Blog - Galactic Images

Jupiter’s White Ovals on 07-27-2021

By John Chumack|2021-07-28T12:15:39+00:00July 28th, 2021|Tags: #ChumackObservatories, #GalacticImages, #gasgiants, #JohnChumack, #joviansystem, #JupitersAtmosphere, #natgeo, #QHYCCD, #skyatnight, #Universetoday, #whiteovals, Astronomy, Jovian, Jupiter, Space|

I really have been fighting this Canadian Fire Soot Haze…for the last two months, but finally got a shot off of Jupiter this week, during a few early morning hours of thinning haze.

In my recent image Jupiter is showing a Wolf pack of White Ovals, below the Southern Equatorial belt/Southern Zone of the Jovian cloud tops. (NON GRS side of the planet)

White ovals can change their shape, migrate through the atmosphere, jostle each other for position, and even eventually merge with each other. Despite all of this, white ovals have been known to survive for 40 years or more in Jupiter’s atmosphere. That means they are much younger than the Great Red Spot, which is at least 400 years old, but much older than any cloud feature found on the Earth.

The clouds circulate around the center of the oval, much the way a hurricane circulates around the eye. That is, ovals are known as anti-cyclonic systems the same way that a hurricane is considered to be cyclonic (circulating around). In the southern hemisphere, air in anti-cyclonic systems spins in the counter-clockwise direction. Air is also rising, just like inside a terrestrial thunderstorm.

July 27,2021 , Time: 050642 UT,

Mag: -2.80, Dia: 48.05, Res: 0.08, Az: 140.61, Alt: 28.57,

Phase: 1.00, CM: CMI=139.6° CMII=129.0° CMIII=306.1°,

Camera: QHY5III290M, Mount: SB MyT,

Scope: C-11, FL: 7100mm, F-ratio: 25,

ZWO ADC, ZWO Filter wheel, Astronomik RGB, 25ms exp., Fire-Capture Software, 2300 SER frames stacked, Autostakkert3, Registax6, Adobe CS.

Observer: John Chumack, Location: Dayton, Ohio, Comment: Seeing: 6/10 Coming and going,

Fire Soot haze present.

Best Regards,

John Chumack

www.galacticimages.com

Stephan’s Quintet or Hickson 92 Compact Galaxy Group

By John Chumack|2021-07-26T11:23:49+00:00July 26th, 2021|Tags: #ChumackObservatories, #compactgalaxygroup, #GalacticImages, #galaxy, #hickson92, #JohnChumack, #natgeo, #pagasus, #skyatnight, #stephansquintet, #Universetoday, #ZWO, #zwo17MM, Astronomy, Galaxies, Space|

Stephan’s Quintet or Hickson 92 is a visual grouping of five galaxies of which four form the first compact galaxy group ever discovered. The group, visible in the constellation Pegasus, was discovered by Édouard Stephan in 1877 at the Marseille Observatory.

The group is the most studied of all the compact galaxy groups. The brightest member of the visual grouping (and the only non-member of the true group) is NGC 7320.

Four of the five galaxies in Stephan’s Quintet form a physical association, a true galaxy group, Hickson Compact Group 92, and will likely merge with each other.

Stephan’s Quintet is about 280 million light years away from Earth.

I captured this image early Sunday morning June 06, 2021, during my initial test run with this setup, no comma corrector yet, just camera to scope and it is only a 15 minute exposure total integration time. (15 x 1 minute exposure subs) before the clouds rolled in.

Captured with my 12inch TPO F4 Imaging Newt., on a Bisque ME Mount (Pro track dithering), no Auto-guiding needed, & my old ZWO 174M cooled mono cmos camera.

Best Regards,

John Chumack

www.galacticimages.com

Deneb – Alpha Cygni

By John Chumack|2021-07-21T14:53:58+00:00July 21st, 2021|Tags: #brightstar, #Canon, #ChumackObservatories, #deneb #AlphaCygni, #GalacticImages, #JohnChumack, #natgeo, #skyatnight, #supergiantstar, #Universetoday, Astronomy, Cygnus, Space|

Alpha Cygni or “Deneb” is a first-magnitude star in the constellation of Cygnus, also known as the Swan or Northern Cross.
It is the brightest star in Cygnus and the 19th brightest star in the night sky, and is located 2,615 light years away from Earth.

With an apparent magnitude of +1.25, Deneb is a blue-white Super-giant star,
the surface temperature is approximately 8,525 Kelvin (14,885 degrees Fahrenheit).
Deneb rivals Rigel as the most luminous first-magnitude star.

Deneb is also part of the “The Summer Triangle” of bright stars
forming this well known triangle with Altair & Vega.

I captured this image with an Unmodified Canon 6D DSLR and 12″ F4 TPO Newtonian telescope, ISO 800 for a 180 second exposure, Captured from my observatories in Ohio on 06-04-2021.

Best Regards,

John Chumack

www.galacticimages.com

Antares – A Red Giant – The heart of the Scorpion

By John Chumack|2021-07-13T11:31:14+00:00July 13th, 2021|Tags: #ChumackObservatories, #GalacticImages, #JohnChumack, #natgeo, #QHYCCD, #redgiants, #Scorpius, #skyatnight, #Universetoday, Antares, Astronomy, Space|

Antares – Alpha Scorpii – A Red Giant
Often referred to as “The heart of the Scorpion”
Antares is on average the fifteenth-brightest star in the night sky, and the brightest object in the constellation of Scorpius. Distinctly reddish/orange when viewed with the naked eye, Antares is a slow irregular variable star that ranges in brightness from apparent magnitude +0.6 to +1.6.

Antares appears as a single star when viewed with the naked eye, but it is actually a binary star, with its two components called α Scorpii A and α Scorpii B. The brighter of the pair is the red super-giant, while the fainter is a hot main sequence star of magnitude 5.5. Antares is located approximately 550 light years away from Earth.

Antares is a red super-giant, a large evolved massive star and one of the largest stars visible to the naked eye. Its exact size remains uncertain, but if placed at the center of the Solar System, it would reach to somewhere between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Its mass is calculated to be around 12 times that of the Sun.

I captured this image through my 12″ F4 TPO Newtonian Reflector Telescope, Bisque ME Mount and a (unmodified)Canon 6D DSLR Camera, 180 sec exposure, ISO 800, taken at my observatories in Ohio on 06-04-2021.

Best Regards,

John Chumack

www.galacticimages.com

Vega – The Brightest Star in the constellation Lyra (The Harp)

By John Chumack|2021-07-08T18:50:50+00:00July 8th, 2021|Tags: #alphalyrae, #ChumackObservatories, #GalacticImages, #harp, #JohnChumack, #natgeo, #QHYCCD, #skyatnight, #Universetoday, Astronomy, Lyra, Space, Vega|

Vega

Vega – The Brightest Star in the constellation Lyra (The Harp)

It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae (Alpha Lyrae)

The brightest star in the Summer Triangle, it shines at magnitude 0.03.

This pretty star is relatively close at only 25 light-years (7.7 pc) from the Sun, one of the most luminous stars in the Sun’s neighborhood. It is the fifth-brightest star in the night sky, and the second-brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere, after Arcturus.

Interesting fact: Vega was the northern pole star around 12,000 BC and will be so again around the year 13,727.

I just love the bright star Vega, it is so easy to see with just your eye without optical aid, but is even more beautiful in Binoculars or a telescope.

My photo doesn’t even do it justice compared to visually looking at it.

I captured this quick test shot with my TPO 12″ Newt. and ME Mount, with my stock(unmodified) Canon 6D DSLR camera, this is a single 3 minute exposure, at ISO 800, at my observatories on 06-04-2021.

Best Regards,

John Chumack

www.galacticimages.com

The Sun in Hydrogen Alpha Light on 07-03-2021

By John Chumack|2021-07-06T23:48:13+00:00July 6th, 2021|Tags: #ChumackObservatories, #GalacticImages, #JohnChumack, #natgeo, #QHYCCD, #skyatnight, #SolarActivity, #solarcycle, #solarflare, #solarProm, #sunspot, #Universetoday, Astronomy, Space, Sun|

Hydrogen Alpha Sun with active region AR2835 & AR2836 (Lower Right), the Sun was pretty active today with Sunspots, Filaments, Prominences, and active regions AR2837 all visible in this semi close-up image taken on 07-03-2021 at 16:40 UT from my backyard in Dayton, Ohio.

A new sunspot also emerged during the early hours of July 3rd and promptly exploded,

the location was on the northwestern Limb (upper right) with a lot of swirling Prominences on the Sun’s limb still visible. The Sunspot that caused the flare is unnumbered, because it was not there the day before…but appeared Suddenly on the Northwest limb and simply erupted, producing the first X-class solar flare in about 4 years, the last one was Sept. 2017.

The new unnumbered sunspot that caused the Flare has now rotated over the western limb, but you can still see the prominence activity associated with it. Lunt 60mm/50HA Solar telescope, MYT mount, & QHY290M Cmos Camera, Ser video file, 1.497ms exp, 789 frames stacked in Registax6.

Best Regards,

John Chumack

www.galacticimages.com

NGC4535 Spiral Galaxy In Virgo – “The Lost Galaxy”

By John Chumack|2021-07-02T12:46:14+00:00July 2nd, 2021|Tags: #ChumackObservatories, #GalacticImages, #galaxy, #JohnChumack, #natgeo, #NGC4535, #QHYCCD, #skyatnight, #Universetoday, Astronomy, Space, Virgo|

NGC4535 Spiral Galaxy In Virgo

NGC4535 “The Lost Galaxy”…

NGC 4535 is a barred spiral galaxy located some 55 million light years from Earth in the constellation Virgo.

It is a member of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies and is located 4.3° from Messier 87.

The galactic plane of NGC 4535 is inclined by an angle of 43° to the line of sight from the Earth.

In the 1950s, when amateur astronomer Leland S. Copeland first fixed his telescope on a distant galaxy in the Virgo constellation,

he saw an eerie looking spiral shrouded in dust. Copeland was also a professional poet and loved writing about the cosmos, he dubbed the spiral “The Lost Galaxy,” a nickname that is still used some 70 years later.

Visually it spans 11.4 x 11 arc minutes, shining at magnitude 11, only the brighter center spiral structure is easily visible,

the outer arms are much fainter and requires longer exposure or larger diameter scopes to reveal them. There are many fainter background galaxies in the FOV as well.

I call it the Lost Galaxy, as I lost it to high clouds halfway through my imaging session…not really enough data, I only ended up with 80 minutes of exposure integration, and the clouds kept lingering, so I called it a night. I will attempt it again during the next galaxy season.

Captured on 05-01-2021 with my

Explore Scientific 102mm Triplet APO (FCD100) Refractor telescope, Bisque ME Robotic Mount, QHY 183C Cooled(OSC) Cmos Camera, 80min exposure, (16 x 300sec subs), SkyX Camera capture software with X2 plugin, PHD2, DSS, Pixinsight, & Adobe CS 2021.

Best Regards,

John Chumack

www.galacticimages.com

Messier 5 or M5 Globular Star Cluster in Serpens

By John Chumack|2021-06-26T22:21:54+00:00June 26th, 2021|Tags: #ChumackObservatories, #GalacticImages, #globular, #globularCluster, #JohnChumack, #m5, #messier5, #natgeo, #QHYCCD, #skyatnight, #Universetoday, Astronomy, Space|

Messier 5 or M5 Globular Star Cluster in the Constellation Serpens
it shines at magnitude 5.95 and has an visually apparent dimension of 23 arc minutes on the sky.
over 100,000 to 500000 stars in a tight ball or cluster, and these Globular Clusters often reside in the halo of our Milky Way galaxy.
M5 is one of the oldest(13 billion years old) inhabitants of our Galaxy and is located at 24,460 light years from Earth.
Its a beautiful globular both visually and photographically.

Explore Scientific 102MM Triplet APO refractor telescope, Bisque ME Mount, & QHY183C Cooled color Cmos Camera,
18 x 300 sec sub exposures stacked for a 90 minute exposure total integration time on 05-30-2021.

Best Regards,

John Chumack

www.galacticimages.com

Comet C/2020 T2 Palomar on 05-31-2021

By John Chumack|2021-06-24T10:57:28+00:00June 24th, 2021|Tags: #ChumackObservatories, #comet, #cometT2Palomar, #GalacticImages, #JohnChumack, #natgeo, #QHYCCD, #skyatnight, #Universetoday, Astronomy, Nucleus, Space|

Comet C/2020 T2 Palomar on 05-31-2021 shining at 10.5 magnitude while in the constellation Bootes.

30 x 60 second sub exposures, 30 minutes total integration time.

Tracking & stacking on the comets nucleus. The Nucleus was nearly stellar and very bright, with a 5.5 arc minute Green Coma, Universal date & time was 05-31-2021 02:10 U.T. to 02:43 U.T.

Captured with an Explore Scientific 102mm Triplet APO refractor telescope & QHY183C cooled Cmos color camera, from my Observatories in Yellow Springs, Ohio USA.

Currently as of June 24^th the Comet located at 1.54 AU or 12.78 light minutes from Earth and it is still in the constellation Bootes shining at Magnitude 10.8,…and is visible with a telescope in the southwestern sky just after dark and will set below the horizon by midnight.

Best Regards,

John Chumack

www.galacticimages.com

The Hockey Stick Galaxy – NGC4656 & The Whale Galaxy – NGC4631

By John Chumack|2021-05-27T00:01:53+00:00May 27th, 2021|Tags: #ChumackObservatories, #GalacticImages, #JohnChumack, #natgeo, #QHYCCD, #skyatnight, #Universetoday, #whalegalaxy #hockeystickgalaxy, Astronomy, Galaxies, Space|

Here is one for all you Hockey Fans, Whale Fans, or Just cool Galaxy Fans! Have a Great Memorial Day/Holiday weekend everyone!

NGC 4656/NGC4657 also known informally as the “Hockey Stick Galaxy” or the “Crowbar Galaxy” is a distorted edge-on spiral galaxy.

Its distinctive hockey stick shape is due to a recent gravitational interaction with the Whale galaxy NGC 4631.

NGC 4656/NGC4657 is a highly warped barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Canes Venatici at 15.8 million light years from Earth. I barely picked up the much fainter section of the Hockey stick just below the bottom of the stick.

This 11th magnitude galaxy is a member of the NGC 4631 Group.

Interesting note: A Luminous Blue Variable star in “super-outburst” was discovered in NGC 4656/57 on March 21, 2005.

NGC 4631 or Caldwell 32 (bottom left) is known as the Whale Galaxy with NGC 4627 its baby whale(pup) just below it.

The Whale Galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici.

This galaxy’s slightly distorted wedge shape gives it the appearance of a herring or a whale, hence its nickname.

From Earth we see it edge-on to our line of sight, and shines at 9.8 magnitude, it is located 25 million light years away.

I captured this image from my observatories in Ohio on 05-15-2021 and both galaxies barely fit in my FOV.

I used my Explore Scientific 102mm Triplet APO (FCD 100) refractor telescope & QHY183C Cooled Cmos Camera, Bisque ME robotic Mount, 85 minutes total integration,

I had to throw away 7 x(300sec) subs due to high clouds rolling in and out, but managed to keep 85 minutes of the original 120 min. data run. Stacking & Processing in DSS, Pixinsight & Adobe CC 2021.

Best Regards,

John Chumack

www.galacticimages.com