Bode's galaxy M81, 2026 edition bit.ly/4lB3t68 📷#astrophotography🔭📷

More night sky from my trip with @dorobaer and Bavarian science minister @markusblume75 to @esoastronomy Paranal Observatory. The only clouds over Paranal are the Magellanic Clouds. Only had 20 min before the Moon came out. bit.ly/4lB3t68 📷#astrophotography 🔭📷

Had the pleasure and privilege to accompany science minister @dorobaer.bsky.social and delegation to @eso.org Paranal Observatory. Good time to take a shot of Orion and surroundings, though I only had 1 hour before the near full moon came out ... bit.ly/4lB3t68 📷#astrophotography 🔭📷

Yep, for another object of the Maffei group, the hidden galaxy IC342, I showed that effect by dereddening the absorption https://app.astrobin.com/i/qe6m2a

Lensed QSOs are of increasing interest as they provide an independent method to measure the Hubble's constant and thus may eventually help explaining the tension between local measurements (based on Cepheids etc) and thus derived from the Cosmic Microwave Background.

QSO 0957+561 is located at a redshift of about 1.41, i.e. 8.7 billion light-years away - quite a deep peek from my backyard …!

About 10 arcmin north of NGC3079 (at about 1 o'clock see also annotated image revision B on astrobin) is the famous Twin Quasar QSO 0957+561, aka PGC 2518326, the first gravitationally lensed QSO discovered in 1979.

NGC 3079 is a close to edge-on barred spiral galaxy in the constellation of Ursa Major. Its distance is about 50 Million light-years. According to SIMBAD it is a Seyfert II galaxy, ie it exhibits nuclear activity.
bit.ly/4lB3t68 🔭#astrophotography 🔭📷
36 Sek.

Maffei 1, the closest giant elliptical would also be among the 10 brightest galaxies on the sky, but it is absorbed by almost 5mag of dust.

The best known member, IC342 - the hidden galaxy - would be visible by the naked eye, but substantial extinction by the Milky Way (the so-called zone of avoidance) make it to a rather faint object.

I have to admit I am quite intrigued by the Maffei Group. At a distance of only 10 Mpc, it is the galaxy group closest to the Local group. Yet, many of its members were only discovered some 50 years ago in infrared exposure.

My attempt on Maffei 2 - a pretty sizeable disk galaxy, but hidden behind the Galactic dust curtain - so only very few images can be found on astrobin. I had to stretch it rather aggressively to get the faint structure show up prominently. bit.ly/4lB3t68 🔭#astrophotography 🔭📷

https://www3.nasa.gov/send-your-name-with-artemis/

NGC 2681 is a lenticular galaxy in Ursa Major, presenting a bright nucleus embedded within a smooth, softly fading disk. Closer inspection reveals subtle structure in its inner regions, where traces of dust and faint stellar features hint at a more dynamic past. bit.ly/4lB3t68 🔭#astrophotography 🔭📷

Together with the disk galaxy Maffei-2 and the “hidden galaxy” IC342, Maffei-1 form the so called Maffei Group, one of the closed galaxy groups to the Milky Way with all its members sharing the same fate of being heavily obscured by the Milky Way and its dust.

Maffei-1 is the closest giant Elliptical to the Milky Way with a distance ~4Mpc. With a clear line of sight, Maffei-1 would be one of the brightest galaxies on the night sky. However, Maffei 1 suffers from almost 5 mag of extinction making it a hidden marvel. bit.ly/4lB3t68 🔭#astrophotography 🔭📷

🌈 Polarlichter über Potsdam – Letzte Nacht löste eine starke Sonneneruption Polarlichter über Potsdam aus. ☀️ 🌌Dieses Naturschauspiel entsteht, wenn energiereiche Teilchen der Sonne mit dem Erdmagnetfeld und der Atmosphäre in Wechselwirkung treten. 🔭 #polarlichter #auroraboreal #potsdam

Interesting trivia: NGC2419 would be the brightest and best visible Globular Cluster for an observer in Andromeda who takes a more detailed look at the Milky Way bit.ly/4lB3t68 🔭#astrophotography 🔭📷

The Globular Cluster NGC 2419 also runs under the name “intergalactic wanderer” as its 3 billion year orbit around the Milky Way takes it to distances from the Galactic center more remote than the Magellanic Clouds, so indeed a wanderer between the worlds. bit.ly/4lB3t68 🔭#astrophotography 🔭📷

I finished a nice year of astrophotography with another @astrobin_com debut - the apparent galaxy pair UGC 3574 and UGC 3569. bit.ly/4lB3t68 🔭#astrophotography 🔭📷

Arp 206 a.k.a. NGC3432 is an edge-on SBm galaxy which is interacting with UGC 5983, a nearby dwarf galaxy. bit.ly/4lB3t68 🔭#astrophotography

Rechts oben in der Ecke steht in einer weißen Blase "tonspur Wissen“. Am rechten Bildrand ist ein Foto von Matthias Steinmetz zu sehen. Er ist Direktor des Leibniz-Instituts für Astrophysik Potsdam. Das Bild der Person ist schwarz-weiß eingefärbt, um die Konturen der Person beschnitten und zusätzlich weiß umrandet. In einer großen weißen Blase, die mittig-links im Bild platziert ist, steht: "4MOST - Ein neuer Blick ins All. Matthias Steinmetz. Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam ". Der Bildhintergrund ist ein blau-grün eingefärbtes Foto eines Blick ins Weltall mit einer Spiralgalaxie und einem Messkurve.

4MOST - Ein neuer Blick ins All.
Matthias Steinmetz ( @galacticrave.bsky.social ) von @aippotsdam.bsky.social & @unipotsdam.bsky.social zu Gast bei #TonspurWissen, dem #Podcast von @leibniz-gemeinschaft.de & Rheinischer Post.
👁️🔭🌟 pod.fo/e/364503
#Astrophysik #Astronomie #4MOST @4most-eu.bsky.social

Falsche Hubble-Konstante? • Zwei Werte der Kosmologie für ein Universum | Matthias Steinmetz YouTube video by Urknall, Weltall und das Leben

🌌 Das Universum – unendliche Weiten. Wie schnell es sich ausdehnt, beschreibt die Hubble-Konstante, doch ihr genauer Wert ist umstritten. 💫 Mehr dazu im Vortrag von @galacticrave.bsky.social aus der Reihe der virtuellen #BabelsbergerSternnenächte ✨. Jetzt reinschauen: youtu.be/0wfPdhJWMTM

Arp 283 is a pair of interacting galaxies (consisting of NGC 2798 & 2799). The yellow/blue color contrast is nicely mirrored by two (neighboring bright stars rounding off this ensemble quite appealingly. bit.ly/4lB3t68 🔭#astrophotography

The colorful galaxy pair NGC1160/NGC1161 bit.ly/4lB3t68 🔭#astrophotography

UGC12632 with Galactic cirrus - for friends of obscure and obscured galaxies bit.ly/4lB3t68 🔭#astrophotography

ESO Director General Xavier Barcons (left) and Piero Benvenuti (right), IAU CPS Director, shake hands after signing an agreement. Posters of ESO and the International Astronomy Union’s Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky are visible behind them.

We are continuing to expand our efforts to protect the night skies.

ESO signed an agreement with the IAU's Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky to become a contributing partner.
https://www.eso.org/public/announcements/ann25010/

🔭 🧪
📷 A. Daniels (SKAO)

Stephan's Quintett bit.ly/4lB3t68 🔭#astrophotography🔭📷

NGC891 bit.ly/4lB3t68 🔭#astrophotography🔭📷

Whirlpool Galaxy M51 bit.ly/4lB3t68 🔭#astrophotography🔭📷