Instagram story viewer> @americanchimera> Posts

Charles Keller

@americanchimera

682

followers

833

following

Personal property appraiser, auction curator, historian, amateur astronomer, KF0COM

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Delicious special delivery from @seeingredpeppers yesterday! Yum!!! taken in Lees Summit, Missouri by @americanchimera

4

0

2 days ago

Let the bloodshed begin... taken in Kansas City Mavericks by @americanchimera

3

1

3 days ago

I had a great weekend collecting ancient photons, and I finished off one of my Arp galaxy project targets, Arp 229/NGC 507 in Pisces. The thing about this one is that its immediate field includes over 20 other galaxies (many imaged here), making it the richest group in the constellation. While Arp 229 is a sort of boring lenticular fuzzball - the one toward the lower-right corner- the wider field includes several others showing beautiful structure. There's more in the original image, but I cropped this down to focus on some of the best. IG/FB will ruin some of the resolution, but what can ya do?

Celestron EdgeHD8 f/10 SCT
ZWO2600MC Pro
ZWO174MM w/Celestron OAG
Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro
ASIAir Pro
257x 60-sec subs; flats, darks, bias; no filters
Siril + RC Astro Suite, Seti Astro, Lightroom by @americanchimera

6

0

7 days ago

Into the Zone of Avoidance...

My fascination with imaging the most unusual galaxies has led me to realize there are a number of these 'island universes,' to use the old fashioned term, that had never been seen until the last 60 years. This special group are generally normal galaxies, but they lie in the so-called Zone of Avoidance, the plane of our Milky Way where about 20% of our extra-galactic sky is heavily attenuated or obscured by intervening stars, gas and dust. It is just possible to image these galaxies in visible light, which I am doing to the limits of my rig. It's like straining to see the house across the street during a massive foggy blizzard.

As I image and share more of these in the future, they won't have the immediate pop and eye catching detail or color of others I've imaged, but when you stop to think that we're the first generations to even know of their existence, we should feel awe.

Professional work on these is done through infrared surveys, since the intervening gas and dust is essentially invisible at those wavelengths. Hydrogen Line radio astronomy, such as I also do at a rudimentary level, has also been used to survey the Zone of Avoidance and turned up many galaxies that couldn't even be detected in the infrared. Two were discovered as recently as 1994 and 1996. Other surveys have revealed the Vela Supercluster of galaxies, which lies in the location of the long-theorized Great Attractor, i.e. the massive gravitational anomaly at the center of the Laniakea Supercluster.

What a time to be alive and aware.

Galaxies in the Zone of Avoidance:
IC 342 (From the Maffei I Group) Spiral Galaxy in Camelopardalis (IMAGED HERE)
SH 2-197 (Maffei II) Intermediate Spiral Galaxy in Cassiopeia

Ongoing Arp Galaxy projects:
Arp 229 (NGC 507) Galaxy Cluster in Pisces
Arp 30 (NGC 6365A & 6365B) Pair of Interacting Galaxies in Draco
Arp 157 (NGC 520) Pair of Colliding Spiral Galaxies Pisces
Arp 319 (NGC 7317, Hickson Compact Group 92) Stephan's Quintet in Pegasus

Celestron EdgeHD8 f/10 SCT
ZWO2600MC Pro
ZWO174MM w/Celestron OAG
Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro
ASIAir Pro
113x 60-sec subs; flats, darks, bias; no filters
Siril + RC Astro Suite, Lightroom taken in Lee's Summit, Missouri by @americanchimera

8

1

13 days ago

After a couple weeks of intrusive moonlight and cloudy nights, we have several clear nights on tap. Was out last night, grabbing more photons from Arp 157/NGC 520 (two colliding spiral galaxies, 100 million light-years from my backyard), when I noticed a couple of subs caught an interloper. I traced it to a Soviet-era spy satellite, Cosmos 2058, launched in January 1990. It was a spy satellite that tracked radio communications. Dead now, it tumbles endlessly around Earth, making that rhythmic flare pattern in long exposures like this. It'll be processed out in my final image of this cosmic collision, also known as the Flying Ghost. taken in Lees Summit, Missouri by @americanchimera

13

1

16 days ago

The Sealook connection with dogs does seem to be real. We tried it on Ahsoka tonight and she was wayyy into it. Took several vids, but this one was my favorite.

#sealook #netflix taken in Lees Summit, Missouri by @americanchimera

10

1

a month ago

This phase and these clouds mean no deep sky work for me, but this is still an awesome shot. IYKYK... taken in Lees Summit, Missouri by @americanchimera

11

0

a month ago

Last week, I picked five Arp galaxies in the autumn sky to spend the next few months imaging. Arp galaxies are 'peculiar' galaxies, based on a catalog produced by Halton Arp in 1966. These galaxies have characteristic tidal tails, bridges, shells, split arms, or asymmetries caused by gravitational disturbances, such as a collision with another galaxy. To me, they're some of the most beautiful objects in the universe.

Last night/this morning was my first run at four of the five. I was most excited to grab some photons from this one, Arp 157 (NGC 520). It's a pair of spiral galaxies in the middle stage of collision as they merge into a single system. It's about 100 million light-years from my backyard and beyond the stars of Pisces. I have a short window with this one because of neighboring trees, but I think it's a stunner. Not bad for just 48 minutes. More to come.

Celestron EdgeHD8 f/10 SCT with OAG
ZWO 2600MC Pro
ZWO174MM
Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro
ASIAir Pro
48x 60-sec, plus flats, darks, bias; no filters
Siril + RCAstro Suite, Lightroom by @americanchimera

12

0

a month ago

Stephan's Quintet, Arp 319 (upper right); and the Deer Lick Group (lower left), anchored by NGC 7331, in Pegasus.

I think this concludes shooting these beautiful targets together. There's more detail to pull out of Stephan's Quintet, the group to the upper right, so I will recalibrate to those as I wait for a few other tasty targets in Cetus to come into better view over the next couple of months. I'm a bit obsessed with Arp galaxies, ones with tidal tails, bridges, shells, split arms, and asymmetries caused by gravitational disturbances and that were cataloged by Halton Arp in 1966.
Celestron EdgeHD8 + OAG
ZWO2600MC Pro, ZWO174MM guide
Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro
ASIAir Pro
247x 60-sec subs with flats, darks, biases
Siril + RC Astro Suite taken in Lees Summit, Missouri by @americanchimera

2

0

a month ago

Ahsoka won her NADAC Novice Jumpers title today, and then posed like Ozzy to celebrate. My little girl now has four titles. 🥰 taken in Kansas City Soccer Dome by @americanchimera

7

0

a month ago

Here's a cropped version of the earlier image/data that shows supernova 2026aaiv along with better galaxy core detail than the other night. More photons helps. 😊 taken in Lee's Summit, Missouri by @americanchimera

4

0

a month ago

Tried to keep collecting photons of this view last night, but high cirrus clouds wouldn't allow. But I added Friday night's to Wednesday's start.

Arp 319 (Stephan's Quintet) upper right, Deer Lick Group (dominated by NGC 7331) lower left,
Pegasus region, original image centered on RA 22h 37m 36s, Dec 34° 20' 44"
Celestron EdgeHD8 f/10 SCT with OAG
ZWO2600MC Pro
ZWO174MM
Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro
ASIAir Pro
179x 60-sec, plus flats, darks, bias; no filters
Siril + RC Astro Suite, Lightroom 179 minutes on two galaxy clusters, Stephan's Quintet and the Deer Lick Group, in Pegasus. taken in Lees Summit, Missouri by @americanchimera

5

0

a month ago