NIGHT OVER ONTARIO - # - Lynn Hilborn (Hilborn)'s Photos

These photos were taken by Lynn Hilborn of Grafton, Ontario. They represent the night sky over Northumberland County, Ontario. The pictures were taken using telescopes and cameras commonly available to amateur astronomers. Lynn's pictures have appeared on the cover and inside editions of SkyNews magazine and in Sky and Telescope magazine. Put your cursor on the larger picture on the right and you can choose to increase the size to X2 Large or X3 Large...you'll be amazed at the detail....

CHECK OUT MY eBOOK " TIME MACHINE " available for $4.99 at Apple iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/id583664888

For those interested in an excellent primer on astronomy and what lies behind many of these pictures please go to the following link
http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/primer.html
It is with the kind permission of Rob Gendler that many of his object descriptions are included in the details under the images.

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Lynn Hilborn (Hilborn) > Splinter Galaxy NGC5907 with extended stellar tidal stream - 21.5 hours of exposure. TEC 140 @f7 and FLI ML8300 camera with Baader filters. Taken by Lynn Hilborn,WhistleStop Obs, Grafton, Ontario on May 1,3,4,5, 2013.
An extended stellar tidal stream around spiral galaxy NGC5097, the resukt of a galactic merger with a smaller satellite galaxy. Extremely faint !
Lum 1x1 24x10min.
Lum 2x2 28x30min
RGB 2x2 7x10min each.

Lynn Hilborn (Hilborn) > Arp 240 interacting galaxies....Hubble Space Telescope data from the Hubble Legacy Archive processed by Lynn Hilborn, March 27,2013.
NGC 5257/8 (Arp 240) is an astonishing galaxy pair, composed of spiral galaxies of similar mass and size, NGC 5257 and NGC 5258. The galaxies are visibly interacting with each other via a bridge of dim stars connecting the two galaxies, almost like two dancers holding hands while performing a pirouette. Both galaxies harbor supermassive black holes in their centers and are actively forming new stars in their disks. Arp 240 is located in the constellation Virgo, approximately 300 million light-years away, and is the 240th galaxy in Arp's Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies. With the exception of a few foreground stars from our own Milky Way all the objects in this image are galaxies.
Data from the Hubble Legacy Archive established by the Space Telescope Science Institute, the Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility and the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre.

Lynn Hilborn (Hilborn) > Planetary Nebula IC 2448 Hubble Space Telescope data from the Hubble Legacy Archive processed by Lynn Hilborn, March 13,2013.
IC 2448 is an elliptical planetary nebula in the constellation of Carina. Lying near the bright star Beta Carinae.

Lynn Hilborn (Hilborn) > NGC 602 taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. Data processed by Lynn Hilborn on March 05, 2013.

Data from the Hubble Legacy Archive established by the Space Telescope Science Institute, the Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility and the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre.

Near the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy some 200 thousand light-years distant, lies 5 million year young star cluster NGC 602. Surrounded by natal gas and dust, NGC 602 is featured in this stunning Hubble image of the region. Fantastic ridges and swept back shapes strongly suggest that energetic radiation and shock waves from NGC 602's massive young stars have eroded the dusty material and triggered a progression of star formation moving away from the cluster's center. At the estimated distance of the Small Magellanic Cloud, the picture spans about 200 light-years, but a tantalizing assortment of background galaxies are also visible in the sharp Hubble view. The background galaxies are hundreds of millions of light-years or more beyond NGC 602. Description credited to APOD (Astronomy Photo of the Day)

Lynn Hilborn (Hilborn) > Hubble Space Telescope data processed by Lynn Hilborn
No, this is not a Salvador Dali painting, it is galaxy cluster Abell 68 showing gravitational lens effect.
Want to use a cluster of galaxies as a telescope? It's easier than you might think as distant galaxy clusters naturally act as strong gravitional lenses. In accordance with Einstein's theory of general relativity, the cluster gravitational mass, dominated by dark matter, bends light and creates magnified, distorted images of even more distant background galaxies. This sharp infrared Hubble image illustrates the case for galaxy cluster Abell 68 as a gravitational telescope. Description from APOD see http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130308.html

Data from the Hubble Legacy Archive established by the Space Telescope Science Institute, the Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility and the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre.

Lynn Hilborn (Hilborn) > Comet Panstarrs taken March 14 by Lynn Hilborn, beach at WhistleStop Obs,Grafton,Ontario.
Canon 60D with Canon f2.8 200mm lens and Canon 1.4X Teleconverter @ f4.0.

Lynn Hilborn (Hilborn) > Galaxies M81 and M82 reprocessed February 2013.
Taken by Lynn Hilborn on Feb 22, 2011..RGB 5mx12,L 10mx16,Ha 20mx6 all 2x2 TEC140 @f7, ML8300 camera. WhistleStop Obs, Grafton,Ontario
In this stunning cosmic vista, galaxy M81 is on the left surrounded by blue spiral arms. On the right marked by massive gas and dust clouds, is M82. These two mammoth galaxies have been locked in gravitational combat for the past billion years. The gravity from each galaxy dramatically affects the other during each hundred million-year pass. Last go-round, M82's gravity likely raised density waves rippling around M81, resulting in the richness of M81's spiral arms. But M81 left M82 with violent star forming regions and colliding gas clouds so energetic the galaxy glows in X-rays. In a few billion years only one galaxy will remain. Description from APOD (Astronomy Photo of the Day).

Lynn Hilborn (Hilborn) > NGC 2170 my favourite diaphanous object... somthing you want to take fly fishing. This image is a combination of images from my NP101is @f4.3 and TEC 140 @f7. Images were take 2 years apart (Feb 2011 and Feb 2013). Both taken with FLI ML8300 camera and Baader filters. The object was shot between 33 and 39 degrees.

In this celestial still life composed with a cosmic brush, dusty nebula NGC 2170 shines left of image center. Reflecting the light of nearby hot stars, NGC 2170 is joined by other bluish reflection nebulae, a red emission region, many dark absorption nebulae, and a backdrop of colorful stars. Like the common household items still life painters often choose for their subjects, these clouds of gas, dust, and hot stars are also commonly found in this setting - a massive, star-forming molecular cloud in the constellation Monoceros. The giant molecular cloud, Mon R2, is impressively close, estimated to be only 2,400 light-years or so away. At that distance, this canvas would be over 40 light-years across. Text from APOD (Astronomy Photo of the Day)

Lynn Hilborn (Hilborn) > Horsehead and Flame nebula. All shot in one night, February 06,2013 RGB binned 2x2 8x5min each plus Ha binned 1x1 6x 20m. TEC 140 @ f7, ML8300 camera with baader filters and Tak NJP Temma2 mount.
Taken by Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Obs, Grafton, Ontario.
The Horsehead (Barnard 33) Distance: 1500 Light Years
Right Ascension: 05 : 41.6 (hours : minutes)
Declination: -02 : 14 (degrees : minutes)
Earthly dust may seem insignificant and trivial but the cosmic kind is an all important constituent of matter in the universe and is essential to the star making process. The famous Horsehead Nebula represents a dark cloud of dust and non-luminous gas which obscures and silhouettes the emitted light of IC 434 behind it. IC 434 has in turn received all its energy from the bright star Sigma Orionis. Protruding from its parental cloud, the horsehead is really a dynamic structure and a fascinating laboratory of complex physics. As it expands into the surrounding environment areas of the cloud sustain stresses which trigger the formation of low mass stars. One infant star is visible as a partly shrouded glow in horse's brow. Small reddish objects glowing through the dust represent Herbig-Haro objects, light emission of material ejected from invisible protostars.
The surrounding region also contains a multitude of different objects all unique in their own right. The bright emission nebula in the lower left is NGC 2024 (the flame nebula). Infrared studies have revealed a huge cluster of infant stars hidden behind the dust and gas of NGC 2024. The bright blue reflection nebula to the lower left of the Horsehead is NGC 2023. Interstellar dust reveals its presence by blocking light emitted from stars or nebulae behind it. Dust is composed mostly of carbon, silicon, oxygen and some heavier elements. Even organic compounds have been detected.
NGC 2023 Distance: 1530 Light Years
NGC 2023 is one of the brightest reflection nebulae in the sky and is located just east of the Horsehead nebula forming a thin blister at the edge of the molecular cloud L1630. The B type star HD37903, with a surface temperature of 22,000 degrees, is responsible for most of the excitation of gas and dust within NGC 2023 and lies in front of the molecular cloud. A unique feature of NGC 2023 is the presence of a shell of neutral hydrogen (H2) surrounding HD37903 out to a radius of about 0.65 light years. The shell amazingly emits light not by photoionization of hydrogen but by a unique process called vibrational fluorescence. It is the first reflection nebula known to exhibit this type of phenomenon. In addition to the reflection component, a number of Herbig-Haro objects (HH) which are associated with pre-main-sequence stars exist in the surrounding dust clouds. Two HH objects, HH4 and HH5 in the southeastern part of the nebula are illuminated by a star designated star C. Star C is thought to be a T-Tauri star. NGC 2023 is evidently an active region of star formation.
Text by Robert Gendler.

Lynn Hilborn (Hilborn) > M95 and M96 galaxies, RGB 8x5min 2x2 -30 each, Lum 8x10min 1x1.
TEC 140@f7, ML 8300 camera, Baader filters, NJP Temma2 mount
Feb 09, 2013 by Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Obs, Grafton

Lynn Hilborn (Hilborn) > eBOOK is available at Apple iTunes for $4.99 https://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/id583664888
A FREE 16 page preview of my book, "Time Machine" is online at http://www.blurb.ca/b/4038933-time-machine
Hard and Soft cover are also available.

Lynn Hilborn (Hilborn) > NGC 1055 galaxy (left) and M77 galaxy (right). LRGB Lum 12x10m 1x1, RGB each 6x10m 1x1. RGB taken Dec 5, Lum taken Dec 19, 2012 (half moon). Taken with TEC 140 @ f7 and ML 8300 camera with Baader filters and Tak NJP mount Temma2. Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Obhs, Grafton Ontario.

Lynn Hilborn (Hilborn) > VdB 9 A dust field with a reflection nebula in Cassiopeia.
14 hours of exposure ( L 40x10m, R 14x10m, G 17x10m, B 14x10m) all bin 1x1. Taken on Nov 5, 11, 17, 2012 by Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Obs, Grafton, Ontario. TEC 140 @f7, FLI ML8300 camera with Baader filters, NJP Temma2 mount.

Lynn Hilborn (Hilborn) > IC 342 Face on spiral galaxy in Camelopardalis. Image taken by Lynn Hilborn WhistleStop Obs, Grafton, Ontario on October 12 and 26,2012. LHaRGB ( Lum 23x15m, bin 1x1, RGB 18x5m, bin 2x2, Ha 5x15m, bin 2x2). Taken with TEC 140 @f7 and FLI ML8300 camera with Baader filters on a Tak NJP Temma2 mount. Published in SkyNews, Jan 2013 edition.

At a relatively close distance of 6.5 million light years IC342 would be one of the brightest galaxies in the sky if it weren't for its untoward location, only 10.5 degrees from the galactic equator (Milky Way disc plane). Obscured by the interstellar matter of the Milky Way, its light is heavily attenuated (by 2.4 magnitudes) before it reaches us and its field is cluttered with foreground Milky Way stars. IC342 is a member of the nearby IC 342/Maffei group. This loosely arranged group contains about 16 members including the two dominant members, IC 342 and Maffei 1. It represents the nearest grouping of galaxies to our local group and evidence tells of an interaction with the local group some eight billion years ago. The most luminous galaxies in the group are the giant spiral IC 342, the elliptical Maffei 1, and the intermediate spiral Maffei 2. Maffei 1 is the nearest normal giant elliptical galaxy to the local group but is also optically dim having its light extinguished 5.3 magnitudes by the Milky Way.

IC 342 is an open two armed spiral and the closest galaxy to the Milky Way with a circumnuclear starburst ring. The cluster of stars near the nucleus formed in a short lived burst some 60 million years ago. Most likely the starburst was triggered by gas inflows into the central 1000 light years of the galaxy driven by the presence of a small scale bar. The newly arrived dense gas formed a central ring which triggered the starburst and now surrounds the nuclear starburst region. At least 5 prominent giant molecular clouds have been found associated with the molecular ring along with several large star forming regions. A prominent feature of IC342 is the numerous and very visible HII regions. IC 342 rivals M81 and M33 among local galaxies in the number of visible HII regions. Probably they are made more apparent by the relative extinction of the shorter wavelength light by the intervening interstellar dust of the Milky Way. Text by Robert Gendler.

Splinter Galaxy NGC5907 with extended stellar tidal stream - 21.5 hours of exposure. TEC 140 @f7 and FLI ML8300 camera with Baader filters. Taken by Lynn Hilborn,WhistleStop Obs, Grafton, Ontario on May 1,3,4,5, 2013.
An extended stellar tidal stream around spiral galaxy NGC5097, the resukt of a galactic merger with a smaller satellite galaxy. Extremely faint !
Lum 1x1 24x10min.
Lum 2x2 28x30min
RGB 2x2 7x10min each.

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