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| Mars on 09-12-2022 - 127mm Meade Apo Refractor, 3x Televue Barlow and QHY5LII c planetary camera. A stack of 3000 video frames. Software used: Sharpcap4, PIPP, AS!3, Registax6, AffinityPhoto2, Topaz Denoise AI and FitsWork4. Credit: Pipp Stakkert |
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| Mars on 30-11-2022 - 127mm Meade Apo Refractor, 3x Televue Barlow and QHY5LII c planetary camera. A stack of 6000 video frames. Software used: Sharpcap4, PIPP, AS!3, Registax6, AffinityPhoto2, Topaz Denoise AI and FitsWork4. Credit: Kurt Thrust |
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| Mars shining red and bright in the constellation Taurus just above Orion the Hunter. Astro-modded Canon 200d DSLR with Sigma EX widefield zoom lens on a Star Adventurer equatorial mount. A stack of 15 x one minute lights at ISO1600 and f=11mm. The images stacked and edited using Affinity Photo, Starnet GUI, Topaz Denoise AI and GradientXTerminator. |
" Mars has been shining red and bright in the night sky and has been moving steadily west until it came to opposition in early December 2022. Mars having been overtaken by Earth on its inner orbit, has now an apparent retrograde motion and is moving east amongst the stars of Taurus. The weather over Lowestoft has been mixed and unfortunately we have only managed two nights, one in November and one in December when we could image Mars using our large refracting telescope. Both polar icecaps are visible on the image captured in November but by December the southern ice cap has been diminished in the relative heat of the southern hemisphere summer. The enormous shield volcano, Olympus Mons is clearly visible in the image captured in December. The later image also shows increased carbon dioxide clouds in the Northern hemisphere" - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory
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Widefield image from the Jodrell Plank Observatory captures the planet Uranus along with Mars. Credit; Pip Stakkert "Pip realised that if he processed the data differently he would be able to show the visibly faint and distant planet Uranus. Uranus is so far away that it took the reflected sunlight we captured over four hours to reach us. As light travels at approximately 300,000 km per second, you might consider how big the Solar System actually is and in terms of our galaxy the Solar System is a tiny locality!" - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory |
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| The planet Mars shining red and bright over the Jodrell Plank Observatory late on the 13th November 2022. Images were captured using a fixed tripod mounted Canon 600d DSLR and a Sigma EX wide angle zoom lens at f=10mm. 10x 30 sec RAW lights were captured at ISO1600 and were stacked using Sequator freeware. The image was then cropped and processed using Affinity Photo, GraXpert, GradientXTerminator ' APS and Topaz Denoise AI. Image credit: Pip Stakkert. |
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| Annotated copy of image. Constellations shown in yellow text, star clusters in blue-green, the Moon in white and Mars in red. |
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| The Horsehead and Flame Nebulae. Old data captured at the Jodrell Plank Observatory re-worked using Starnet GUI and Affinity Photo software by Pip Stakkert. |
" Probably my favourite star field in the the winter night sky. The constellation Orion can now be seen rising each night in the east and dominating the winter night sky when we looked to the south. The above image highlights the bright star Alnitak (centre left) which is the left star in Orion's Belt of three 'naked eye' stars. If you look closely you will see that Alnitak is a double star with a small companion. Below and to the left of Alnitak is the Flame Nebula a vast cloud of ionised hydrogen gas crossed by dark lanes of cold interstellar dust. The dark Horsehead Nebula is also an area of cold dust that sits between us and the ionised gas behind it creating the iconic equine silhouette. Given some better weather on a Moon free night, we will endeavour to capture some more data in and around the fabulous constellation Orion." - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.
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| Deneb Alpha Cygni and the Summer Milky Way. Fixed tripod mounted Canon 600d DSLR and 18-55mm EFS zoom lens at f=18mm. Stack of 30 second lights at ISO1600. |
" The Jodrell Plank Observatory Team has processed this data set in a number of ways using a number of different software packages to bring out the dust and ionised nebulosity. This is my personal favourite." - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory..
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The Pillars of Creation are set off in a kaleidoscope of color in NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s near-infrared-light view. The pillars look like arches and spires rising out of a desert landscape, but are filled with semi-transparent gas and dust, and ever changing. This is a region where young stars are forming – or have barely burst from their dusty cocoons as they continue to form.
Newly formed stars are the scene-stealers in this Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) image. These are the bright red orbs that sometimes appear with eight diffraction spikes. When knots with sufficient mass form within the pillars, they begin to collapse under their own gravity, slowly heat up, and eventually begin shining brightly.
Along the edges of the pillars are wavy lines that look like lava. These are ejections from stars that are still forming. Young stars periodically shoot out supersonic jets that can interact within clouds of material, like these thick pillars of gas and dust. This sometimes also results in bow shocks, which can form wavy patterns like a boat does as it moves through water. These young stars are estimated to be only a few hundred thousand years old, and will continue to form for millions of years
Although it may appear that near-infrared light has allowed Webb to “pierce through” the background to reveal great cosmic distances beyond the pillars, the interstellar medium stands in the way, like a drawn curtain.
This is also the reason why there are almost no distant galaxies in this view. This translucent layer of gas blocks our view of the deeper universe. Plus, dust is lit up by the collective light from the packed “party” of stars that have burst free from the pillars. It’s like standing in a well-lit room looking out a window – the interior light reflects on the pane, obscuring the scene outside and, in turn, illuminating the activity at the party inside.
Webb’s new view of the Pillars of Creation will help researchers revamp models of star formation. By identifying far more precise star populations, along with the quantities of gas and dust in the region, they will begin to build a clearer understanding of how stars form and burst out of these clouds over millions of years.
The Pillars of Creation is a small region within the vast Eagle Nebula, which lies 6,500 light-years away.
Webb’s NIRCam was built by a team at the University of Arizona and Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Center.
James Webb Space Telescope
Credits:
SCIENCE: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
IMAGE PROCESSING: Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI)
"The team at the Jodrell Plank Observatory has been amazed by the quality of the data being produced by the James Webb Space Telescope. The above image shows an emission nebula in the constellation Serpens that can be seen from the Jodrell Plank Observatory during the Summer. Imaging in the near infra-red has enabled the views of embryonic stars, where fusion has just commenced, to be seen through the copious clouds of dust. The detail visible is just astonishing and a tribute to the engineers and scientists that designed and constructed the James Webb Space Telescope and got it into space and a stable orbit" - Joel Cairo CEO o the Jodrell Plank Observatory.
"I have been asked many times as to whether the colours shown in space images are 'real' or what you would see with your eye. In truth your eye-brain combination is a fabulous bit of kit but does not function well in colour under low light conditions. The eye is most sensitive to green light at 555nm. so when looking through the eyepiece of a telescope at faint objects like nebula, most look green. Visible light is electro-magnetic radiation between the wavelengths 400 to 700 nanometers(nm). Below 400nm there is Ultra violet, X-ray and Gamma radiation. Above 700nm there is infra-red , microwave and radio radiation.
Scientists and engineers design cameras to capture electromagnetic radiation in greyscale at different ranges of wavelengths. They also incorporate filters with these cameras which allow parts of the range to be separated out and assigned a colour. The colour camera on your phone works this way with red, green and blue filters overlaid on a greyscale imaging chip.
The NIRCam mid infra- red camera used to capture the above image used several filters to sample different infra-red wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Purple: F090W, Blue: F187N, Cyan: F200W, Yellow: F335M, Orange: F444W, Red: F470N." - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.
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| The Eastern Veil Nebula in the constellation Cygnus the Swan. Originally captured with the Meade 127mm Apo-refractor and a Canon 400d Camera. Data rework by Pip Stakkert in Oct 2022. |
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| As above but with reduced stars |
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| The Eclipse at about maximum. Image a composite of stacked video frames taken with the observatory's Star Adventurer mini-rig. Altair Astro 66mm Doublet Refractor and QHY5-llc video camera. Image credit: Joel Cairo |
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| The last moments of the partial solar eclipse as the Moon moved out from infront of the Sun's disc. Mini rig set up as before with the addition of a x3 Televue Barlow lens. Image credit: Pip Stakkert. |
"The sky over the Jodrell Plank Observatory was peppered with clouds for the duration of the partial solar eclipse. We therefore considered ourselves lucky to get a couple of images from the day. The presence of sunspots on the solar disc was a bonus" .- Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.
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| The Bay of Rainbows or Sinus Iridum near the terminator on a waxing gibbous Moon. 127mm Meade series 500 Apo Refractor, x3 Televue Barlow and QHY5-llc planetary camera. Credit: Pipp Stakkert. |
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| Jupiter and moons Europa and Io on the 6th of October 2022. Compilation of two stacks one using a 2x Barlow lens and one a 3x Barlow lens. 127mm Meade 500 Series Apo refractor and QHY5-llc planetary camera. Stacked and processed using PIPP, Registax6, AutoStackert3!, Fitswork4 ,Topaz DenoiseAI and Affinity Photo. Credit Kurt Thrust. |
"Our first attempt at capturing Jupiter this year. We were not convinced that the sky over Lowestoft was quite stable enough for capturing a sharp image of the largest of the Solar System's planets, but we think it turned out alright in the end." Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.
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| Europa credit:JPL NASA |
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| Io credit:JPL NASA |
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| Sunspot Groups AR3116 and AR3112 taken on 06-10-2022 by Pip Stakkert using the 127mm Meade Apo Refractor, 3x Barlow lens and QHY5-ll mono planetary camera stacked and processed using PIPP, AutoStakkert3, Affinity Photo, Fitswork4 and Topaz Denoise AI. |
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| Credit:NASA-SDO_sun-in-visible-light_2022-oct-07_0100UTC_labels-e1665106680491 |
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| The North America and Pelican Nebula in the Constellation Cygnus the Swan. Composite image of 1.5 hours of data captured with the Jodrell Plank Observatory astromodded Canon 200d DSLR and the unmodded Canon 600d DSLR cameras A Samyang 135mm lens was used on both cameras which were set to capture one minute exposures at ISO800. The caneras were on a Star Adventurer equatorial mount. The images from the two cameras were combined using RegiStar software and processed using; Affinity Photo, GraXpert, StarnetGUI,FitsWork4, Topaz Denoise AI and GradientXterminator. Credit: Pip Stakkert |
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| The before image for comparison |
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| Albireo or Beta Cygni in the Constellation Cygnus the Swan. 127mm Meade Apo Refractor and astromodded Canon 200d DSLR. A cropped stack of 20x 30 sec exposures at ISO800. Credit Pip Stakkert. |
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| The multiple star systems Mizar A, Miza B and Alcor. 127mm Meade Apo Refractor and astro-modded Canon 200d DSLR. A stack of 30 sec images taken at ISO800 and ISO400. Credit: Pip Stakkert. |
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| Saturn and 4 moons. A compilation of stacked video frames taken with the 127mm Meade Apo refractor, 3x Barlow and QHY5llcol. video colour camera. Credit: Pip Stakkert |
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| NGC 7000 the North American Nebula in the Constellation Cygnus. Image taken from Ed Sargisson's Observatory in Norwich. Credit: Ed Sargisson. |
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| The planet Saturn with moons Titan and Iapetus on display. Canon 600d DSLR with Samyang 135 F2 ED lens on a Star Adventurer EQ mount. 12x60sec lights at ISO800 stacked using AffinityPhoto software. Overlay of star field data courtesy of Astrometry net. Credit: Karl Sequine and UNWISE |
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| Annotated star field Credit: Stellarium |
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| Our home-made 'Blink Comparator' |
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| Titan (false colour) Credit: ESA- Cassini |
Iapetus s the third largest moon of Saturn. It has an orbit much further out than Titan and has an inclined orbit when compared with Saturn's other large moons. We were extremely lucky to have captured Iapetus with our simple camera lens set up. Iapetus can only be captured when it is at maximum western elongation in its orbit when viewed from Earth. We can only see the planets and their moons by means of reflective sunlight. Their brightness is determined by their size, distance and albedo (how much incident light is reflected). Venus is very bright because it is roughly the same size as Earth, is a near solar system neighbour close to the Sun and has a atmosphere full of clouds that are highly reflective of sunlight. Iapetus has a bright hemisphere and a dark hemisphere and is tidally locked to Saturn. We can see its bright reflective hemisphere at 'western elongation' and we see (or actually cannot see) its dark hemisphere at 'eastern elongation. We were lucky to capture our images at approximately maximum western elongation. Iapetus also looks like the 'Death Star' and how cool is that?" - Karl Sequine Out-reach Coordinator at the Jodrell Plank Observatory
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| Iapetus Credit ESA- Cassini |
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| Composite image of two Perseid meteors taken in the early hours of the13th August 2022. 9sec lights taken at ISO1600 and f=10mm. Canon 600d DSLR on Star Adventurer EQ Mount. Credit; Pip Stakkert |
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| Alternative colour rendition of Jodrell Plank image with reduced stars and increased nebulosity. Credit Joel Cairo. |
"Discovered by William Herschel in 1786, the huge North American (NGC 7000, left) and the smaller, dimmer Pelican (IC 5067/5070, right) Nebulae in Cygnus are estimated to be 2590 light years distant (Gaia). The intricate, eastern edge of Mexico and Central America is known as the Cygnus Wall, a region of hot gas, dust and young stars. The Gulf of Mexico is a visual effect created by dark nebulosity or cold dust. Seven foreground stars in the 'Gulf' form an asterism called "Little Orion." Do you see it? It is more obvious in the image below.
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| Smaller field of view of the North America Nebula (left) and the Pelican Nebula (right). Image Credit: ESA Hubble Telescope -Todd Nolan The North America Nebula is estimated to stretch 90 light years north to south and is part of a much larger cloud of ionised hydrogen gas some 140 light years across. Dark nebulae punctuate the region creating the individual clouds of glowing gas.. The gas is ionised by very hot and massive stars hidden within the cold dark nebula of the 'Gulf of Mexico'. In our image the Blue Giant star Deneb and the spectroscopic binary star (colour yellow) Xi Cygnus dominate". - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory. |
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| A Capricornid Meteor Shower 'Fireball' captured over the Ladybower Reservoir Derbyshire August 2022 by Kurt Thrust on his summer holiday. Composite image. Canon 600d DSLR and Sigma EX lens at f=10mm .on a Star Adventurer EQ mount. Single 1 minute RAW exposure at ISO800. Image developed and cropped using Affinity Photo and Topaz Denoise AI. |
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| Mu Cephei or Herschel's Garnet Star - a stack of short duration light frames taken with a tripod mounted Canon 200d DSLR and a Samyang 135mm lens. Credit: Pip Stakkert. |
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| Credit: Astrometry Net |
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| Antares and Globular Star Cluster Messier4..Composite crop of stacks of images taken with the Canon 200d and 600d DSLR cameras. Credit: Kurt Thrust |
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| Uncropped more nebulous version of the above image |
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| Credit: Astrometry Net |
