The Rosette Nebula, taken on September 9, 2014. A 5 hour exposure, using an Epsilon 180 ED telescope, with filters of 3nm Astrodon combining Hydrogen-alpha, Oxygen and Sulfur II. Credit and copyright: César Cantú.
Wow! Here’s a gorgeous view of the Rosette Nebula from astrophotographer César Cantú. The Rosette Nebula is a star-forming region about 5,000 light years from Earth, located in the constellation Monoceros. Winds from the young, hot, blue stars cleared the central hole. The central cluster of stars is also known as NGC 2244.
The image compiles about 5 hours of observing time and César used hydrogen-alpha, oxygen and sulfur filters.
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Star trails at Balanced Rock in the Arches National Park in Utah on May 30, 2014. Credit and copyright: César Cantu.
Wow! This video brought tears to my eyes because of its sheer beauty. Our friend and frequent astrophoto contributor César Cantu fulfilled a lifelong dream this past month of taking a trip through the southwestern of the United States, to “see and feel the shocking nature reflected in the Grand Canyon, in the Arches National Park and in the terrible atmosphere of Death Valley,” he told us via email.
Although César produced this video entirely on his own, the US Park Service and the states in the US Southwest couldn’t have a better promotional video! It is simply stunning, showing both the splendid landscapes during the day and the magnificent starscapes at night.
He drove from his native Mexico to the US Southwest, carrying several cameras to capture multiples landscapes, “to show different characteristics from the nature of our planet.”
“I drove just over 7,000 miles in 32 days and I visited all these extraordinary places,” César said. “I believe that nature, humanity and society, have found support and positive, creative, respectful and viable response from the National Park Service of the United States of America.”
Make sure you see the night sky footage starting at about :50 — it’s amazing! And the video César took while driving down a desert road is really fun to “ride along.”
The Milky Way over Saguaro National Park on June 17, 2014. Credit and copyright: César Cantu.
“I must say that the trip was so exciting, and I am already planning another for next summer!” he added.
We can’t wait to see more of his travel pics!
You can see more images from César’s “dream” trip at his website.
Thanks once again to César Cantu for sharing his work with Universe Today!
The star Alnitak and Flame Nebula in Orion. Credit and copyright: César Cantú.
Astrophotographer César Cantú from Mexico captured this beautiful view of the star Alnitak and Flame Nebula, both in the constellation Orion. Alnitak is the southern star in Orion’s belt, and is an extremely hot star, with a temperature of 29,500 ± 1000 K. It shines brilliantly, and is about 10,000 times more luminous than the Sun. This star also makes the Flame Nebula appear to be blazing, too. Wind and radiation from Alnitak blasts away electrons from the gas in the Flame nebula, causing it to become ionized and glow in visible light.
This gorgeous view was captured on August 11, 2013.
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Wow! What a view of Active Region 1542 on the Sun! César Cantú from the Chilidog Observatory in Monterrey, Mexico says this is “another way” of looking at the active region.
“It is an inverted image,” César said via email, which means it is essentially a negative which is then processed. “The process was done with software: Registax, PhotoshopCS5 and PixInsight,” he said.
César took this image on August 8, 2012. Note the incredible detail of the Sun’s swirling surface, the black bottomless pit of a sunspot, a tornadic-like prominence on the right and other wisps of solar material just above the surface.
He used a Meade 10 inch SC, with Coronado 90 mm and BF30 filters, along with a DMK31 camera. “The focal length is 2500 mm and correlated with the camera, approximately 210 X,” César said.
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Image caption: Active Region 1542 on August 8, 2012. Credit: César Cantú. Used by permission.
An unusual false color view of our Moon. Credit: César Cantú
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Recognize this? Yes, it is our own Moon, but using Photoshop, the photographer, César Cantú from the Chilidog Observatory in Monterrey, Mexico extracted the Moon’s colors and exaggerated them just a bit. “Although exaggerated, the color components are the real highlights,” César said, “with blue indicating a significant amount of titanium, and the orange areas with little iron or titanium. These colorful images are more easy to perform That thanks to digital cameras that detect colors — where with analog cameras, it is still impossible.”
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The Cone and Christmas Tree Nebula. Credit: {link url="http://www.astrophoto.com.mx/index.php?"}César Cantú{/link}. Click for higher resolution version.
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Astrophotographer César Cantú from the Chilidog Observatory in Monterrey, Mexico calls this image “Pulp Fiction” for its violent areas of hot, deadly gases being expelled by the young stars, solar windstorms, huge accumulations of cosmic dust. But the two features show here are actually are named after things much more peaceful in nature: The Cone Nebula and the Christmas Tree Cluster. This open cluster of stars was discovered by William Herschel in 1785 and is cataloged as NGC 2264 and lies at a distance of 2,600 light years from our solar system.
“This is an H II region located in the constellation Monoceros,” César says, “a region with much stardust. The picture shows also the Hubble Variable Nebula, like a little flash at the top right. This is a vast field reached with the telescope and focal reducer FSQ106, which gives a focal length of 385mm with great resolution. The camera used was the FLI8300, with 4:30 hours of exposure.”
Click the image for access to a higher resolution version on César’s website.
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