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Sunday, November 28, 2010

Jones 1, an extreme dim planetary Nebula, project finalized






Jones1
Natural color composition from the emission of ionized elements, R=80%Hydrogen, G=100%Oxygen and B=85%Oxygen+15%Hydrogen to compensate otherwise missing H-beta emission. This composition is very close to a visual spectrum.

PK 104-29.1, Jones1, a Planetary Nebula in constellation Pegasus.
O-III emission dominates the scene, hence the Bluish color. There is some faint H-alpha emission in a nebula and very dim "blob" of Hydrogen alpha emission just under the nebula.  There was no trace of S-II emission.
North is Up and East is Left.
A very hot Central star can be seen as Blue at the center of the Nebula. (Middle one of the Three stars)

I must say, this was the most difficult target ever, due the extremely low surface brightness. I did use my "Tone Mapping" method to dig out all the information. This is one of the dimmest Planetary Nebulae.
There is very few images and information of this nebula around.


Technical details:

Processing work flow:
Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack.
Levels, curves and color combine in PS CS3.

Telescope, Meade LX200 GPS 12" @ f5
Camera, QHY9 Guiding, SXV-AO @ 3Hz
Image Scale, 0,75 arcseconds/pixel
Exposures 

H-alpha 9x1200s, binned 1x1 
H-alpha 6x1200s, binned 3x3
O-III 16x1200s, binned 1x1
O-III 6x1200s, binned 3x3

Sh2-188, project finalized




New lights added. 12x600s Luminance data with an IDAS LP filter.
The resulting image shows more stars due the broadband component. L + H-a + O-III + S-II are composed to a Luminance channel.



Sharpless object 188
Natural color composition from the emission of ionized elements, R=80%Hydrogen+20%Sulfur, G=100%Oxygen and B=85%Oxygen+15%Hydrogen to compensate otherwise missing H-beta emission. This composition is very close to a visual spectrum.

Sh2-188, PNG128.0-4.1, in constellation Cassiopeia. An asymmetrical planetary nebula was first photographed in 1965, it thought to be a Supernova remnant due its crescent like shape, now it's known to be a Planetary Nebula. Distance from Oulu, Finland, is ~850 light years. Apparent diameter is ~5 arcmin.


There is not too many images of this Planetary Nebula around. I made a HST-palette composition out of ionized elements, H-a, O-III and S-II, I haven't never seen this one presented like that!
I used a special technique of mine to dig out all the information, this is a extremely dim target.



Sh2-188 in HST-palette, (HST=Hubble Space Telescope)
from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.

Technical details:

Processing work flow:
Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack.
Levels, curves and color combine in PS CS3.

Telescope, Meade LX200 GPS 12" @ f5
Camera, QHY9 Guiding, SXV-AO @ 3Hz
Image Scale, 0,75 arcseconds/pixel
Exposures 
Luminance 12x600s, binned 2x2
H-alpha 7x1200s, binned 1x1 
H-alpha 6x1200s, binned 3x3
O-III 3x1200s, binned 3x3
S-II 3x1200s, binned 3x3

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Sh2-188, a Planetary Nebula





Sharpless object 188
Natural color composition from the emission of ionized elements, R=80%Hydrogen+20%Sulfur, G=100%Oxygen and B=85%Oxygen+15%Hydrogen to compensate otherwise missing H-beta emission. This composition is very close to a visual spectrum.

Sh2-188, PNG128.0-4.1, in constellation Cassiopeia. An asymmetrical planetary nebula was first photographed in 1965, it thought to be a Supernova remnant due its crescent like shape, now it's known to be  a Planetary Nebula.  Distance from Oulu, Finland, is ~850 light years. Apparent diameter is ~5 arcmin.

There is not too many images of this Planetary Nebula around. I made a HST-palette composition out of ionized elements, H-a, O-III and S-II, I haven't never seen this one presented like that!
I used a special technique of mine to dig out all the information from the raw data, this is a extremely dim target. I might shoot more lights for this in future.


Sh2-188 in HST-palette, (HST=Hubble Space Telescope)
from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.


Technical details:

Processing work flow:
Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack.
Levels, curves and color combine in PS CS3.

Telescope, Meade LX200 GPS 12" @ f5
Camera, QHY9 Guiding, SXV-AO @ 3Hz
Image Scale, 0,75 arcseconds/pixel
Exposures H-alpha 7x1200s, binned 1x1 + 6x1200s, binned 3x3
O-III 3x1200s, binned 3x3
S-II 3x1200s, binned 3x3

Friday, November 26, 2010

A new project, Jones 1 planetary nebula





Jones1, colorized O-III, 5h 20min.

Jones 1, PK104-29.1,  is a one of the dimmest planetary nebula. It locates in constellation Pegasus.
I started this project last night and didn't realize how dim this really is. In this image there is 16x1200s O-III exposures, 5h 20min. ( Baader 8,5 nm O-III filter) and it was barely visible in any of the subexposures. 
I will shoot more O-III later  for this. There is some H-alpha emission and I will shoot that later too.

I like the "mystique" outlook of this nebula. 
There is not too many images of this around due the extremely low surface brightness, even though it has a largish diameter to a planetary nebula, about Four arcminutes.

Technical details:

Processing work flow:
Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack.
Levels, curves and color combine in PS CS3.

Telescope, Meade LX200 GPS 12" @ f5
Camera, QHY9 Guiding, SXV-AO @ 3,5Hz
Image Scale, 0,75 arcseconds/pixel
O-III 16x1200s, binned 1x1, 5h 20min.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

M 76, the "Little Dumbbell Nebula"






Natural color composition from the emission of ionized elements, R=80%Hydrogen+20%Sulfur, G=100%Oxygen and B=85%Oxygen+15%Hydrogen to compensate otherwise missing H-beta emission. This composition is very close to a visual spectrum.

The "Little Dumbbell", Messier catalog number 76, also known as NGC 650/651, the "Barbell Nebula or the "Cork Nebula". This bipolar planetary nebula locates in constellation Perseus.
Distance is about 2500 light years and average dimension is 1.23 light years across.
Smallish apparent dimensions, 2,7 x 1,8 arcmin, makes this target difficult to image. 




M 76 in HST-palette, (HST=Hubble Space Telescope)
from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.

A closeup





Technical details:

Processing work flow:
Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack.
Deconvolution with a CCDSharp, 30 iterations.
Levels, curves and color combine in PS CS3.

Telescope, Meade LX200 GPS 12" @ f5
Camera, QHY9 Guiding, SXV-AO @ 3,5Hz
Image Scale, 0,75 arcseconds/pixel
Exposures H-alpha 12x1200s, binned 1x1
O-III 7x1200s, binned 1x1
S-II 2x1200s, binned 2x2







Thursday, November 4, 2010

IC 63 as an animated 3D





Animations are made by creating artificial parallax to an image. Then two images are animated together by using conversion web service, Start3D. There can be some artifacts in images, due the experimental nature of this work! The volumetric models are based on some known facts and an artistic impression.

Please, let the images load for few seconds to see them animated!



Other 3D-formats:


Original 2D-image with the technical details:



NOTE! This is a personal vision about forms and shapes, based on some known facts and an artistic impression.

IC 63 as a stereo pair 3D





Parallel vision



Cross vision

Other 3D-formats:

Original 2D-image with the technical details:




NOTE! This 3D-study is a personal vision about forms and shapes, based on some known facts and an artistic impression. Viewing instructions at Right hand side menu.


IC 63 as an anaglyph Red/Cyan 3D




You'll need Red/Cyan Eyeglasses to be able to see this image right.
Note, if you have a Red and Blue filters, you can use them! Red goes to Left eye.



Other 3D-formats:

Original 2D-image with the technical details:



NOTE! This is a personal vision about forms and shapes, based on some known facts and an artistic impression.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

IC 63, a ghostly figure


A nebula in a Halloween theme... 


IC 63, an emission nebula in constellation Cassiopeia.
Natural color composition from the emission of ionized elements, R=80%Hydrogen+20%Sulfur, G=100%Oxygen and B=85%Oxygen+15%Hydrogen to compensate otherwise missing H-beta emission. This composition is very close to a visual spectrum.

IC 63 is a combination of emission and reflection nebulae. Since this is a narrow band image, reflection component is not get captured due the broad band nature of it. Instead there is an ionized Oxygen, O-III, in this image and it can be seen as a Blue.
Nebula is next to the Gamma Cassiopeiae, a bright, mag. 2.47, star in middle of the "W" asterism.
This star is just outside of the frame. It's above upper Right corner, some glow from it can be seen in an image.

Since there is only Two hours of H-a, I'll shoot more lights for this in near future.



IC 63 in HST-palette, (HST=Hubble Space Telescope)
from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.
There was almost no emission in S-II channel.

Technical details:

Processing work flow:
Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack.
Levels, curves and color combine in PS CS3.

Telescope, Meade LX200 GPS 12" @ f5
Camera, QHY9 Guiding, SXV-AO @ 8,5Hz
Image Scale, 0,75 arcseconds/pixel
Exposures H-alpha 6x1200s, binned 1x1
O-III 1x1200s, binned 3x3
S-II 2z1200s, binned 3x3

An experimental starless image to show the actual nebula

Looks like an open mouth man with a frozen nose...