#southernskies — Public Fediverse posts

This is one of the more striking large targets in the southern sky. 47 Tucanae - or #NGC104 , #C106 , or more usually just #47Tuc is the second largest globular cluster visible to us.

A heavily observed object, it still contains many mysteries - including what is at the core of it. Does it have one or more black holes at the centre, driving the gathering of stars? Recent data from #ICRAR suggests that there might be, supporting an earlier theory from a researcher at #UWS .

Located near the #SMC , it requires careful exposure to avoid blowing out the core. In this case, I went for the lowest possible gain on my #Dwarf3 , but cranked the exposure up to 90s. Just over 2 hours of data later, and some post processing in the Stellar Studio and #Snapseed , and we get this.

#Astrodon #Astronomy #Astrophotography #SmartTelescope #SouthernSkies #BackyardAstronomy

Last night I tried something a little different.

I got my #Dwarf2 out, and ran a couple of sessions on the #LagoonNebula ( #M8 ).

The first was in the near-infrared, using a SVBony IR pass filter.

The second, slightly shorter one, was in unfiltered RGB.

Then I shifted the IR image to a green tone, and layered the two images on top of each other.

I am rather pleased with the results. I did not use the #Dwarf3 for this, as I only have a 1.25" IR filter.

#Astronomy #Astrodon #Astrophotography #Photography #SmartTelescope #BackyardAstronomy #SouthernSkies

Last night I promised that there would be Some Astronomy Happening.

Because we had SDA deployed on the front patio roof, we only had a couple of hours.

However...

I was able to get a far better shot of of #IC2177 ( the #SeagullNebula ) with the #Dwarf2 than I expected.

Sadly my attempt at #GUM6 aka #SH2_302 aka #RCW7 ( the #SnowmanNebula ) was a lot less successful.

Tonight, I am revisiting both. This time I'm shooting a full night for them. Let's see what we get!

Meantime, here are the shots from last night.

#Astronomy #Astrophotography #Astrodon #SouthernSkies #BackyardAstronomy

It is the end of #Kambarang and the start of #Birak here in #Noongar Country. With that the Emu is setting early in the evening. As compensation, we are now getting the #EtaCarinaNebula instead.

So last night I did a mosaic shot of with with my #Dwarf3 #SmartTelescope from my back yard.

Only a couple of hours effective exposure, but I am really happy with the results.

2hrs 13 minutes, 60s@60, Ha/OIII filter.

Postprocessed in the #DwarfLab Stellar Studio and #snapseed.

#astronomy #astrophotography #astrodon #southernHemisphere #southernskies #backyardAstronomy

Recently the Dwarflab app got a very interesting update in the beta stream. But not for telescope control - no this is in the album side. It now has options to upload your images to temporary AWS nodes for automated reprocessing. Star de-trailing, full star removal, and advanced denoising.

Most of these can be handled by well-known and publicly available neural networks, which is probably what these tiny AWS nodes are running.

The real fun, though, begins when you combine the results.

In this shot, I have taken the starless version, and added to it a heavily darkened an contrasted denoised version. This has the effect of reducing the stars, while maintaining the details of the nebula.

A bit of deblurring and sharpening, and this is the result.

C72, The Eta Carinae Nebula, Dwarf3, 60x90s@80, OIII/SII filter. Recomposed to reduce stars, and post processed in Google Photos.

#astrophotography #astronomy #Astrodon #Dwarf3 #NeuralNetwork #GooglePhotos #SouthernSkies

EDIT: [This is getting seen by people despite being a bit old. The events below were for 27 February, and are not happening anymore. Except for the "Jupiter and Venus being really close together and showing as a pair of really bright stars just above where the sun sets" - that one's good for at least another week!]

Okay, Ready to try again tonight. Sky's still a bit bright but #Venus and #Jupiter are already visible! Some cloud building up on the Eastern horizon, because of course there is, but we shall keep the faith and try anyway.

So to recap: From Pretoria/Joburg area, I'm hoping one of us will catch the Chinese space station as it moves from left to right across the Jupiter/Venus conjunction that's currently happening, and it'll be there at around 7:20pm local time. In other words, go outside in about 5 minutes and keep an eye out!

#astronomy #Satellites #SouthAfrica #SouthernSkies #Space

If you live near Pretoria/Joburg, and have clear skies tonight, go outside and look west just after sunset as the stars are starting to come out.
Wherever you are in the world, you'll see #Jupiter and #Venus shining as a pair of bright beacons close together, and if you check every night, you'll see them getting closer and closer until 1st March when they start moving apart again.
But for the Pretoria/Joburg crowd, there'll be something extra special! Tonight (26 Feb), at 7:21pm, you'll see a bright satellite passing above Jupiter, and it's a dead rocket body left over from a US Air Force launch in 2005. Tomorrow night (27 Feb) at 7:20pm local time, we'll see the Chinese Space Station pass between Jupiter and Venus!
Both these things will move pretty fast across the sky, so timing is critical - if you're even one minute late, you will miss it, so I recommend heading outside WELL in advance, and just admiring the Jupiter/Venus show until it arrives!

I picked this up on #Stellarium, completely by accident, while checking the separation for the Jupiter/Venus #Conjunction and I haven't been this excited about space stuff in years!

#astronomy #Satellites #SouthAfrica #SouthernSkies #Space