Our Beautiful Universe - Photos and Videos

[collinsmark]

SH 2-188, sometimes called, "The Shrimp Nebula," [Edit: sometimes also called "The Dolphin Nebula"] captured from my back patio, August-October, 2023. SH 2-188 is a planetary nebula, about 850 light-years away, and can be seen in the constellation Cassiopeia.

It's unusual for a planetary nebula, in that it's so asymmetric, with one side being so bright compared to the other side. It's been postulated (Chris Wareing et. al., Conference: "Stellar end products" workshop, 2005) [Edit: here's an updated reference: https://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2006MNRAS.366..387W] that this is due to its relatively fast motion through the interstellar medium (ISM), the stuff in-between stars in our galaxy. This motion through the ISM creates a bow shock in addition to the normal stellar winds created by the central star. More-so, much of the matter on the leeward side may have been swept downstream.

Earlier, I mentioned it's "sometimes" called The Shrimp Nebula, because I don't think that name has fully caught on yet. [Edit: it's also sometimes called "The Dolphin Nebula."] You have to admit though, it does kinda look like a nice, tasty shrimp. (It's not to be confused with The Prawn Nebula, IC 4628; that's a completely different nebula.)

Another thing it resembles -- and I didn't realize this until I was writing up this description -- is my own hairstyle. Not the colors, mind you: my hair is mostly grayish brown and white at this point, but the style is spot on. I haven't been to the barber/hairstylist since the before times. I just cut my own hair with some clippers in the mirror. It takes me all of 45 seconds. I suppose it shows.

But if I cock my head to the side, and walk around in brightly colored neon lights, my hairstyle is a dead-ringer for SH 2-188.

I'll use that next time somebody says the usual, "Did you cut your hair with a lawnmower," or "Jaysus, what happened to your hair," or "Did your mom cut your hair again?" I'll just answer by saying it's cut in the particular style of SH 2-188.

Equipment:
Meade 10" LX200-ACF fork mounted on an equatorial wedge.
Off-axis guider (OAG) with guide camera.
Optolong 3nm narrowband filter set (SII, Hα, and Oiii).
ZWO ASI6200MM-Pro main camera.

Software:
N.I.N.A.
PHD2 guiding
PixInsight with RC-Astro plugins

Acquisition/Integration:
Location: San Diego, USA
Bortle class 7 (maybe 8 ) skies
All subframes binned 3x3
Stacked using drizzle algorithm
SHO mapping
SII: 79×600s = 13.17 hrs
Hα: 62×600s = 10.33 hrs
Oiii: 77×600s = 12.83 hrs
Total integration time: 36.33 hours.

 

[timmdeeg]

Hi,

I've been waiting for weeks to test my Sony A7III after being astro-modified and selected M33 for its H-alpha regions. Integration time was short because of upcoming clouds, but I think Ha is quite ok. Please criticize if it isn't.
I have been struggling to obtain a reasonable color balance.

A very weird experience recently, really hard to believe: stacking with DSS creates blown up stars if hotpixel recognition is activated, see below.

UNC 200/800 Newton f/4 - HEQ5-Pro - guiding with StarAid
DSS - Sirl/StarNet++- LightZone
Lights 22x180s - ISO 400

DSS without with hotpixel recognition

 

[collinsmark]

Hi,

I've been waiting for weeks to test my Sony A7III after being astro-modified and selected M33 for its H-alpha regions. Integration time was short because of upcoming clouds, but I think Ha is quite ok. Please criticize if it isn't.
I have been struggling to obtain a reasonable color balance.

A very weird experience recently, really hard to believe: stacking with DSS creates blown up stars if hotpixel recognition is activated, see below.

UNC 200/800 Newton f/4 - HEQ5-Pro - guiding with StarAid
DSS - Sirl/StarNet++- LightZone
Lights 22x180s - ISO 400
View attachment 337364DSS without with hotpixel recognition
View attachment 337365

Nice M33 shot! Great job!

In regards to the hot pixel rejection, I wish I could help more, but I don't use a hot pixel rejection algorithm directly. I use PixInsight rather than DSS. Instead of hot pixel detection,

• after I ensure subframe pointing involves some form of dithering during acquisition,
• I first calibrate with DARK and FLAT frames (and the FLAT frames are calibrated themselves with DARKFLAT frames),
• Then I use what's called "Winsorized Sigma Clipping," where, after star alignment (sometimes called "registration"), statistical outlier pixel values (on the basis of one calibrated, star-aligned subframe to the next) are replaced with median pixel values -- but only for statistical outliers. Other than those, everything then is averaged using the arithmetic mean (the averaging also involves weighting, primarily as a funciton of estimated SNR).
• [Edit: this workflow eliminates hot-pixels, cosmic ray artifacts, and satellite/airplane trails, all together.]

If I can speculate, what's happening is for some reason, the central region of many of your stars are being flagged as hot pixels, then replaced with a lower intensity value just for the central part of the star. Any sharpening/deconvolution will vomit at this, since it can't handle those sharp, spacial transitions, and you'll end up with weird results. That's my speculation anyway. The solution would be to tweak your existing pixel rejection algorithm, or look into using a different algorithm.

[Edit: Coincidentally, M33 is next in line in my processing queue. Give me a week or two for that post.]

 

[Andy Resnick]

After 2 months of cloudy nights, a couple clear-ish nights when M45 (Pleidaes) is in a good viewing position:

Nikon D810 + 800/8 lens mounted on a Losmandy GM-8, 8s frames, 14 hours total integration time. Images stacked in AstroPixel Processor. Stopping down the lens gives bright stars a cool 'sunburst' pattern:

 

[timmdeeg]

If I can speculate, what's happening is for some reason, the central region of many of your stars are being flagged as hot pixels, then replaced with a lower intensity value just for the central part of the star. Any sharpening/deconvolution will vomit at this, since it can't handle those sharp, spacial transitions, and you'll end up with weird results. That's my speculation anyway. The solution would be to tweak your existing pixel rejection algorithm, or look into using a different algorithm.

I appreciate that you like my image.

Thanks, this could be a reasonable explanation. I should add that above pictures are taken from the final stack, before processing. Perhaps the problem is somehow related to my Sony.

The only thing is for sure that I'm not alone, I've got this hint from someone else.

 

[Ibix]

Taken by my sister and my six year old nephew using her phone and his new 3" Dobsonian:

Apparently they could see the bands on Jupiter too, but I don't think they got a photo of that.

 

[collinsmark]

The Triangulum Galaxy, M33, captured from my back patio, Oct-Nov 2023. The galaxy is about 2.73 million light-years away, and can be seen in the constellation Triangulum.

Figure 1. M33, The Triangulum Galaxy.

I was able to capture quite a bit of detail with this one (see below).

Figure 2. Crop showing more detail.

The Triangulum Galaxy (M33) is part of our Local Group, together with The Andromeda Galaxy (M31), and our own Milky Way Galaxy. The Triangulum Galaxy is the smallest of the three, being only about 61,000 light-years across. And it's a little bit farther away from us than the Andromeda Galaxy.

If you have good eyesight, and your eyes are well adjusted to the darkness, and you're in a location away from city lights with dark skies, you might be able to just make out M33's core with your naked eyes. That makes The Triangulum Galaxy about the farthest, discernible object humans can make out with the naked eye, absent any additional optics or electronics.

I on the other hand, with my eyesight and light pollution, can't see crap. So, you can count me out. I'm happy if I can see to the end of the block without a telescope.

Well, I guess I can see the moon. And some planets: Jupiter, Saturn, and whatnot. And some of the brighter stars, Sirius, Deneb, Aldebaran, and the like. I might not be able to make out any constellations, but yeah, I guess there's a few bright stars. So there's that.

Equipment:
Explore Scientific 80ED-FCD100
Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro
Orion Field Flattener for Short Refractors
Off-axis guider (OAG) with guide camera
Optolong L-Pro filter
Baader Hα 3.5nm Ultra-Narrowband filter
ZWO LRGB filter set
ZWO ASI2600MM-Pro main camera

Software:
N.I.N.A.
PHD2 guiding
PixInsight with RC-Astro plugins

Acquisition/Integration:
Location: San Diego, USA
Bortle class 7 (maybe 8 ) skies.
All subframes binned 1x1, stacked with drizzle algorithm
L-Pro: 483×90s = 12.00 hrs
Hα: 84×480s = 11.20 hrs
R: 430×90s = 10.75 hrs
G: 390×90s = 9.75 hrs
B: 348×90s = 8.70 hrs
Total integration time: 52.4 hours.
.

 

[bruha]

Hello, I attach three yesterday attempts of Orion Trapezium made by handyphone adapter for eyepiece
(unfortunately its fuzzy by exposition time and with suburb light condition....)

 

[collinsmark]

The Deer Lick Group (NGC 7331 Group), shot from my back patio, Oct-Nov 2023. The prominent galaxy in the image, NGC 7331, lies about 40 million light-years away. The seemingly smaller surrounding galaxies (NGC 7335, 7336, 7337, and 7340), affectionately called "The Fleas," are not not gravitationally associated with NGC 7331, but rather just happen to be in the background, and are about 300-350 million light-years away. They can all be found in the constellation Pegasus when viewed from Earth.

Figure 1. Deer Lick Group.

Figure 2. Slight crop to show a bit more detail.

The name, "Deer Lick Group," apparently was coined by Tom Lorenzin, author of the book, 1000+ The Amateur Astronomer's Field Guide to Deep Sky Observing, when he was observing the galaxies in the Deerlick Gap Overlook, in the Deer Lick Gap region in the mountains of North Carolina, USA. The name stuck. I must admit, this is perhaps my favorite name for a group of galaxies.

NGC 7331 is much like our own Milky Way Galaxy in terms of size and structure, except that the Milky Way is now thought to be a barred spiral, whereas NGC 7331 is an unbarred spiral.

Equipment:
Meade 10" LX200-ACF fork mounted on an equatorial wedge.
Off-axis guider (OAG) with guide camera.
Optolong broadband filter set.
Optolong L-Pro filter
Optolong 3 nm Hα filter
ZWO ASI6200MM-Pro main camera.

The Deer Lick Gap, North Carolina, USA, apparently got its name in reference to the natural salt deposits in the area that would attract wildlife fauna, such as deer.

Software:
Nighttime Imaging 'N' Astronomy (N.I.N.A.)
PHD2 guiding
PixInsight with RC-Astro plugins

I used to have cats that caught fleas on occasion: Phea, Teva, Osso, and Nyquist Stability Criterion for the Function GH(s).

Acquisition/Integration:
Location: San Diego, USA
Bortle class 7 (maybe 8 ) skies
All subframes binned 3×3
R: 107×4min = 7.13 hrs
G: 124×4min = 8.27 hrs
B: 159×4min = 10.60 hrs
L-Pro: 232×3min = 11.60 hrs
Hα: 37×10min = 6.17 hrs
Total integration time: 43.77 hours

They all lived long and happy lives (the cats, not the fleas).

 

[collinsmark]

Section of the Soul Nebula (LBN 673), imaged from my back patio, Oct-Dec, 2023. The Soul Nebula, SH 2-199, is a relatively large nebula in Cassiopeia. It contains various nebulous regions and star clusters. Shown here is one such region, LBN 673. The entire Soul Nebula is too large (angular wise) to fit into the field of view of my LX200-ACF telescope setup, so this is just a part of the nebula.

This section of the Soul Nebula reminds me of a curious incident I had several years ago after leaving the neighborhood pub one night. Alcohol was involved, so my memory might not be too reliable here. But this is how the story goes.

The pub was closing for the night. The doorman bellowed to the remaining patrons, "time to go home! Everybody must go!" Now, before I continue, the doorman was a friend of mine, as were the bartenders and musician for that matter, so I almost certainly could have stayed for another pint or two had I really desired. They might have even welcomed my help cleaning up. But on this particular night I was a bit hungry, and the all-night taco shop was silently beckoning me a few blocks away. So I decided not to stick around. I pulled an Irish-goodbye, stumbled out the door, and began my several block walk to the taco shop.

My ears still rang a little from the PA, the singing, the shouting and all-around revelry. The melodies of the drinking songs and folk music still repeated fresh in my mind. The shock of silence, walking out into the still night sobered me up a bit, as I journeyed on foot.

Earlier that evening I was on stage briefly, playing a few songs merely to pacify the crowd while the main musician was between sets. I didn't bring my own instrument; I just played the musician's guitar since it was already there and set up. Sometimes I sang a little too. It was a pretty common occurrence for me at the time. My singing voice is not terribly pleasant, but the crowd usually would enjoy my guitar instrumental, mostly.

The first landmark on my trek to the tacos was a normally busy intersection: A "crossroads," if you will. I say, normally busy, but at this wee hour in the dead of night it slumbered in silence.
Even the stragglers from the pub were home now, or nearly there, leaving the roads desolate.

In the silence, as I approached the crossroads, I noticed a well-dressed, shadowy figure sitting on the corner next to what appeared to be a guitar case. Just as I had spotted him, he immediately made eye contact -- almost as if he was waiting there for me, specifically. He looked right at me and smiled wide. His flawless white teeth clashed against the slightly reddish-yellow tint of his eyes. I had never seen this man before in my life.

"I beseech thee," he spoke, "draw near. For I have a proposition that shall pique thy interest," he said as he tipped the rim of his top hat: a hat that matched his glittering, reddish-purple, three-piece suit.

"Yeahhhh..." I slowly said as I was about to back away. I wasn't sure what he was selling, but I didn't want any. Then I noticed next to his guitar case was a burrito, still wrapped up, that looked to be from the same taco shop to where I was headed. The whole thing was just so strange that suddenly, intrigue got the better of me. I hesitated out of sheer curiosity.

I just stood there with my eyes on the burrito.

"I entreat thee, dost thou wish to engage in a contest, a gambit of musical technique, wagering the stakes of your mortal soul against this..."

"Deal!" I interrupted.

He paused quizzically. "I have not yet finished my proposition of the wager," he motioned his hands objecting to my interruption, "A contest for your mortal soul against this..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I interrupted a second time, "my mortal soul against your burrito. Deal. Even better, how about this: Let's just skip all the contest rigmarole and just trade. I'll give you my 'mortal soul' for your burrito." It sounded like a good idea at the time. He seemed to want my "soul" for some reason, and it would save me the trouble of having to walk the couple of blocks to the taco shop. So I reckoned it was a fair trade.

He looked at me, dumbfounded. He scratched his forehead before looking back at me, "Nnn, neh, no, not the burrito. This guitar," he said as he unlatched the guitar case lid, revealing a fancy guitar within.

"Oh, the guitar!" I laughed, "I thought you were wagering your burrito." I continued, "'Thing is, I've already got one, you see. I mean, not with me, but at home. I don't need another guitar."

"But, but, just look. Mother of pearl inlays, gold accents, ..." He motioned his open, cupped palm, facing up, showcasing the craftsmanship.

I must admit, it was an immaculate guitar. but I wasn't in the mood to awkwardly stand in the taco shop line bumping into everybody with a guitar in tow. Plus, I'd have to lug the thing all the way back home. Then when I got there, where would I put it? Clutter and all.

"Sorry, but I'm going to go get some tacos," I concluded and started to walk away. "Best of luck to you and your endeavors, good sir," I finished. With that, I walked the couple of blocks to the taco shop.

With my bag of tacos in hand, I made it back to the intersection on my way home, but the man was gone without a trace. So I guess it all worked out in the end: He got to keep his guitar, and I got my bag of tacos. Win-win, if you ask me.

I woke up the next day with a powerful hangover. Did it all actually happen? I asked myself. I frantically looked around for evidence. I found my T-shirt that I was wearing the night before. Sure enough, it was stained and drenched in blood. Good god, what have I become. Hold on, wait. That's not blood, I thought to myself as I sniffed the T-shirt, that's just taco sauce and drippings. I searched further, following the trail of taco drippings, and there, almost hidden under the sofa was an empty bag, and stapled to that bag was a receipt from the taco shop, dated last night (technically, early that morning).

"It did happen!" I verbally exclaimed. Well at least the tacos happened. The rest, I'm not so sure about.

Best I can gather after thinking about it for a while is that I may have accidentally pestered some guy on the street -- probably confusing him to no end -- drunkenly attempting to trade my "mortal soul" for an imaginary burrito.

And that's the end of this story.

Equipment:
Meade 10" LX200-ACF fork mounted on an equatorial wedge.
Off-axis guider (OAG) with guide camera.
Optolong 3nm narrowband filter set (SII, Hα, and Oiii).
ZWO ASI6200MM-Pro main camera.

Software:
N.I.N.A.
PHD2 guiding
PixInsight with RC-Astro plugins

Acquisition/Integration:
Location: San Diego, USA
Bortle class 7 (maybe 8 ) skies
All subframes binned 3x3
Stacked using drizzle algorithm
SHO mapping
SII: 69×600s = 11.5 hrs
Hα: 62×600s = 10.33 hrs
Oiii: 74×600s = 12.33 hrs
Total integration time: 34.17 hours.
.

 

[Arjan82]

This section of the Soul Nebula reminds me of a curious incident I had several years ago after leaving the neighborhood pub one night. Alcohol was involved, so my memory might not be too reliable here. But this is how the story goes.

[story]

Hmm, was this around 1986 and did the man look like this perhaps:

The story reminds me of the film "Crossroads"

 

[collinsmark]

Hmm, was this around 1986 and did the man look like this perhaps:
[...]
The story reminds me of the film "Crossroads"

Yes, I'm sure that Crossroads, The Devil Went Down to Georgia, and any other examples of a contemporary Faustian bargain, were influences on the story, either consciously or subconsciously. This motif is somewhat common in American culture. They might have fit even better had my name been "Johnny."

 

[russ_watters]

I've been working on nebulae lately, mostly narrow-band. All taken with an identical setup:

Scope: Explore Scientific ES127CF
Camera: ZWO ASI1600 Monochrome
ES 0.7 Focal Reducer (~f/5.3)

 

[bruha]

Excelent!!

Here just for fun- I pointed handyphone against sky randomly and make shot -and surprisingly Orion belt and sword scabbbard was catched (center of nebula is recognazible as well)....

 

[DennisN]

The Deer Lick Group (NGC 7331 Group), [etc]

I've been working on nebulae lately, mostly narrow-band.

Beautiful images!

Over here it has occasionally been really cold, really cloudy, occasionally very strong winds... AND I've been lazy. So honestly, I haven't been very motivated on the astrophoto front for a while.

 

[bruha]

It is whole image (Pleiades are in right upper corner)

Lot of succes !

 

[neilparker62]

Southern Cross and Pointers (and many, many Milky Way stars!)
2024/02/02 / 04:28:48
Johannesburg: -26.15298693747131, 27.82441637118623

 

[neilparker62]

Faint "smudged" looking star left top directly above Beta Centauri (rightmost Pointer) is Omega Centauri - a very large cluster of stars or possible dwarf galaxy since a black hole was detected at its centre.

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Black_hole_found_in_Omega_Centauri

 

[bruha]

Hello, its interesting.. its done by the Handyphonecamera? What this red spot on the left on the half between Omega and lower margin? (I did not find it on Star Walk,,)

Lot of succes and clear nights..

 

[neilparker62]

Thanks.

I had a careful look in Stellarium and also couldn't find anything that would relate to the red spot. But there are quite a few of them if I zoom in on the pic. Some kind of camera artefact perhaps. Red is lower frequency radiation - older stars ? Or something moving away (red shifted). I am just speculating.

 

[collinsmark]

Thanks.

View attachment 339783

I had a careful look in Stellarium and also couldn't find anything that would relate to the red spot. But there are quite a few of them if I zoom in on the pic. Some kind of camera artefact perhaps. Red is lower frequency radiation - older stars ? Or something moving away (red shifted). I am just speculating.

I would guess a camera artifact then (maybe a hot pixel or cosmic ray that happened to be a red location in the sensor's Bayer matrix). This, perhaps exacerbated by the camera's internal sharpening software. 'Just a guess though.

Eyeballing it, it looks pretty close to [the location of] NGC 5156, but not quite.

I don't think you'll pick up any decently redshifted objects with a 15 second exposure from a camera phone.

[Edit: There is a star, HIP 65804 -- HD 117148 -- SAO 224176, that's kind of on the red side, and is in about the right location. Your image makes it more red than I would expect though. So I'm not sure if that's it either.]

 

[neilparker62]

I would guess a camera artifact then (maybe a hot pixel or cosmic ray that happened to be a red location in the sensor's Bayer matrix). This, perhaps exacerbated by the camera's internal sharpening software. 'Just a guess though.

Eyeballing it, it looks pretty close to NGC 5156, but not quite.

I don't think you'll pick up any decently redshifted objects with a 15 second exposure from a camera phone.

[Edit: There is a star, HIP 65804 -- HD 117148 -- SAO 224176, that's kind of on the red side, and is in about the right location. Your image makes it more red than I would expect though. So I'm not sure if that's it either.]

Thanks for your thoughts on the mysterious red dot(s). I also found both items you mention in Stellarium but the locations did not seem quite correct. However if I zoom in on Betelgeuse (old star in Orion) , it has a red/orange pixellated fringe whilst Rigel (young star in Orion) has a blueish pixellated fringe. So I'd say there's something "real" in that.

Rigel and ....

Betelgeuse.

Canon DSLR 600D.

 

[neilparker62]

Some more red dots in same pic. Bright star is a Crux and one of the red dots is right next to binary system labelled Theta Crux in Stellarium. Zoomed in on the right.

 

[Tom.G]

Both Rigel and Betelgeuse look like chromatic aberration in the optics.

Since your altitude is around 5700 feet (2100 M), the Red blobs could be cosmic ray hits.
Do the Red blobs show up on dark-field frames? (maybe use long exposures to catch them)

Cheers,
Tom

 

[neilparker62]

Both Rigel and Betelgeuse look like chromatic aberration in the optics.

Since your altitude is around 5700 feet (2100 M), the Red blobs could be cosmic ray hits.
Do the Red blobs show up on dark-field frames? (maybe use long exposures to catch them)

Cheers,
Tom

You can see Betelgeuse is slightly 'orange' so I guess the camera's 'eye' might show that too.

Come to think of it, the obvious way to check out the red blobs is to take multiple photos rather than just one and then see if the red spots are in the same place or just randomly distributed. Will try that next time the skies are clear.

 

[Andy Resnick]

Prior to this past weekend, every single night for the past 7 weeks has been overcast. Then finally, a pair of perfect viewing nights, and even better- on a weekend (no bedtime!).

The region around M42 through an 800mm lens:

Starting from the top: Sh2-279, a molecular HII cloud region comprising both emission and reflection nebulae, and in the center: M43 and M42- here's a closer crop of part of M42:

And, at the bottom, NCG 1999 and (very faintly) Herbig-Haro objects HH 1/2:

Deets: Nikon D810 + 800/8 lens on Losmandy GM8 mount, unguided. Total integration time 9 hours. Stacking in Astro Pixel Processor.

 

[collinsmark]

The California Nebula (NGC 1499, Sh 2-220) imaged from my back patio in Dec. 2023 - Jan. 2024. It's an emission nebula in the constellation Perseus.

The California Nebula gets its name because, although it has plenty of hydrogen and sulfur, it doesn't have comparatively that much oxygen. 'Just like the USA state of California.

OK, jokes aside, it gets its name from its shape: its resemblance to the shape California, the state.

You may recall that I previously imaged the California Nebula a little over a year ago, but that was with the bigger telescope. This image here is more recent from the smaller telescope producing a wider field of view. It's true what I said about there not being comparatively a lot of oxygen, so I had to push the O-iii data pretty hard (mapped to blue in the image), exacerbating the halos caused by my O-iii filter. Those blue-purple halos are not actually in space, they are a result of internal reflections inside the Baader O-iii filter that I used. (The stars are in space, of course, but the blue/purple halos surrounding them are not, is what I mean.)

As circumstance would have it, I'm going to be swapping some filters around my setups in the near future, so next time I image this target I hope the results will be more forgiving regarding the halos.

Equipment:
Explore Scientific 80ED-FCD100
Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro
Orion Field Flattener for Short Refractors
Off-axis guider (OAG) with guide camera
Baader 3.5/4nm Ultra-Narrowband filter set
ZWO ASI2600MM-Pro main camera

Software:
N.I.N.A.
PHD2 guiding
PixInsight with RC-Astro plugins

Acquisition/Integration:
Location: San Diego, California, USA
Bortle class 7 (maybe 8 ) skies
All subframes binned 1x1
Stacked using the drizzle algorithm
SHO mapping
SII: 92×480s = 12.27 hrs
Hα: 129×480s = 17.20 hrs
Oiii: 105×480s = 14.00 hrs
Total integration time: 43.47 hours.

 

[DennisN]

I want to share two wallpaper sites I've used frequently lately, Unsplash and WallpapersCraft. They've got many different categories of wallpapers, including space related ones (though it's a mix of real images, compositions and rendered images):

UnSplash, Space: https://unsplash.com/s/photos/space
WallpapersCraft, Space: https://wallpaperscraft.com/catalog/space


Here's one nice example:

(Source: https://unsplash.com/photos/cosmic-view-during-night-time-TV2gg2kZD1o)

 

[Andy Resnick]

It's been cloudy for weeks (and for more weeks to come), this faint smudge is all I could manage for M78 after 45 minutes of acquisition time with my usual setup:

Why M78? Well, as I was reminded of recently, M78 is Ultraman's home!

 

[bruha]

Today I noticed one bigger sunspot (Little Gimp corrected) I
(Unfortunately I am not sure which component in whole optic system is so dirty

 

[neilparker62]

It's been cloudy for weeks (and for more weeks to come), this faint smudge is all I could manage for M78 after 45 minutes of acquisition time with my usual setup:

The last "faint smudge" I found on one of my pics turned out to be 10 million stars in a (possibly) collapsed galaxy. As a child, the family had a wonderful dog called "Smudgie" so I guess that's where doggy heaven must be (Caldwell 80!).

 

[collinsmark]

It's been cloudy for weeks (and for more weeks to come), this faint smudge is all I could manage for M78 after 45 minutes of acquisition time with my usual setup:

View attachment 340594

Why M78? Well, as I was reminded of recently, M78 is Ultraman's home!

I didn't know that about Ultraman. Nice to know, thanks! I used to watch Ultraman (TV series) as a small child (but I was so young I don't remember much of it). I know M78 as "Casper the Friendly Ghost Nebula."

The Ultraman reference makes sense now. When I imaged the nebula myself last year (see: https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/our-beautiful-universe-photos-and-videos.800540/post-6865767) I did so at the request of a friend. I incidentally happen to know that that friend is a huge fan of Ultraman. But I didn't put 2 and 2 together until now.

I'll have to re-image M78 with the new setup, although I'm doubtful it will be this year.

 

[collinsmark]

NGC 660 imaged from my back patio, Dec 2023 - Jan 2024. NGC 660 is a lenticular, polar ring galaxy, approximately 44 million light-years away, in the constellation Pisces. Its ring -- offset from the galaxy's central axis by about 45 deg -- spans about 40,000 light-years in diameter. The galaxy as a whole has an exceptionally high rate of star formation, making it a "starburst" galaxy.

NGC 660 likely gets its unique shape from a galaxy merger that happened perhaps a billion years ago. That merger, not only produced a "strung out" ring, but also left the galaxy scarred, twisted, and jaded; both physically, and I presume, emotionally*.

*(galaxies consist of gas, dust, and billions of stars, so they don't experience emotion themselves. But if they did, I imagine NGC 660 would be among the angrier ones.)

NGC 660 doesn't presently have a common name, at least not one that I could find. But maybe that's because I gave up looking too soon and ran away out of my own insecurities.

Equipment:
Meade 10" LX200-ACF fork mounted on an equatorial wedge.
Off-axis guider (OAG) with guide camera.
Optolong broadband filter set.
Optolong L-Pro filter
Optolong 3 nm Hα filter
ZWO ASI6200MM-Pro main camera.

Software:
Nighttime Imaging 'N' Astronomy (N.I.N.A.)
PHD2 guiding
PixInsight with RC-Astro plugins

Acquisition/Integration:
Location: San Diego, USA
Bortle class 7 (maybe 8 ) skies
All subframes binned 3×3
R: 160×3 min = 8.00 hrs
G: 208×3 min = 10.4 hrs
B: 195×3 min = 9.75 hrs
L-Pro: 192×3 min = 9.60 hrs
Hα: 22×10 min = 3.67 hrs
Total integration time: 41.42 hours
.

 

[Devin-M]

@collinsmark are the streetlights in your city LED?

 

[collinsmark]

@collinsmark are the streetlights in your city LED?

I had to look it up just now. I thought the city lights were moving to LED, but perhaps not. That's good news for me!

[Edit: Also, I'm more than 30 miles from Palomar Observatory, so that means I'm in the region with induction (fluorescent) lights. That's not not such good news.]

The Street Division is responsible for all the streetlights in the City of San Diego. The City of San Diego has over 40,000 streetlights in operation. Nine thousand of these lights belong to local community "Lighting Districts" which pay a special assessment fee to support the additional or ornamental lighting in their neighborhoods. In addition, Street Division maintains over 4,000 lights in parks, community ball fields, and other City facilities. We also share responsibility with Caltrans for lights on the freeway off/on ramps that intersect city streets.

Currently, there are two types of streetlights in San Diego, Induction lights, which emit a white light and Low Pressure Sodium (LPS), which emits a monochromatic yellow light. Induction lighting is the City's standard type of street lighting. Because of the need to limit light pollution that affects Palomar Observatory, LPS is used in all areas within a 30-mile radius from the Observatory.

Source: https://www.sandiego.gov/street-div/services/electrical/strlight

But there's still lots of headlamps from cars, and all sorts of porchlights everywhere, even all around my neighborhood. And most of those are LEDs or halogen by now -- things which don't do so well regarding light pollution. But I guess there's hope that the city is taking light pollution into account at least to some extent.