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Friday, October 24, 2025

ICARUS, the final flight

My latest photo shows a small portion of the Veil Nebula supernova remnant in Cygnus. I have wanted to photograph this tiny, knot-like object for a long time, making it the main character of the composition. I couldn’t find any catalog number for this object — if someone knows it, please drop a comment and I’ll add it here.

After I stacked all the data and saw the full-resolution image for the first time, I had the strange feeling that I had seen this composition before. A moment later I realised what it reminded me of — an old painting of Icarus from Greek mythology.



ICARUS
Click for a large image, 1600 x 2000 pixels

A mapped color image from a light emitted by an ionized elements, sulfur=red, hydrogen=green and oxygen=blue. The resolution of the photo is reduced for the web usage.


This is how I saw it in my head



ICARUS, a full scale closeup
Click for a large image, 1600 x 2000 pixels




ICARUS, orientation in the Veil Nebula
Click for a large image, 2000 x 2500 pixels

The Veil Nebula supernova remnant in constellation Cygnus.
The area of interest is marked as a white rectangle

Technical details

Processing workflow

Image acquisition, MaximDL v6.5
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack2.
Deconvolution with a CCDStack2 Positive Constraint, 27 iterations, added at 50% weight
Color combine in PS
Levels and curves in PS

Imaging optics, 
Celestron EDGE 14" with 0.7 Focal reducer

Mount, 
MesuMount Mark II

Cameras, 
Imaging camera Apogee Alta U9000M and Apogee seven slot filter wheel
Guider camera, Lodestar x 2 and SXV-AO Active Optics @ 5hz

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

Total exposure time 9h
H-alpha, 9 x 1200 s, binned 1x1 = 3 h 
O-III, 9x 1200 s, binned 1x1 = 3h
S-II, 9x 1200 s. binned 1x1 = 3h 






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