🔭 Hobby update! Polaris & NGC 188

Polaris: the North Star.

For centuries, the fixed point in the sky used for navigation. Reliable, constant… almost boring, until you look a bit deeper.

In the same field lies NGC 188, one of the oldest known open clusters in our galaxy (~6–7 billion years old), quietly orbiting the Milky Way while Polaris guided travelers on Earth.

But what makes this region really challenging is something far more subtle: IFN (Integrated Flux Nebula). The dust part.

This faint, dusty structure is not illuminated by nearby stars, but by the combined light of the entire Milky Way. It’s extremely dim, easily drowned by light pollution, and requires careful processing to even reveal.

A guiding star, an ancient cluster… and barely visible interstellar dust connecting it all. Insane, isn’t it?

Technically one of the more challenging fields I’ve captured; not because of complexity, but because of how little signal there actually is. And ok; framing and alinging, and keeping track is … complicated, if you know. You know. Aligning on Polaris is like aiming at a coin from tens of kilometers away; we do that before every shoot.

But there’s always more in the frame; if you push the data far enough and keep track on an asset that basically doesn’t move. 😬

Technical:
• Telescope: William Optics MiniCat 51
• Camera: ASI2600MC Pro
• Filter: Baader Sky & Moon 2”
• Mount: AM3

#astrophotography #astronomy #space #polaris #deepsky

Sh2-142: The Wizard

Discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1787, Sh2-142 is an open star cluster ~20ly across located ~8.5kly distant. A beautiful emission nebula and star-forming region.

Prints etc: https://shiny.photo/photo/Sh2-142--The-Wizard-679b4efdf1db2d8c36d1062f1b2d5559

#astrophotography #astronomy #photography #deepskyobject #nightsky #space

Astrophotographer captures spectacular photo of Antennae Galaxies dueling in deep space

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.space.com/stargazing/astrophotography/astrophotographer-captures-spectacular-photo-of-antennae-galaxies-dueling-in-deep-space

The Leo Triplet:

M65
M66
NGC 3628 - The Hamburger Galaxy. Look closely and you can see its tidal tail: a trail of stars and gas extending into space as a result of gravitational forces from nearby galaxies.

About 5 hours of integration at 135mm.

#Astrophotography #Space #Science #SonyAlpha 🔭

This photo is of very poor quality, but I wanted to show you it nonetheless.

It shows the Virgo Cluster, a cluster of galaxies visible in the Virgo constellation.

Each of those fluffy clouds is a galaxy similar to ours Milky Way, each has billions of stars just like our Sun.

The more notable ones are Messier 90 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_87) and Messier 87 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_87)

#astrophotography