Micro-observatory Image 4.8

This Micro-Observatory image is of the Crab Nebula (Messier 1). You are not able to see the distinctive filaments of the object, but you can make-out it's prolate spheroid shape. The Crab Nebula eminates more blues and greens in the visible spectra, so those are the colors that dominate the image. All I did in terms of processing it are automatically adjusting all three parts of the image via log and reducing the noise of them. In the lower right corner of the image you can still see some noise so there may have been a cloud there at the time the pictures were taken.

Micro-observatory Image 4.7

This Micro-Observatory image is of the sun. All I did to is was sharpen it so you can see a clearer outline of the sunspots on the photosphere.

APOD 4.4

This brilliant image of the Milky Way Galaxy was taken March 27th by the European Southern Observatory's Paranal Observatory in Chile's Atacama Desert. The clear, dry sky of the area provides optimal conditions for observations. At the top of the image you can see a very bright moon paired with the "morning star," Venus. In the plane of the galaxy you can see the bulge, halo, arms, and the very distinct dust clouds. I selected this APOD, not only because of it's magnificence, but also because we are currently studying galaxies.

APOD 4.3

This APOD was taken on April 3rd when Mars was near opposition. This means when Mars was opposite the Sun in the sky. At this time it appears to be very bright and is at the best time to be viewed by telescopes from Earth. On the Martian planet you can see the north polar ice cap and the clouds of water vapor forming around it's towering mountains and volcanoes. For a picture of Mars at opposition, but seen from the naked eye, look at the post "APOD 4.2."

Micro-observatory Image 4.6

As you can tell, this is the Moon. The picture was taken by the Micro-observatory telescopes on the 17th of April during its waning gibbous phase. The only thing I did to it was sharpen it so you can see more definition of the lunar surface.

Micro-observatory Image 4.5

This processed image is of Messier 8 (the Lagoon Nebula). I was able to get very clear red, green, and blue images so a stacked them to produce this single picture. A good amount of shifting had to be done as you can see at the bottom of the image where the green is. I did not reduce the noise or sharpen it so it is minimally processed. This emission nebula can be found in the constellation Sagittarius and is one of only two star-forming nebulae visible to the naked eye. The other is Messier 42 (the Orion Nebula).

Micro-observatory Image 4.4

This is a processed image of Messier 13 (the Hercules Cluster). On the Observing With NASA site, you could not request a color image so there was not much to be done with it. What I did do however is reduce the noise, sharpen it, and change the color way to "fire." You can find this object in the constellation Hercules. It composed of nearly 200 galaxies and is about 500 million light-years from the Earth.