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Sunday, September 27, 2020

First light for the Autumn season 2020

 


First light for the season is always a big thing for me personally. I have had really bad troubles to have a imaging telescope. Lots of promises but nothing  happens so i'm out of real tools. I do have a kind of working imaging platform built around an old Tokina AT-x 300mm f2.8 camera lens, here is some info about this toolset, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-frankenstein-monster-my-current.html

I have an imaging plan but for the first light I selected something more "easy" to test my system after a six months pause due to nightless nights up here near to polar circle. A supernova remnant Veil Nebula in constellation cygnus is a beautiful and large target with some really dim parts and background nebulae.
I have shot the Veil nebula many times during the years with a different optical configurations and it's always shows something new and different, what a fascinating target!


Veil Nebula
Please, click for a large image, it's worth it

Image is in natural colors combined from the narrowband channels. H-alpha = Red, O-III = Green and O-III + 20% H-alpha = Blue.



A closeup
click for a large image

A full resolution closeup, the camera lens draws beautifully when well collimated and focused.
lots of stars there, star colors are combined from narrowband channels H-alpha and O-III.


An experimental starless image
click for a large image

The starless version of Veil Nebula makes easier to see very faint details in nebulae otherwise buried under the dense starfield of the Milky Way. 



Veil nebula in a light from an ionized hydrogen, H-alpha
click for a large image


INFO

Veil Nebula locates in a constellation Cygnus at distance of about 2400 ly. It's 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. I have shot this target so many times over the years and i never get tired to it, ther is always something new to find in it, Here is a collection my photos from this fascinating target, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/search?q=Veil+nebula
Just click "Next  Post" at end of the page to see more!


Technical details
Processing workflow
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
Tokina AT-x 300mm f2.8 camera lens

Mount
10-micron 1000

Cameras, filters and guiding
Imaging camera Apogee Alta U16 and Apogee seven slot filter wheel
Guider camera, Lodestar x 2 and an old spotting scope of Meade LX200
Astrodon filters,
5nm H-alpha 3nm S-II and 3nm O-III

Total exposure time
H-alpha, 12 x 1200 s, binned 1x1 = 4 h
O-III, 6 x 1200 s, binned 1x1 = 2 h
S-II, 3 x 1200s, binned 1x1 = 1h


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