Image Description and Details : Dagub Cave

While Socotra is better known for its endemic species of trees and wildlife, there are many limestone caves which dot the island. The largest of these is the Al-Hoq Cave but it is the Dagub cave which offers the more interesting nightscape thanks to its view to the south.
Stalactites, formed over centuries of water dripping from the cliffs, come together at the mouth of the cave to form an interesting foreground against which to frame the night sky. Socotra is very sparsely populated and as a result the skies are very clear whenever the clouds part ways. Being close to the equator, allows one to frame objects otherwise seen only in the Southern Hemisphere. See in the sky here from left to right is the Coalsack Nebula, the Southern Cross, the Running Chicken Nebula, Eta Carina and Gum 15…..

Camera = Sony A7rv
Lens = Sony 12-24 F2.8GM at 15mm
Tracker = Benro Polaris
Sky Exposure = 240secs, F2.8, iso 800, stack of 12, tracked
Ground Exposure = 480secs, F2.8, iso 800, LENR, LLL
Software = Lightroom, Photoshop.

Copyright: vikas chander

Image Description:

In the center BARNARD 344 a dark nebula in the constellation Cygnus. It is located near the star Sadr in the Gamma Cygni nebula (RA: 20h18m57.4s DEC: +40º 40′ 01″).

Photo made in HOO and RGB stars.

H for Hydrogen and O for Oxygen.

The Sulfur layer is in progress so I will do a SHO version.

SETUP:👇

Skywatcher Quattro 8CF

ZWO ASI533MM Pro

iOptron GEM45

Unit pictures:

Antlia 3nm Narrowband H-alpha 1.25": 150×240″(10h) (gain: 100.00) f/3.8 -10°C bin 1×1

Antlia 3nm Narrowband Oxygen III 1.25": 70×240″(4h 40′) (gain: 100.00) f/3.8 -10°C bin 1×1

Astronomik Deep-Sky Blue 1.25": 40×30″(20′) (gain: 0.00) f/3.8 -10°C bin 1×1

Astronomik Deep-Sky Green 1.25": 40×30″(20′) (gain: 0.00) f/3.8 -10°C bin 1×1

Astronomik Deep-Sky Red 1.25": 40×30″(20′) (gain: 0.00) f/3.8 -10°C bin 1×1

Integration:

Copyright: Puig Nicolas

Image Description and Details : This beautiful reflection nebula NGC 5367 is associated with the cometary globule CG12 in Centaurus, about 2500 light years away and is lit up by double star H4636.
Taken from my back yard , LRGB image 21 hours integration time.
William Optics Fluorostar 132 , ZWO ASI2600MM , 10-Micron GM2000 HPSII combi mount. Processed in Astropixel Processor and Pixinsight.

Copyright: Michelle Bennett

Image Description: IC 4601 is a reflection nebula which is located about 420 light-years away in Scorpius.

The bluish reflection nebula with the two embedded double stars is IC 4601 (vdB 102,vdB 103), the yellowish reflection nebula is vdB 101. The two reflection nebulae appear so different due to the temperature differences of the illuminating stars.

These types of nebulae are called “reflection,” because they reflect the light of nearby stars.

IC 4601 is illuminated by the intense radiation of the stars present in its vicinity, among which the most brilliant star HD 147010, and the two stars of a binary system known as HD 147013, which are all blue giants.

The dust of IC 4601 contains the heavy elements that planets are made of and plays a major role in the creation of new stars. There probably are baby stars wrapped in these blankets of dust.

Taken with CDK 24 from El Sauce Chile

Data: SWOS group Mazlin,Parker,Forman,Hanson

Image Processing: Mark Hanson

Copyright: Mark Hanson

Saturn 30 June 2023

Under good seeing conditions and transparency.

The transit of Dione and Rhea over the globe can be seen.

Setup: C14 Edge HD, Fornax52 mount, QHY5III200M, OPTOLONG RGB filters,Barlow FFC Baader, ADC Pietro Astro MK3

Dia.:18.0 arcsec

h:38°

Ls:158°

Agerola-Amalfitan Coast-Italy

Copyright: Luigi Morrone

Image Description and Details : In order to image the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, we decided to create a two-panel mosaic, so as to have a good resolution and be able to walk around the image.

The Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex is a complex of interstellar clouds with mainly dark nebulae.

At a distance of around 450 light-years, it is one of the solar system's closest star nurseries.

Rho Ophiuchi is the star system in the blue area on the left of the image. With a surface temperature of over 6,500K (making them more than 160 times brighter than the Sun), these stars reflect their light onto the dark clouds around them.

Some structures appear to be the result of a shockwave passing through the cloud from the direction of the nearby Scorpius-Centaurus association.

Dust and gas that makes the star system appear 1.45 magnitudes dimmer than it really is. Without the interstellar extinction, Rho Ophiuchi would shine at magnitude 3.18.

We can also find two globular clusters: M4 (the largest) and NGC 6144 (the smallest).

This area of the sky is known for its wide range of colors, making it a very photogenic zone.

Copyright: Team Atlaskies

Image Description and Details : The Elephant's Trunk Nebula is a concentration of interstellar gas and dust within the much larger ionized gas region IC 1396 located in the constellation Cepheus about 2400 light years away from Earth. The piece of the nebula shown here is the dark dense globule IC 1396A; it is commonly called the Elephant's Trunk nebula because of its appearance at visible light wavelengths, where there is a dark patch with a bright, sinuous rim. The bright rim is the surface of the dense cloud that is being illuminated and ionized by a very bright massive star (HD 206267) that is just to the east of IC 1396A.
The Elephant's Trunk Nebula is now thought to be a site of star formation, containing several very young (less than 100000 years) stars that were discovered in infrared images in 2003. Two older stars are present in a small, circular cavity in the head of the globule. Winds from these young stars may have emptied the cavity.
The combined action of the light from the massive star ionizing and compressing the rim of the cloud, and the wind from the young stars shifting gas from the center outward lead to very high compression in the Elephant's Trunk Nebula. This pressure has triggered the current generation of protostars.

Konus 200/1000 @960mm, f/4.8
Qhy168c @-5 °C
Sky-Watcher Eq6r Pro mount
Optolong L_Ultimate filter 45x600"
SvBony SII 7nm filter 45x600"
SvBony UV/IR-cut filter 115x30"
N.I.N.A., DSS, APP, PixInsight, PS
Ferrara (Italy)

Copyright: Massimo Di Fusco

The Trifid Nebula's vivid hues are brought to life by the radiation from young, hot stars, which excite the surrounding hydrogen gas, causing it to glow with a mesmerizing red hue. Intertwined among the bright emission nebula, dark lanes of obscuring dust create captivating contrasts, while reflection nebulae scatter and reflect the light of nearby stars, adding a soft, ethereal glow.

The striking 'Pillars of Creation' stood as a testament to the ongoing process of star birth and the vast cosmic forces at play. Captured by various observatories in stunning detail, these towering structures continue to inspire and deepen our understanding of the profound processes that shape galaxies and give rise to new generations of stars, providing a glimpse into the captivating beauty and complexity of our universe

copyright: Jörg Ortmann

Image Description and Details : AR3354 29 June 2023
The huge sunspot AR3354 taken under wonderful seeing conditions.
C14 Edge HD, Fornax52 mount, Basler1920-155,Barlow Zeiss, Baader Astrosolar ND3.8 Full Aperture solar filter, Baader Continuum 540nm


Agerola-Amalfitan Coast- Italy

Copyright: Luigi Morrone