Monday, December 20, 2021
Cygnus mosaic gets large
Three Musketeers of Swan
Deepest and most detailed image showing the whole constellation Cygnus ever taken
The new composition is designed so that the Veil Nebula supernova remnant fits within the field of view.
In this image, three large supernova remnants are visible. The Veil Nebula is the brightest among them, while the other two are extremely faint and diffuse. I dedicated approximately 200 hours of exposure time to capturing these two remnants alone to make them more visible. I like to call this trio The Three Musketeers.
I really like the new composition—it’s dynamic and, for the first time, showcases the entire Cygnus constellation at this level of detail and depth. At least, I haven’t seen anything like this before. The image now spans 31 × 23 degrees of the sky and consists of 118 individual frames. The total exposure time is around 700 hours, and the final resolution is 20,000 × 25,500 pixels. It took over a decade to complete this photograph, from 2010 to 2021.
The previous version of this mosaic can be seen here: Great Mosaic of Cygnus.
Bang, bang & bang
Three large supernova remnants in the same field of view
Click for a large image
Three large supernova remnants in the same field of view
Click for a large image
This is a large area of sky, it spans 31 x 23 degrees of sky. Image is in mapped colors, from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulphur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.
ZOOMABLE VERSION
ZOOMABLE VERSION
Image is reduced to 6000 x 7700 pixels size from the original 20.000 x 25.500 pixels.
118 Mosaic Panels
Click for a large image
Click for a large image
All the 112 frames used are shown in this image. Since many of the frames are originally shot as independent artworks, panel structure is very complex. Also different instruments has a different field of view and resolution, so mosaic panels are at three different size.
DETAILS
Click for a large image
Three large supernova remnants in constellation Cygnus, the Swan, are in image as colored circles
NOTE, there is an apparent size of the Moon as a scale at lower right corner in a grayscale image.
INFO
Three Supernova Remnants, Two Wolf-Rayet Stars, and a Black Hole
In the orientation image above, three large supernova remnants are visible. The first is the Cygnus Shell (W63), a bluish ring located in the middle left. The second is the large supernova remnant (SNR) G65.3+5.7, seen at the upper right. The third is the brighter SNR, the Veil Nebula, positioned at the right edge of the image.
Besides these three supernova remnants, there are two Wolf-Rayet stars with outer shell formations. The first is NGC 6888, the Crescent Nebula, located at the center of the image. The second is WR 134, which appears as a blue arc just to the right of the Crescent Nebula, near the Tulip Nebula.
Next to the Tulip Nebula lies the black hole Cygnus X-1. It is marked in a small close-up image of the Tulip Nebula, positioned at the center-right of the orientation image above.
The constellation Cygnus is an endless source of celestial wonders, both scientifically and aesthetically. As a visual artist, I find this region of the night sky incredibly inspiring. The intricate shapes and structures are mesmerizing—I could spend the rest of my life capturing images of this cosmic treasury.
Equipment Used
I have used several optical configurations for this mosaic image over the years. Until 2014, I used an old Meade LX200 GPS 12" telescope, a QHY9 astro camera, Canon EF 200mm f/1.8 camera optics, and a Baader narrowband filter set.
Since 2014, I have used a 10Micron 1000 equatorial mount, an Apogee Alta U16 astro camera, a Tokina AT-X 200mm f/2.8 camera lens, and an Astrodon 50mm square narrowband filter set.
Additionally, I have captured many detailed images using longer focal lengths. Before 2014, I used the Meade 12" scope with a reducer, and after 2014, I used a Celestron EDGE 11" with a reducer. My guiding camera has been a Lodestar and later a Lodestar II.
Monday, December 13, 2021
The Pelican Nebula with new data
I originally publish this nebula image at December 2016. After that, I have shot some very high resolution material from the same area of sky and I decided to upgrade my old image with better data. I'm kind of happy with the result, especially the details in dark nebulae are much sharper now and shows the complex structures of unionized gas and dust. Main reason is the long exposure time used, for H-alpha alone, there are 30 hours of exposures. Total exposure time is around 60 hours.
The dark nebula in the upper part of the photo is the gas bridge splitting visually the Pelican Nebula and the North America nebula so that the they look like two separate nebula. In reality they are actually a one large emission area.
Pelican Nebula, constellation Cygnus, the Swan
Click for a large image
The older version of this image can be seen here: https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2016/12/pelican-nebula-two-frame-mosaic.html
Zoomable Image
Zoomable Image
Orientation in large context
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