Astro
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Helix Nebula
The Helix Nebula is a planetary nebula. It sits about 700 lightyears from Earth in the constellation of Aquarius, and spans about 3 lightyears across. As viewed from Earth, it is about half a full moon across.
Planetary nebulae, despite the name, have nothing to do with planets. They are formed at the end of life of a low to medium mass star, when all its fuel for nuclear fusion has been exhausted. The material in the outer layer of the star is ejected into space, while the core collapses into a white dwarf. The white dwarf continues to emit intense radiation, ionizing the ejected material and causing it to glow – hydrogen glows in red, while oxygen glows in blue-green.
Captured with my Skywatcher Quattro 8” telescope and QHY268M camera, with a total exposure time of 4 hours. Processed in HOO palette with RGB stars.
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In the Vastness of Space (NGC 2403)
How big is the universe? Every star in this image is within the Milky Way, our home galaxy. Through this star field we can see NGC2403, a spiral galaxy about 50,000 lightyears in diameter, half the size of Milky Way. The photons from NGC2403 travelled for 10 million years, before falling on the camera sensor to create this image. Yet, Milky Way and NGC2403 are just two of the estimated 2 trillion galaxies in the universe.
This image was captured in RGB and H-alpha with a total exposure time of 8.5 hours, using a SkyWatcher Quattro 8-inch f/4 Newtonian telescope on an equatorial mount.
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Starlight Textures (the Pleiades)
The Pleiades, or Seven Sisters, is probably the best-known star clusters. At only 400 lightyears away, its six brightest stars are easily visible to the naked eye as a tight, dipper-shaped cluster.
The Pleiades are traveling through an area in space rich in interstellar dust. In astrophotography, the Pleiades are surrounded by blue nebulosity with intricate texture. The blue colour is due to dust preferentially reflecting the blue light from the stars, the same physics that make the sky blue on Earth.
This image was captured in RGB with a total exposure time of 7.5 hours, using a Canon 300mm f/4 L telephoto lens on a star tracker.
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Rosette Nebula
Like a red rose in the night sky, the Rosette Nebula is a favourite of astrophotographers. The Rosette Nebula is 130 light-years across and 5000 light-years from Earth. It is an H-II region where the hydrogen gas is undergoing active star formation. The hot young stars formed emit intense radiation that ionizes the hydrogen, creating the characteristic red glow of the nebula. The strong stellar winds from these stars also blow a hole in the gas cloud, and will eventually disperse the gas leaving an open cluster of stars at the centre.
This image was captured with 3 hours of exposure with an astro-modified DSLR and narrowband astrophotography filter.
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Andromeda Galaxy
At a distance of 2.5 million lightyears, the Andromeda Galaxy is one of the closest neighbours of the Milky Way. It is also one of the furthest light sources visible to the unaided eye as a fuzzy grayish patch of light. Astrophotography allows Andromeda to be rendered in colour and great details, showing the dust lanes and blue outer regions of young, hot stars. Andromeda is estimated to contain one trillion stars. Two satellite galaxies, M32 (above Andromeda) and M110 (below) is also seen in this image. Andromeda and Milky Way are expected to collide and merge in about 4 to 5 billion years to form a giant single galaxy.
This image was captured with 1.5 hours of exposure under the dark skies of Northern Ontario.
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The Beginning of Totality
This composite image shows the stages of the solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. From left: 1. 50% partial eclipse, 2. 90% partial eclipse 5 minutes from start of totality, 3. diamond ring, 7 seconds from start of totality, 4. Bailey’s beads, 1 second from start of totality, 5. totality.
The drastic change in brightness during a total solar eclipse requires the use of protective equipment and a wide range of exposure settings. The first two images were taken with a solar filter, placed in front of the lens, that allowed only 1/100000 of the light through. Images 3 and 4 were taken at similar exposure settings, but without the solar filter. The last image was taken with 4 stops of additional exposure to capture the details of the corona.
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Bailey’s Beads, 2024
Bailey’s Beads, signifying the beginning of totality during the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse. The last rays of sunlight shone through depressions on the lunar surface – valleys or craters – forming the Bailey’s Beads on the top of the eclipsed sun.
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Corona, 2024
Corona, observed during the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse. The corona is the outer layer of the sun’s atmosphere and extends millions of kilometres from the sun, with temperature reaching a million degrees Celsius.
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Diamond Ring, 2024
Diamond ring, captured at the end of totality during the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse, when the first rays of sunlight shone through depressions from craters on the lunar surface. The bloom from the strong sunlight formed the “diamond” on the ring of corona.
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Total Solar Eclipse, 2024
A 3-image composite of the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse shows the entire duration of the totality phase, which lasted about 4 minutes.
1: Bailey’s Beads, signifying the beginning of totality. The last rays of sunlight shone through depressions on the lunar surface – valleys or craters – forming the Bailey’s Beads on the top of the eclipsed sun.
2: Totality, showing the corona which can only be seen during a total eclipse. The corona is the outer layer of the sun’s atmosphere and extends millions of kilometres from the sun, with temperature reaching a million degrees Celsius.
3: Diamond ring, captured at the end of totality, when the first rays of sunlight shone through depressions from craters on the lunar surface. The bloom from the strong sunlight formed the “diamond” on the ring of corona.
Captured at Lake Magog, Quebec, Canada.
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The Grand Finale
Do you remember watching the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse? For a short 4 minutes, Earth slipped into the shadow of the moon. The sky turned dark while the horizon basked in twilight. As totality ended and the diamond ring reappeared, the crowd cheered wildly. The “diamond” turned blindingly bright quickly. Darkness on Earth was replaced by the soft, golden glow of sunlight.
This composite of 16 individual frames, taken at one-second interval, captured the end of totality of the 2024 solar eclipse. The first 2 frames showed the last seconds of totality, the corona brightening as the moon inched towards the edge of the solar disc. In frame 3 the Bailey’s Beads emerged. The diamond ring appeared starting from frame 4 and grew in brightness.
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In the Shadow of the Moon
A composite of the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, photographed at Lake Magog, Quebec, Canada. This composite covers 3.5 hours duration in total, including the entirety of the eclipse, with individual solar images 5-6 minutes apart. All elements of the image were taken at 28 mm focal length from the same camera position, therefore reflecting their true relative sizes and positions.
During a total solar eclipse, the sky turns dark. Near the horizon, however, one can see the distant atmosphere that is outside the shadow of the moon and is lit by the sun, creating the twilight effect much like during sunrise and sunset, except that this happens in the middle of a sunny day!
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Annular Solar Eclipse, 2023
This composite image of the October 14, 2023 annular solar eclipse was captured from Kodachrome Basin State Park in Utah. The landscape was taken just before the rising sun cleared the hoodoo, and then 58 exposures of the sun (captured with solar filter), taken 4 minutes apart, covering the entire duration of the eclipse, were added. As with all my astro landscape images, all exposures were taken from the same camera position, using the same lens, therefore accurately reflecting the actual unfolding scene. An annular solar eclipse happens when the moon goes between the sun and Earth while near its apogee (furthest point from Earth in its elliptical orbit), and therefore does not complete cover the sun. While not as spectacular as a total solar eclipse, the “ring of fire” is still a sight to behold.
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Blood Moon, 2022
This image of the totally-eclipsed moon was taken in the pre-dawn hours of November 8, 2022. Unlike a total solar eclipse that is viewable only along a narrow path of totality, a total lunar eclipse can be seen from the entire night side of the Earth.
A total lunar eclipse is also called a “blood moon”. The eclipsed moon is not totally dark – sunlight can reach the moon via refraction by Earth’s atmosphere. The reddish colour of the moon is due to the blue part of sunlight being scattered by Earth’s atmosphere, leaving primarily red and orange light reaching the moon – the exact same reason why the sun is orange during sunset.
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Partial Solar Eclipse, 2021
A partial solar eclipse during sunrise on June 10, 2021.
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Total Lunar Eclipse in Toronto, 2019
This image captured the progression of the total lunar eclipse on January 20-21, 2019. The winter full moon was high in the sky and that made it hard to compose an eclipse shot with an interesting foreground … unless the foreground is pretty tall, like the CN Tower! With lunar trajectory information available online, Google Maps, and a bit of calculation using high school trigonometry, Simcoe Park on Front Street, Toronto turned out to be the location where the eclipsed moon could be seen passing exactly behind the tip of the CN Tower. The entire sequence lasted about 3 hours with images taken approximately 5 minutes apart, and was taken on a frigid night when the temperature plunged to -22°C.
