Christian Vocks
Physicist, solar radio astronomy and space plasma theory & simulation, from Lingen in NW Germany, interests in astrophotography, sci-fi, running.
- The "Jellyfish Nebula" IC443 in Gemini from 8 March 2025. 73 exposures of 60 s in Halpha, 53 in OIII, and 60 in SII, plus about 15 of 30 s each in R, G, B. I have applied some unsharp masking to enhance the filamentary structures. As always, Celestron C8 with f/6.3 reducer and ZWO ASI 294MM Pro.
- My next object from last year, the globular cluster NGC2419 in Gemini, also known as "Intergalactic Wanderer" for its large distance form our Milky Way galaxy. About 66 exposures of 30 s each in R, G, and B. To sharpen the image, I have implemented as simple version of the CLEAN algorithm.
- I've prepared a time-lapse video of my aurora pictures from Monday, 19 January 2026 in Potsdam. The view is in northern direction. The video covers 20 minutes around 11 pm CET (22:00 UT). 200 individual frames of 4 s with Nikon D5600, ISO 1250, and Tamron 16-300 mm at 16 mm.
- Open clusters M35 and NGC2158 in Gemini, from 3 March 2025. 59 exposures of 30 s in R, 57 in G, and 51 in L. I'm still working on my backlog from last year...
- Saturn on 6 November 2025. Earth is now near Saturn's ring plane, we see the edge of the ring system and the shadow of the rings on the planet. Just left of Saturn the moon Titan is visible.
- A single image looks like this. One can see the constellations Corona Borealis, Bootes, Canes Venatici, the rear part of Ursa Major, and faintly also the comet.
- Comet C2025 A6 Lemmon, observed on 18 October 2025 from the water tower in Beelitz near Potsdam. I've stacked 20 exposures of 13 s with Nikon D5600 and Tamron 16-300 mm at 22 mm, ISO1600, and f/3.5, on a tripod without tracking.
- My next object from last winter, the Flaming Star Nebula IC405 in Auriga from 23 February 2025. The bright star is AE Aurigae. 78 exposures of 60 s in L, plus 14 in R, 20 in G, 22 in B, plus 52 in H alpha since the object is a combined reflection and emission nebula.
- Finished the Berlin Marathon in 4:49:33 h! That was pretty slow, 37 min more than last year. But the weather conditions were challenging, high temperatures around 25°C and a lot of Sun, plus high humidity.
- Getting ready for tomorrow!
- Some frames are a bit blurred, probably due to vibrations of the tower. At the end of the partial phase of the eclipse the penumbral eclipse is still going on: A partial solar eclipse as seen from the moon, and more of the Sun is blocked in the western (right) side of the moon, which appears darker.
- Time-lapse video of the lunar eclipse from 7 September 2025, observed from the old water tower in Beelitz south of Potsdam. Nikon D5600 with Tamron 16-300 mm, mostly 0.5s with ISO2000. I used a tripod without guiding, so I had to write a python script to center the moon, even in bright twilight sky.
- Reposted by Christian VocksThe #sun hurls electrons out into space almost as fast as light. A team from the AIP has used the @esa.int #SolarOrbiter mission to track their precise origins for the first time and create a comprehensive catalogue of high-energy electron events. 🛰️📊👩💻 www.aip.de/de/news/sola...
