a tour to the night sky
TRANSCRIPT
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
1/78
A Tour to the Night SkyHarry Rabb - Kirkkonummi, Finland. 4th of November 2017.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
2/78
This is an astronomy picture book. I have taken the images mainly with Celestron 8
telescope and Canon Eos 60Da camera in Kirkkonummi, Finland, years 2013-2017.The textand images have been created originally to internet page:
http://www.saunalahti.fi/~harrrab/index-English.html
This picture has places where stars are born, like Orion nebula M42 and the Horseheadnebula. Deaths of stars are M1 Crab nebula, M27 Dumbbel nebula and Veil Nebula. Star
clusters are M45 Pleiades and M13 Globular cluster in Hercules. Galaxies, like M31, M33and our Milky Way Galaxy, are systems of hundreds of billions stars. Galaxies belong to
galaxy clusters, like the Abell 264. Quasars, massive black holes eating stars, are the
brightest objects in the Universe.
Contents:
1. Constellations
2. The Solar system3. Nebulae
4. Milky Way, Our home Galaxy
5. Life of a Star and the Elements
6. Galaxies
7. The Universe
8. Southern Sky
9. Northern Lights
10. Events in the Sky11. Back to 80s
12. Methods and Equipment
Copyright (c) for pictures, 2013-2017 Harry Rabb. All rights reserved. And copyright for images in chapter
TheSolar System NASA/JPL-Caltech, European Space Agency(ESA), JAXA(Japan), ISRO(India) and
Russian Academy of Sciences and Hubble Space Telescope.
http://www.saunalahti.fi/~harrrab/index-English.htmlhttp://www.saunalahti.fi/~harrrab/index-English.htmlhttp://www.saunalahti.fi/~harrrab/index-English.html -
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
3/78
Constellations
Objects in contellations of Cygnus, Lyra and Aquila. Milky Way imaged 2nd of October
2016. These constellations are in south when autumn sky gets dark. The stars Deneb, Vega
and Altair form a "summer triangle". Nebulas M57 and M27 can be seen visually with a
telescope. The North America nebula NGC7000 is wide and dim object and it becomesvisible with long exposure photographs. Millions of stars and dark clouds of Milky Way
galaxy are well visible. The M16 and M17 nebulas are difficult to observe from Finland.
They are low in horizon in September after sunset. Hubble space telescope took the famous
Pillars of Creation image of M16 Eagle nebula. Caldwell 33 and 34 is a supernova remnant
of a massive star which exploded 6000 years ago. Tabbys star KIC 8462852 has had
interesting variations in brigthnes The Cygnus X-1 is a powerfull X-Ray source. It is a black
hole orbiting a blue giant star HDE 226868.
The objects in the sky have been registered with Messier numbers like M 57 and NGC
numbers like NGC 7000. At the end of 1700 century Charles Messier made his catalogue of
sky objects. The catalogue contained 110 objects. The New General Catalogue (NGC)
contains about 8000 objects. J.L.E. Dreyer did it at the end of 1880s. Other catalogues are
Index Catalogue (IC, NGC update), Abell (galaxy clusters), Caldwell, 3C (Third Cambridge
Catalog of Radio Sources, Quasars).
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
4/78
Objects in contellations of Andromeda, Perseus and Triangulum. The Andromeda galaxy
M31 is in 2.4 million light year distance, and it can be seen as a dim nebulous object in sky
with naked eye. The Double cluster in Perseus is well visible with binoculars. The galaxy
cluster Abell 426 is in distance of 273 million light years. The galaxy M33 is in 3 million
ligth year distance. Quasar 3C-48 is in 4 billion light years distance.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
5/78
Objects in contellations of Orionin, Taurus, Gemini and Monoceros.In the Great Orion
nebula M42 about 2000 new stars with planets have born. Distance 1300 light years. The
Crab nebula M1 exploded as a supernova in year 1054. Now there is a fast rotating neutron
star in the center. In the center of Rosette nebula there is a new star cluster. Also the Pleiades
M45 is a young star cluster. Betelgeuze is a red giant star, which can explode as a supernova
whenever. Open star clusters M36, M37 and M38 can be seen with binoculars.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
6/78
Objects in contellations of Ursa Major, Canes Venatici, Leo and Virgo. In this area there is a
lot of galaxies and galaxy clusters. The Virgo galaxy cluster is closest cluster to us, and
actually our Milky Way galaxy and M31 and M33 are at the edge of the Virgo cluster. The
Virgo cluster is dominated with giant elliptic galaxies M87, M86 and M84. The Coma
galaxy cluster Abell 1656 is in distance of 321 million ligth years. The galaxy M82 has often
supernova explosions. The distance to quasar 3C-273 is 2.4 billion light years.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
7/78
Objects in contellations of Hercules, Bootes, Draco, Serpens and Ophiuchus. In this area
there is spectacular globular star clusters M13, M92, M5 and M3. There is typically several
hundred thousand stars in globular clusters. The clusters are very old. They were born at
same time as our Milky Way galaxy, about 10 billion years ago.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
8/78
Objects in contellations of Sagittarius, Scorpion and Centaurus. Images were taken at Gran
Canaria 11th of June 2013. The center of Milky Way galaxy is visible here. The Trifid and
Lagoon nebulas are birth places of stars. In Centauri there is globular cluster Omega
Centauri, with one million stars. The closest star Alpha Centauri is marked to the picture. It
is a triple star system, and the star Proxima has an Earth like planet in zone of life.
The presented starmaps cover following areas of the northern sky:
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
9/78
The Solar system
The Sun
Below is Sun 9thof November 2011. Sun is a star. Its diameter is 1.39 million kilometers.
Distance from Earth is 150 million kilometers. Mass is 333000 times mass of the Earth. Sun
makes one rotation in 28 days. Composition: 73.4% hydrogen, 24.9% helium, 0.77%
oxygen, 0.29% carbon, 0.16% iron and other elements with smaller amounts. Sun has darksunspots. There the magnetic field is so strong that it slows down the movement of gas and
makes it cooler. The temperature in the surface of sun is 6000 degrees Celsius and in the
sunspot it is 5000 degrees. In the core of Sun the temperature is 14 million degrees and thepressure is 225 billion atmospheres. Sun produces energy with the fusion reactions of atoms.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
10/78
In October 2014 there was a large sunspot group. Note in the SOHO image how magneticfield lines are associated with the large sunspot group.
Below is Sun with NASA and JAXA space probes.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
11/78
Solar Eclipse 20.3.2015
Images were taken in Riihimki, Finland. Telescope was SkyWatcher 80/600 ED. Camera
Canon EOS 550D.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
12/78
Planets of the solar system from Mercury to Pluto. In this image on the left the planets are as
they can be seen through the telescope. On the right are planets imaged by NASA and ISROspace probes. Mercury has been imaged during day time when Sun was shining on the sky.
To see Uranus and Neptune you need binoculars. Pluto has been classified as dwarf planet.
Planet Diameter km Distance from Sun, km Mass as Earth mass Moons
Mercury 4879 58 millions 0.055 0
Venus 12100 108 millions 0.82 0
Earth 12756 150 millions 1 1
Mars 6800 228 millions 0.11 2
Jupiter 143000 778 millions 318 67
Saturn 121000 1427 millions 95 62
Uranus 51100 2871 millions 14.5 27
Neptune 49570 4498 millions 17 14
Pluto 2320 5914 millions 0.0021 5
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
13/78
Scales in the solar system. Also the largest moons of the planets and asteroid Ceres isincluded in this scale image.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
14/78
Mercury
Mercury has no atmosphere. It rotates around its axis very slowly, in 59 days. On daysidetemperature is +467 degrees Celsius and in night side -173 degrees. Below Mercury istransiting the Sun. Telescope Celestron 8. Camera Canon EOS 60Da.
Below is Mercury with NASA Messenger space probe.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(planet)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(planet) -
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
15/78
Venus
Venushas a thick atmosphere consisting of mainly carbon dioxide. Surface temperature is+460 degrees Celsius.The surface is covered with volcanos and lava flows. Part of the
volcanos may be active even today. Below is image series of Venus approaching the Earth
year 2017. On left below is Venus imaged on the middle of the day when Sun is shining.
Venus is closest to Earth and angular distance from sun was 8 degrees. In the January image
Venus was at distance of 115 million kilometers and angular size was 22 arch seconds. On
24th of March image distance is 42 million kilometers and angular size 59 arch seconds.Images were stacked with Registax.
Below is Venus Transiting over sun 6.6.2012.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venushttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venushttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus -
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
16/78
Below is Venus with NASA and Russian Venera space probes. Russias Venera 13 and 14
landed on Venus year 1982. They worked less than 2 hours on surface until the hotconditions broke them.
The Earth
The Earthand Mars planets are in zone of life in solar system. Average temperature on Earthis +15 degrees Celsius. Range -80..+50 degrees Celsius. When life evolved on Earth the
cyanobacteria, algae and plants converted the atmosphere of the Earth to contain Oxygen.
This made possible the development of Oxygen breathing animals. Earth has activelymoving continental shelves. They have strong influence to conditions on Earth in millionsyears scale.
Pictures from planet Earth. Vesijrvi in Lahti, Finland. Raippaluoto in Vaasa, Finland, traces
of last ice age. Swiss Alps near Hochenhorn. Vuokatti. Thingvellir in Iceland, the border
between tectonic plates. London. Yokohama. Gran Canaria. Bergen, Norway.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth -
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
17/78
The Earth from space.
The Moon
Moon 19thof October 2011. Diameter is 3474 kilometers. Distance 384000 kilometers. Mass
is 0.0123 times Earth mass. The surface of the Moon has stayed quite unchanged after birth
of the Solar system. The dark areas are ancient lava-fields. The light areas are highlands.Asteroid impacts have created craters to the surface of the Moon. Also Earth has been
impacted by the Asteroids, but erosion process has worn off most of the impact craters.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
18/78
In the image below the landing sites of the manned Apollo missions are marked. Apollo 11
was year 1969 and Apollo 17 year 1972.
Hyginus crater and Hyginus Rille is probably a volcanic formation.
The diameter of
Theophilus crater is 100 kilometers and the depth is 3,2 kilometers. The diameter ofPosidonius crater is 95 kilometers and it is 2,3 kilometers deep.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
19/78
TheApollo 11 landed on Moon 20th of July 1969. First man on the moon was Niel
Armstrong, with the famous first words on the moon: "One small step for man, one giant
leap for mankind". Apollo 17 in 1972 was the last manned mission to Moon. Apollo 13, year1970, had an accident and it did not land on Moon: "Houston, We've Got a Problem".
Mars
Mars has thin atmosphere consisting mainly carbon dioxide. Pressure is 0.6% of Earth
pressure. Mars was for 2 to3 billion years after birth of solar system a planet with oceans andthicker atmosphere. Now the surface of Mars is mostly dry and the water is mixed to the soil,
both as water and as ice. The average temperature on Mars is -63 degrees Celsius. But in
equator the day temperatures are +10..20 degrees Celsius. The gravity on surface of Mars is38% of the Earth gravity. The day at Mars takes 24 hours and 40 minutes. The year on Mars
is 686 days. The rotation axis of Mars has 25 degrees tilt, so there are yearly seasonal
changes on Mars.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_programhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_program -
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
20/78
Below is Mars with NASA and ISRO space probes. Mars, the god of war, has 2 small
moons: Phobos(=Fear), diameter 22 kilometers and Deimos(=Horror), diameter 12kilometers.
Jupiter
Jupiteris the largest planet of the Solar system. It has a thick atmosphere consisting mainlyhydrogen and helium. The atmosphere gets thicker as you go deeper. Jupiter has 4 large
moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Io has active volcanos. Diameter is 3642
kilometers. Europa has under ice cover a deep ocean covering the whole moon. Diameter of
Europa is 3120 kilometers. Totally Jupiter has 67 moons.
Below left: Series of Jupiter pictures 24.1.2013. During the series Jupiter has rotated 40
degrees from right to left. Jupiter rotates around in 9h 55m. Below right: Picture series of
rotation of Jupiters four largest moons around Jupiter. The rotation times of moons are: Io1.8, Europa 3.6, Ganymedes 7.2, and Kallisto 16.7.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiterhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiterhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter -
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
21/78
Below is Jupiter with NASA space probes.
Saturn
Saturn is also a gas planet. The rings of Saturn are just 20 meters thick and are composed of
particles of water ice. On 23.5.2016 Saturn was close to horizon. Saturn's moons Titan,
Rhea, Tethys and Dione are visible. Titan is the largest moon in the solar system. Diameter is
5152 kilometers. Telescope Celestron 8. Camera Canon EOS 60Da.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturnhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn -
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
22/78
Saturn with NASA Cassini space probe. Saturn's moon Titan has a thick atmosphere
consisting nitrogen and methane. On surface there is methane lakes in -180 degrees Celsiustemperature. Titan is the largest moon in the solar system. Diameter is 5152 kilometers.
Titan may have liquid water underground. Saturns moon Enceladus has geysers, which spill
out water into space. So there is liquid water under ice cover. Diameter is 500 kilometers.
Methone is surprisingly smooth to be a small moon (diameter 3km). Saturn has 62 moons.
The Cassini space probe by NASA and ESA has circulated Saturn for Years and its Huygens
lander landed on surface of Titan.
Saturns moon Iapetus has one side very dark and the other side bright. Diameter is 1492kilometers. On equator Iapetus has 13 kilometers high mountains going round the moon.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
23/78
Uranus, Neptune and Pluto
Uranus andNeptune are gas planets. Diameter of Uranus is 51 118 kilometers. Diameter of
Neptune is 49 572 kilometers. Dwarf planetPluto is a system of 6 bodies. Below Uranus,
Neptunus and Pluto imaged with Celestron 8 telescope. The specific blue tone colors ofUranus and Neptune are visible.
Uranus has 27 moons; in image below are Ariel, Titania ja Oberon. Neptune has 14 moons;
in image below Triton.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranushttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neptunehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neptunehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus -
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
24/78
Pluto has 5 moons: Charon, Nix, Hydra, Styx and Kerberos. The size of Pluto is 2370
kilometers. Pluto has a large moon Charon, diameter 1200 kilometers. In addition Pluto has 4smaller moons. Size of Hydra is 45 kilometers and Nix is 42 kilometers. Space probeNew
Horizonsby NASA made a Pluto flyby in July 2015. Surprise is that the surface features on
Pluto and Charon seem to be fresh, possibly only 100 million years old. Temperature at Pluto
surface is -229 degrees Celcius. The fresh surface may consist of nitrogen ice, carbondioxide ice and water ice. The sky of Pluto is blue.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/index.htmlhttps://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/index.htmlhttps://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/index.htmlhttps://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/index.html -
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
25/78
Comets
Comet Garradd 1.10.2011, PanStarrs 17.3.2013 and Lovejoy (on the left in constellation of
Andromeda 8.2.2015 with 400mm tele objective. On the right 15.3.2015 in constellation of
Cassiopeia, with Celestron 8 F6 focus.). Comets are 'dirty snowballs'. When they come closeto sun they melt and vaporize. The water vapor makes a long tail behind the comet.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
26/78
Comet PanStarrs 17.3.2013. PanStarrs was closest to Sun 10.3.2013 about distance of 45
million kilometers. It was closest to Earth 5.3.2013 about 165 million kilometers distance.The length of the tail is about 35 archminutes, which is about 1.7 million kilometers at
comets distance. It takes over 100000 years for this comet to go round Sun. Picture on left:
20:16 with Sky-Watcher 80/600 ED telescope. Exposures 4 x 8 seconds, ISO1600. Middle:
20:10 with Celestron 8 telescope, F6.3. Exposures 4 x 8 seconds, ISO1600. Right: zoomed to
middle picture. Camera Canon Eos 60Da. Stacked with DSS. Low-left: EF100-400L
telezoom lens set to 400mm. Exposure 1 second, ISO1600.
Movement of PanStarrs between 19:43 and 20:16. It has moved about 3.1 archminutes whichis about 151000 kilometers at comets distance. So the speed is about 76 kilometers per
second.Name of this comet comes from the telescope system which found it: Panoramic
Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS). These telescopes monitor
the sky to find new asteroids and comets, which could come close to Earth.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
27/78
Below is comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko byESA Rosettaspace probe and comet Hartley.
Philae by ESA landed on Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Rosetta has observed also Oxygen andMethane coming out from this comet.
http://rosetta.esa.int/http://rosetta.esa.int/http://rosetta.esa.int/http://rosetta.esa.int/ -
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
28/78
Asteroids
Asteroids Ceres and Vesta. There is thousands of asteroids between orbits of Mars and
Jupiter. Ceres is largest one, 1000 kilometers in diameter. Vesta is second largest, 560 km indiameter. You can see these with binoculars.
Ceres has interesting white areas in one crater, named Occator. One possibility is that Cereshas liquid salty water under surface and here it leaks into surface. Images byNASA Dawn.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/main/index.htmlhttps://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/main/index.html -
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
29/78
Nebulae
North-America nebula NGC7000 and Pelican nebula IC5070 in the constellation of Cygnus.
Distance 1600 light years. Photograph taken 5.9.2013 EF100-400 tele zoom objective set to300 millimeters.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
30/78
Below is Milky Way in constellation of Aquila. There is a dark dust and molecular cloud
Barnard 143, with distance of 2000 light years. The picture area in the sky is 10x4 degrees.You can see how Milky Way contains millions of stars. Actually in our Milky Way Galaxy
there is about 400 billion stars. The bright star on the left is Altair, with distance of 17 light
years. It is twice the size of the Sun.
NGC2237 Rosette nebula in constellation of Monoceros. Distance 5200 light years. Angularsize in the sky is 1.3 degrees. Mass 10000 times mass of the Sun. The bright stars in the
middle have born from this nebula. Photograph taken 28.12.2016 with EF100-400L telezoom in 300mm focus. Exposures 6 x 110 seconds and stacked with DSS.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
31/78
Horsehead nebula Barnard 33 and Flame nebula NGC 2024 in constellation of Orion.
Distance to Horsehead nebula is 1500 light years. Distance to Flame nebula is 1200 lightyears. Picture taken with 400mm tele zoom objective 28.12.2016. Picture is stack of 6 x 110
seconds exposures and stacked with Deep Sky Stacker software.
NGC 1973 Running man nebula, M43 and M42 in constellation of Orion. Picture is taken
with Sky Watcher 80/600 ED telescope. Distance to M42 is 1300 light years. There has born
about 2000 new stars in area of Orion Nebula. From sharp pictures of Hubble Space
telescope it is possible to see several protoplanetary discs around the new stars. So here new
planets and solar systems are born.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
32/78
The center of the Orion nebula M42. Distance 1300 light years. The bright four stars are born
in this nebula. In Orion nebula area about 2000 new stars have born. Photograph taken5.1.2013 with Celestron 8 F10 focus. The M42 picture on right is taken 27.10.2012.
Below left: M57 in constellation of Lyra. Distance 2300 light years. In center of the nebula
there is a white dwarf star. It is what is left from a star, which blow out its outer parts to
space at end of its life. The red color comes from ionized hydrogen gas. The greenish colors
come from oxygen. Below right: NGC 7635 Bubble nebula in constellation of Cassiopeia.Distance 11000 light years. Photograph taken 12.11.2012 with Celestron 8 F6.3 focus.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
33/78
M27 Dumbbel nebula in constellation of Fox. Distance 1250 light years. In the center of this
nebula there is also a white dwarf star. Photograph was taken 7.9.2013 with Celestron 8 F10focus.
Below are two southern sky objects, places where stars are born, M16 and M17. In Finland
these are difficult to photograph since they are close to horizon. Photographs are taken
5.9.2016 with Celestron 8 F6.3 focus. M16 Eagle nebula is in constellation of Snake.Distance 7000 light years. Hubble space telescope took of M16 the famous picture Pillars ofCreation. M17 Omega nebula is in constellation of Sagittarius. Distance 5000 light years.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
34/78
Young star cluster Messier 45, Pleiades. Distance 440 light years.Picture taken 29.1.2014.
Sky Watcher 80/600ED. Canon EOS 60Da. Stack 4 x 3 minutes. ISO 1600.
Messier 11, Wild duck cluster in contellation of Scutum. Distance 6200 ligth years. One
candidate for place where Solar system was born is open star cluster Messier 67 in
constellation of Crab. This cluster has same age as our Sun. And it contains several similar
chemical composition stars as our Sun. Distance is 2700 light years. In constellation of
Auriga there is 3 open starclusters which are visible with binoculars: M36, M37 and M38.Distances 4100, 4500 and 4200 light years. Also red nebulae IC405 and IC410 are visible.
Distances 1500 and 1300 light years.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
35/78
Double star cluster NGC 884 and NGC 869 in constellation of Perseus. Distance 6800 light
years, Image taken 27.10.2012.
Butterfly nebula IC 1318 in Cygnus. Distance 3700 light years.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
36/78
Milky Way, Our home Galaxy
In the night sky you can see our home galaxy, Milky Way spanning across the sky. Camera
reveals that it consists of millions of stars. In our galaxy there are 400 billion stars. The
diameter of our galaxy is 100000 light years. We are at the distance of 30000 light yearsfrom the center of our galaxy. Closest star Alfa Centauri is at distance of 4.4 light years.
Almost every star has planets. Large amount of the planets are located in a zone, where issuitable conditions for life. Latest estimate is that in our Milky Way galaxy there may be
about 100 billion planets in zone of life. From the picture you can see that stars are
concentrated on disk like shape. Big dark dust clouds cover the glow of stars in many places.Hydrogen gas clouds like North America nebula glow in reddish color.
Picture is a combination of pictures taken in Finland in September 2012 and in Gran Canaria
12.6.2013. The Milky Way center is on right in constellation of Sagittarius. The center of our
galaxy contains a large black hole. The angular size of the picture is 135 x 45 degrees.
Below is center of Milky Way imaged in Gran Canaria, June 2013. Picture area is about20x10 degrees. The M24 is the Great Sagittarius Star Cloud.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
37/78
Composite picture of Milky Way. Pictures of 10x4 degree parts of sky are combined to one.
Pictures were taken in Autumn 2017 with EF100-400L tele zoom lens set to 100mm focus.
Northern part of constellation of Cygnus(Swan). North America nebula glows red. Dark dust
clouds cover the glow of stars. In these clouds there has been found very complex molecules,
even amino acids. The bright star Deneb is 200 times larger than Sun. Distance to Deneb is
1600 light years.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
38/78
The southern part of constellation of Cygnus. The size of picture has been reduced to
700x1000 pixels for the internet. Original one is 5200x3500 pixels.
Below is globular star cluster Messier 13 in constellation of Hercules. Distance 25000 light
years. This cluster has one million stars. Our galaxy has about 100-200 these kind ofglobular clusters. These clusters are very old. They were born at same time as our galaxy,about 10 billion years ago.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
39/78
Below are more globular clusters. Omega Centauri is in the southern sky. Image was taken at
Gran Canaria 11.6.2013. M3 image was taken 2.3.2013 with C8 F6 focus. M92 at Hercules12.8.2012.
Scales
Scales in Milky Way galaxy. In image below are the objects presented in this book in
relation to center of our galaxy and to the Sun. There is two distance scales. The upper scale
is 10000 light years in the plane of our galaxy. The scale below is 30000 light years and it
contains the globular star clusters.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
40/78
Life of a Star and the Elements
Stars are born when a gas and dust cloud subtracts in space by its own gravity.
Stars produce energy in fusion reaction of atomic nuclei. It is a nuclear reaction where lightelements combine to heavier elements and at same time energy is released. Inside a star there
is high enough temperature (about 14 million degrees) and pressure (about 200 billion
atmospheres) for fusion to happen.
At the end of its life a star like our Sun produces a planetary nebula. Star has shined 5-10
billion years and the fusion reactions are ending. Now the center of star starts to subtract and
the temperature of center rises to new level. At same time the center is unstable and it
subtracting and expanding in cycles. The outer parts of the stars are blown to space, as aplanetary nebula, in this process. The fusion reactions had produced layers of elements to the
star. On top there is still hydrogen and in the core there is oxygen and carbon. At the end a
white dwarf star, size of the Earth, is left in center of planetary nebula. The dwarf star fades
during billions of years. This kind of end is for a star which has mass under 3 times the massof the Sun.
Stars which have mass over 3 times of sun produce in fusion reactions elements all the way
to Iron. Iron does not combine in fusion reactions anymore, so the fusions stop, and thepressure inside the core of the star suddenly drops. Now happens a violent end. Star starts to
collapse. Atomic nuclei are pushed together. Electrons combine with protons, producingneutrons. The event happens in few tens of seconds and leads to a supernova explosion. The
whole outer core explodes to outer space. The supernova shines with the power of all stars in
the galaxy. The energy released in explosion forces in the expanding shell the Iron to fusion
to still heavier elements, producing all the elements up to Uranium. As examples ofsupernova explosions are Messier 1, Crab nebula and Veil nebula in Cygnus.
When mass of the star is 3 to 6 solar masses in the center there is left a neutron star, size
about 30 kilometers, mass about 1 solar mass. One tee-spoon of this star weights as much as
an oil tanker.
If the mass of star is over 6 solar masses, then the pressure of neutrons is not enough to stopthe collapsing core in supernova explosion. The core collapses smaller than 6 kilometers
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
41/78
limit. A black hole is born. Gravity in this 6 kilometer limit is so high that even light cannotescape.
Red dwarf stars have small mass compared to our Sun. Nuclear reactions happen slowly in
them and red dwarfs will have a long lifetime, even 100 billion years. About 75% of the stars
in our galaxy are red dwarfs. They are mostly so dim, that we do not see them with nakedeye.
Universe was born 13.7 billion years ago in Big Bang and after it there was only the simplestelements hydrogen and helium. The heavier elements were produced by first generation of
stars. In the deaths of these stars the supernovas and planetary nebulas distributed the heavyelements back to interstellar space.
Our Sun and Solar system was born 4.5 billion years ago from a gas and dust cloud, to which
heavy elements, needed by life, were distributed by ancient stars. Those atoms that are in youwere produced by ancient stars: We are stardust.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
42/78
Above: Supernova remnant Messier 1, Crab nebula, in constellation of Taurus. Distance
6300 light years. Angular size in sky 6 arch minutes (one fifth of angular size of Moon). Real
size is 11 light years. This exploded as supernova year 1054. The extremely bright star was
written to history books by Arabs, Chinese and Japanese. Visually it was four times brighterthan Venus-planet and it could be easily seen even during the daytime. In the core of Crab
nebula there is now a neutron star, spinning around its axis 30 times per second. It is strong
X-ray and gamma ray source. Picture was taken 15.3.2015 with Celestron 8 F6.3 focus.
Exposures were 24 x 30 seconds, ISO6400.
Above: Picture series of Supernova SN2011ef in galaxy Messier 101 in constellation of Big
Dipper and supernova SN2014J in galaxy M82. Distance to M101 is 27 million light years. It
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
43/78
was first found 24.8.2011. My first picture in left is 5 months after the explosion. In 3rd
picture the faded supernova can still be seen as a faint bluish object. In last picture inNovember 2012 it cannot be seen anymore. The quality of pictures gets better from left to
right in same phase as I upgraded my equipment and leaned to use it and image processing
software better.
Above: Veil nebula in constellation of Cygnus. It is a supernova remnant which exploded
about 6000 years ago. Distance 1470 light years. The distance between arches in sky is 3degrees. They are named as Caldwell 34 (NGC6960) and Caldwell 33(NGC6992) in
catalogs. There may be a black hole here, since no neutron star has been identified in this
area. This nebula was found by William Herschel year 1784. Picture was taken 8.9.2012 with
EF100-400L tele zoom lens.
Planetary nebulas. M76 Little Dumbbel in Cygnus. Distance 3400 light years. Picture was
taken 5.10.2016. Caldwell 39 Eskimo nebula in Gemini. Distance 2870 light years. Picture
was taken 7.3.2013. M27 Dumbbel nebula in constellation of Fox. Distance 1250 light years.
Picture taken 7.9.2013. Caldwell 6 Cat eye nebula in Kefeus. Distance 3300 light years.Picture was taken 7.10.2012. M57 in Lyra. Distance 2300 light years. Picture was taken9.11.2012. M97 Owl nebula in Big Dipper. Distance 2600 light years. Picture was taken6.3.2017.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
44/78
Black hole Cygnus X-1. In contellation of Cygnus, near star eta Cygni, there is a strong X-
ray sourceCygnus X-1 .It is a black hole orbiting the blue giant star HDE 226868. Distance6070 light years. Image taken 24th of September 2017.
Some stars are double stars which orbit each other. Below are two such cases. Albireo inconstellation of Cygnus and Cor Caroli in contellation of Canes Venatici. Distance to
Albireo is 430 light years and the visual separation between the componen stars is 35 archseconds. The stars orbit each other in 100000 years. The brighter star of Albireo has 5 times
the mass of the Sun and it is 1200 times brighter than the Sun. Distance to Cor Caroli is 110
light years and the visual separation between the componen stars is 20 arch seconds. The
stars orbit each other in 7900 years. The double star Alya is in 132 ligth years distance.
Barnard's star is a red dwarf in constellation of Ophiuchus. It is the second closest star to us
after Alpha Centauri triple star. The mass is 14% of the Sun mass and diameter 20% of Sun.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cygnus_X-1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cygnus_X-1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cygnus_X-1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cygnus_X-1 -
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
45/78
The surface temperature is 3100 degrees and its luminosity is 0.0004 times the brightness of
the Sun. Barnards star is moving in the sky fast, 10 arch seconds each year. It is moving 142km/s relative to Sun and it will be closest to us year 11800. Then distance will be 3.75 light
years. But even then it is so faint that it cannot be seen with naked eye. The age is 10 billion
years, over twice the age of our Sun. Year 1998 there was a bright flare eruption in Barnards
star. In image below is Barnard's star imaged 19th of April 2017 with Canon EF100-400 tele
zoom lens set to 250mm. The comparison image was taken 25th of August 2013. The
movement in 3.5 years is visible. On 24thof August 2017 I took one more image withCelestron 8 F6.3 focus.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
46/78
KIC 8462852 - Tabbys star
There is interesting observations by Kepler planet hunting satellite that around starKIC
8462852,there is 20% dimmings which are currently difficult to explain. SETI institute has
started radio observations. Distance to this star is 1500 ligth years. Visual magnitude has
been last years m11.88. Below are images of the star on years 2012 and 2016. It can beestimated that in these images the start is not in dimming state. See articles:
Universe Today 9.8.2016:Tabbys Star Megastructure Mystery Continues To Intrigue
Universe Today 21.10.2015:SETI Institute Undertakes Search for Alien Signal from Kepler
Star KIC 8462852Patrick Rowan's Skywatch:Is alien megastructure blocking this star's light?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KIC_8462852https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KIC_8462852http://www.universetoday.com/130213/tabbys-star-megastructure-mystery-continues-intrigue/http://www.universetoday.com/130213/tabbys-star-megastructure-mystery-continues-intrigue/http://www.universetoday.com/130213/tabbys-star-megastructure-mystery-continues-intrigue/http://www.universetoday.com/122971/seti-institute-undertakes-search-for-alien-signal-from-kepler-star-kic-8462852/http://www.universetoday.com/122971/seti-institute-undertakes-search-for-alien-signal-from-kepler-star-kic-8462852/http://www.masslive.com/living/index.ssf/2015/11/patrick_rowans_skywatch_is_alien_megastructure_blocking_this_stars_light.htmlhttp://www.masslive.com/living/index.ssf/2015/11/patrick_rowans_skywatch_is_alien_megastructure_blocking_this_stars_light.htmlhttp://www.universetoday.com/122971/seti-institute-undertakes-search-for-alien-signal-from-kepler-star-kic-8462852/http://www.universetoday.com/122971/seti-institute-undertakes-search-for-alien-signal-from-kepler-star-kic-8462852/http://www.universetoday.com/130213/tabbys-star-megastructure-mystery-continues-intrigue/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KIC_8462852https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KIC_8462852 -
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
47/78
Galaxies
Galaxy is a system of hundreds of billions of stars. Most galaxies have spiral arms. So does
our home galaxy Milky Way. Some galaxies have elliptic or irregular shape.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
48/78
Andromeda galaxy Messier 31 and its neighbor galaxies M32 and M110. M31 is closest
large galaxy to Milky Way and its distance is 2.5 million light years. Picture was taken6.8.2013 with SkyWatcher 80/600, exposures 6 x 2 minutes, ISO1600.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
49/78
Another version of M31 image, with a dive into center of the galaxy.
Below are details from M31. On the left NGC 206, group of bright newborn stars. On the
middle are globular star clusters in M31.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
50/78
Galaxy M33 in constellation of Triangulum. M33 has very clear spiral arms. Distance 3
million light years. Picture was taken 15.11.2012 with Celestron 8 F6.3 optics.
Below left: Spiral Galaxy M81 in constellation of Big Dipper. Distance 12 million lightyears. Picture was taken 15.11.2012 with Celestron 8 F6.3 optics. Below right: Galaxy M82
in constellation of Big Dipper. Distance 12 million light years. This galaxy has something
special. It is very bright and it contains a lot of young stars. Picture was taken 15.11.2012with Celestron 8 F6.3 optics.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
51/78
Below left: M51 in constellation of Big Dipper. Distance 37 million light years. Here the
smaller galaxy has done close passing of the larger galaxy. Picture was taken 3.4.2013 withCelestron 8 F6.3 optics. Exposures were 2 x 6 minutes, ISO1600. UHC-S filter. Below right:
M106 in constellation of Canes Venatici. Distance 25 million light years. Picture was taken
6.4.2013 with Celestron 8 F6.3 optics. Exposures were 5 x 6 minutes, ISO1600. UHC-S
filter.Galaxy NGC 4565 is called Needle-galaxy. It is in constellation of Coma Berenices.
Distance 43 million light years. Picture was taken 27.3.2017 with Celestron 8 F6.3 optics.
Exposures 5 x 60 seconds, ISO3200. Galaxy NGC 4631 is called whale-galaxy. It is inconstellation of Canes Venatici. Distance 30 million light years. Picture was taken 27.3.2017
with Celestron 8 F6.3 optics. Exposures 5 x 60 seconds, ISO3200.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
52/78
Galaxy NGC891 in contellation of Andromeda is seen sideways. Dark dust clouds cover the
glow of the stars. Distance 27 million light years. Galaxy M66 in contellation of Leo.Distance 35 million light years.
Galaxy Messier 87(on left side) is a gigantic elliptical galaxy in constellation of Virgo, in the
center of Virgo galaxy cluster. Distance 53.5 million light years. It has a supermassive black
hole in its center. In this picture you can see a jet in one a clock direction, coming from the
black hole. When stars and matter fall in to black hole they are first going to a rotating disk
round the black hole. On the poles of this system jets of matter are rushing into space.
Picture taken 2.3.2013 with Celestron 8 F6.3 optics. Exposures5 x 32 seconds and stackedwith DSS.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
53/78
TheUniverse
Galaxies belong to galaxy clusters. Below is galaxy cluster Abell-426 in constellation of
Perseus. Distance is 273 million light years, so the light started its journey to us when the
dinosaurs began their era in Earth. When looking with telescope to the sky we see back intime. In picture below the distant galaxies look hazy compared to sharp edge star of our own
galaxy. Because of expansion of the universe, this galaxy cluster is moving away from us atspeed of 5300 kilometers per second. Picture taken with Celestron 8 telescope F10 focus
16.9.2012.
The farther away on object is the faster it recedes from us because of the expansion of the
Universe. The 'edge' of observable universe at distance of 13.7 billion light years recedes at
speed of light. Quasars are the brightest objects in the Universe. They are massive blackholes in the core of their galaxies. Matter and stars fall into black hole and while accelerating
the mater shines a lot of energy. Quasar 3C-273. Distance 2.4 billion light years. Receding
47000 km/s. Picture taken 4.3.2012. Quasar 3C-48. Distance 4 billion light years. Receding
110000 km/s. Picture taken 9.2.2012. Quasar Q1634+706. Distance 8.6 billion light years.
Receding 272000 km/s. Picture was taken 9.8.2012. Quasar CTA 102 imaged 15.12.2016.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
54/78
When Albert Einstein made the theory of general relativity in 1920s, he found out that the
universe cannot be in rest. It should either expand or contract. In 1920s general assumptionwas the universe is in rest, so Einstein added a correcting coefficient to his formula of space-
time. Later he thought it was the biggest mistake of his life. He could have predicted the
expansion of universe based on his theory before it was observed.
At same times Edwin Hubble started accurate observations of galaxies at Mount Wilson
observatory in USA. He used the biggest telescope at that time. Diameter of mirror was 2.5
meters. He measured the movement of galaxies in relation to us (the shift of spectral lines of
light from galaxies). To his surprise he found out that the further away a galaxy is from us,the faster it moves away from us.
Conclusion from this observation is that universe is expanding. And that universe has had a
beginning, which we call Big Bang. From the speed of expansion it can be calculated that theBig Bang happened 13.7 billion years ago.
About 400 million year after Big Bang the stars and galaxies started to form from thehydrogen and helium gas which filled the Universe. Galaxies are in galaxy clusters insurfaces of bubbles, which resemble like soap bubbles. Inside bubbles there are no galaxies.
Current observations and theories state that largest part of matter in Universe is so calledDark Matter, which interacts with ordinary matter only by gravitational force. First
indications of Dark Matter were observed back in 1930 when it was seen that galaxies are
rotating too fast in order that gravity of ordinary matter would keep the galaxy together inone piece.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
55/78
Virgo Galaxy cluster. Distance 54 million light years. There is about 1000-2000 galaxies in
this cluster. In sky they are in area of several angular degrees. This is the closest cluster to usand actually our Milky Way galaxy and nearby galaxies belong to the Virgo super cluster.
Picture was taken 20.1.2017 with 400mm teleobjective. Exposures were 5 x 60 seconds, ISO
3200 and stacked with DSS.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
56/78
Coma galaxy cluster Abell 1656 in the constellation of Coma Berenices. Distance 321
million light years. Picture was taken 6.3.2017 with Celestron 8 F6.3 focus. Exposures were7 x 37 seconds and stacked with DSS.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
57/78
Four distant galaxy clusters in constellation of Pegasus.
Abell 2634. Distance 405 million light years. Receding 9360 km/s.. C8 F6.3, 5x40s,ISO3200.
Abell 2666. Distance 344 million light years. Receding 7950 km/s. 4x50s ISO6400 C8 F6.3.
Pegasus I. Distance 180 million light years. 4x55s ISO3200 C8 F6.3.Pegasus II. Distance 600 million light years.. 4x120s ISO3200 C8 F6.3
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
58/78
Below is remarkable picture by Hubble Space Telescope. New born galaxies from time 350-
600 million years after Big Bang. Distance about 13 billion light years. You can see thatgalaxies are there much closer to each other than today. Also there is no dust in the galaxies,
since the first stars have just started to produce heavier elements. There is only hydrogen and
helium in early universe. Also it may be that in this picture You see the cosmic dark age
behind these galaxies. Time when there was no stars and galaxies. This Hubble Ultra Deep
Field picture is taken from constellation of Fornax. Exposure time is tens of hours. Copyrightfor Hubble Ultra Deep Field picture: NASA, ESA, R.Ellis(Caltech) and UDF 2012 Team.
Presentation of birth of Universe, its evolution and about the time period which Hubblereached in the Ultra Deep Field picture. Copyright for picture below: University of Arizona
.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
59/78
Scales in the Universe. This image contains the galaxy space objects presented in this book
in 3 different scales. The 70 million light year scale shows nearby galaxies. The 500 million
light year scale contains Galaxy clusters. The 9 billion light year scale has few distant
quasars, which can be imaged with amateur equipment. The Quasar Q1634+706 is in
distance of 8.6 billion light years, which is not so far from the theoretical 13 billion light yeardistance limit of the Big Bang. The Q1634+706 recedes from us with 91% of speed of light.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
60/78
Southern Sky
This page contains pictures of Southern Sky objects, which are not visible from Finland. The
pictures were taken on a holiday trip to Gran Canaria, Arguineguin, on 11th of June 2013.
Observation place was 7th floor balcony of the Sunwing hotel. Tracking device was SkyWatcher Merlin and camera Canon Eos 60Da. Objectives were Canon EF-S 18-135mm
f/3.5-5.6 IS and EF 100-400L f/4.5.
The airport security control did not say anything about my bag which was full of
photography equipment, including red dot scope and 16 AA batteries. Only too large Sun-cream bottle was forbidden.
Before travelling I checked from Google Maps the position of the hotel and observed that on
certain parts of hotel the balconies are to the south. I requested from Hotel to get one of theserooms in highest floors and they agreed. It was forbidden to go to the roof of the hotel.
Surprising problem stopping photography was that on the balcony there was a lamp, whichyou could not turn off. Next day I figured out how to remove the lamp. However, I had to
stand on a small chair close to 7th floor balcony edge to remove the lamp. This was a smallrisk compared to acquired images. All outside lamps of the hotel were turned off at 12 PM.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
61/78
Center of the Milky Way Galaxy in constellation of Sagittarius. Exposures were 5 times 7
seconds.The center of Milky Way galaxy is in 30000 light years distance from us. Up fromthe bright center is letter V-shaped dark cloud called Dark Horse. Lagoon nebula M8 is redarea to the left from the center.
Below is Milky Way pictures combined. Picture area is about 20x10 degrees. The M24 is theGreat Sagittarius Star Cloud.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
62/78
Milky Way center.
Lagoon nebula M8 and Trifid nebula M20 in constellation of Sagittarius, with EF100-400
tele zoom set to 100mm. Exposures 6x14 seconds. Lagoon nebula: Distance 5220 lightyears. Trifid nebula: Distance 5200 light years.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
63/78
Trifid nebula M20 and Lagoon nebula M8 in constellation of Sagittarius, with EF100-400
tele zoom set to 400mm. Trifid: Single exposure 11 seconds. Lagoon: Single exposure 7seconds. Because of tripod and tracking problem I could not make longer exposures in400mm focus.
Below are M8 and M20 imaged in Finland when they were just about 1 degree above
horizon. Picture taken 25.8.2013. Celestron 8 F6.3 and Canon EOS 60Da. Exposures 2x30
seconds, ISO 3200.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
64/78
Omega nebula M17 is in the middle and the Eagle-nebula M16 is on above. Taken with
EF100-400 tele zoom set to 100mm. Exposures were 6x14 seconds.
Globular cluster Omega Centauri with EF100-400 tele zoom set to 400mm. Exposures 4x7
seconds. Distance is 15800 light years.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
65/78
Milky Way pictures combined. The 2 pictures on left are taken in Finland and the 2 on right
are taken in Gran Canaria.
A faint glimpse of the galaxy Centaurus A.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
66/78
Northern Lights and atmospheric phenomena
Northern lights at Kirkkonummi, Finland 7-8.10.2015. Northern Lights are born when
charged particles from sun hit the Earth's magnetic field, which guides the particles to hit the
upper atmosphere molecules in north and south poles of Earth. Camera Canon Eos 60Da.
Exposures 8 seconds, ISO6400.
Images below were taken at Kirkkonummi 17.3.2015.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
67/78
Halos
Halos at Kirkkonummi, Finland 5th of February 2016. Outside temperature was -19 degrees
Celsius. Halos form when light bended by small ice particles in the air. In the image below
there is haloforms: 22 degrees side arches and sun pillar.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
68/78
Halos at Kirkkonummi 17th of April 2017. Outside temperature was +1 degrees Celsius. In
the image below there is haloform: 22 degrees arch.
Halos at Sepnkyl close to Vaasa 16th of June 1982. Here we can see several haloforms.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
69/78
Night clouds
Night clouds at Vesijrvi Lahti 12.8.2016. Night clouds are tenuous cloud-like phenomena in
the upper atmosphere. They are visible in a deep twilight. They are made of ice crystals.
They are most commonly observed in the summer months at latitudes between 50 and 70
north and south of the equator. These clouds can be observed only during local summer
months and when the Sun is below the horizon for the observer, but while the clouds are still
in sunlight.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
70/78
Back to the 80s
This chapter contains pictures taken with a film camera in 1980s in Sepnkyl, close to
Vaasa in Finland.
Left: A meteor in constellation of Cassiopeia 21.8.1982. Meteors are stones which burn inatmosphere when they hit it with speed of 20-30 kilometers per second.
Right: Northern Lights are born when charged particles from sun hit the Earth's magnetic
field, which guides the particles to hit the upper atmosphere molecules in north and south
poles of Earth.
Left: 20 minutes exposure around Polaris 10.10.1982. Earth is rotating. Middle: Venus andJupiter 30.10.1980. Right: Halos around the Sun 16.6.1982. Halos are born when sun light is
redirected by small ice particles in atmosphere.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
71/78
Series of drawings of the Sun 16-21.7.1980, during the sunspot maximum. The activity of
sun changes in 11 year periods.In second row is drawings of the Moon and the telescope CarlZeiss Telementor 63/840.
Working as a summer student in Geneva CERN year 1989. In this picture there is Delphi
detector of LEP-collider, 100 meters underground. The electrons and positrons (matter and
antimatter) were accelerated in 27 kilometers long tunnel close to speed of light. Collisions
were done in 4 places, one of them this Delphi detector. Conditions in the collision are same
as in first second after birth of the Universe in Big Bang. The LEP-collider produced Z and
W bosons so that their mass could be determined. The successor of LEP, the LHC is now
working and a particle resembling the Higgs particle was found on July 2012.
There are 4 known basic forces:
Electric force:Charged particle like electrons and protons interact with each other.Interaction is transmitted with Photons( Light)
Gravity:Objects with mass pull each other. Higgs boson is assumed to give mass toparticles.
Strong nuclear force: Keeps atomic nucleus stable. Nucleus contains protons and neutrons,
which are combinations of 3 Quarks. Quarks are kept together with color-force, which istransmitted by exchanging Gluons.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
72/78
Weak nuclear force: Weak force can change a particle to another. Interaction is done by Zand W bosons.
Below is a printout of the first Z-boson decay, observed by Delphi detector. The Z-boson
decay produces a bunch of particles which are curved in strong magnetic field of Delphi
detector. To this printout the physics Nobelist Carlo Rubbia(on up right corner) has signedhis congratulations.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
73/78
Methods and Equipment
I have taken the pictures mainly in my backyard in two kilometers distance from center of
small city Kirkkonummi. There is quite much light pollution around.
Essential thing when photographing stars is that the telescope must follow the rotation of sky
with high accuracy. It is essential to make good polar alignment of the tripod before thephotographing sessions.
Below is the equipment. Telescope Celestron 8, Sky Watcher 80/600 ED and the tele zoom
lens EF100-400L. Camera Canon Eos 60Da is specially designed for astrophotography. Itpasses the infra-red light trough to CMOS Sensor. Normal cameras filter away the infra-red
light.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
74/78
In Finland in winter there may be minus 10 to 20 degrees cold. This may cause problems to
the tracking electronics of telescope. As a solution I have covered the electronics with thinpolyester-metal sheets, which reflect 90 percent of heat back. With this system it is possible
to have an astrophotography session of 2 hours in minus 20 degrees temperature.
Auto Guider
In March 2013 I bought the Orion StarShoot auto guider. It is a camera connected to
computer and to CG-5 tripod. If the system observes that tracking star moves, it gives
commands to tripod to make correcting move. By this system it is possible to make very long
exposures. The PHD-Guide software is installed to small laptop Toshiba NB100 ( Intel AtomN270 1.6 GHz, 1GB , USB2, Win XP).
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
75/78
First auto guiding test object was Galaxy Messier 66 in constellation of Leo. Exposures were
5 x 6 minutes. ISO1600. Baader UHC-S filter was used to cut out light pollution. Forcomparison on the right are short exposure images without autoguiding.
Below are autoguided M106 and M101.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
76/78
Deep Sky Stacker(DSS)
Stacking method is a must in order to achieve good images of deep sky objects. Below left is
a 2 minute raw exposure of M31 galaxy without any image improvements, ISO 1600. On the
right is the result when 6 pieces of 2 minute raw exposures are stacked with Deep SkyStacker software, and then adjusted with image editing software, like Photoshop or GIMP.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
77/78
RegiStax is used to stack images of planets, Moon and the Sun.
Merlin tripod
Below is a picture of a compact tripod with sky tracking capability. It is easy to take this
system with e.g. when traveling abroad with plane.
I started astrophotography with Canon film camera in 1980s. The telescope was Carl Zeiss
Telementor 63/840. Camera with normal objective was mounted on telescope and I used the
telescope to make manual tracking of stars, by keeping a bright star in the middle of the viewduring the exposure. I started the astrophotography again in year 2010 with better equipment.
-
7/24/2019 A Tour to the Night Sky
78/78
See also
Harry Rabb 2013-2016: Life on Mars - Visual Investigation
Harry Rabb, 2015 book on Scribd: Life on Mars - Visual Investigation.
Harry Rabb, Web site: Astrophotography - A Tour to the Night Sky
Harry Rabb, YouTube channel
.
http://www.saunalahti.fi/~harrrab/english/mars-english.htmlhttp://www.saunalahti.fi/~harrrab/english/mars-english.htmlhttps://www.scribd.com/doc/288486718/Life-on-Mars-Visual-Investigationhttps://www.scribd.com/doc/288486718/Life-on-Mars-Visual-Investigationhttp://www.saunalahti.fi/~harrrab/index-English.htmlhttp://www.saunalahti.fi/~harrrab/index-English.htmlhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC62hRWyW6B1sxEgZvooNfQhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC62hRWyW6B1sxEgZvooNfQhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC62hRWyW6B1sxEgZvooNfQhttp://www.saunalahti.fi/~harrrab/index-English.htmlhttps://www.scribd.com/doc/288486718/Life-on-Mars-Visual-Investigationhttp://www.saunalahti.fi/~harrrab/english/mars-english.html