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Monday, January 31, 2011

The "Cone Nebula" as a Stereo Pair 3D study




Parallel vision 3D



Cross vision 3D

Original 2D:


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

The "Cone nebula" 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.




A closeup


Original 2D:




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


Sunday, January 30, 2011

Two ways to end a life, A planetary nebula and a supernova remnant





Since my processing technique gets better and weather doesn't give any support, I have reprocessed some older images. There is now star colors added and other processing is tweaked too.

Sh2-221, 216, 217 and 219
in constellation Auriga




Image is in HST-palette, (HST=Hubble Space Telescope)
from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.
Star colors are mixed from the NB channels, Red=H-a, G=O-III and B= 85%O-III + 15%H-a.

Note. Looks like that there is an outer shell in the Sh2-216 planetary nebula at a right hand side of the image
It's visible only in ionized sulfur channel, I never seen it before in any image. It can be seen as a red color in HST-palette image above. It's most visible at twelve and six a clock position above and belove the main body of the nebula.

In this rare image, two Stars has ended they lifes. Right one is an old, very dim and large, Planetary Nebula and the Left one is an extremely dim Supernova remnant. The North is Up and the field of view is about 5,5 degrees horizontal.
I have seen very few images of eather of them, and never seen them as a three colour narrow band.
Objects in the image are from the Sharples Catalog. Left one is Sh2-221 and the Right one Sh2-216.
There are other smaler Sh2-objects too in a same field, Sh2-217 and Sh2-219, they are all located in constellation Auriga.

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.


Image is shot with a QHY9, Baader narrowband filter set and the Canon EF 200mm F1.8 lens @ f1.8.
Original versions from March 2009, with technical details:

Friday, January 28, 2011

IC 5070 (IC 5067) The "Pelican Nebula" reprocessed





Since my processing technique gets better and weather doesn't give any support, I have reprocessed some older images. There is now star colors added and other processing is tweaked too.

The "Pelican Nebula"
Ra  20h 50m 48 Dec +44° 20′ 60"



Image is in HST-palette, (HST=Hubble Space Telescope)
from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.
Star colors are mixed from the NB channels, Red=H-a, G=O-III and B= 85%O-III + 15%H-a.

The Pelican Nebula (also known as IC5070 and IC5067) is an Hydrogen emission region associated with the North America Nebula in the constellation Cygnus. The nebula resembles a pelican in shape, hence the name. The Pelican Nebula is , close to Deneb, and divided from its brighter, larger neighbor, the North America Nebula, by a molecular cloud filled with dark dust. Distance is about 1800 light years


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.

A closeup


Image is shot with a QHY9 and the Meade LX200 GPS 12" @ f5, pixel scale 0.75pixels/arc second.
Original versions from September 2009, with technical details:


A wide field image, the area of interest is marked with a gray rectangle.
North America Nebula is in upper part of the image. The dark molecular cloud, mentioned in a text above, can be seen in the middle.

This image is my firs narrowband image, original data is here:

It does look like a Pelican!



Pelican nebula as a Stereo Pair 3D






Parallel vision 3D




Cross vision 3D

Original 2D:

Stereo Pairs as a natural color composition




Parallel vision 3D




Cross vision 3D



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


Pelican nebula 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.




A closeup


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

Cat's Eye Nebula as a Stereo Pair 3D





Parallel vision 3D



Cross vision 3D

Original 2D:




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

Cat's Eye Nebula 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.



Original 2D:



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

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

The "Cone Nebula"



Finally a clear night up here 65N!


NGC 2264, the "Cone Nebula"
Ra  06h 41m 06 Dec +09° 53′ 00"




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

After a long cloudy period we had a clear night. I was able to finalize this target at one night, it'll benefit some more exposures though but I might leave it as it is. Seeing was bad, as usually at this time of year up here, Temperature dropped to -24 Celsius.



The Cone Nebula is an Hydrogen emission region in the constellation Monoceros. Nebula is located about 2600 light years away from Earth. The cone Nebula forms part of the nebulosity surrounding the Christmas Tree Cluster. Note, NGC 2264 refers to both objects, not the nebula alone.
I have shot this object and the Rosette Nebula as a mosaic at Spring 2009, image can be found here:
The Cone Nebula area can be seen at the Left side.



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.

Technical details:

Processing work flow:
Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack. 
Deconvolution with a CCDSharp, 30 iterations, 50% mix..
Levels, curves and color combine in PS CS3.

Telescope, Meade LX200 GPS 12" @ f5
Camera, QHY9 Guiding, SXV-AO @ 6,5Hz
Image Scale, 0,75 arcseconds/pixel
Baader H-alpha 7nm 12x1200s, binned 2x2
Baader O-III 8,5nm 3x1200s, binned 3x3
S-II is taken from my older wide field image

A wide field image of Cone Nebula  used for the S-II channel is part of the mosaic I shot at Spring 2009.

Image is shot with a QHY9 astronomical camera, Canon EF 200mm f1.8 lens and the Baader narrowband filter set, H-a, S-II and O-III. 


Cat's Eye Nebula reprocessed





Since my processing technique gets better and weather doesn't give any support, I have reprocessed some older images. There is now star colors added and other processing is tweaked too.

NGC 6543, the "Cat's Eye Nebula"
Ra  17h 58m 33 Dec +66° 37′ 59"






Image is in HST-palette, (HST=Hubble Space Telescope)
from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.
Star colors are mixed from the NB channels, Red=H-a, G=O-III and B= 85%O-III + 15%H-a.

In this image the rarely imaged outer shell is visible. This was very difficult to process, due the massive brightness difference between the core and the outer parts.

The Cat's Eye Nebula, NGC 6543, Cladwell 6, is a planetary nebula in constellation Drago.

Distance is about 3300 light years.

More information in Wikipedia:




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.

Image is shot with a QHY9 and the Meade LX200 GPS 12" @ f5, pixel scale 0.65pixels/arc second.
Original versions from November 2008, with technical details:


Just the Eye part of the nebula, enlarged 400% from my image.

There is a hint of co centric circles visible around the nebula.
Faint rings are spherical shells ejected by the central star in the distant past. The exact mechanism of ejections is unclear. Image is in HST-palette.





Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Sh2-101, the "Tulip Nebula" closeup as a Stereo Pair 3D






Parallel vision 3D



Cross vision 3D


Original 2D:



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


Sh2-101, the "Tulip Nebula" closeup 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.






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

Monday, January 24, 2011

NGC 6888, the "Crescent Nebula" wide field reprocessed




Since my processing technique gets better and weather doesn't give any support, I have reprocessed some older images. There is now star colors added and other processing is tweaked too.


NGC 6888 as a wide field image
Ra  20h 12m 7 Dec +38° 21′ 3"




Image is in HST-palette, (HST=Hubble Space Telescope)
from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.
Star colors are mixed from the NB channels, Red=H-a, G=O-III and B= 85%O-III + 15%H-a.

The Crescent Nebula, also known as NGC 6888, Caldwell 27 and Sharpless 105, is an emission nebula in constellation Cygnus, about 5000 light years distance. 
It is formed by the fast stellar wind from the Wolf-Rayet star, WR 136 (HD 192163), colliding to an slower moving wind ejected by the same star when it became a red giant, around 400.000 years ago.
The result of the collision is a glowing shock shell around the star. Apparen size of the shell is 18' x 12' and the real size is about 25 x 16 light years. 
This image covers about three degrees horizontally. (Area of six full Moons side by side) 


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.

Image is shot with a QHY8 and the Tokina AT 300mm f2.8 lens at full aperture.
Original versions from November 2008, with technical details:


A closeup image of the Crescent Nebula

This image is shot with a much longer focal length, about 2000mm, with a Meade LX200 GPS 12", Baader narrowband filters and a QHY9 astronomical camera. Image is in HST-palette.