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~ NASA Mars Rover Perseverance SPACE LEGO set no: 42158 ~

11/26/2023

Yay! I managed to get this awesome model of the Mars Perseverance Rover and the little Ingenuity helicopter at the LEGO store at Dreamworld.

I’m so very pleased that LEGO has made this wonderful model of the Perseverance Rover to bring the excitement of looking for life on the planet Mars. The little Ingenuity helicopter is just a wonder of innovation of technology the way it was created. As of November 2023 it has now done over 55 flights…how Amazing is that!

To read more about this incredible mission to Mars please go to the NASA mission websites at: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

To get this excellent Rover LEGO model you’ll have to be quick as they usually sell out quite quickly, with this set I might just leave it in the box for now mainly because I really don’t have any more room in my house to set it up…but I’m so happy I’ve got it :-)

To read more about this set please go to the LEGO site at:
https://lego.dreamworld.com.au/products/nasa-mars-rover-perseverance

~ NASA YouTube movie on overview about the Perseverance mission to Mars ~

What has NASA's Perseverance rover accomplished since landing on the surface of Mars in February 2021? Surface Operations Mission Manager Jessica Samuels reflects on a year filled with groundbreaking discoveries at Jezero Crater and counts up the rover's achievements:

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS, NASA/JPL-Caltech

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~ Andromeda Galaxy (M31) with satellite galaxies M32 above & M110 below the Galaxy ~

11/14/2023

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Andromeda Galaxy is the most spectacular spiral galaxy in the night sky; it’s so large and bright that it can be seen even with the naked eye in a dark sky. Its distance is 2.5 million light years away and is over twice as large as our own Milky Way galaxy with a diameter of 260,000 light-years across.

You can capture M31 with any size instrument, from camera and lenses to small to middle size telescopes. But be mindful as its size projected on the sky is about 6 moon diameters, so larger aperture telescopes are not recommended if you want to capture the whole galaxy.

I took this image at my Stardust Observatory using a Meade 80mm refractor with a focal reducer and Canon 6D Mark11 full frame camera, 30x3 minute exposures with ISO2500. 20x3 minute darks and flats were also captured and stacked in DSS and processed in PS.

For more information on this amazing stellar object please go to the links below:
https://lowell.edu/views-from-mars-hill-andromeda-galaxy/
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/galaxy-next-door/

Starchart Credit: International Astronomical Union “The Constellations”
https://www.iau.org/public/themes/constellations/

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~ The Sun with sunspots AR3483 & AR3477 on 11th November 2023 ~

11/11/2023

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I was lucky to captured some pictures of the Sun before cloud rolled in late this afternoon.

Looking through the (Ha) Lunt solar telescope there were quite a lot of filaments on the surface plus some nice prominences around the limb

Through the white light refractor you could Sunspot groups AR3483 & AR3477 very clearly heading toward the western limb.

White light image taken with 80mm Skywatcher telescope fitted with a glass solar filter and Canon 700D camera, exposure time was 1/500th second and ISO200.

(Ha) image taken with 60mm Lunt solar telescope and Canon 700D camera, exposure time was 1/320th second, ISO200 for disc and 1/25th second and ISO 200 for faint prominences, images stacked in RegiStax6 and combined in PS.

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~ Silver Coin Galaxy (NGC 253) in constellation of Sculptor ~

11/2/2023

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This galaxy is known as the Silver Coin, or Sculptor Galaxy, it’s approximately 11 million light-years away and is the brightest member of the Sculptor group of galaxies.

NGC 253 was discovered by Caroline Herschel, the sister of William Herschel on the 23 September 1783 with an excellent small Newtonian telescope of 27 inches, more information at: http://www.messier.seds.org/xtra/ngc/n0253.html

Measuring 70,000 light years across, the Sculptor Galaxy is known as a starburst galaxy for its current high rate of star formation, one result of which is its superwind, a stream energetic material spewing out from the center of the galaxy out into space.

More information at:
https://www.constellation-guide.com/sculptor-galaxy-ngc-253/

Images taken at my Stardust Observatory at Leyburn in September with a Meade 80mm refractor telescope and Canon 6D Mark 11 camera, 30x 3 minute subs with darks plus flats, with ISO 2500. Images were stacked in DSS and processed in PS.

~ International Astronomical Union (IAU) constellations ~
https://www.iau.org/public/themes/constellations/

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~ NASA Mars Rover Perseverance SPACE LEGO set no: 42158 ~

~ Andromeda Galaxy (M31) with satellite galaxies M32 above & M110 below the Galaxy ~

~ The Sun with sunspots AR3483 & AR3477 on 11th November 2023 ~

~ Silver Coin Galaxy (NGC 253) in constellation of Sculptor ~

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