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 The Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters, is an open star cluster containing middle-aged stars in the constellation Taurus. It is among the star clusters nearest to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky. The cluster is dominated by hot blue and luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. The bluish light surrounding the stars in this image is an example of a reflection nebula. Like fog around a street lamp, a reflection nebula shines only because the dust within it scatters light from a nearby bright source. The Pleiades cluster is currently passing through an interstellar cloud that contains dust grains, which scatter the light from the hot blue stars in the cluster. The Pleiades cluster is about 400 light-years from the Sun.

Capture Details:
Dates: 18.10.2020, 19.10.2020, 17.12.2020
L - 2 minutes x 104
R - 3 minutes x 30
G - 3 minutes x 30
B - 3 minutes x 32
Overall integration time: 8 hours only Flats, darks
1x1 bin, Sensor temp: -10°
Equipment: Esprit 80mm APO - ZWO 1600mm Pro Camera - ZWO LRGB filters, 8 Position filter wheel, Electronic Automatic Focuser - AZEQ6 Mount (TS optics 60mm guide scope with ZWO224MC cam for guiding)
Processing software: Pixinsight(Stacking, (RGB output - DBE, BN, CN, MSLT, HT, CurvesT, SCNR, (L output- MSLT and stacked the L and RGB in then blended the final Lum with RGB) 

 The Eagle Nebula.

This wide-field view of the pillars and the surrounding region shows incredible details of the Eagle nebula captured from a very dark sky. The Pillars of creation at the center of the nebula are dense, dusty columns rising near the center of the nebula are light-years in length but are gravitationally contracting to form stars. Energetic radiation from the cluster stars erodes material near the tips, eventually exposing the embedded new stars. Extending from the ridge of bright emission at the left is another dusty starforming column known as the Fairy of Eagle Nebula. The Eagle emission nebula, tagged M16, lies about 7000 light-years away, spans about 20 light-years, and is visible with binoculars toward the constellation of the Serpent (Serpens).

Date:10.04.2021
Location: Abudhabi Desert, UAE, Bortle:2
S2 - 2 minutes x 12
Ha - 2 minutes x 29
O3 - 2 minutes x 15
Hubble palette
Total integration time: 112 minutes only at f5.3
Flats, darks
1x1 bin, Sensor temp: -10°
Equipment: GSO 8" RC - TSCCD67 reducer - ZWO 1600mm Pro Camera - ZWO SHO filters

 Messier 106 is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici at a distance of about 22 to 25 million light-years away from Earth. M106 contains an active nucleus classified as a Type 2 Seyfert, and the presence of a central supermassive black hole has been demonstrated from radio-wavelength observations of the rotation of a disk of molecular gas orbiting within the inner light-year around the black hole. A Type II supernova was observed in M106 in May 2014.
M106 has a water vapor megamaser. These water vapors give M106 its characteristic purple color. Water masers are useful to observe nuclear accretion disks in active galaxies. The water masers in M106 enabled the first case of a direct measurement of the distance to a galaxy, thereby providing an independent anchor for the cosmic distance ladder. M106 has a slightly warped, thin, almost edge-on Keplerian disc which is on a subparsec scale. It is one of the largest and brightest nearby galaxies, similar in size and luminosity to the Andromeda Galaxy. NGC 4248 can be seen on the right side of this image.

Dates:10.03.2021& 03.04.2021
L - 2 minutes x 83 + 60
R - 1 minute x 30
G - 1 minute x 30 B - 1 minute x 30
Total integration time: 6.2 hours only at f5.3
Flats, darks
1x1 bin, 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)
 

 Colorful Milkyway galaxy.

Canon 700Da, Samyang 14mm f/2.8 ISO:800, 180sec x 7 lights, cropped.
Tracked on Star adventurer
09.04.2021 (Empty quarter, Bortle 2 : about 500kms drive from my home) 

 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

 Venus & Pleiades Trails under poor sky condition
Venus came very close to the Pleiades star cluster in dramatic conjunction that occurs just once every eight years. The conjunction peaked on Friday evening (April 3), when Venus and the Pleiades star Alcyone got separated by a mere 0.25 degrees.
Venus and the Pleiades have conjunctions every year, but these extra-close ones are special; they occur every eight years, always in early April.
"As Venus continues to pass a little farther north, it will actually go right through the main Pleiades stars in the years 2028, 2036, 2044 and 2052,"
Canon 6D, 50mm f/4
Sharjah, UAE
Brotle 9
Apris 3, 2020