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 Messier 13: The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules.

Like shiny flakes sparkling in a snow globe, over 100,000 stars whirl within the globular cluster M13, one of the brightest star clusters visible from the Northern Hemisphere. Located 25,000 light-years from Earth with an apparent magnitude of 5.8, the cluster stars crowd into a region 150 light-years in diameter. Approaching the cluster core upwards of 100 stars could be contained in a cube just 3 light-years. For comparison, the closest star to the Sun is over 4 light-years away. These stars are so crowded that they can, at times, run into each other and even form a new star. The resulting “blue stragglers” appear to be younger than the other stars in their immediate vicinity and are of great scientific interest to astronomers. Distant background galaxies in the medium-wide field of view include NGC 6207 at the lower left. This glittering metropolis of stars in the constellation Hercules can be spotted with a pair of binoculars most easily in July.

Dates & Locations: 19.04.2021(Buraq, bortle5), 08.05.2021(Mleiha, bortle6)
L - 1 minute x 62
R - 1 minute x 30
G - 1 minute x 30
B - 1 minute x 17, 1 minute x 17
Total integration time: 2.6 hours only at f5.3
Flats, darks. Sensor temp: -10°

Equipment: GSO 8" RC with TSCCD47(0.67 reducer) - ZWO 1600mm Pro Camera - ZWO LRGB filters, 8 Position filter wheel, AZEQ6 Mount (ZWO OAG with ZWO224MC cam for guiding)

Processing software: Pixinsight 

The Bubble Nebula: NGC 7635
Blown by the wind from a massive star, this interstellar apparition has a surprisingly familiar shape. Cataloged as NGC 7635, it is also known simply as The Bubble Nebula. Although it looks delicate, the 7 light-year diameter bubble offers evidence of violent processes at work. Above and right of the Bubble's center is a hot, O-type star, several hundred thousand times more luminous and some 45 times more massive than the Sun. A fierce stellar wind and intense radiation from that star have blasted out the structure of glowing gas against denser material in a surrounding molecular cloud. The intriguing Bubble Nebula and associated cloud complex lie a mere 7,100 light-years away towards the constellation Cassiopeia.

Date:12.09.2021 & 13.09.2021 Location: Buraq. UAE(Bortle:5)

S2 - 5 minutes x 18

Ha - 5 minutes x 28 

O3 - 5 minutes x 19

Total integration time: 5.4 hours only at f5.3

Flats, darks

2x2 bin, Sensor temp: -5°

Equipment: GSO 8" RC - TSCCD67 reducer - ZWO 294MM Pro Camera - Antlia 3nm SHO filters, 7 Position 36mm filter wheel - AZEQ6 Mount (ZWO OAG with ZWO224MC cam for guiding)

Andromeda is the second galaxy in our night sky after our milky way which is visible to the unaided eyes, at a staggering 2.5 million light-years distance it appears like a fuzzy patch in  the andromeda constellation, and through a modest telescope, it appears like a cotton ball, through a big telescope, one can see its faint dust lanes, spiral arms and individual star clusters in it. This Close up image of the Andromeda galaxy shows many features such as a bright nucleus, dark dust lanes, luminous spiral arms, satellite galaxies, star clusters, and bright red emission HII regions.

Date: 13.09.2021 Location: Buraq. UAE(Bortle:5)
L - 2 minutes x 30
R - 2 minutes x 11
G - 2 minutes x 10
B - 2 minutes x 10
Total integration time: 2 hours only at f5.3
Flats, darks
2x2 bin, Sensor temp: -5°
Equipment: GSO 8" RC - TSCCD67 reducer - ZWO 294MM Pro Camera - LRGB 36mm Antlia filters, 7 Position 36mm filter wheel - AZEQ6 Mount (ZWO OAG with ZWO224MC cam for guiding)

Galactic Centre
3 minutes Single exposure with canon 700Da, 50mm f2.8 ISO:400
Empty quarter Desert, UAE
Bortle 2
09.04.2021 

 The Gegenschein.
In this image, the gegenschein is visible in the Virgo constellation as an oval patch concentrated just above the bright star Spica.

Gegenschein is a faintly bright spot in the night sky centered at the antisolar point(opposite to the sun). The backscatter of sunlight by dust causes this optical phenomenon, also called counterglow. Until now nobody knows the exact origin of the dust. Earlier we thought of this dust as interplanetary dust but recently based on the data from the Juno mission indicates that the dust close to Earth has a local origin in the inner Solar System, best fitting the planet Mars as a source and not from the comets and asteroids. So both the zodiacal light and the gegenschein which we have been observing for all these years could be the dust storm from mars.

Like zodiacal light, the gegenschein is sunlight scattered by the dust. Most of this dust orbits the Sun near the ecliptic plane, with a possible concentration of particles centered at the L2 point of the Earth-Sun system. Gegenschein is distinguished from zodiacal light by its high angle of reflection of the incident sunlight on the dust particles. It forms a slightly brighter elliptical spot directly opposite the Sun within the dimmer band of zodiacal light. The intensity of the gegenschein is relatively enhanced because each dust particle is seen at full phase. The gegenschein is not visible in most inhabited regions of the world due to light pollution. Only from very dark skies, we can see both Zodiacal light and Geneschein.

Canon 6D, Samyang 12mm f/2.8 ISO:8000, 30 secs exposure
Processed in Photoshop.
Date:10.04.2021(Empty quarter, Bortle 2 : about 500kms drive from my home) 

Canis Major

February 5th, 2019

Mleiha, UAE

 Star trails reflect Earth’s rotation, or spin, around its axis. The Earth makes a complete rotation relative to the backdrop stars in a period of about 23 hours and 56 minutes. So, as seen from Earth, all the stars go full circle and return to the same place in the sky after this period of time.
1 hour of star trails captured with Canon 6D - Samyang 14mm f/2.8 ISO:6400, 25sec exposure
Empty quarter desert, UAE
09.04.2021