Adam's Latest View of the Universe:
M11: Concentric Contemplation

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released 8/19/2015

Previous Release
 M11 with Star Circles.             Just Star Circles      The Video!    
The intersection of art and science springs from imaginative curiosity. What happens if the camera is rotating at the back of the telescope while capturing a picture of a beautiful star cluster? Each star will trace a circle around the field- literal deep space star trails! By painting star light circularly, the colors of stars are much easier to discern. In addition, many stars are at the same radial distance from the center and as the camera turns their light is mixed producing wonderful hues of a stellar rainbow. The spacing of the circles also clearly shows the density of the stars and how quickly that increases towards the center of the cluster. 
Larger Version of M11 with Star Circles
Go to the SkyCenter Gallery
  • Optics                                         32-inch Schulman Telescope (RCOS)
  • Camera                                       SBIG STX16803 CCD Camera 
  • Filters                                          Astrodon Gen II
  • Date                                            August 18th 2015
  • Location                                      Mount Lemmon SkyCenter
  • Exposure                                     RGB = 300 : 300 : 300   seconds 
  • Acquisition                                  Astronomer Control Panel (ACP),  Maxim DL/CCD (Cyanogen), FlatMan XL (Alnitak)
  • Processing                                  CCDStack, Photoshop CC, PixInsight
  • Credit Line & Copyright           Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona
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