Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Melotte 15 in IC 1805
A new imaging project from the last night, Merlotte 15, the heart of the Heart nebula.
Image shows now just the emission of Hydrogen, H-alpha. I'll shoot other emission channels for the color image soon. 20 x 1200s frames, =6h 40min.
The heart of the Heart
Melotte 15 (Mel 15)
6h 40min. H-alpha light, image spans about 30 arch minutes vertically. (the angular size of the moon is ~30 arch miutes = 0,5 degrees)
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 center of the image is a giant area of hydrogen gas that is 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.
A starless version
This experimental image shows the actual nebula without stars.
A closeup
Orientation image
The area of interest is marked in this older wide field HST-palette image.
A study about the scale in the sky
Click for a large image
An apparent size of the Moon is marked in the images as a scale.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
A Zoom in animation about the Veil nebula
I have done several studies about the apparent scale of several objects, to show, how large they really are in the sky. My older studies can be seen HERE (Just scroll down a bit, at the end of the page, click "Older posts" to see more.) I have imaged same targets with several focal lengths, form 200mm up to 3000mm, this time I made an animated GIF out of my material.
Veil Nebula, a supernova remnant in Cygnus
An animated zoom in series, from a four to about a 0,4 degrees field of view
Note. A size of the Moon is marked as a white circle, at the center of the images.
The apparent size of the Moon is ~30', that's equal to 0,5 degrees.
Images used in this animation can be seen here:
http://www.astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2012/11/veil-nebula-collection-as-poster.html
Monday, November 26, 2012
IC 5146
This is a start of the imaging project. I shot 9 x 1200 s. (3h) H-alpha light for this emission nebula. IC 5146 , the Cocoon Nebula, is a star formation area and locates in constellation Cygnus at distance of about 4000 light years. There is a reflection component but due to narrowband technique used, it's not visible in this Hydrogen emission image. I'll shoot other cahnnels, S-II and O-III, for this later.
IC 5146, the Cocoon Nebula
In constellation Cygnus
Image shows the emission of ionized Hydrogen
Technical details:
Processing work flow:
Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack2.
Levels and curves in PS CS3.
Optics, Meade LX200 GPS 12" @ f5
Camera, QHY9
Guiding, SXV-AO, an active optics unit, and Lodestar guide camera 8Hz
Image Scale, ~0,8 arc-seconds/pixel
9 x 1200s exposures for the H-alpha, emission of ionized Hydrogen = 3h
Sunday, November 25, 2012
An experimental 3D-animation of the IC 410
Since the Weather doesn't support new images, I'm publishing some experimental work here.
I have tested a new method to publish my 3D-images as a form of Lenticular prints.
For this technique to work, I need series of images from different angles, in this case 24 images are needed.
Lenticular printing is actually an old technique but in past few years it has become much more sophisticated.
The results can be stunning visually, image plane disappears and object floats in and outside of the frame.
Since astronomical objects are too far away, no real parallax can be imaged. Doe to that, I have developed a method to turn my images to various 3D-formats. My work flow is based on scientific data from the object, distance and the source of ionization are usually known. The different types of the nebulae has typical structures, pillar like formations must point to the source of ionization, the radiation pressure forms kind of hollow area, inside of the nebula, around newly born stars, dark nebulae must be at front of the emission ones to show, etc... rest of the missing information is then replaced with an artistic vision.
The whole process is pretty much like sculpting!
The IC 410 in Auriga as an animation
Only real elements from the original 2D-image are used for the animation
NOTE! Let the animation load, ~5MB
This is a personal vision about forms and shapes, based on some known facts and an artistic impression.
2D-image of IC 410
A study about the apparen scale in the sky
Second animatio, Flying in and out
NOTE! Let the animation load, ~5MB
This is a personal vision about forms and shapes, based on some known facts and an artistic impression.
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Exhibition, Gallery Kallio Kunsthalle, Helsinki
Three of my works can be seen in an "Energy" exhibition, in a small art gallery, Kallio Kunsthalle, at Helsinki.
Exhibition opening 2.11.2012 klo 18:00-21:00.
2.11.-2.12.2012 (Toinen Linja 31, Kallio, Helsinki)
Images about the exhibition
Images by Petri Saarikko
Three large photographs of mine at left. Images from left to right,
IC 1396, Pelican nebula closeup and the constellation Cygnus.
IC 1396, Pelican nebula closeup and the constellation Cygnus.
At background, closeup images of the Pelican nebula and the IC 1396.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Veil Nebula collection as a poster
I started this Autumn season by shooting the Veil Nebula Supernova remnant. The Veil Nebula is very large and low surface brightness object in the constellation Cygnus, at distance of about 1400 light years.
Even though I used every single clear moment, all I got is three separate images. I was planning to shoot couple of two panel mosaics but the weather up here was very much against my plans.
Veil nebula collection, HST-palette
Large image, 1900x1500 pixels and 3MB
Large image, 1900x1500 pixels and 3MB
Image collection in HST-palette (Named after a palette used by the Hubble Space Telescope.)
Ionized elements are mapped to color channels, Red =Sulfur, Green=Hydrogen and Blue=Oxygen.
Veil nebula collection, visual colors
Large image, 1900x1500 pixels and 3MB
Image collection in visual spectrum. Ionized elements are mapped to match visual light, Red=(Hydrogen + Sulfur 20%), Green =Oxygen and Blue=(Oxygen + Hydrogen 15% to compensate missing H-beta light)
At bottom middle, a wide field image of the Veil nebula SNR. There are white rectangles to mark locations of the closeup images around and image is labeled.
Note. the apparent size of the Moon is marked as a circle in a wide field image at the bottom center.
Note. the apparent size of the Moon is marked as a circle in a wide field image at the bottom center.
Images used for this collection
- At upper left, IC 1340 with Meade LX200 12": http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2012/10/ic-1340-project-finalized.html
- Upper right, the Pickering's Triangle with Meade LX200 12": http://www.astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2012/11/pickerings-triangle-project-finalized.html
- Bottom left, Eastern part of the veil. Shot at 2007 with 80mm refractor.
- Bottom middle, the veil nebula wide field with a Tokina AT-X 300mm f2.8 camera lens: http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2012/03/veil-nebula-reprocessed-with-some-new.html
- Bottom right, the Witch's Broom with Meade LX200 12": http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2012/11/witchs-broom-nebula.html
A 3D-experiment and a study about the scale in the sky
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Witch's Broom Nebula
Filaments in the Western Veil
Supernova remnant in Cygnus
Image is in visual spectrum, composed from H-a and O-III narrowband channels.
This is a third detail image from the Veil Nebula supernova remnant from this Autumn season.
Two others can be seen here, IC 1340 in Eastern Veil and the Pickering's Triangle.
The Veil Nebula locates in constellation Cygnus at distance of about 1400 light years. The angular size of the image is close to size of the full Moon. The bright star at upper right corner is 52 Cygni, it's a foreground star and unrelated to the supernova remnant.
Orientation
Area of interest is marked as a white rectangle.
Image in HST-palette
19.11.2012
I made a HST-palette version out of this. I have shot the Veil Nebula with much wider field instruments, Tokina AT-X 300 f2.8 and the Canon EF 200mm f1.8 cameraoptics. I took the color information from the wide field image and used it with this detail image. Here is the result.
Colors for this HST-palette image are borrowed from a wider field one, image can be seen here:
http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2012/03/veil-nebula-reprocessed-with-some-new.html
19.11.2012
http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2012/03/veil-nebula-reprocessed-with-some-new.html
An animated image shows the difference between ionized Oxygen and Hydrogen
Click for a large image
Technical details:
Processing work flow:
Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack2.
Levels, curves and color combine in PS CS3.
Optics, Meade LX200 GPS 12" @ f5
Camera, QHY9
Guiding, SXV-AO, an active optics unit, and Lodestar guide camera 8Hz
Image Scale, ~0,8 arc-seconds/pixel
15 x 1200s exposures for the H-alpha, emission of ionized Hydrogen = 5h
6 x 1200s exposures for the O-III, emission of ionized Oxygen = 2h
4 x 1200s exposures for the S-II, emission of ionized Sulfur = 1h 20min.
Friday, November 16, 2012
Astro Anarchy gets published
Winner image of the Cloudy Nights forum Imaging/Sketching Contest
October 2012
IC 1340, Part of the Eastern Veil Nebula in Cygnus
RA: 20h56m 45.8s DE:+31 degrees07' 17"
Original blog post about this image, with more images and technical details:
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Pickering's Triangle, project finalized
The Pickering's Triangle
A detail of the Veil Nebula supernova remnant
Image is in mapped colors, from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.
This combination is generally called to HST-palette. It's used originally by the Hubble Space Telescope.
I managed to shoot enough data for the S-II channel, to build a three channel color image, last night.
It was very windy and i had hard time with guiding. There was some serious technical difficulties with my gears. After spending ten busy hours up in the observatory, I had only four 20 min. S-II frames, duh...
Pickering's Triangle, Simeis 3-188, is a small part of the Veil Nebula supernova remnant in constellation Cygnus.
Veil Nebula is a cloud of ionized gas and dust, leftovers from an exploded star. The star went off some 5000-8000 years ago at distance of about 1470 light years. This, relatively faint target, is difficult to image due to the large angular diameter, about three degrees, and a dense star field.
Orientation
Area of interest is marked as a white rectangle, the apparent size of the Moon can be seen at lower right corner.
Image in natural colors
R=Hydrogen + Sulfur, G=Oxygen and B=Oxygen + Hydrogen.
Technical details:
Processing work flow:
Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack2.
Levels, curves and color combine in PS CS3.
Optics, Meade LX200 GPS 12" @ f5
Camera, QHY9
Guiding, SXV-AO, an active optics unit, and Lodestar guide camera 8Hz
Image Scale, ~0,8 arc-seconds/pixel
15 x 1200s exposures for the H-alpha, emission of ionized Hydrogen = 5h
9 x 1200s exposures for the O-III, emission of ionized Oxygen = 3h
4x1200s exposures for the S-II, emission of ionized Sulfur = 1h 20min.
Ps.
An animation, stars vs. starless
Sometimes I'm publishing starless versions of my images. The actual nebula stands out better by this way, since human brains has a habit to form false shapes from a group of random dots, like stars.
Friday, November 9, 2012
Pickering's Triangle in Ha/OIII light
A somehow clear night for a long time!
Last night I was able to shoot O-III light (Light emitted by ionized oxygen.) for my latest project, the Pickering's Triangle in the Veil Nebula. I manged to collect three hours of O-III light, ones again clouds ruined about two hours of exposures. I'll shoot the S-II channel (Light emitted by ionized Sulfur.), as soon as the weather supports, for a three channel color image.
The Pickering's Triangle
A detail in the Veil Nebula supernova remnant
Two color image from H-a and O-III, image is in natural colors from narrowband channels. Emission of hydrogen can be seen as Red and emission of oxygen as Blue.
Pickering's Triangle is a small part of the Veil Nebula supernova remnant in constellation Cygnus.
Veil Nebula is a cloud of ionized gas and dust, leftovers from an exploded star. The star went off some 5000-8000 years ago at distance of about 1470 light years. This, relatively faint target, is difficult to image due to the large angular diameter, about three degrees, and a dense star field.
Orientation
Area of interest is marked as a white rectangle, the apparent size of the Moon can be seen at lower right corner.
An animated image
Red = Hydrogen, Blue = Oxygen. The last image shows channels combined.
An experimental starless image
Technical details:
Processing work flow:
Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack2.
Levels, curves and color combine in PS CS3.
Optics, Meade LX200 GPS 12" @ f5
Camera, QHY9
Guiding, SXV-AO, an active optics unit, and Lodestar guide camera 8Hz
Image Scale, ~0,8 arc-seconds/pixel
15 x 1200s exposures for H-alpha emission = 5h
9 x 1200s exposures for O-III, emission of ionized oxygen = 3h
Ps.
This is my second Veil Nebula detail from this Autumn season. Previous photograph, IC 1340, can be seen here: http://www.astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2012/10/ic-1340-project-finalized.html
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Meet your maker
"The creation of Adam"
An updated version of Michelangelo's fresco in Sistine Chapel ceiling, an original artwork from the year 1512
Info about the original fresco in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Creation_of_Adam
Meet your maker
We all are children of supernovae
The most common elements, like carbon and nitrogen, are created in the cores of most stars, fused from lighter elements like hydrogen and helium. The heaviest elements, like iron, however, are only formed in the massive stars which end their lives in supernova explosions. Even heavier elements are born in the extreme conditions of the explosion itself.
Without dying stars, life would not be possible. Our blood has iron in the hemoglobin which is vital to our ability to breath. We need oxygen in our atmosphere to breathe. Nitrogen enriches our planet's soil.
Without supernovae, we can have gas planets, stars and galaxies but not cars, cows, solid planets, humans or any life. We all are children of supernova explosions.
Simeis 147, a supernova remnant in constellation Taurus
Technical details and other info about the Simeis 147 (Sh2-240) can be seen in my blog post here:
I finalized this image at February 2012, the total exposure time is about 30h.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
A Chinese Dragon
Chinese Dragon Nebula in constellation Cygnus
Click for a large image
http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2011/12/cygnus-mosaic-18-panels-and-22-x-14.html
Click for a large image
The very large, 18-panels, mosaic of the Cygnus was my main work at Autumn season 2011.
I named it to the Chinese Dragon Nebula due to reason seen in the image above.
Image spans 22 degrees horizontally. (22 degrees = 44 full Moons side by side in the sky)
Original blog post about Cygnus mosaic, with technical details, can be seen here:
Heart and Soul Nebulae, reprocessed
Since the weather up here has been less than supportive for astronomical imaging for a long time, I have played with an older data.
Heart & Soul Nebulae
IC1805 & IC1848
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.
My photos, from several years, are used to combine this panoramic image of IC 1805 & 1848.
This emission nebula area is located in constellation Cassiopeia at distance of about 7500 light years.
I have made a scale study to show the apparent scale in the sky, it can be seen here:
Image is in visual spectrum, mixed from the same narrowband material, than image above.
Images used for the panorama with technical details
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