approximately 20 light years long and is a huge star forming region. This image represents 16 mosaic frames (1593 10 second sub exposures). Dual Band filter, CovalENS mosaic mode, full moon. Cold (25 deg F), very clear with little wind.

 

M42 and M43 (Orion Nebula and De Mairan's Nebula). Just under 20 minutes of integration, dual band filter, CovalENS mosaic mode. Very cold and clear night, although I was fighting the full moon and trees that severly limited my capture time. The stacked .tif image was processed with Astro Cooker, Siril, and Affinity Photo 2.

 

Very nice!

 

My Moon pic from Sunday night. In Alaska.

 

& if any of you are in this Green “Swath” the Northern Lights are supposed to be going @ somepoint.

 

Right Now .. Waning Gibbous tonight .

 

Anyone else taking the day off?
https://x.com/pythonrocksnake/status/1730315184961376677?s=46

 

yea i've been debating where to go. this is on my birthday too! im in colorado springs and the shortest drive to a path is like 12 hours.

my fiance's parents are down in dallas so i was thinking of just going down there since we would have a place to stay.

there is a music festival just northwest of austin that seemed fun, but sounds like a lot.

arkansas is an idea too. but i think i would like to spend more time to mountain bike that area if i went. this trip would be just for the eclipse.

niagra falls was an idea, but i would guess thats all booked out and i dont want to deal with that much of a crowd.

i thought about flying, but idk how busy the airports would be and i kind of want to take my dog.

 

https://x.com/scienceworld224/status/1731402927372378191?s=46

 

Jellyfish and Monkeyhead Nebulae, 1660 10 second sub exposures. Dual band filter, CovalENS, combination of 2 separate mosaics to get the wider FOV of 3.9 x 2.8 degrees.

 

The Pelican Nebula (also known as IC 5070 and IC 5067, 206 10 second sub exposures. Dual Band filter, Astro Cooker. The Pelican is much studied because it has a particularly active mix of star formation and evolving gas clouds. I was hoping for a much longer integration time, but just caught interference from the very top of trees in my yard which ended that....