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Wednesday, March 11, 2015

A start of the new imaging project, NGC 2174, the "Monkey Head Nebula"



At March 9 I managed to exposure about four hours of  H-alpha light for NGC 2147.
I'll shoot more exposures for this soon to have more signal and colors.

There seems to be some rarely imaged faint looped shapes at bottom of the object, I haven't seen them before.


NGC 2174, the Monkey Head Nebula in Orion

NGC 2174 in light of an ionized hydrogen only


A starless version

I haven't noticed the extended area of gas at bottom of the photo. There seems to be some very faint loop like gas filaments, I'll shoot more exposures for H-alpha soon to have a better signal for them.


An inverted image to show the bottom filaments better




Monday, March 9, 2015

The heart of the Heart nebula, melotte 15


A new photo from the night of  20. February and 6, March, Melotte 15 in the IC 1805, the Heart nebula.


Melotte 15
Click for a large image

Image is in mapped colors from an emission of  the ionized elements. Golden areas 
are from emission of sulfur and hydrogen, bluish hues are from ionized oxygen.


A closeup
Click for a large image



A closer closeup
Click for a large image



And even closer



INFO

The open cluster centered in this image is known as Melotte 15 . Melotte 15 is embedded within a central portion of the much larger glowing nebula identified as IC 1805. 

The interesting structure in the image is a giant area of  ionized hydrogen, it's caused to glow by the intense ultraviolet radiation from the massive stars of the Melotte 15 star cluster.
Dust and gas clouds are twisted by the pressure of the intense radiation, the solar wind.
This formation is estimated to be 7,500 light years away from Earth, North is up.


An experimental starless image 
Click for a large image

This experimental starless photo shows the object in light of an ionized hydrogen alone.


Image in visual colors

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.


Orientation in an older wide field image of the area

The Heart and Soul nebulae, IC 1848 and 1805, in constellation Cassiopeia. Area of interest is marked as a white rectangle.


Technical details

Processing workflow
Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack2.
Deconvolution with a CCDStack2 Positive Constraint, 27 iterations, added at 50% weight
Color combine in PS CS3
Levels and curves in PS CS3.

Imaging optics
Celestron Edge HD 1100 @ f7 with 0,7 focal reducer for Edge HD 1100 telescope

Cameras and filters
Imaging camera Apogee Alta U16 and Apogee seven slot filter wheel
Guider camera, Lodestar x2


Astrodon filter, 5nm H-alpha

Exposure times
H-alpha, 12 x 1200s = 4h
O-III and S-II channels are from an older wide field photo of this area.

A single un cropped, calibrated and stretched 20 min. H-alpha frame as it comes from the camera






Sunday, March 8, 2015

IC 417, the "Spider Nebula"


My latest photo from March 6, IC 417, an emission nebula in Auriga.

IC 417
Click for a large photo

Image is in mapped colors from an emission of  the ionized elements. Golden areas 
are from emission of sulfur and hydrogen, bluish hues are from ionized oxygen.


A closeup
Click for a large photo



INFO

The cosmic spyder, IC 417, locates in constellation Auriga at a distance of about 10 000 light years.
A cluster of young stars around IC 417 makes elements in the gas glow and the stellar wind shapes the gas in various forms. 


Image in visual spectrum


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.


An experimental starless image

There is an interesting  looking round formation at one o'clock position upper right.
Looks like a crater in a gas. It doesn't seem to be a planetary nebula since there is no O-III emission visible.

Image in H-alpha light alone



Orientation in an older wide field photo



Technical details

Processing work flow

Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack2.
Deconvolution with a CCDStack2 Positive Constraint, 33 iterations, added at 50% weight
Color combine in PS CS3
Levels and curves in PS CS3.

Imaging optics
Celestron Edge HD 1100 @ f7 with 0,7 focal reducer for Edge HD 1100 telescope

Cameras and filters
Imaging camera Apogee Alta U16 and Apogee seven slot filter wheel
Guider camera, Lodestar x2


Astrodon filter, 5nm H-alpha
Astrodon filter, 3nm O-III
Astrodon filter, 3nm S-II

Exposure times
H-alpha, 12 x 1200s = 4h
O-III, 4 x 1200s = 1h 20 min.
S-II, 5x1200s = 1h 40 min.
Total 7h

A single un cropped, calibrated and stretched 20 min. H-alpha frame as it comes from the camera



Thursday, March 5, 2015

IC 410 "tadpoles", a detail form a large photo


I reprocessed the photo of IC 410, I think the colors turned out better this time and overall detail level is better.

Tadpoles
A detail from IC 410 emission nebula, click for a large image.


The whole photo of IC 410, with a technical details, can be found HERE