The nearby and fast-moving star, Barnard’s Star in Ophiuchus, captured in a wide field of view about 6° wide taking in nearby IC 4665, a large open cluster above Beta Ophiuchi, aka Cebalrai. Barnard’s Star, as discovered by EE Barnard in 1916, has a large “proper motion” across the sky of 10.4 arc seconds per year, among the largest known, in part because of its proximity of only 6 light years away, making it the closest single star to our solar system (Alpha Centauri is closer but is a multiple star system). Its rapid motion causes it to move 1/4 of a degree in a human lifetime. However, its rapid motion is also because it is plunging through the local solar neighbourhood from the galactic halo where it was born. It does not belong to our local spiral arm and is an intruder from afar. The red dwarf star also has a very low metallacity, meaning it lacks elements heavier than helium, again evidence for its place of origin and old age, as it was born before many of the heavier elements were synthesized in later generations of stars like our Sun. An inocuous looking star with a curious tale to tell! It was tough to identify the star at first because the digital (SkySafari) and print atlases (such as Millennium Star Atlas) showed the nearby stars and patterns fine, as in the photo, but not the star in question. Why? Because Barnard’s Star had moved north since the data for those atlases, even the digital ones, was compiled. They were plotting the star farther south but there was nothing at that spot on my photo. (Starry Night did seem to plot it for its current, not past position.) Even so, Barnard’s Star, while rated as magnitude 9.5, is faint (as you can see) and not an obvious sight at all in the eyepiece in a visual look earlier this night with the 105mm refractor. It did not look red visually and does not look red on the photo, unlike the mag. 6.7 star toward the centre of the frame (HD 162648) which does look quite red. I would have expected Barnard’s to be similar, being a red dwarf. But not so. It is too faint, or simply not red enough despite its temperature of 3200 K. This is a stack of 18 x 2-minute exposures with the Borg 7mm f/4 astrographic refractor and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 800. Taken August 8, 2019 from home just as and after local moonset.
Beta Cruxis, or Becrux aka Mimosa, the second brightest star in the Southern Cross, Crux. It is a blue star 280 light years away. This is a superb double star but is not resolved here. Small star clusters NGC 4852 (at left) and NGC 4755 (at below left) appear near Becrux. The latter is the famous Jewel Box Cluster. The north edge of the Coal Sack apepars at bottom. The large cluster Trumpler 20 is at right. I shot this April 3, 2016 from the Tibuc Cottage, Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia using the 77mm f/4 astrographic refractor and filter-modified Canon 5D MkII, for a stack of 4 x 6 minute exposures at ISO 1600.
The Belt and Sword region of Orion, with the Orion Nebula, Messiesr 42 and 43, at bottom. Below the left star of the Belt, Alnitak, is the famous Horsehead Nebula, while above it is NGC 2024, aka the Flame Nebula. The field is filled with faint red emission and blue reflection nebulas. The large loose open cluster Collinder 70 surrounds the middle star of the Belt, Alnilam. The field is similar to that of binoculars. This is a stack of 5 x 2.5-minute exposures with the filter-modified Canon 5D MkII at ISO 1250 and 200mm Canon L-Series lens at f/2.8. Some light haze passing through in some exposures added the natural star glows. I left those in as part of the stack to add the glows. I did not take shorter exposures to blend in for the core of the Orion Nebula. Next time! Taken with the Fornax Lightrack tracker as part of testing. Taken from home on a rare fine and mild winter night, January 4, 2019. Diffraction spikes added with Astronomy Tools. Main images stacked with Median stack mode to eliminate satellite trails from geosats that populate this area of sky.
