Hi all,

The activity has been recovered, after a three month period (we moved to a new location not far away from Philadelphia). A Planetary Nebula has been added to the web site. This time it is the tiny Shapley-1, a Nebula about which there is still some debate around its structure and distance. The link is:

Shapley-1

Enjoy!!

Josep

Hi all,

 

A new image has been uploaded. This time, it’s a galaxy, M104, the “Sombrero” galaxy. This nearly edge-on galaxy has the most massive black hole detected in galaxies at a distance of 30 million light years or less. It harbors a 1 billion solar masses black hole in its center. The image has been taken in LRGB.

You can find it at:

M 104. NGC 4594. The “Sombrero” Galaxy

Enjoy!

Josep

 

 

Hi all,

 

After a brief period of a certain calm, a new object has been uploaded. This time, it is the Rosette Nebula (a fragment of it). It is a 2×1 mosaic taken in narrowband with the CDK 20″. This mosaic has been quite difficult to assemble as the stars in the “seam” region had very different magnitudes and were only able to be “stitched” in a semi-automatic form. You will find it at:

NGC 2237. The Rosette Nebula. Caldwell 49

Enjoy!

Josep

Hi all,

 

This time, a pair of colliding galaxies are in the recently uploaded image. The Antennae Galaxies, NGC 4038 and NGC 4039 have been imaged. These galaxies outline what our galaxy, together with the Andromeda Galaxy, M31, will resemble when they collide in just a few billion years… It will be nice to see, both from the inside and from the outside… but a bit difficult to accomplish for us… Anyhow, meanwhile, please take a look into the outside view of such an event:

https://astrodrudis.com/ngc-4038-caldwell-60-61-the-antennae/

Enjoy!

Josep

Hi all,

 

A new, deeper version of NGC 5128 has been uploaded. The new version has been taken with the same telescope/camera as the first 2013 version, but longer (and many more) exposures (Luminance) have been added. The result is that the dust structure of the central lane shows much more detail, as well as the external halo (now showing that the halo is not a perfect ellipsoid, but something more complex…). The presence of a very, very faint arc, reveals past galactic mergers. You can find both the first and second versions at:

https://astrodrudis.com/astrogallery/ngc-5128-caldwell-77-centaurus-a/

Enjoy!

Josep

 

Hi all,

 

After a brief, busy period, a new image has been uploaded. It is an emission nebula located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, N51D, also known as NGC 1968. One very distinctive feature of this beautiful nebula is the presence of the first Herbig Haro object found outside our own galaxy (in 2005). You can find it at:

https://astrodrudis.com/n51d-ngc-1968-ngc-1955/

Enjoy!

Josep

 

 

Hi all,

A new image has been uploaded. This time it’s a galaxy. A very peculiar one named NGC 1316, Fornax A or even the “Galactic Killer” as ESO states in their web site. This is a very peculiar Elliptical/Lenticular galaxy that has been the target of many telescopes. The outer structure (that is very faint) and the dust lanes in the core region reveal several galactic mergers (or cannibalization as some authors prefer to name it). You can find it at:

https://astrodrudis.com/ngc-1316-fornax-a/

Enjoy!

Josep

Hi all,

The result of a big effort has been completed and uploaded. The 1×2 mosaic of the Cat’s Paw Nebula (NGC 6334) has taken a much longer time than I initially expected. The images were taken during the 2015 and 2016 seasons (our Summer) and finally it has seen the light!

You can find it at:

https://astrodrudis.com/ngc-6334-the-cats-paw-nebula/

Enjoy!

Josep

 

Hi all,

A new image has been uploaded! This time it is the Bubble Nebula, NGC 7635, taken with the Schulman Telescope (a wonderful 32 inch, located in Mount Lemmon, AZ) during a Beta Test trial. As, due to the weather, the Blue images could not be taken, this image has used the frames taken in OIII with a 17 inch telescope located in New Mexico. Strange as it may sound, it seems to have worked, and the bluish tinted sectors of the nebulas appear quite naturally…

You can find it (as well as some more information about the blending process) at:

https://astrodrudis.com/ngc-7635-the-bubble-nebula/

Enjoy!

Josep

 

Hi all,

The mage of M20 in mixed narrowband (Ha + OIII) and broadband blue, has been selected as an AAPOD on Jan 14th, 2017. Please take a look at it at:

http://www.aapodx2.com/2017/20170114.html

This image was taken as a new way to capture mixed emission and reflection nebulae and there are some more to come…

Enjoy!

Josep