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

Image Description and Details : The Black Eye Galaxy, or M64, is located 17 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. Its nucleus is packed with impressive dust lanes laden with rigorous star formation. Charles Messier added this galaxy to his list in 1780, but it had already been discovered by English astronomer Edward Pigott in 1779.

Acquisition Date: April 24 - May 10, 2023
Equipment: Planewave CDK12.5, Astrodon LRGB, ZWO ASI2600MM
Integration: 25 hours
- L: 119 x 300s
- R: 58 x 300s
- G: 64 x 300s
- B: 65 x 300s
Processed in PixInsight

Copyright: Carl Crum

Image Description and Details : Sh2-54 with my dual Setup of a TS80 and TS130 as SHO with (partial) RGB Stars from the TS130.

I have double checked all data and the lower left dark nebula is a bit stronger in S-II line.

27:42h total capture time:

Astronomik Deep-Sky Blue 36 mm: 33×180″(1h 39′)
Astronomik Deep-Sky Green 36 mm: 25×180″(1h 15′)
Astronomik Deep-Sky Red 36 mm: 26×180″(1h 18′)
Astronomik H-alpha CCD 6nm 36mm: 43×300″(3h 35′)
Astronomik OIII CCD 6nm 36 mm: 30×300″(2h 30′)
Astronomik SII CCD 6nm 36 mm: 33×300″(2h 45′)
ZWO H-alpha 7nm 36mm: 62×300″(5h 10′)
ZWO O-III 7nm 36mm: 55×300″(4h 35′)
ZWO S-II 7nm 36 mm: 59×300″(4h 55′)

Copyright: Philip Mair

Image Description and Details : Venus June 21th 2023
Setup:C14 Edge HD, Fornax52 mount, QHY5III200M V2,FFC Badder, Baader Sloan z-s' 820-920nm, Croma U-Bessel 350nm, ADC Pierro Astro MK3

Agerola-Amalfitan Coast-Italy

Copyright: Luigi Morrone

Image Description and Details : Integration time= 15h 17′ 30″
Imaging Telescopes Sky-Watcher Esprit 150ED
Imaging Camera QHY16200A
Mount Sky-Watcher EQ8-RH
Filter Antlia 3.5nm Narrowband H-alpha 2" · Antlia 3.5nm Narrowband Sulfur II 2" · Baader Blue (B-CCD) 2" · Baader Green (G-CCD) 2" · Baader Red (R-CCD) 2" · Chroma OIII 3nm Bandpass 2"

Copyright: Christian Hilbert

Image Description and Details : Very happy to share with you this photography which is to date, is the one where I realized the most exposure time : 37H30.
Realized between May 29 and June 15, 2023.
It is a colorimetric assembly, with SHO, HOO, and RGB layers.


SH2-99 and SH2-100 are emission nebulae visible in the constellation Cygnus, at the edge of a very bright stretch of the Milky Way. These small regions of ionized hydrogen are located at a distance of approximately 26,000 light-years and 28,000 light-years respectively from us.

Exifs :
S : 31x600s - H : 85 x 600s - O : 73 x 600s
R : 110 x 60s - G : 110 x 60s - B : 140 x 60s
Sharpstar Optics Askar FRA600 with 0,7x reductor
ZWO ASI Cameras ASI1600 Pro mono
Antlia Astronomy Filters 3nm SII, Ha OIII – Zwo filters R, G, B
Sky-Watcher AZ Eq6 GT
Primalucelab EAGLE 4 – Sesto Senso II – ECCO2

Copyright: Jordan Marlière

Image Description and Details : Zeta Ophicuchi is a star 20 times more massive than the Sun and is moving very fast, at 24km/s, which is relatively rare since there are currently 16 of them in our galaxy.

This can be explained by the fact that it probably originally formed a binary system with a much more massive star. When this became a supernova, the explosion propelled Zeta Ophiuchi.

The envelope that surrounds it is due to the shockwave between the star, which compresses and heats the dust in the stellar medium. Its shape strongly resembles a bird.

Copyright: Team Atlaskies

Image Description and Details : M27: the "Dumbbell" nebula, is a famous and bright planetary nebula visible in the constellation Vulpecula.

C8 HD Edge F7,3 (1472 mm) + APM Apo (Fpl53) 140 F7 (979 mm)
ZWO ASI 533MC Pro + iOptron GEM45
ZWO ASI 220MM Mini + ZWO OAG-L
ZWO EAF ZWO + EFW 5X2
ZWO AsiAir Plus

Apr - Giu 2023
Optolong L-Ultimate: 80X600’’ (C8 HD Edge) + 34X600" (APM 140)
Optolong Uvir cut: 30X60”
Tot: 19h 30’

Modena (Sqm 18.3-18.9 Bortle 7,5-8), Italy

Copyright: Andrea Arbizzi

Image Description and Details : Here are the Sh2-112 (left) and Sh2-115 (right) nebulae in emission, together with the beautiful Abell 71 planetary nebula (PLN 85+4.1), in Cygnus.


The Ha clouds that dot this area are just a small part of the giant hydrogen cloud that stretches across most of the constellation, some 6,000 light-years away.

The planetary nebula is located closer to us, some 2500 light-years away...

Note that for this image, I've kept the palette from the mix without playing the selective corrections, in an attempt to best render the two main nebulae.

TSA102 - Atik Cameras 16200M - AZEQ6 - Baader UltraNarrowband filters (3/4nm) + RGB for stars.
Ha : 45 x 900s
OIII: 34 x 600s
SII: 34 x 600s
RGB: 3 x (30 x 60s)
Total: 24h05
Corsica & Charente-Maritime (France), August 26-29, 2022

Copyright: Jean-Baptiste Auroux

Scientists and astrophotgraphers around the world were captivated by the awe-inspiring spectacle of a recent supernova in the magnificent spiral galaxy, M101, also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy. The brilliant explosion occurred in a distant corner of the galaxy, illuminating the cosmic stage with a dazzling display of celestial fireworks.

This cataclysmic event unleashed an incredible amount of energy, as the massive star met its dramatic end, releasing shockwaves and dispersing heavy elements into the vastness of space. Observations and measurements from various telescopes and instruments have provided invaluable insights into the dynamics and aftermath of this breathtaking supernova, contributing to our ever-expanding knowledge of stellar evolution and the extraordinary forces that shape our universe.

The captivating Pelican Nebula, an intricate star-forming region within the Cygnus constellation. Spanning across vast expanses of space, the Pelican Nebula showcases a tapestry of interstellar gas and dust, intricately shaped by the forces of gravity and stellar activity. Deep within its ethereal embrace, young, hot stars illuminate the nebula, their intense radiation causing the surrounding hydrogen gas to glow in shades of crimson and pink.

In the large FOV of this image, the Cygnus Wall emerges as a striking feature—a dense ridge of gas and dust that serves as a stellar nursery, nurturing the birth of new stars. This dynamic interplay of stellar processes and cosmic forces within the Pelican Nebula and the Cygnus Wall offers use a glimpse into the fascinating mechanisms driving the formation and evolution of stars in our universe.

Nestled within the cosmic tapestry, M13 showcases the incredible resilience of stars and their collective gravitational dance. Comprising hundreds of thousands of stars tightly bound by gravity, this ancient cluster stands as a testament to the resilience and longevity of stellar systems.

At its core, the dense concentration of stars reveals a rich assortment of celestial objects, including variable stars, blue stragglers, and intriguing stellar remnants. With an estimated age of over 12 billion years.

The captivating Centaurus A, also known as NGC 5128.

This galaxy, situated within the Centaurus constellation, offers a fascinating amalgamation of scientific phenomena and visual intrigue. At its core resides a supermassive black hole, with a mass of approximately 55 million times that of our Sun, accreting surrounding matter and producing colossal jets of high-energy particles. These jets extend across vast distances, spanning thousands of light-years and emitting radiation in multiple wavelengths, including radio waves and X-rays. Surrounding the galactic nucleus, a dusty disk obscures our view, harboring regions of active star formation and interstellar matter. The complex interplay of these features within Centaurus A provides scientists with valuable insights into the dynamics of galactic nuclei, black hole accretion, and the interplay between star formation and the presence of dust structures. Through meticulous observation and analysis, Centaurus A continues to unveil the intriguing mechanisms governing the universe's most enigmatic objects.