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Showing posts with label Canon 200mm f1.8 images. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canon 200mm f1.8 images. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

A start of the new project, Cepheus mosaic part1



I'm about to make a similar mosaic out of constellation Cepheus, than I made out of constellation Cygnus.
The first part is ready now. It's a four panel mosaic showing two main objects, IC 1396 and the Sharpless 129 (Sh2-129). I managed to get visible an extremely dim planetary nebula candidate, OU4, inside the Sharpless 129.

Cepheus Mosaic part 1, four panels
Note. A largish image, 3MB and 1700 x 1300 pixels

Mapped colors from the emission of ionized elements,
R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.
Buy a photographic print from HERE

At this first part of the Cepheus mosaic, there are four individual panels stitched together. At lower right corner, there  is the Sharpless object 129 (Sh2-129). The blueish area, inside Sh2-129, is a recently found plaentary nebula candidate, OU4. The famous astrophotographer, Nicolas Outters, has made this discovery, HERE is a paper about it. OU4 is an extremely dim formation. 11h of O-III light with very fast Canon 200mm EF f1.8 camera lens, was needed to have some hint about it. 

I will continue this project, as soon as weather allows. The final mosaic will be 10-14 panels larg

Mosaic in visual spectrum
Note. A largish image, 3MB and 1700x1300 pixels

Image is in Natural color palette from the emission of ionized elements, 
R=Hydrogen + Sulfur, G=Oxygen and B=Oxygen + Hydrogen.
 Buy a photographic print from HERE

A closeup of Sh2-129 and OU4

Image is in Natural color palette from the emission of ionized elements, 
R=Hydrogen + Sulfur, G=Oxygen and B=Oxygen + Hydrogen.
 Buy a photographic print from HERE


Technical details

Processing work flow:
Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack2.
Deconvolution with a CCDStack2 Positive Constraint, 33 iterations, added at 50% weight
Levels, curves and color combine in PS CS3.

Optics, Canon EF 200mm camera lens at f1.8
Camera, QHY9
Guiding, Meade LX200 GPS 12" and a Lodestar guider
Image Scale, ~5 arcseconds/pixel
Exposures for H-alpha:
3x1200s for each panel,
Exposures for O-III:
33x1200s for Sh2-129 area
1x1200s/panel, for a star color.

The data from my older images are used for this mosaic
IC 1396, http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2011/10/ic-1396-home-of-elephants-trunk-nebula.html
Sh2-129: http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2011/06/panorama-mosaic-from-ic1396-to.html


Monday, December 16, 2013

NGC 6823 and many many stars



This wide field image shows many targets in very dense star field. From the Sharpless catalog, Sh2-90 and Sh2-88, from the NGC catalog, NGC 6820, 6823 and 6830 and many other named objects.

NGC 6823
In constellation Vulpecula, click for a large image

A bicolor image, H-a=RED, O-III=Green and Blue. This combination is very near to visual spectrum.
Note, the "noise" in the image is actually countless number of stars.
Click for a large image, 1200x1700 pixels and 3,3MB
You can buy a real high quality photographic print from HERE

A detail

This detail image is about 1:1 scale from the original photo.


Orientation




An animation, stars vs starless
Click for a large image

A starless image shows some details, otherwise get buried under a massive amount of stars.
There are some filament like structures visible at lower left and lower middle.


Technical details

Processing work flow:
Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack2.
Deconvolution with a CCDStack2 Positive Constraint, 33 iterations, added at 33% weight
Levels, curves and color combine in PS CS3.

Optics, Canon EF 200mm camera lens at f1.8
Camera, QHY9
Guiding, Meade LX200 GPS 12" and a Lodestar guider
Image Scale, ~5 arcseconds/pixel
H-alpha, 12x1200s = 4h
O-III, 12x1200s = 4h
Total exposure time 8h


Hydrogen emission only (H-alpha)

You can buy a real high quality photographic print from HERE





Thursday, December 12, 2013

An other supernova remnant in Cygnus, G65.3+5.7 SNR



This is a rarely imaged target. I haven't been able to find an other color image of it, showing the whole supernova remnant. This is also one of the most difficult targets, I have ever shot. Due to very dense star field, large angular dimension and a very diffused structure this is even more difficult target, than a Simeis 147 supernova remnant in Taurus. Total exposure time of 32h was needed to have this kind of "thin" image.

G65.3+5.7 SNR has about the same angular dimensions, than brighter and more famous remnant in Cygnus, the Veil Nebula.  The angular dimensions are about 3x4 degrees.
NOTE, this image is updated at 20.01.2014. There is now a better H-a channel and the background is practically full of ionized Hydrogen, H-alpha.

G65.3+5.7 SNR
A supernova remnant in constellation Cygnus


A bicolor image of the supernova remnant. An ionized Hydrogen emission (H-alpha) can be seen as Red and an ionized Oxygen emission (O-III) as Blue. Buy a photographic print from HERE


A detail image of G65.3+5.7 SNR
So many stars...

1:1 closeup from the original full resolution frame, the background is practically full of stars.


Orientation




Technical details

Processing work flow:
Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack2.
Deconvolution with a CCDStack2 Positive Constraint, 33 iterations, added at 33% weight
Levels, curves and color combine in PS CS3.

Optics, Canon EF 200mm camera lens at f1.8
Camera, QHY9
Guiding, Meade LX200 GPS 12" and a Lodestar guider
Image Scale, ~5 arcseconds/pixel
H-alpha, 51x1200s = 17h
O-III, 45x1200s = 15h
Total exposure time 32h

A single calibrated and stretched 20min O-III frame

Heavily stretched 1200s frame of the strongest channel, ionized Oxygen (O-III), doesn't show much.





Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Veil Nebula unveiled



The exhibition is over, lots of visitors and many photographic prints has been sold.
Many thanks to all visitors and buyers!

I have some new material waiting for publishing, even though the weather has been really bad up here.
I had some technical problems with my longer focal length instrumentation and I had to move back to use my wide field tools. Veil Nebula in this post has been shot with the Canon EF 200mm f1.8 camera optics.
There is now 13h h-alpha light, collected from years 2008, 2012 and 2013.

Veil Nebula
Supernova remnant in constellation Cygnus

Image is in Natural color palette from the emission of ionized elements, 
R=Hydrogen + Sulfur, G=Oxygen and B=Oxygen + Hydrogen.
Click for a large image. Buy a photographic print from HERE

Info

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.
This is a second version of this object, older version can be seen Here

Veil Nebula in mapped colors

Mapped colors from the emission of ionized elements,
R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.
Buy a photographic print from HERE

A detail image, in original 1:1 resolution

Click to see in full scale. A detail image of the Veil Nebula to show a resolution. Not a bad one for a 200mm Camera lens. (Canon EF 200mm f1.8, full open)


An experimental starless image of the Veil Nebula SNR

The starless image is unveiling lots of details, otherwise hiding under a dense star field.
Buy a photographic print from HERE

A 3D-study of the Veil nebula SNR


This is a looped video, click to start and stop. Original movie is in HD1080p resolution.

Original blog post about the 3D-study and more animations behind this link:
http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2013/02/the-veil-nebula-experimental-3d-study.html


Some older detail images from the Veil Nebula



Technical details:

Processing work flow:
Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack2.
Deconvolution with a CCDStack2 Positive Constraint, 33 iterations, added at 50% weight
Levels, curves and color combine in PS CS3.

Optics, Canon EF 200mm camera lens at f1.8
Camera, QHY9
Guiding, Meade LX200 GPS 12" and a Lodestar guider
Image Scale, ~5 arcseconds/pixel
Exposures for H-alpha:
7x1200s, from 2008
13x1200 from 2012
19x1200 from this Autumn season 2013
Total 39x1200s = 13h
S-II and O-III information are from an older image

Friday, September 27, 2013

Cygnus Trio


Since the weather dosen's support imaging, I extracted an other individual image out of the large Cygnus mosaic. This image shows the same area, than my first ever APOD image, back from the year 2008.



Cygnus Trio
Butterfly, Crescent and the Tulip Nebula

Click for a large image, Note. 1900 pixels and 2,5MB.
Image is in mapped colors, from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.

Image is shot with the Canon EF 200mm f1.8 camera optics, QHY9 a cooled astrocam and the Baader narrowband filter set, H-a, S-II and O-III. There are four individual panels, each panel is shot three times with different filter for the color image. Total exposure time is around 20h. 

An experimental starless image

I made this image to show some very faint nebula formations under the extremely dense star field.




Monday, September 23, 2013

Sharpless objects, 223, 224 and 225 in Auriga, reprocessed



I'm waiting the weather to clear, to be able to open up my Autumn season. While waiting, I have practiced my processing skills, after a long Summer pause. 

Sh2-223, 224 and 225
In constellation Auriga, click for a large image.

Image is in mapped colors, from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.

Image in visual spectrum




A closeup of the supernova remnant Sh2-224



Info

Sh2-223: http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh2-223
Sh2-224: http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh2-224
Sh2-225: http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh2-225


About the new processing

I have used a new technique to dig out a very dim background nebulae. A starless version of 16h H-a exposure is stretched to an extreme and a data in level of background bias is revealed. 
To work, images, used with this technique, has to be perfectly calibrated with bisas corrected flats.

The power of this method can be seen easily, if the new image is compared to an older version HERE.

A data hiding near the background level is revealed in this starless image. 
This "tone map" is used to boost an extreme dim background nebulae in the final image.

Technical details

Camera, QHY9 
Optics, Canon EF 200mm f1.8 @ 1.8 
Guiding, QHY5 and PHD-guiding 
Imaging platform, LX200 GPS 12" 
Exposures

H-alpha, 7x1200s, 13x2400s and an additional 
15x1200s  imaged with QHY8 and Tokina AT 300mm f2.8 
O-III, 5x300s Binned 4x4 
S-II. 5x300s. Binned 4x4 . 

A single 1200s H-alpha frame
Calibrated, stretched and scaled down, no other processing

This single 20 min. exposure shows how dim this target really is.
There are very few images about this area of sky around.



Sunday, September 22, 2013

A supernova remnant Simeis 147 reprocessed



I'm waiting the weather to clear, to be able to open up my Autumn season. While waiting, I have practiced my processing skills, after a long Summer pause. 

Simeis 147 (Sh2-240)
In constellation Taurus

Image is in mapped colors, from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.
Total exposure time is now 26h. with fast, Canon EF 200mm f1.8, camera optics.

A closeup
Click for a 1:1 scale

A portion of the Simeis 147 shows massive amount of gas filaments.

Image in visual spectrum



An animated image, stars vs. starless
Click for a large image

I made this experimental animation to show better the actual nebula complex.
Many details are hiding under a very dense star field, like a small out burs at four a clock position.

The human brains has a tendency to form false forms and shapes from a random cloud of dots, in this case, stars. By removing all the stars, the real shapes are easier to see.

Info about the object

Simeis 147 (sharpless 240), is a very faint and very large supernova remnant in constellation Taurus at distance of ~3000 light years. It's constantly expanding at speed of 1000 km/second but due the size of it, we can't see any movement in it. This SN spans over 160 light years and the apparent scale in the sky is about three degrees (Moon has an apparent size of 30" = 0,5 degrees).  Explosion took place approximately 30.000 years ago  and left behind a  pulsar (Neutron star). The pulsar has recently identified.

How long it'll takes to this supernova remnant to expand 1% large when the diameter is 160 light years and it expands at speed of 1000km/second.
Answer is ~480 years.
 (1% of diameter 160/100= 16, as kilometers ~151.372.800.000.00, = Y, km,
1000km/second is ~315.360.000.00, = Z, kilometers/year.
So, X x Z = Y and  X=Z/Y,    X = 480 with given values)

This image get selected as a Space Picture of the Week by the National Geographic magazine. You can see the story HERE



Technical details:

Processing work flow:
Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack2.
Deconvolution with a CCDStack2 Positive Constraint, 33 iterations, added at 33 % weight
Levels, curves and color combine in PS CS3.

Optics, Canon EF 200mm camera lens at f1.8
Camera, QHY9
Guiding, Meade LX200 GPS 12" and a Lodestar guider
Image Scale, ~5,5 arcseconds/pixel
H-alpha 34x900s, Binned 1x1 = 8,5h
H-alpha 24x1800s, Binned 1x1 = 12h
O-III 60 x 300s, Binned 3x3 = 5h
S-II 6 x 600, Binned 3x3 = 1h

Total exposure time for Hydrogen alpha alone is ~20,5h
Total exposure time is 26,5h



Tuesday, September 17, 2013

A collection of images from a large mosaic of Cygnus


I haven't been able to open up this season yet, since some of my equipment are not yet back from the factory service. (Should be here any day now!) To keep up my processing skills, I have reprocessed my older material.

All images are reprocessed and fine tuned. Images are shot wit a Canon EF 200mm f1.8 monster lens.
This lens is very sharp from edge to edge at full open. 
Some parts of the mosaic are boosted with longer focal length instruments, Tokina AT-X 300mm camera lens and the Meade LX200 12" SCT-telescope. QHY9, a cooled astronomical camera, is used with all instruments. All photos are in narrowband colors, from an emission of ionized elements, Hydrogen, Oxygen and Sulfur. Baader narrowband filter set is used for the emission line imaging with all the instruments.

Cygnus mosaic, reprocessed
Reprocessed, NOTE. a large image 2300 pixels wide and 4.3MB

Image is in mapped colors from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen. Native size of  this image is over 15.000 x 10.000 pixels.

A collection of sub-images from the mosaic above
Please, pay attention to a resolution of images bellow. I have used a new processing technique of mine to keep images sharp during the processing routine.
No artificial  sharpening methods are used!

CIRRUS OF CYGNUS

NOTE. a large image, 3000 pixels wide and 4MB.


CRESCENT NEBULA, NGC 6888



THE TULIP NEBULA, SHARPLESS 101



NORTH AMERICA AND THE PELICAN NEBULAE



NORTH AMERICA AND THE PELICAN NEBULAE



THE BUTTERFLY NEBULA



A Chinese Dragon
The overall shape of the nebula complex looks like a dragon!



A large photographic print at my home

A framed copy of the Cygnus Nebulae, my wife, Anna, as a scale.

Links

Original blog post of Cygnus mosaic: 

A reprocessed mosaic in visual colors:

Tools used for this image:

My portfolio:


Saturday, September 14, 2013

Cygnus mosaic in natural colors, reprocessed


I haven't been able to open up this season yet, since some of my equipment are not yet  back from the factory service. To keep up my processing skills, I reprocessed the great 18-panels mosaic image of Cygnus. Mapped color version was very much OK but I wasn't happy with natural color version.


The 18-panels mosaic of nebulae in constellation Cygnus
Click for a large image. NOTE. A large image, 2300x1500 pixels and ~5MB

Image is in visual spectrum, red light is emitted by an ionized Hydrogen (H-alpha). Blueish hues are from ionized Oxygen (O-III). NOTE. An apparent size of the full Moon is marked at lower right corner as a scale

This 18-panels mosaic is hot with Canon EF 200mm F1.8 camera lens, QHY9 cooled astronomical camera and the Baader narrowband filter set. Total exp. time is around 120h. More information with the original blog post  HERE. Original image is 15.000 pixels wide and over 300MB.

A detail from the image above to show the image resolution
Click for a large image

Not a bad resolution for a 200mm camera lens!




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.