To enhance our amateurs’ abilities of astro-observation and astrophotography, to stimulate the public’s imagination and creativity, and to better feel the beauty of the stars, universe and science. We have the ASIWEEK ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY now. We sincerely invite global astronomers and photographers to participate.

Here are the fantastic works from the 33rd edition of 2019 ASIWEEK ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION. Let’s take a look!

It is Christopher Sullivan and his target NGC 7380 captured with ZWO ASI1600MM Cool that won the championship.

 

The winning entry:

Photographer: Christopher Sullivan  

Target: NGC 7380

NGC7380_ASI1600MM_Cool

Equipment: Explore Scientific N208CF f/3.9 Newtonian, Skywatcher AZ-EQ5, ZWO ASI1600MM Cool

NGC 7380 (also known as the Wizard Nebula) is an open cluster discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1787. William Herschel included his sister’s discovery in his catalog, and labelled it H VIII.77. It is also known as 142 in the 1959 Sharpless catalog (Sh2-142). This reasonably large nebula is located in Cepheus. It is extremely difficult to observe visually, usually requiring very dark skies and an O-III filter.

Entries from other photographers:

Photographer: Yannick Dutertre  

Target: IC 1396

IC1396_ASI178MM

Equipment: EQ6R, EvoGuider 50ED, ZWO ASI178MM

The Elephant’s Trunk Nebula is a concentration of interstellar gas and dust within the much larger ionized gas region IC 1396 located in the constellation Cepheus about 2,400 light years away from Earth. The piece of the nebula shown here is the dark, dense globule IC 1396A; it is commonly called the Elephant’s Trunk nebula because of its appearance at visible light wavelengths, where there is a dark patch with a bright, sinuous rim. The bright rim is the surface of the dense cloud that is being illuminated and ionized by a very bright, massive star (HD 206267) that is just to the east of IC 1396A. 

 

Photographer: Yan Nick  

Target: IC 5070

IC5070_ASI1600MM Pro

Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM Pro, Explore Scientific ED 102 APO FCD1

IC 5070 is also known as the Pelican Nebula, it is an H II region associated with the North America Nebula in the constellation Cygnus. The gaseous contortions of this emission nebula bear a resemblance to a pelican, giving rise to its name. The Pelican Nebula is located nearby first magnitude star Deneb, and is divided from its more prominent neighbour, the North America Nebula, by a molecular cloud filled with dark dust.

 

Photographer: Carl Gough  

Target: IC 1848

IC1848_ASI1600MM

Equipment: TS80 APO, ZWO ASI16000MM, EQ5 goto

Westerhout 5 (Soul Nebula) is an emission nebula located in Cassiopeia. Several small open clusters are embedded in the nebula: CR 34, 632, and 634(in the head) and IC 1848 (in the body). The object is more commonly called by the cluster designation IC 1848.

 

Photographer: Jordan Ragsdale  

Target: NGC 6888

NGC6888_ASI183MM

Equipment: Astro-Telescopes 152 f/5.9 Achromat, ZWO ASI183MM, EQ6-R Pro

NGC 6888 is also known as the Crescent Nebula. It’s an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, about 5000 light-years away from Earth. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1792. It is formed by the fast stellar wind from the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 (HD 192163) colliding with and energizing the slower moving wind ejected by the star when it became a red giant around 250,000 to 400,000 years ago. The result of the collision is a shell and two shock waves, one moving outward and one moving inward. The inward moving shock wave heats the stellar wind to X-ray-emitting temperatures.

 

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