2. Astronomy

NIGHT OVER ONTARIO

These photos were taken by Lynn Hilborn of Grafton, Ontario.
Pictures have appeared on the cover and inside editions of SkyNews magazine and in Sky & Telescope and Astronomy magazine, and as NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day.

“ Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,”
W.B.Yeats



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LDN 767, 778, vdB126 in Vulpecula. Canon 200mm f2.8 lens and ML8300 camera. LRGB L 10x10m, RGB 11x5m each.<br /> Taken by Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Obs,Grafton,Ontario July 15,16,2013.
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LDN 767, 778, vdB126 in Vulpecula. Canon 200mm f2.8 lens and ML8300 camera. LRGB L 10x10m, RGB 11x5m each.
Taken by Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Obs,Grafton,Ontario July 15,16,2013.

  • NGC2207 and IC2163 interacting galaxies....Hubble Space Telescope data from the Hubble Legacy Archive - a mosaic processed by Lynn Hilborn, April 10,2013.<br /> <br /> In the direction of the constellation Canis Major, two spiral galaxies pass by each other like majestic ships in the night. The near-collision has been caught in images taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and its Wide Field Planetary Camera 2.<br /> <br /> The larger and more massive galaxy is cataloged as NGC 2207 (on the left in the Hubble Heritage image), and the smaller one on the right is IC 2163. Strong tidal forces from NGC 2207 have distorted the shape of IC 2163, flinging out stars and gas into long streamers stretching out a hundred thousand light-years toward the right-hand edge of the image.<br /> <br /> The calculations indicate that IC 2163 is swinging past NGC 2207 in a counterclockwise direction, having made its closest approach 40 million years ago. However, IC 2163 does not have sufficient energy to escape from the gravitational pull of NGC 2207, and is destined to be pulled back and swing past the larger galaxy again in the future.<br /> <br /> The high resolution of the Hubble telescope image reveals dust lanes in the spiral arms of NGC 2207, clearly silhouetted against IC 2163, which is in the background. Hubble also reveals a series of parallel dust filaments extending like fine brush strokes along the tidally stretched material on the right-hand side. The large concentrations of gas and dust in both galaxies may well erupt into regions of active star formation in the near future.<br /> <br /> Trapped in their mutual orbit around each other, these two galaxies will continue to distort and disrupt each other. Eventually, billions of years from now, they will merge into a single, more massive galaxy. It is believed that many present-day galaxies, including the Milky Way, were assembled from a similar process of coalescence of smaller galaxies occurring over billions of years. Text from NASA. 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.
  • Orion Christmas Wreath over Lake ONtario<br /> M78 to HorseHead and Flame to M42... Canon 135mm f2.8 with Canon 6D, 7x180 seconds, 5x5 seconds for core. 1600 ISO.<br /> Taken by Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Obs,Grafton,Ontario on December 12.2014.
  • Bubble Nebula in natural colours. Data gathered in July 2011 and reprocessed December 2013. 9.5 hours of data 3.5 hours Ha, 3 hours each of OIII and SII, all 30 minute subs binned 1x1.<br /> Image taken by Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStopObs, Grafton, Ontario. TEC 140 @f7 and FLI ML8300 with Baader filters.<br /> The Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635) (S162)<br /> Distance: 7800 Light Years<br /> Right Ascension: 23 : 20.7 (hours : minutes)<br /> Declination: +61 : 12 (degrees : minutes)<br /> <br /> Imagine a star 40 times as massive and several hundred thousand times more luminous than our sun? Well, BD +60°2522 is such a star. Its enormous energy output and powerful stellar winds have blown a titanic bubble of ionized gas measuring 6 light years in diameter. Popularly known as the Bubble Nebula, the strange symmetrically round nebula is the outcome of the prodigious energy output and fierce stellar winds of an unusually powerful star known as a Wolf-Rayet star. Named after the French astronomers Charles Wolf and Georges Rayet, who first described the unusual stars in 1867, less than 300 Wolf-Rayet stars (WR) have been identified in our own galaxy and some have even been identified in other galaxies. These extremely powerful stars mark the end stage of rare O type stars that begin their lives with at least 25 times the mass of our sun. Their hot surface temperatures range between 30,000 and 60,000 degrees Kelvin and their stellar winds can exceed 1500 kilometers per second, capable of rapidly depleting the stars outer layers. WR stars can lose two thirds of their mass during this final stage of their stellar life. A star entering the WR stage with 35 solar masses can end up as a 10 solar mass star before it explodes as a supernova.<br /> <br /> Wind blown bubbles, concentric rings and filamentary shaped nebulae are common outcomes of Wolf Rayet driven winds on surrounding gas clouds. The peculiar shape of the Bubble nebula marks the leading edge of the Wolf-Rayet wind front as it plows into the denser stationary material of the interstellar medium. The prodigious winds of this WR star travel at 9 million kilometers per hour. The asymmetry of the bubble in relation to BD +60°2522 is believed due to subtle differences in the density of the surrounding gaseous material. Also the bright arcs and small condensations which characterize the bubble's surface are also related to density variations in the swept up material forming the bubble wall. The prominent inner bright knot projected along the western wall of the bubble is actually the ionized edge of a larger cloud that physically lies outside the bubble itself.<br /> <br /> The Bubble Nebula, NGC 7635 is imbedded in the surrounding HII region Sharpless 162 (S162). The entire complex is located in the Perseus arm of the Milky Way. BD +60°2522 the sole exciting star of the nebula is a type O6.5 giant with a surface temperature of 34,000 degrees. It is considered a member of the Cas OB2 stellar association.<br /> Text with permission of Robert Gendler
  • Reprocessing of an image taken 3 years earlier...Giant Molecular Cloud with IC348 on the left and NGC 1333 on the right. Original image taken by Lynn Hilborn, Oct/Nov 2010.<br /> Giant molecular cloud and dust lanes in Perseus. On the left is IC348 a bright young cluster settled in the reflection nebula of this giant cloud. On the right side of this 2 frame mosaic is NGC 1333 and area of star birth surrounded by dark lanes of cosmic dust. This is a two panel mosaic with a total 18 hours of exposure. Taken by Lynn Hilborn at WhistleStop Observatory, Grafton, Ontario.<br /> The actual imaging was done Oct 10, 12, 31 and Nov 1,2, 2010. The scope was a NP101is @ f4.3 and FLI ML8300 camera.<br /> The image is LRGB plus Ha.<br /> Original image was Editor's Choice ,Photo Gallery- Sky and Telescope magazine; published in Sky and Telescope magazine, May 2011 edition; published as back cover RASC Journal April 2011; Astronomy Magazine 'Picture of the Day'
  • Barnard's Merope Nebula IC 349 in M45<br /> Image taken by Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Obs,Grafton, Ontario. on November 7, 2013. TEC 140 @f5.3 and ML8300 camera with Baader filters. LRGB L 16x45s, RGB 15x30s all binned 1x1.<br /> In 1890, American astronomer E. E. Barnard, observing visually with the Lick Observatory 36-inch telescope in California, discovered an exceptionally bright nebulosity adjacent to the bright Pleiades star Merope. IC349 is a very small object, about 20 arc seconds across. "Barnard's Merope Nebula." IC 349 is so bright because it lies extremely close to Merope -- only about 3,500 times the separation of the Earth from the Sun, or about 0.06 light-year -- and thus is strongly illuminated by the star's light.<br /> <br /> NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has caught the eerie, wispy tendrils of this dark interstellar cloud being destroyed by the passage of one of the brightest stars in the Pleiades star cluster. Like a flashlight beam shining off the wall of a cave, the star is reflecting light off the surface of pitch black clouds of cold gas laced with dust - these are called reflection nebulae.
  • Core of Andromeda Galaxy M31.<br /> TEC 140@f5.3 and FLI ML8300 camera with Baader filters. Lum 1x1 18x10m, Ha 1x1 12x15m,RGB each 2x2 9x5m. Taken by Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Obs,Grafton, Ontario on October 14 and 28, 2013.
  • Sh2 -187 is a diffuse nebula visible in the constellation of Cassiopeia ( Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day November 14,2013).<br /> Taken by Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Obs,Grafton,Ontario on September 05 and 08,2013.<br /> TEC 140 @f5.3 and ML8300 camera with Baader filters. LRGB image L bin 1x1 12 x 10m, RGB bin 2x2 12x 5m.<br /> This is an H II region located on the outermost edge of the Orion Arm , visually appears surrounded by dark nebula LDN 1317. The distance was estimated through studies spectrophotometric in about 1440 parsecs (4700 light years ) from the observation of stars exciters gas this and other surrounding clouds, its position coincides with that of the source 2MASS 01230704 + J 6151527. The cloud belongs to a large molecular complex at the center of which is located a molecular jet at high speed, originated from a source of infrared radiation cataloged as S 187 IRS, located very close to another strong source, IRAS 01202 +6133. The visible part of the cloud is surrounded by an extended envelope of neutral hydrogen , detectable at wavelengths other than visible, whose mass total can be estimated at about 7600 M ☉ . Its age can be estimated instead around to 100-200000 years. <br /> The evidence of the presence of phenomena of star formation may be identified in numerous infrared sources discoveries in the nebula, like those just mentioned including the molecular jet; in particular, one of the most powerful sources is IRAS 01 202 +6133, inserted deep into a dense cocoon easily identifiable bright infrared (S 187 IRS), whose counterpart in visible light is known as S187Hα: it would be a star Ae / Be Herbig .
  • Van Den Bergh 14 and 15 in Camelopardalis. ( Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day, Oct 16,2013.)<br /> This beautiful pair of reflection nebulae are a small part of a large dust cloud in Camelopardalis. They contain both reflection (blue) and emission (red) components, although the emission component is subtle and can be seen as the peripheral pale red regions in the above LRGB image. VDB 15 is the large nebula on the left, surrounding the magnitude 5 central star C Cam, while VDB14 is the sickle-shaped nebula on the lower right.<br /> LRGB image Lum bin 1x1 26x10m, R and G bin 2x2 18x5m, B bin 2x2 24x5m. TEC 140 @f5.3 and FLI ML8300 camera, Baader LRGB filters, Tak NJP Temma2 mount. Taken by Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Obs, Grafton, Ontario on October 08/11, 2013.
  • Sailboat Cluster (NGC225) at bottom center, Vdb4 in center, LDN 1291 top center. TEC 140 @f5.3 and ML8300 camera LRGB (L1x1 6x10m, RGB 2x2 12x5m each).<br /> Taken by Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Obs, September 2013.
  • Eastern Veil NGC 6992 (part of the Cygnus Loop) in narrow band. 12 hours of exposure, 4 hours each OIII, Ha, SII as RGB. Bin 1x1 with FLI ML8300 camera and TEC140 @f7.<br /> Taken by Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Obs, Grafton, Ontario...July 15,21,26,2011.<br /> <br /> One day just prior to the dawn of recorded history a brilliant light flashed suddenly in the night sky, its light unrivaled by any existing stars. The "new" star undoubtedly captured the imagination of early observers who likely struggled to explain its origin and interpret its meaning as it faded from sight over several weeks. We now know the sudden flash of light represented an extremely rare supernova occurring in our own galaxy some ten thousand years ago. Although the star was annihilated in the blast an immense glowing nebulous arc was left in its wake which we now call the Cygnus loop or Veil Nebula complex.<br /> <br /> The Cygnus loop spans some 80 light years and 3 degrees of summer sky in the constellation Cygnus. The delicate tendrils of glowing gas are not the remains of the dying star but are caused by an advancing shock front of the supernova as it crashes into the stationary gases of the interstellar medium. The expanding shell of material blasted from the dying star collides with stationary gases at high speeds (up to 1.4 million kilometers per hour) energizing the gas molecules. The gases then release the newly acquired energy in different wavelengths which include the brilliant colors of the visual spectrum. In some regions the gases are heated to millions of degrees causing the release of high energy x-rays.<br /> <br /> Ultimately the supernova remnant will dissipate over thousands of years returning some of its heavier elements like gold, calcium, iron to the interstellar medium. It's a humbling revelation to know the iron in our blood and calcium within our bones had its origin in the cores of ancient stars. Text courtesy of Robert Gendler.
  • Witch's Broom Nebula NGC 6960<br /> Ha 6x15m 1x1, OIII 6x15m 1x1 imaged with TEC 140 @f5.3 and ML 8300 camera.<br /> Imaged by Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Obs, Grafton, Ontario August 3, 2013<br /> ***Published in Astronomy Magazine, March 2014<br /> Ten thousand years ago, before the dawn of recorded human history, a new light must suddenly have appeared in <br /> the night sky and faded after a few weeks. Today we know this light was an exploding star and record the <br /> colorful expanding cloud as the Veil Nebula. Pictured above is the west end of the Veil Nebula known <br /> technically as NGC 6960 but less formally as the Witch's Broom Nebula. The expanding debris cloud gains its <br /> colors by sweeping up and exciting existing nearby gas. The supernova remnant lies about 1400 light-years away <br /> towards the constellation of Cygnus. This Witch's Broom actually spans over three times the angular size of the <br /> full Moon. The bright star 52 Cygni is visible with the unaided eye from a dark location but unrelated to the <br /> ancient supernova. Text from APOD, Astronomy Photo of the Day.
  • LDN 767, 778, vdB126 in Vulpecula. Canon 200mm f2.8 lens and ML8300 camera. LRGB L 10x10m, RGB 11x5m each.<br /> Taken by Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Obs,Grafton,Ontario July 15,16,2013.
  • Cocoon Nebula (IC5146) and M39. Taken with a 200mm Canon f2.8 lens and FLI ML8300 camera. RGB each 12x5m, Lum 16x10m, Ha 3x15m .<br /> Taken by Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Obs,Grafton,Ontario on July 13,14,15, 2013. Baader filters and a NJP Temma2 mount.
  • The Cave Nebula SH2-155. 15 hours of exposure HaLRGB. Taken by Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Obs,Grafton,Ontario. Imaged on August 01,20,21,22,2012. TEC 140 scope @f5.6 and FLI ML8300 camera with Baader filters on a Takahashi NJP Temma2 mount.<br /> Cave Nebula (Sh2-155), Distance: 2900 Light Years<br /> The Cave Nebula, Sh2-155 or Caldwell 9 is a very diffuse nebula within a larger nebula complex containing emission, reflection, and dark nebulosity. It is located in the constellation Cepheus.<br /> Right Ascension: 22:58 (hours : minutes)<br /> Declination: +62:34 (degrees : minutes)
  • The Cave Nebula SH2-155. 15 hours of exposure HaLRGB. Taken by Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Obs,Grafton,Ontario. Imaged on August 01,20,21,22,2012. TEC 140 scope @f7 and FLI ML8300 camera with Baader filters on a Takahashi NJP Temma2 mount.<br /> Cave Nebula (Sh2-155), Distance: 2900 Light Years<br /> The Cave Nebula, Sh2-155 or Caldwell 9 is a very diffuse nebula within a larger nebula complex containing emission, reflection, and dark nebulosity. It is located in the constellation Cepheus.<br /> Right Ascension: 22:58 (hours : minutes)<br /> Declination: +62:34 (degrees : minutes)
  • 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.<br /> <br /> 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)
  • The Running Man nebula and M42 'star factory' in Orion.<br /> LHaRGB with TEC140 Af7 and ML8300 camera. Taken by Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Observatory, Grafton,Ontario...Feb9 and11, 2012.<br /> Sub exposures ranged from 10 seconds to 20 minutes in order to capture the full dynamic range.<br /> <br /> A recurring theme of destruction, upheaval, birth and rebirth occurs within the spiral arms of galaxies. HII regions within the spiral arms of galaxies serve as celestial recycling stations where the birth of new stars completes a great cycle, creating and recycling matter, ultimately enriching and replenishing the interstellar medium with heavier elements. These heavier elements may potentially become the building blocks of terrestrial planets and ultimately living organisms. The Orion Nebula is arguably the greatest of all HII clouds visible from our location within the Milky Way. With a gaseous repository of 10,000 suns, and illuminated by a cluster of hot young stars, the clouds of M42 glow with fantastic colors and shapes, giving us a birds eye view of one of the greatest star forming nurseries in our part of the galaxy.<br /> <br /> The radiance and beauty of Orion transcends dry astronomical facts, however the history as well as the physics and chemistry of the Orion Nebula is a tale worthy of telling that helps us understand the nebula's great significance. M42 is a complex cloud of glowing gas, mostly hydrogen but also helium, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen in decreasing amounts. Although a true astronomical icon, M42 is essentially a bright condensation of the Orion A Molecular Cloud which extends far beyond the Orion Nebula. Although it spans 40 light years, the ionized gas of M42 is an exceptionally thin blister only 0.08 light years thick on the surface of the larger and optically invisible molecular cloud.<br /> <br /> Directly in front of M42 is a small grouping of hot O and B type stars known as the trapezium which shine between 5th and 8th magnitude. This grouping represents the 4 brightest members of an extended cluster of several thousand young stars many of which lie unseen within the opaque gas and dust. The bright trapezium grouping represents the cluster core where stars are packed so tight they exceed the stellar concentration of our suns vicinity some 20,000 times. Stars within the trapezium are separated by only 0.12 light years whereas our sun's nearest neighbor is 4 light years away. Text was written by Robert Gendler, and is used with his kind permission.
  • Dark Nebula LDN988, 11 hour exposure taken with TEC 140 @f7 and FLI ML8300 camera.<br /> RGB each 2 hours (12x10m bin 1x1), Lum 5 hours (30x10m bin 1x1).<br /> Taken by Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Obs, Grafton, Ontario on August 24,25 and September 6, 2012
  • NGC 7129 crop....TEC140 @f7 and FLI ML8300 camera on Tak NJP mount. Lum 1x1 21x10m RGB 2x2 each 21x5m.<br /> 9 hours of exposure. Taken by Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Obs, Grafton, Ontario on July 1,3,5,2011<br /> <br /> NGC 7129 (NGC 7133) text with permission of Robert Gendler<br /> Distance 3300 light years<br /> Right Ascension: 21 : 41.3 (hours : minutes)<br /> Declination: +66 : 06 (degrees : minutes)<br /> NGC 7129 is a young compact star forming region which displays an unusual patchwork of colorful nebulosity and bright stars contrasted against the dust clouds of the Milky Way. The astronomical correlate of those colors and textures is the rich interplay that occurs between young stars and the surrounding interstellar medium. NGC 7129 contains several bright reflection nebulae including the large blue reflection cloud NGC 7133 and the unusual small yellow reflection cloud LBN497. Also conspicuous in the field are several bright Herbig-Haro objects, the signatures of young stellar objects soon to emerge in the main sequence. The dominant blue reflection nebula, NGC 7133 is illuminated by two young B-type stars BD +65°1637 and BD +65°1638. Both stars are less than one million years old and represent the core of NGC 7129, a small cluster of low mass stars which populate the 36 light year wide cavity. BD +65°1638 is the older of the two illuminating stars and has played a critical role in the formation of NGC 7129. Around 100,000 years ago the ultraviolet radiation field from the young star began to burrow a cavity into the surface of a nearby molecular cloud. As the cavity expanded, a ridge like interface formed where the expanding cavity contacted the molecular cloud, triggering an intense period of contained star formation. The bright stars went on to illuminate the ambient dust surrounding the cluster, forming the brilliant reflection clouds we see now.<br /> The environment of NGC 7129 is a fertile star forming region where numerous young young stellar objects (YSOs) exist. Energetic outflows from several young protostars are the power source for several Herbig-Haro objects which populate the ridge along its northeast and southwest regions. These objects take their name from George Herbig and Guillermo Haro who first described them over 50 years ago. Today over 300 individual HH objects are known. These fascinating objects form when an energetic outflow from an infant star ionizes adjacent gas clouds in the slightly denser interstellar medium. The nascent stars are invisible optically but reveal their presence when they release highly collimated jets of ionized plasma which shock the surrounding interstellar medium. The shocked gases form a small compact emission cloud called a Herbig-Haro object (HH). Typically HH objects are found in active star forming regions. Today well over 300 individual HH objects are known in our galaxy.<br /> <br /> Although NGC 7129 is quite impressive at optical wavelengths, over 50% of the cluster stars are highly obscured young stellar objects, only detectable at infrared wavelengths. Cloaked by dense envelopes of dust and gas that characterize their early evolutionary stage as they contract towards the main sequence, they are mostly invisible at optical wavelengths. There are two major outflow sources within NGC 7129 that likely power many of the prominent Herbig-Haro objects. One source is an imbedded protostar adjacent to the unusual Herbig Be star LkH 234, a highly evolved pre-main sequence star located along the northern ridge. Herbig Ae/Be stars are intermediate mass pre-main-sequence stars analogous to their lower mass counterpart, the T-Tauri stars. An outflow of molecular gas arises from a source very close to LkH 234 and extends out some 26 light years along the ridge and into the cavity, powering several prominent Herbig Haro objects lying nearby to the northeast including HH 105, GGD 34, and GGD 35. The second major outflow source is located along the southern ridge and is known as FIRS 2. This protostellar system is likely the power source of the Herbig-Haro objects in the southwest of the complex, namely GGD 32 and the largest Herbig-Haro object in NGC 7129, HH 103. The ages of the cavity and protostellar objects within NGC 7129 seem to coincide and are about 100,000 years old.
  • Antares and Rho Ophiuchi complex with globular cluster M4. 18x4minutes ISO 1600 Canon 6d and TS71 f4.9 telescope.<br /> Taken by Lynn Hilborn, at WhistleStop Obs,Grafton,Ontario on June 21 and 23,2015.
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