Yoddha

The May page and the list of the events in the month: https://astrophotography.app/Calendar.php#May

Hello, Let me to share a project from this galaxy season NGC 3251 also known as Bubble Galaxy, is a relatively bright galaxy in Leo constellation which is frequently underestimated because of the famous Leo Triplet nearby. The distance to it varies in the online sources between 25 and 40 million light years away from Earth. The size is given as 50 000 light years in diameter, but should also “flexible” because of the distance range. NGC 3251 is “Intermediate Spiral” galaxy by the Hubble - de Vaucouleurs galaxy morphological classification, however it also is mentioned as mentioned as good example of “Flocculent” type galaxies. The main characteristic of such galaxies is the lack of well-defined spiral arms like the “grand design spiral” galaxies M101 and M51, but still with dense outer regions with active star formation. Usually, the galaxies have big glowing halos which give them a soft and woolly look hence explaining the name flocculent. In the case of the Bubble Galaxy there is hypothesis that it is a result of galaxies merger. A big galaxy collided with several smaller ones, causing lots of gas and individual stars floating and glowing around as a halo. The merging could explain the large number of stars forming regions. Take a look on the Ha channel to see how intense the processes are. Despite it is big and bright the outer areas of the halo need long integration time. I’m happy with the result so far, however is possible to get back to it and add more luminance at later stage Total 15h in 5 nights – L(105x240s), Ha (48x300s), R (30x180s bin 2x2), G (20x180s bin 2x2), B (30x180s bin 2x2), RC250 @ f/5.5, ASI2600MM, CEM60, Astrodon 3nm filters Acquisition: APT - Astro Photography Tool, PHD2 Processing: PixInsight, PS

Microsoft has released another Windows 10 update (KB5035941) which is affecting APT. This time we took extra care to eliminate such problems in future. For Windows 10 users APT 4.50 is a critical update. We also made many stability improvements that avoid many if not all random crashes. As usual there are new features. Some of them long awaited, others unique new ideas. The list of the fixes and the novelties is available here: https://www.astrophotography.app/news This May is a very special month Sometime in May 2009, APT was used for the first time to take real astro images, so we will celebrate 15 years of APT gathering distant photons! The time flies when is spent in a good company! Great thanks to everyone for being part of the community and the project! As you know the last two years are more difficult, but what is a celebration without presents So there will be a modest gift - on May 11th all active keys will get one extra month

The April page and the list of the events in the month: https://astrophotography.app/Calendar.php#Apr

The March page and the list of the events in the month: https://astrophotography.app/Calendar.php#Mar

If you are using APT on Windows 10, please apply APT 4.42 in order to avoid crashes. The latest Windows 10 update changed the list control behavior and is causing the usage of Stars, Custom/ToDo tabs in Object Browser, Check Lists and few other places to close APT. We are using the released to add a few more new features. The list of the fixes and the novelties is available here: https://www.astrophotography.app/news Don’t forget to keep an eye on rapidly growing YouTube channel Southern Cross Amateur Astro: https://www.youtube.com/@SCAmateurAstro Thank you for your support for APT! It keeps the progress happening!

The February page and the list of the events in the month: https://astrophotography.app/Calendar.php#Feb

We have just released APT 4.41. It is polishing the 4.40 by fixing some problems found or reported. Please apply it for better experience The list of the fixes and the novelties is available here: https://www.astrophotography.app/news Don’t forget to keep an eye on rapidly growing channel Southern Cross Amateur Astro: https://www.youtube.com/@SCAmateurAstro The User’s Guide is now getting updates every week or so with the latest videos. You can get the files or installer from the downloads page. Thank you for your support for APT! It keeps the progress happening!

Serious project and sunning result!

Many thanks, David!

Masterpiece!

Many thanks, Robin!

Many thanks, Sp@ce_d!

The Jan 18th update of the User's Guide is available with the latest videos from Mark's channel https://www.youtube.com/@SCAmateurAstro The updates are visible and accessible via 3 ways: - Online at - https://astrophotography.app/usersguide/ - Offline as CHM and PDF files from Downloads->User's Guide Tab - Offline as setup that updates the APT installation with the latest CHM and PDF from Downloads->User's Guide Tab https://www.astrophotography.app/downloads.php

Hello, Hope you will like this interesting and unusual object What is known about HDW3 or Hartl-Dengel-Weinberger 3 is very little. A planetary nebula ~11 l.y. in diameter, located in the constellation Perseus at ~3000 l.y. away from Earth. The white dwarf is a 17m small point (closest one down from the large orange star in the arc). The star that has exploded has been moving upward and the dwarf continues to move, however the surrounding interstellar gas slows the nebula down. This leads to several effects. The moving bubble forms shock fronts - denser structures in the direction of movement. The white dwarf that doesn't slowdown, will one day be completely outside the nebula it created. It also heats these fronts with its ultraviolet light more than the areas on the opposite side, creating this unusual view. Seeing two arches makes me wonder if it could possibly be a sign of two explosions? HDW3 is insanely faint. Stretching individual subs can't confirm if the subject is there and well framed... I had to collect about half an hour to be sure I wanted to continue shooting without changing the position. The whole project took 7 nights and more than 40 hours to get a satisfying result and is bettering my previous personal record of 38h spent on the Bubble nebula Total 40h 40min in 7 nights - Ha (243x300s), OIII (175x420s), RC250 @ f/5.5, ASI2600MM, CEM60, Astrodon 3nm filters Acquisition : APT - Astro Photography Tool, PHD2 Processing: PixInsight, PS