On the night of May 1, two tiny comets made a close encounter in the Earth's night sky. The smaller one on the left is C/2020 T2 Palomar, while the larger one on the right is C/2020 R4 ATLAS. In fact, they were still hundreds of millions of kilometers apart but happened to appear in the same direction of the Earth's perspective. The two comets went their separate ways soon after, and it will be a long time before they meet each other again.
Location: Galaxy Remote Observatory, Kangbao, Hebei, China
Time: May 1, 2020
Telescope: SharpStar 150 2.8 HNT
Camera: QHY268C
Mount: iOptron CEM60
Guide: QHYCCD OAG-M
Guide camera: QHY5L-II-M
Frames: 139×30 seconds
Integration: 1.2 hours
Acquired by APT
Processed by PixInsight and PhotoShop

Copyright: [Steed Yu][1]

Our Milky Way is actually full of dust, but hidden in the black starry background, it is not easy to see. Only by accumulating a long time of exposure, the dust that pervades the stars will show up, presenting rich details of intricate complexity.

This large patch of dust in the picture is part of the Perseus molecular cloud, located at the junction of Taurus, Aries, and Perseus, about 1,000 light years away from the Earth. The dust with a total mass equivalent to 10,000 suns is gathered in clusters or twisted into twists. The thick areas are dense and opaque, and darker than space itself.

In this darkest corner, new light is gestating.

The dust near the center, a little red light came out from it, that was a star cluster forming in it. Beside this dust, a newborn star dispelled the haze, illuminating the surroundings with bright light, and became the brightest deep sky object in this area.

In the new Chinese year of the ox, may the world sweep away the dust, dispel darkness, and reappear light.

Location: Hebei Kangbao Galaxy Observatory

Filming time: November 7, 2020-February 4, 2021

Telescope: Sharpstar 150 2.8 HNT

Camera: QHY268C

Mount: Aton iOptron CEM70/CEM60

Guide : QHYCCD OAG-M

Guide camera: QHY5L-II-M

Number of shots: 130×1000 seconds, 70×300 seconds

Cumulative exposure: 41.9 hours

Shooting software: APT

Processing software: PixInsight, PhotoShop

Copyright: Steed Yu