Showing posts with label Canon FD 200mm f2.8 images. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canon FD 200mm f2.8 images. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 21, 2022
Milky Way, 12 years, 1250 hours of exposures and 125 x 22 degrees of sky
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It took nearly twelve years to collect enough data for this high resolution gigapixel class mosaic image of the Milky Way. Total exposure time used is around 1250 hours between 2009 and 2021.
" I can hear music in this composition, from the high sounds of sparcs and bubbles at left all the way to a deep and massive sounds at right."
From Taurus to Cygnus
Click for a large image, it's really worth it! (7000 x 1300 pixels)
Image in mapped colors from the light emitted by an ionized elements, hydrogen = green, sulfur = red and oxygen = blue. NOTE, the apparent size of the Moon in a lower left corner. NOTE 2, there are two 1:1 scale enlargements from the full size original at both ends of the image
NEW, A HD-video from Germany shows my photo in full glory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-Z60eZ4yqM
(Video in Germany but images are the international language)
Close ups form the parts of the Grande Mosaic
NEW, A HD-video from Germany shows my photo in full glory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-Z60eZ4yqM
(Video in Germany but images are the international language)
Close ups form the parts of the Grande Mosaic
Cygnus side of the mosaic, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/12/cygnus-project-grande-finale-for-now.html
Cassiopeia side of the mosaic, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2021/01/mosaic-image-gets-large-400-hours-and.html
Taurus side of the mosaic, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2021/02/a-new-mosaic-image-from-taurus-to.html
A closeup from large panorama to show the overall resolution
Click for a large image
The California Nebula, NGC 1499, can be seen at bottom left of the large mosaic image.
There are about 20 million individual stars visible in the whole mosaic image.
There are about 20 million individual stars visible in the whole mosaic image.
Orientation and details
Click for a large image
Click for a large image
Imaging info
Image spans 125 x 22 degrees of the Milky About 20 million individual stars are visible in my photo!
Image spans 125 x 22 degrees of the Milky About 20 million individual stars are visible in my photo!
It took almost twelve years to finalize this mosaic image. The reason for a long time period is naturally the size of the mosaic and the fact, that image is very deep. Another reason is that I have soht most of the mosaic frames as an individual compositions and publish them as independent artworks. That leads to a kind of complex image set witch is partly overlapping with a lots of unimaged areas between and around frames. I have shot the missing data now and then during the years and last year I was able to publish many sub mosaic images as I got them ready first.
My processing workflow is very constant so very little tweaking was needed between the mosaic frames. Total exposure time is over 1250 hours. Some of the frames has more exposure time, than others. There are some extremely dim objects clearly visible in this composition, like a extremely dim supernova remnant W63, the Cygnus Shell. It lays about six degrees up from North America nebula and it can be seen as a pale blue ring. I spent about 100 hours for this SNR alone. An other large and faint supernova remnant in Cygnus can be seen at near right edge of the image. G65.5+5.7 is as large as more famous Veil nebula. There are over 60 exposure hours for this SNR alone. (Veil SNR is just outside of the mosaic area for compositional reasons but can be seen in "Detail" image above.)
My processing workflow is very constant so very little tweaking was needed between the mosaic frames. Total exposure time is over 1250 hours. Some of the frames has more exposure time, than others. There are some extremely dim objects clearly visible in this composition, like a extremely dim supernova remnant W63, the Cygnus Shell. It lays about six degrees up from North America nebula and it can be seen as a pale blue ring. I spent about 100 hours for this SNR alone. An other large and faint supernova remnant in Cygnus can be seen at near right edge of the image. G65.5+5.7 is as large as more famous Veil nebula. There are over 60 exposure hours for this SNR alone. (Veil SNR is just outside of the mosaic area for compositional reasons but can be seen in "Detail" image above.)
The Mosaic Work, technical info
I took my current toolset as a base tool since it has a relatively high resolution combined to a very large field of view. Also it collects photons very quickly since it's undersampled and I can have very dim background nebulosity visible in very short time (many times 30 min frame is enough)
I do all my mosaic work under the PhotoShop, Matching the separate panels by using stars as an indicator is kind of straight forward work. My processing has become so constant, that very little tweaking is needed between separate frames, just some minor levels, curves and color balance.
I have used lots of longer focal length sub-frames in my mosaic to boost details. (See the mosaic map at top of the page) To match them with shorter focal length shots I developed a new method.
Firstly I upscale the short focal length frames about 25% to have more room for high resolution images.Then I match the high res photo to a mosaic by using the stars as an indicator. After that I remove all the tiny stars from the high res image. Next I separate stars from low res photo and merge the starless high res data to a starless low res frame. And finally I place the removed low res stars back at top of everything with zero data lost. Usually there are some optical distortions and it's seen especially in a star field. Now all my stars are coming from a same optical setup and I don't have any problems with distortions. (I'm using the same star removal technique as in my Tone Mapping Workflow)
Closeups from large panorama to show the overall resolution
Click for a large image
IC 405 6 410 area
IC 1396
Click for a large image
Image in mapped colors from the light emitted by an ionized elements, hydrogen = green, sulfur = red and oxygen = blue.
A 1:3 resolution close up from the photo above
Click for a large image,
Click for a large image,
A closeup from the main image shows the Sharpless 124 at up and the Cocoon nebula with a dark gas stream at bottom.
Sharpless 205, NGC 1491 and Lynds Bright Nebula 696
IC 405 6 410 area
From Bubble to Cave Nebula
Image info, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/03/from-bubble-to-cave-nebula-area.html
Not an igloo, this is reality of astro photographing in Finland
The tulip nebula area
The Tulip Nebula, Sh2-101, can be seen at center right, there is also a black hole Cygnus X-1
The blog post with technical details can be seen here, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-tulip-nebula-in-cygnus-sh2-101.html
The blog post with technical details can be seen here, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-tulip-nebula-in-cygnus-sh2-101.html
The supernova remnant G65.3+5.7
More info about this image here, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/11/g65357-large-supernova-remnant-in_22.html
My Observatory,
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Sh2-240 with more photons.
The Sh2-240 (Simeis 147) is a very faint supernova remaint in Taurus.
The image is in false color to show hydrogen alpha emission.
Original BW H-alpha image at the bottom
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This is a huge object, it covers nearly 3 degrees (6 full moons) on the sky.
Estimated distance from my home town Oulu is about
3000 light-years. The width of the object is 160 light-years.
This supernova remnant has an apparent age of about 100.000 years.
(Light from massive explosion reached Earth 100.000 years ago)
In the center of the remaint, there is a fast spinning neutron star or pulsar.
I started this project with, Sh2-240 supernova remant, at march 6. 2008.
So far I have collected lights for this very dim object litle by litle.
I feel like there have been all possible troubles with this object.
Number one, weather... like to say word or two but I hold back.
Number two, mechanical problems with guiding and only with this object!
Number three, bad flats, there is something seriously wrong with my flat frame box.
(I'll make a new one by using EL-panel!)
And many more troubles, only about one of three light frames was usable
doe the thin upper clouds.
They are allmoust impossible to spot from my location. Normally so thin clouds does not do too much harm. In this case the target has so low surfage brightness, that even slight
variations in transparency distroy the image.
The effect of bad trancparency is possible to spot during processing, so lots of work for nothing has been done here.
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IMAGING DETAILS
Optics:
Canon FD 200mm f2.8 lens with full aperature
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Camera:
QHY8
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Platform and guiding:
LX200 GPS 12" with QHY5 guider and PHD-guiding
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Exposures:
10 x 3600s + 4 x 2700s + 3 x 900s H-alpha + Flats and Bias frames, no darks
exposure time so far 13h 45min.
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Filter:
Baader 7nm H-alp + IDAS LP for RGB
Hydroge alpha channel only
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Update:
I reprocessed images, and I was able to go litle deeper, I think.
The data is yet "thin" and more exposures are needed, maybe an other ten hours.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Sh2-129
Sh2-129 is a very dimm diffused H-alpha nebula in the constellation of Cepheus.
The nebula is situated about 4 degrees west from IC 1396.
I made a small mosaic to show the actual location compared to IC 1396.
IC 1396 image is from 24.03.2008 and can be seen alone in previous post.
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IMAGING DETAILS
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Optics:
Canon FD 200mm f2.8 lens with full aperature
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Camera:
QHY8
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Platform and guiding:
LX200 GPS 12" with QHY5 guider and PHD-guiding
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Exposures:
6 x 1800s H-alpha +4 x 600s RGB + Flats and Bias frames, no darks
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Filter:
Baader 7nm H-alp + IDAS LP for RGB
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Tuesday, March 25, 2008
IC 1396 in Color
H-alpha channel is form 20.03.2008.
Last night I got some color for IC 1396, here is the result.
Only 3 x 900 s. (45min)
Smoke from local paper mill ruined over half of the exposures.
Thanks a lot.
IMAGING DETAILS
Optics:
Canon FD 200mm f2.8 lens with full aperature
Camera:
QHY8
Platform and guiding:
LX200 GPS 12" with QHY5 guider and PHD-guiding
Exposures:
6 x 1800s H-alpha +3 x 900s RGB + Flats and Bias frames, no darks
Filter:
Baader 7nm H-alp + IDAS LP RGB
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Here is a Hydrogen-alpha channel
Friday, March 21, 2008
IC 443 & NGC 2175
This image is from same night, than IC 1396.
The image scale of the lens is not perfect for this target, more
resolution is needed here.
What a waste of space, one can say...
The IC 443 is allso called to a "JellyFish Nebula"
for obvious reasons.
Lens:
Canon FD 200mm f2.8 @ f2.8
Platform:
LX00 GPS 12"
Guiding:
QHY5 + PHD-guiding
Camera:
QHY8
Filter:
Baader 7nm H-alpha
Exposures:
4 x 1800s = 2h
Thursday, March 20, 2008
IC 1396 & Dark nebulas in Hydrogen Alpha light
After playing with 3D stuff I returned back to real astro imaging.
Last night was allmost full Moon and doe that I selected the target from opposite side of the sky.
IC 1396 was about 30-36 degrees above horizont during the capturing.
IC 1396 is a large emission nebula. Image scale fits well with field of view
of Canon FD 200mm f2.8 lens. There is lots of faint nebulosity around the field.
Dark nebulas, visible in image, are dark hydrogen clouds and
they are blocking light from background stars.
One part of the large nebula is a famous "Elephant's Trunk Nebula", seen in lower
part of the image.
IMAGING DETAILS
Optics: Canon FD 200mm f2.8 lens with full aperature
Camera: QHY8
Platform and guiding: LX200 GPS 12" with QHY5 guider and PHD-guiding
Exposures: 6 x 1800s = 3 hours + Flats and Bias frames, no darks
Filter: Baader 7nm H-alpha
Elephant's Trunk detail from 10.12.2007
Older image of the "Elephant's Trunk", with longer FL
This formation can be seen in upper image. (lower part of the picture).
LX200 GPS 12" f6.3 + SXV-AO (Active Optics system) H-a 4h Elephants trunk nebula in IC 1396
Parallel Vision Stereo Image
Cross Vision Stereo Image
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Sh2-240, four more hours.
This is a false color image of the Sh2-240.
Image of the object with no stars was added as lighten mode to the Red channel,
under PS.
h-alpha image.
Inverted version
This is a version with no stars (image processing trick)
to bring out the structure better. This image was used to make a false color image.
This is really difficult target!
I can see effects of light pollution here, even with 7nm H-a
filter. Bad gradients etc...
This time I shooted 4 X 3600s = One hour subs!
My record so far. Longer subs are needed to bring out very
faint structure of this object.
So far there is about 7h exposures, I thin an other 10 hous is needed here.
I'll shoot more when weather allows.
Inverted version Thursday, March 6, 2008
Sh2-240 (Simeis 147)
this is a start of the long project.
my goal is to capture enough photons from this dim object to
be able to reveal its beauty.
This is a supernova remant in Taurus & Auriga.
The angular diameter of the object is huge, about 200'x180'!
Thats about 8 full Moon diameters. Doe the large size
the surfage brightness is very low, I think, I'll need least
20 hours of exposures to capture this well.
Last night I had problems with frost and I was not able to see
it before image processing. All the frames are practically useless.
You can see big bloated stars, even in small image.
How ever, I put small image here just for example.
There is both normal H-alpha image and inverted one.
exposures ( with frost in optics)
4 x 2700 s
3 x 900 s
FD 200mm f2.8 lens, QHY8, guiding QHY5 and LX200 GPS 12"
(This large object and the 200mm lens are very good match.)
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
IC 405 & IC410
Flaming Star nebula and its companion forms a beautiful pair.
Image is quite deep doe the fast 200mm f2.8 lens and three hours of exposures,
there is lots of nebulosity visible around main objects.
I'll shoot color for this later.
This is a emission nebula but in the Flaming Star part there should be
som bluish reflection nebulosity as well, lets see if I'm able to pick it up.
I had a lot of technical problems last night. There is a heater strip in the camera assembly to prevent dewing. In some state I managed to destroy the power plug.
I can tell, it's not a nice job to do soldering at snow with freezing wind and darkness.
After that I dropped some essential parts in the deep snow and did spend an hour to looking for them.
Image info:
Canon FD 200mm f2.8 lens coupled with QHY8 6mb cooled color camera.
7nm H-alpha filter
Exposures 9 x 1200s = 3 hours
Guiding and platform LX200 GPS 12" with QHY5 guider.
Processing in CCDStack and PS.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Second light for Canon FD 200mm f2,8 lens
Rosette nebula is located very low in the horizont at my location.
The maximum elevation is about 29 degree.
Last night I shooted one hour of exposures to RGB channels, with UHC-s
filter 6x600s.
Hevay light pollution coused strong gradient and very weak signal/noise.
Then I shooted 9x1200s for H-alpha channel, but thin upper clouds ruined 5 exposures.
Final image is composed from 6x600s RGB and 4x1200s H-alpha.
This lens is fast enough to capture a nice amount of photons in that time,
not very deeb image but tolerable.
Here is pure H-alpha version:
Thursday, February 14, 2008
First light, Canon FD 200mm f2.8 lens
Last nigh was very windy, almoust a storm. Normaly I do not shoot under that kind of
conditions. How ever, this time I wanted to test my 200mm f2.8 Canon lens under the stars.
"HARTH & SOUL"
IC 1805 & IC 1848 in H-alpha light.
Only 6x1200s, this is a fast lens. Flats and Bias, guided with LX200 and PHD-guiding.
Camera QHY8 + QHY5 guider.
I added some color, but there was problem with camera orientation, so image is clipped.
Color data: only 3x600s with UHC-s filter
I shoot California nebula as well. Elevation was very low at the end of the exposures,
only about 28 degrees.
H-alpha 4x900s, same setup.
Color version:
3x600s trough UHC-filter added.
Over all, I'm veryhappy with this lens. This is very first time to me use camera lens
for astro photography.
I was expecting severe distortion in the image edges, there is none!
I was expecting severe color aberration, there is none!!!
This lens was unexpencive, doe the old FD model, about 120€.
Here is the link for moreinformation:
http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/canon/fdresources/fdlenses/200mm.htm
All the images are shooted with full f2.8 aperature.
The front lens aperature is 72mm.
FOCUSING Fast lenses are very difficult to focus manually, it's pure luck to reach sharp focus. 200mm f2.8 lens has about 20 microns sharp focus area! I build a simple autofocuser to my lens by using TCF-s temperature compensating focuser. I'll send real pictures about that later. Here is a picture about principle.
This system solves allso problems with focus temperature shift!
TCF-s focuser is easy to move back to the main telescope at anytime.
I was able to use FocusMax with the lens and reach sharp focus in 30 seconds.
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