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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Thor's Helmet by Lynn Hilborn - Whistlestop Observatory, Grafton Ontario. (Photo appeared in March/April 2011 SkyNews magazine).<br /> This helmet-shaped cosmic cloud with wing-like appendages is popularly called Thor's Helmet. Thor's Helmet is about 30 light-years across. In fact, the helmet is actually more like an interstellar bubble, blown as a fast wind from the bright, massive star near the bubble's center sweeps through a surrounding molecular cloud. Known as a Wolf-Rayet star, the central star is an extremely hot giant thought to be in a brief, pre-supernova stage of evolution. Cataloged as NGC 2359, the nebula is located about 15,000 light-years away in the constellation Canis Major. (Text adapted from Astronomy Picture of the Day)<br /> <br /> 3 hours of Ha, 4x5m RGB each, all binned 2x2. Shot at f10, C9.25 and ML8300 camera. February 6 and 7, 2010.
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Thor's Helmet by Lynn Hilborn - Whistlestop Observatory, Grafton Ontario. (Photo appeared in March/April 2011 SkyNews magazine).
This helmet-shaped cosmic cloud with wing-like appendages is popularly called Thor's Helmet. Thor's Helmet is about 30 light-years across. In fact, the helmet is actually more like an interstellar bubble, blown as a fast wind from the bright, massive star near the bubble's center sweeps through a surrounding molecular cloud. Known as a Wolf-Rayet star, the central star is an extremely hot giant thought to be in a brief, pre-supernova stage of evolution. Cataloged as NGC 2359, the nebula is located about 15,000 light-years away in the constellation Canis Major. (Text adapted from Astronomy Picture of the Day)

3 hours of Ha, 4x5m RGB each, all binned 2x2. Shot at f10, C9.25 and ML8300 camera. February 6 and 7, 2010.

  • Heart and Soul nebula in narrowband Hubble colors. Taken with 200mm Canon lens @ f2.8 and ML8300 camera. Ha,OIII,SII each 3x30 minutes for total 4.5 hours exposure. Taken by Lynn Hilborn March 31, April 5, 6 2012 at WhistleStop Obs,Grafton,Ontario.
  • 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.<br /> The data was gathered eighteen months ago and reprocessed March 2012 to enhance the image. 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'
  • NGC 2264 (Christmas Tree cluster) (Cone Nebula Region) in HaRGB. 9.5 hours of exposure with TEC 140@f5.6 and FLI ML8300 camera. Taken by Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Obs, Grafton, Ontario. Imaged on Feb 19 and 20, 2012.<br /> <br /> NGC 2264 is a young galactic cluster of stars in the Monoceros OB 1 association which resides in the Orion arm of the galaxy. The cluster has a total of over 600 stars ranging in age from from 1 to 4 million years old. The diverse population of the cluster includes several dozen OB stars and over 400 lower mass stars. The brightest members of the cluster resemble a "Christmas Tree" with S Monocerotis at its base and the Cone Nebula at its apex. The juxtaposition of dark dust clouds and glowing gas has carved out the landscape we see in the cone nebula region. The conical shaped pillar of gas and dust is called the Cone Nebula. It spans about 7 light years in length. A protruding portion of the cloud near S Monocerotis has been compared to the shape of a fox and was nicknamed the "Foxfur" nebula. Text with kind permission of Robert Gendler
  • Planetary Nebula IC 2448 Hubble Space Telescope data from the Hubble Legacy Archive processed by Lynn Hilborn, March 13,2013.<br /> IC 2448 is an elliptical planetary nebula in the constellation of Carina. Lying near the bright star Beta Carinae.
  • Comet Panstarrs taken March 14 by Lynn Hilborn, beach at WhistleStop Obs,Grafton,Ontario.<br /> Canon 60D with Canon f2.8 200mm lens and Canon 1.4X Teleconverter @ f4.0.
  • Late January 7pm...Orion and Jupiter over the house. Sigma 10mm f2.8 and CanonXs 20 seconds at 1600 iso. Lynn Hilborn, Grafton.
  • Horsehead nebula...Ha 4x30m bin 1x1, TEC140, ML8300 camera. Taken by Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Obs, Grafton,Ontario. Nov 5, 2011
  • TRANSIT of VENUS...June 5, 2012. Taken by Lynn Hilborn at Sandbanks Prov Park. C9.25 and Canon 60D.
  • California Nebula...taken with Tokina 300mm lens f2.8. and FLI ML8300 camera. Narrowband image done in Hubble colors. ( Ha bin 1x1 5x30m, SII binned 2x2 6x30m, OIII binned 3x3 6x30m ). Taken by Lynn Hilborn Nov 21 - Dec 11, 2011 at Grafton, Ontario.
  • Zodiacal Light...false dawn. On my shore front at WhistleStop Obs, Grafton,Ontario. North shore of Lake Ontario...skyglow to the right is Rochester NY.
  • Elephant's Trunk Nebula in IC1396. Done in Hubble palette with narrowband filters to highlight emissions of Hydrogen, ionized Sulphur and ionized Oxygen. Ha binned 1x1 12x20m, SII binned 2x2 10x30m, OIII binned 2x2 10x 30m. Total of 14 hours of exposure. Taken by Lynn Hilborn WhistleStop Obs,Grafton, Ontario in July 2011.<br /> Editors' Choice Sky&Telescope magazine Photo Gallery.<br /> TEC 140 @f5.6 and FLI ML 8300 camera with Baader filters, Tak NJP mount.
  • SKYNEWS Magazine Picture of the Week. IC 5070 and NGC 7000 (Pelican and North American nebula) ...SII/Ha/OIII for RGB.<br /> NP 101is and FLI ML 8300 camera. Taken in August 2010 by Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Observatory, Grafton, Ontario.<br /> 3 hours of Ha bin 1x1<br /> 4.5 hours of SII bin 1x1<br /> 4.5 hours of OIII bin 1x1
  • Helix Nebula 'Eye of God'. Taken with TEC140 @f5.6 and FLI ML8300 camera. 30 minute sub frames, Ha 5x30m, OIII 5x30m all binned 1x1. Taken by Lynn Hilborn, August 29 and Sept 07, 2011 at WhistleStop Observatory, Grafton, Ontario. Object only reached 20 degrees above the horizon.<br /> Published in Sky and Telescope magazine (March 2012) and SkyNews magazine (January 2012).
  • Markarian's Chain and M87 jet
  • Aurora at Grafton, Oct 24.2011 f4.5 18mm 1600 iso 45 sec.
  • 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.<br /> Each frame is 9 hours of exposure for a total 18 hours over 5 nights in October and November 2010. Taken by Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Observatory, Grafton, Ontario. NP 101is telescope @f4.3 and a FLI ML8300 camera. Image is LRGB and Ha all binned 1x1. (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')
  • Leo Triplet, M65, M66 and NGC 3628 group of galaxies. LLRGB with4 hours of Lum and 45m each RGB all binned 1x1. Taken with TEC 140 @f7 and FLI ML8300 camera. By Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Obs, Grafton, Ontario on March 22,29 and April2, 2011.<br /> Winner of Royal Astronomical Society of Canada 2011 "High-Magnification Deep Sky imaging Award" <br /> Winner of SkyNews Magazine 2011 "Best Deep Sky Digital High-Resolution Image Award"<br /> Editor's Choice, Sky and Telescope Magazine - Photo Gallery and Editor's Choice - Picture of the Week, SkyNews Magazine.<br /> <br /> With permission of Robert Gendler...NGC 3628, M65 (NGC 3623) and M66 (NGC 3627) are a well known conspicuous grouping of galaxies in the constellation of Leo. The tight grouping are all within a 1 degree field in the sky and are physically and dynamically related as all three reside at the same distance of about 30 million light years. The distance between M65 and M66 is only 160,000 light years, the same distance between the Milky Way and its interacting companion, the Large Magellanic Cloud. The distance between NGC 3628 and the other two members of the triplet is slightly more than 300,000 light years. The galaxies exhibit evidence of mutual disturbance suggesting that the Leo triplet is a dynamically bound interacting system of galaxies.<br /> <br /> The two galaxies which show the greatest evidence for a previous violent encounter are NGC 3628 and M66. Distinct morphological evidence exists that are believed to be the telltale signs of this interaction. NGC 3628 is noted for its faint optical plume that extends over 300 light years from its eastern tip and which contains some 500 million solar masses (about 15% of the total mass of NGC 3628). Star formation has been detected within the plume coinciding with the time of the encounter and therefore confirming its tidal origin. Surveys of neutral hydrogen gas using the tracer CO revealed a large bridge of gas between M66 and NGC 3628 as well as a gaseous plume coincident with the eastern optical plume observed in NGC 3628. Simulations by Toomre (1977) and Rots (1978) have modeled the orbits of M66 and NGC 3628 and concluded that these galaxies came within 80,000 light years of each other some 800 million years ago, and that encounter was responsible for the plumes and bridges we see now. In addition the rotation curve for the eastern part of NGC 3628 falls sharply after reaching a maximum which is believed to be a strong signature of a previous interaction as rotation curves typically remain flat or rise in normal spirals.<br /> <br /> M66 also shows some disturbed features believed to be related to the remote encounter. A fossil starburst region near the nucleus of M66 dates to the same time as the proposed interaction slightly less than one billion years ago. The outermost southern gas clouds of the galaxy show a peculiar counterrotation in respect to the inner gas. Even more striking is an enormous gas concentration of about 400 million solar masses within the center of M66. Most likely this gas was accreted at the time of the closest approach of the two galaxies. There are several other asymmetries and distortions observed in the disks of NGC 3628 and M66 at both optical and radio wavelengths which are likely attributed to the previous encounter. Since multiple galactic rotations have occurred since the encounter it is difficult to trace backward the spatial relationships of the galaxies that existed at the time of the encounter.<br /> <br /> In comparison to the other members of the Leo Triplet, M65 appears much more quiescent and stable. There are no obvious asymmetries, plumes or starbursts. One scenario raises the possibility that M66 and NGC 3628 existed as an orbiting bound system prior to the interaction with M66. M66 may have entered by way of "infall" into the small bound system of galaxies during the time period of the last encounter.
  • Rosette Nebula 6.5 hours of Ha taken by Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Observatory, Grafton, Ontario<br /> NP101is and FLI ML8300 with 7nm Baader Ha filter. November 11 and 12, 2009
  • Edge-on spiral galaxy NGC891 some 30 million light-years from earth. Taken Nov 8, 2010 by Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Obs, Grafton, Ontario.<br /> TEC 140 @f7 (980mm) and FLI ML8300 camera. LRGB L 7x20m 1x1, RGB each 9x5m 2x2.
  • Thor's Helmet by Lynn Hilborn - Whistlestop Observatory, Grafton Ontario. (Photo appeared in March/April 2011 SkyNews magazine).<br /> This helmet-shaped cosmic cloud with wing-like appendages is popularly called Thor's Helmet. Thor's Helmet is about 30 light-years across. In fact, the helmet is actually more like an interstellar bubble, blown as a fast wind from the bright, massive star near the bubble's center sweeps through a surrounding molecular cloud. Known as a Wolf-Rayet star, the central star is an extremely hot giant thought to be in a brief, pre-supernova stage of evolution. Cataloged as NGC 2359, the nebula is located about 15,000 light-years away in the constellation Canis Major. (Text adapted from Astronomy Picture of the Day)<br /> <br /> 3 hours of Ha, 4x5m RGB each, all binned 2x2. Shot at f10, C9.25 and ML8300 camera. February 6 and 7, 2010.
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