Now on the Sky

Moon 11th of May 2024

Images of the Moon with Celestron 11 telescope. Phase of the Moon was 16%. Mare Crisium details are well seen. Also the straight rim inside Petavius crater is visible.

Northern lights 12th of May 2024

Below is 2 images of Auroras, taken in Kirkkonummi Eestinkylä, 00:30 local time, 12th of May 2024.

Changes in Sunspots 7th - 12th of May 2024

Changes in sunspot group 3664-3668 in 6 days. In a sunspot strong magnetic field cools the gas. Images are 2 minutes HD video stacks, 2% of frames stacked with Autostakkert. Telescope Celestron 11 F10 focus, with 20mm eyepiece magnification. Camera Canon Eos 60Da.

Images below are with Celestron 8, with F6.3 focal reducer. Then the whole Sun fits into the image.

Messier 13 with Celestron 11, 1st of May 2024

I ordered a new Celestron 11 telescope from Telescope Service, Ransburg. It arrived 30th of April, and at same coming nigth the weather was going to be cloudless. First test target was globular cluster Messier 13. The image below was taken 1 a clock in 1st of May. Camera Canon Eos 80Da, exposures 7x3 minutes, Iso800. The result is my best of M13 so far. 

Sunspots 28th of March 2024

Sun with large sunspot group AR 3615. In a sunspot strong magnetic field cools the gas. Images are 2 minutes video stacks, 2% of frames stacked with Autostakkert.

T Corona Borealis 28th of March 2024, next Nova?

T Corona Borealis, which erupted as nova year 1946, then with visual magnitude 2. Now its magnitude is 10.05. New eruption is waited in coming years. In this system a white dwarf star is orbiting a red giant star. Matter from red giant is streaming to surface of the white dwarf. When enough matter has come on surface of white dwarf, there starts a rapid fusion process, causing massive explosion.

Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks 17th of March 2024. 

It takes 71.3 years for Comet Pons-Brooks to go round the Sun. It was found year 1812. Distance from Earth was 244 million kilometers, when image was taken. The largest distance from the Sun is 33 Astronomical Units (AU), ans shortest 0.77 AU. It is closest to the Sun 24th of April 2024. When taking image below the Pons-Brooks was in constellation of Andromeda, with visual magnitude 5.1. Telescopes used was TS Photon 200/800. Camera Canon Eos 80Da. Images were taken in Siuntio, Finland. The comet images were stacked with Deep Sky Stacker, comet stacking mode, where comet is centered and stars become trails. Heavy wind caused 70% of the frames lost. 

Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks 12th of March 2024. 

Distance of comet Pons-Brooks from Earth was 246 million kilometers, when image was taken. When taking images below the Pons-Brooks was in constellation of Andromeda, with visual magnitude 5.6. Telescopes used were SkyWatcher 80/600ED and Canon EF100-400 telezoom set to 400mm.Camera Canon Eos 80Da. Images were taken in Siuntio, Finland. The comet images were stacked with Deep Sky Stacker, comet stacking mode, where comet is centered and stars become trails.

Cone nebula, March 2024

NGC 2264 Cone nebula, with Christmas-tree star cluster. Distance 2300 light years. Images taken 5th and 6th of March with 2 different optical setups.

Rosette nebula 4th of March 2024

NGC2237 Rosette nebula in constellation of Monoceros. Distance 5200 light years. Angular size in  the sky is 1.3 degrees. Mass 10000 times mass of the Sun. The bright stars in the middle have born  from this nebula. Picture taken 4th of March 2024 with TS Photon 200/800 telescope with Baader UHC-S filter. Picture is stack of 12 x 4 minutes exposures, ISO800. Stacked with Deep Sky Stacker software. Camera Canon Eos 80D, astro modified.

Moon 18th of February 2024

Details of the Moons craters Clavius, Tycho and Plato. Moon was high up, 56 degrees above horizon and conditions good, atmosphere was almost without turbulence. Moon phase 71% , distance 385850 kilometers.  Apparent diameter 30m58s. Details of craters were taken as 640x480 crop videos, and stacked with Autostakkert2. Telescope Celestron 8 and camera Canon Eos 60Da.

Moon 20th of January 2024

The Moon 20th of January 2024. Distance when taking the image: 380000 kilometers and phase 76% illuminated. The diameter of the Moon is 3474 kilometers. The mean distance is 384000 kilometers, varying between 357000-406000 kilometers.  Mass is only 1,2 percent of Earth mass. 

On top right in center of the image is Tycho crater, diameter 85 km and depth 4.6 km. It is young, only 108 million years old. There goes rays from the Tycho crater around the moon, even to 1500 kilometers distance.  On bottom right is Copernicus crater, diameter of Copernicus crater is 96 kilometers and it is 3.8 kilometers deep.  It was born 800 million years ago.  Telescope Celestron 8 and Camera Canon Eos60Da. Image on left is a stack of 20 jpeg-images, stacked with Autostakkert3 software. Images on the right are video stacks, best 3% of 2 minute HD videos stacked with Autostakkert3.

Veil nebula 16th of October 2023

East part of Veil nebula Caldwell 33(NGC6992) in constellation of Cygnus. It is a supernova remnant which exploded about 6000 years ago.  Distance 1470 light years. This nebula was found by William Herschel year 1784.   Telescope used TS Photon 200/800 and camera Canon EOS 80Da.  Exposures 12 x 100 seconds ISO800.

Astro imaging 13th of October 2023

Astro imaging session in the morning 3 to 6 a clock in local time in Finland. Telescope used TS Photon 200/800 and camera Canon EOS 80Da.  Below is NGC 1973 Running man nebula, M43 ja M42 in constellation of Orion. Exposures 14 x 100 seconds ISO800. Distance to M42 is 1300 light years. There has born about 2000 new stars in area of Orion Nebula.

Open star cluster M45 Pleiades. Distance 440 light years.  Stack 20 x 100 seconds, ISO 800. 

Horsehead nebula Barnard 33 and Flame nebula NGC 2024 in the constellation of Orion. Distance to Horsehead nebula is 1500 light years. Distance to Flame nebula is  1200 light years. Exposures 19 x 100 seconds, Iso 800.

Imaging session 8th of October 2023

Images taken in Kirkkonummi Finland with telescope TS Photon 200 F4 and camera Canon EOS 80Da.  Below NGC 281 Packman nebula in constellation of Cassiopeia. Distance 9460 ligth years.  Stack 20 x 100 seconds, ISO 800.

Double star cluster NGC 884 and NGC 869 in constellation of Perseus. Distance 6800 light years.   Image taken 15.3.2023. Stack 8 x 100 seconds, ISO 800.

Heart nebula IC 1805 in constellation of Cassiopeia, distance 7500 light years. Size in sky 2.5 degrees. Close to it is Soul nebula.  Stack 20 x 100 seconds, ISO 800.

Elephants Truck nebula IC 1396 in constellation of Kefeus, distance 2400 light years.  TS Photon 200 F4 Canon EOS 80Da. 

Galaxies M31 and M33, September 24th 2023

Details of Andromeda galaxy M31  24th of September 2023. M31 is closest large galaxy to Milky Way and its distance is 2.5 million light years. Galaxy is a system of hundreds of billions of stars. Most galaxies have spiral arms. So does our home galaxy Milky Way. Some galaxies have elliptic or irregular shape. Telescope TS Photon 200/800 with coma corrector and camera Canon Eos 80Da. Exposures 17 x 100 seconds, Iso 800.

Galaxy M33  in Triangulum imaged at  Kirkkonummi 24th of September 2023. M33 has very clear spiral arms. Distance 3 million light years. Telescope TS Photon 200/800 with coma corrector and camera Canon Eos 80Da. Exposures 28 x 100 seconds, Iso 800.

Cygnus Wall and Andromeda Galaxy, September 2023

On 6th of September 2023 the targets were the Cygnus Wall part of the North-America nebula NGC 7000 and Andromeda Galaxy Messier 31. Telescope used was TS Photon 200 F4 with coma corrector and camera Canon Eos 80Da.

The Cygnus Wall area of North-America nebula NGC7000  in the constellation of Cygnus. Distance 1600 light years. Ionized hydrogen glows in red color.   Exposures 20x100sec, Iso 800.

Andromeda galaxy Messier 31, which is closest large galaxy to Milky Way and its distance is 2.5 million light years.  Exposures 18 x 100 seconds , Iso 800.

Cygnus X-1 

On 3rd of September 2023 the target was the black hole Cygnus X-1. Telescope used was TS Photon 200 F4 with coma corrector and camera Canon Eos 80Da.

In constellation of Cygnus, near star eta Cygni, there is a strong X-ray source  Cygnus X-1- It is a black hole orbiting the blue giant star HD 226868. Distance 6070 light years.  Exposures 7x90sec, Iso 800.

Opening autumn 2023 season

Now 11th of August  the sky is dark again in midnight after summer in Finland.  Below are images of ionisized hydrogen clouds around star Sadr in constellation of Cygnus. The star cluster right from Sadr is NGC 6910. And another target was Andromeda galaxy M31. Telescope used was TS Photon 200 F4 and Camera Canon Eos 80Da.  Exposures were 20 times 1 minute, ISO 800. 

I took also image of Barnard's star and added it to sequence of images 2017-2023. Barnard's star is a red dwarf in constellation of Ophiuchus. It is the second closest star to us after Alpha Centauri triple star. The mass is 14% of the Sun mass and diameter 20% of Sun. The surface temperature is 3100 degrees and its luminosity is 0.0004 times the brightness of the Sun. Barnard’s star is moving in the sky fast, 10 arch seconds each year. It is moving 142 km/s relative to Sun and it will be closest to us year 11800. Then distance will be 3.75 light years. But even then it is so faint that it cannot be seen with naked eye. The age is 10 billion years, over twice the age of our Sun. Year 1998 there was a bright flare eruption in Barnard’s star. In image below we see Barnard's star moving during 6 years. 

TS Photon , March 2023

I got new equipment for astrophotography from Telescope Service. TS Optics Photon, 8 inch F4 telescope.  The kollimation of the mirrors was done wit help of a laser beam. Nice work to do for years to come.

Below are first test images with TS Photon, M45, Perseus double cluster, M51, M81 and M82. Exposures in M45 were 14 times 1 minute, Iso 800. M82 was 17 x 1min. The kollimation of the mirrors is done wit help of a laser beam.

Venus and Jupiter 2nd of March 2023

Venus and Jupiter near each other in evening sky 2nd of March 2023. Image taken in Kirkkonummi, Finland. Distance to Venus is 204 million kilometers and to Jupiter 867 million kilometers. Moons of Jupiter from left to rigth: Callisto, Ganymede, Europa and Io.  Telescope SkyWatcher 80/600ED and EF80mm lens. Camera Canon Eos80Da.

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) , January-February 2023

Images taken in January and February 2023. Last time this comet visited inner solar system 50000 years ago. Comets are 'dirty snowballs'. When they come close to sun they melt and vaporize. The water vapor makes a long tail behind the comet. The distance of this comet to Earth was 51 million kilometers. In the sky it is moving about 5 angular degrees in a day and in space 133000 kilometers in hour, which is 37 km/s. Green color is caused by diatomic carbon and syanogen. This comet is closest to sun with 1.1 AU distance and when in Oort cloud, 2800 AU.

Image below 27th of January 2023. Stack of 11 3-minute exposures during 02:21-02:55 UT. Stacked in DSS with comet mode, so that the comet is tracked and stars become trails. In the image its coordinates are about 14h32m, 70d, constellation Ursa Minor. 

Below is video sequence of movement during  52 minutes. Link to HD-video on YouTube. 

The comet 31st of January 2023 in the evening, during imaging session 19-21 Universal time. Distance to comet 43 million kilometers. There has been a lot of clouds in Kirkkonummi and out of 6 trials to image the comet, only 2 succeeded.  The images below were taken when the Moon was high on the sky at same time. I took image of the nucleus of the comet with short 4 second exposure with Celestron 8 telescope. The larger image was taken with Canon EF telezoom set to 400 millimeters. Here is link to the location of the comet in real time https://theskylive.com/c2022e3-info .

Astronomy presentation 17th of January 2023 in Kirkkonummi

I gave a public astronomy and particle physics presentation in Kirkkonummi 17th of January 2023. Location was the Fyyri library, Mörne hall. Presentation was in finnish with title  "Kuinka kauas voin nähdä kotipihaltani ja hiukkasen fysiikkaa". Translation of title:  "How far can I see from my home backyard.. and a little particle physics". The event was arranged by local astronomy association Kirkkonummen Komeetta. The particle physics part handled events at CERN in summer  1989 when first Z0 particle was detected in Delphi detector of LEP-collider. Event was very nice. Thanks for all partisipants.

NASA Artemis launch from Kennedy Space Center 16th of November 2022

NASA Artemis 1 lift-off from Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral. Images are screenshots of a video taken 16th of November 2022 from Orlando, Florida USA, by Tiina Rabb. The unmanned Artemis 1 is the first integrated flight test of NASA’s deep space exploration system: the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. It will orbit around the Moon and leave 10 satellites around the Moon. Landing back to Earth, Pacific Ocean, is 11th of December 2022. Entry speed to Earth atmosphere is 11 km/s. Later Artemis missions are manned.

Below are images from Kennedy Space Center by Tiina on her visit there 17th of November 2022.

Milky Way 30th of October 2022

Below is Milky Way in constellation of Aquila. There is a dark dust and molecular cloud Barnard 143,  with distance of 2000 light years. The picture area in the sky is 10x4 degrees. You can see how Milky Way  contains millions of stars. Actually in our Milky Way Galaxy there is about 400 billion stars.  The bright star on the left is Altair, with distance of 17 light years. It is twice the size of the Sun. Image taken 30th of October 2022 with Canon Eos 80Da and EF100-400 telezoom set to 100mm. Exposures 6 x 3 minutes, Iso1600.

Milky Way with 18mm objective. On the middle is Deneb, and below it the North america nebula NGC7000. Exposures 6 x 2 minutes, Iso1600.  Images were taken in Kirkkonummi country side, where is less light pollution.

Milky Way on Cygnus. Exposures 6 x 2 minutes, Iso1600

Three wide nebulae on the sky. Heart nebula IC 1805 in constellation of Cassiopeia, distance 7500 light years. Size in sky 2.5 degrees. Close to it is Soul nebula.  In same image left corner is Perseus double star cluster. Elephants Truck nebula IC 1396 in constellation of Kefeus, distance 2400 light years. California nebula NGC1499 in constellation of Perseus, distance 1000 light years. Size in sky 2.5 degrees. Camera Canon Eos 80Da and EF100-400 telezoom set to 100mm. Exposures 6 x 3 minutes, Iso1600.

The Sun 9-12th of October 2022

Large sunsports visible. In the sunspot  the magnetic field is so strong that it slows down the movement of gas and makes it cooler.  The temperature in the surface of sun is 6000 degrees Celsius and in the sunspot it is 5000 degrees.

Terminator of the Moon, 9th March 2022

The terminator of the Moon, 9th March 2022. Phase of Moon was 43 percent. Image is a mosaic of several video stacks. Telescope Celestron 8, F10, 20mm eyepiece. Camera Canon Eos 60Da. 

Orion nebula M42, January 2022

The center of the Orion nebula M42. Distance 1300 light years The bright four stars are born in this nebula. Photograph taken 25th of January 2022 with Celestron 8 F10 focus

Aristarchus crater, January 2022

Aristarchus is the brightest crater on the Moon. It is quite young, age 450 million years. Its diameter is 40km and depth 3.7 km. There has been temporary brigthenings in the area, which be caused by gas eruptions. TSL=Transient Lunar Phenomenon. Rigth from Aristarchus is Herodotus crater. Below Herodotus is Schröters Valley. Below Aristarchus is a small crater named Väisälä.

Double star cluster of Perseus, December 2021

Double star cluster NGC 884 and NGC 869 in constellation of Perseus. Distance 6800 light years.  Image taken 26.12.2021. SkyWatcher 80/600ED. Canon EOS 60Da. Stack 10 x 3 minutes 15 seconds, ISO 1600.

Asteroid Ceres 5th of December 2021

The movement of asteroid Ceres in constellation of Taurus, in 2 hours. Distance 1.76 AU and visual magnitude 7.0. Asteroids orbit the Sun between orbits of Mars and Jupiter. There is thousands of asteroids. Largest of them is Ceres, diameter 1000 kilometers. Vesta is second largest, 560 km in diameter.  You can see these with binoculars.

M45 Pleiades, December 2021

Below is open star cluster M45 Pleiades, the Seven Sisters. Distance 440 light years. Image taken 1st of December 2021 with SkyWatcher 80/600ED, exposures 8 x 5 minutes, ISO1600

The Full Moon

Full moon 18th of November 2021. Stack of 2 videos with Autostakkert. Celestron 8 F10.

NGC 7293 Helix nebula 8th of November 2021

The Helix nebula NGC 7293, with declination -21 degrees, is always very low in horizon when looking from Finland. Here is Helix nebula imaged in Kirkkonummi, southern Finland, latitude 61 degrees north. Place was an field in Eestinkylä  with good visibility to southern horizon. Telescope Celestron 8, with F6.3 focal reducer. Camera Canon Eos 80D, astro modified. Exposures 20 x 3 minutes, Iso1600. Temperature was -1 C.

M31 Andromeda galaxy 1st of November 2021

Below is Andromeda galaxy Messier 31 and its neighbor galaxies M32 and M110.  M31 is closest large galaxy to Milky Way and its distance is 2.5 million light years.  Picture was taken 1st of November 2021 with SkyWatcher 80/600, exposures 13 x 5 minutes, ISO1600.

Stephan's Quintet 26th of September 2021

Compact galaxy group Stephan's Quintet in constellation of Pegasus. Galaxy  NGC 7320 in front, distance 39 million ligth years.  Other galaxies in group, NGC 7319, NGC 7318, NGC 7317 are at distance of  210-340 million ligth years. Galaxies NGC 7318 A and B are having a collision.