#gygnus

WR 134 Reprocessed !

WR (Wolf-Rayet) 134 is a very faint bubble caused by the intense radiation of a hot star located in the constellation Cygnus. The star causing the bow shock seen here has a surface temperature of over 60,000 degrees Kelvin. It's energetic stellar winds cause surrounding gas and dust to become ionized, showing beautiful reds (hydrogen) and blues (oxygen).

This target is fairly challenging for a suburban astrophotographer due to it's very low brightness. The image here is the result of 24 hours of imaging time from my backyard in a Bortle 7/8 city.

Taken with an Askar 80PHQ, Skywatcher EQ6R pro, and ZWO 533MC pro. Stacked and processed in Pixinsight.

Orbital ATK aiming for second half of September for RTF of Antares

Photo Credit: NASA

Upon the completion of a stage test conducted at Pad-0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport this past May, Dulles, Virginia-based Orbital ATK has announced that it could conduct the inaugural flight of its Antares 230 rocket as early as the second half of September of this year (2016). (more…)