Showing posts with label Images with Active Optics (SXV-AO). Show all posts
Showing posts with label Images with Active Optics (SXV-AO). Show all posts
Saturday, January 4, 2025
New photo of NGC 281
This photo is made by combining 10 h of new H-alpha exposures to a 10 h of exposures with my older long focal length telescope from 2015. Beside that, there are 5 hours of data taken with Tokina AT-x 300mm f2.8 camera lens back in 2020. Very dim background mist comes mainly from camera lens data.
With 3 h S-II and O-III exposures the total exposure time was 31 hours.
Deep view to the NGC 281
Click for a full size, 2700x2500 pixels
A mapped color image from a light emitted by an ionized elements,
sulfur=red, hydrogen=green and oxygen=blue
A Portion of the Full Resolution Photo
The seeing wasn't very good so I couldn't quite split the two of the stars but it can be seen, that there are two stars very close to each other visually.
NGC 281 in visual palette
Click for a full size, 2700x2500 pixels
sulfur=red, hydrogen=red and oxygen=blue, this combination is very close to a natural color palette.
SIAMESE FIGHTING FISH NEBULA
INFO
NGC 281 is a busy workshop of star formation. Prominent features include a small open cluster of stars, a diffuse red-glowing emission nebula, large lanes of obscuring gas and dust, and dense knots of dust and gas in which stars may still be forming. The open cluster of stars IC 1590 visible around the center has formed only in the last few million years. The brightest member of this cluster is actually a multiple-star system shining light that helps ionize the nebula's gas, causing the red glow visible throughout. The lanes of dust visible below the center are likely homes of future star formation. Particularly striking in the above photograph are the dark Bok globules visible against the bright nebula. Stars are surely forming there right now. The entire NGC 281 system lies about 10 thousand light years distant. (Source, NASA APOD)
With my new imaging system I can get deeper with a good resolution, than my old long focal length toolset was able to. The secondary mirror focusing system takes care of focusing and temperature compensation, I can keep the heavy main mirror locked down all the time. Heavy mirror has a tendency to move a bit when the scope moves and that can mess up the collimation.
The current system keeps collimation perfect all the time.
An other great accessory is the Active Optics Unit from Starlight Xpress. It's as easy to use as any OAG, the good update speed to a 11 mag star is around 8Hz. The AO-unit removes all the minor tracking errors very fast. The Mesu Mount Mark II has a periodic error under four arcseconds and that's a very small error, even so, AO unit gives a better image quality since the corrections are made by moving a light weight piece of glass, the heavy load of the scope and accessories doesn't need to move for corrections.
Structure study of the NGC 281
Pillar like formations in the gas cloud are forming when the radiation pressure (Solar Wind) from the open cluster IC 1590 blows the gas and dust away and coursing some parts of the gas collapse.Due to that, they all are pointing to the source of the solar wind, open cluster IC 1590, as I have shown in the image above.NGC 281 in a large context
Please, click for a large image
Please, click for a large image
Technical details
Processing workflow
Image acquisition, MaximDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack2.
Deconvolution with a CCDStack2 Positive Constraint, 27 iterations, added at 50% weight
Color combine in PS CS3
Levels and curves in PS CS3.
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 31h
H-alpha, 30 x 1200 s, binned 1x1 = 10 h (14" Celestron EDGE)
H-alpha, 30 x 1200 s, binned 1x1 = 10 h (11" Celestron EDGE, shot at 2015)
H-alpha, 15 x 1200 x, binned 1x1 = 5h (Tokina AT-x 300mm f2.8, shot at 2020)
H-alpha, 30 x 1200 s, binned 1x1 = 10 h (11" Celestron EDGE, shot at 2015)
H-alpha, 15 x 1200 x, binned 1x1 = 5h (Tokina AT-x 300mm f2.8, shot at 2020)
O-III,9x 1200 s, binned 2x2 = 3h (11" Celestron EDGE, shot at 2015)
S-II, 9 x 1200 s. binned 2x2 = 3h (11" Celestron EDGE, shot at 2015)
A single calibrated 20 min exposure of H-alpha, Bin 1x1
Click for a full size image.
Saturday, December 21, 2024
Sharpless 132, A Furious Cosmic Horse Gets Blinded by a Divine Blue Light
This is one of my favorite targets in Cepheus, Sh2-132 has an interesting structures due to massive energetic stars in it. I haven't found any explanation to the blue, jet like, structure glowing blue light of ionized Oxygen (O-III), the structure is visible also in H-alpha light.
When I shot firs photos out of this distant object about twenty years ago, I gave a longish name to it, "A Furious Cosmic Horse Gets Blinded by a Divine Blue Light" I don't usually name my photos but with some of them I simply must do so.
This is a kind of high resolution photo taken with my new imaging platform, it covers about 0.7 x0.7 degrees of sky. (Full Moon has an apparent diameter 0,5 degrees) Seeing was very good to my location, FWHM about 1.6 arcseconds, that's rare up here.
Sharpless 132
A Furious Cosmic Horse Gets Blinded by a Divine Blue Light
A mapped color image from a light emitted by an ionized elements, sulfur=red, hydrogen=green and oxygen=blue
100% Enlarged Portion of the Full Resolution Photo
Click for a full size, 2000x2000 pixels
The Horse, as I see it
I borrowed a horse from the Piazza Navona Roma, it was a furious enough
INFO
Sharpless 132 (Sh2-132) is powered by two massive stars, each with a mass over 20 times greater than our Sun. Formed from shells of ionized gas that have expanded, the nebula's energetic matter not only glows, but is dense enough to contract gravitationally and form stars. The angular size of the Lion Nebula, officially named Sh2-132, is slightly greater than that of the full moon. The gaseous iconic region resides about 10,000 light years away in a constellation named after the King of Aethopia in Greek mythology.
Sharpless 132 in visual colors
Click for a full size photo, 2500x2500
Visual color version of Sh2-115 glows mostly in red from a light emitted by an ionized elements,
sulfur=red, hydrogen=red and oxygen=blue, this combination is very close to a natural color palette.
sulfur=red, hydrogen=red and oxygen=blue, this combination is very close to a natural color palette.
Sh2-132 in a large context
Please, click for a large image
Technical details
Processing workflow
Image acquisition, MaximDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack2.
Deconvolution with a CCDStack2 Positive Constraint, 27 iterations, added at 50% weight
Color combine in PS CS3
Levels and curves in PS CS3.
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 11h
H-alpha, 15 x 1200 s, binned 1x1 = 5 h
O-III,9x 1200 s, binned 2x2 = 3h
S-II, 9 x 1200 s. binned 2x2 = 3h
A single calibrated 20 min exposure of H-alpha, Bin 1x1
Click for a full size image.
Tuesday, October 15, 2024
WR 134, The Rising Phoenix
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This is the second light for my new imaging setup, the first light image can be seen HERE
For years I have wanted to shoot a long focal length photo of this amazing mass ejecting star in constellation Cygnus, the Swan. Past five years I have done short focal length imaging with camera optics, now it's time to get closer.
I spent several clear nights to capture light emitted by an ionized elements in this gas formation. (H-alpha, S-II and O-III) For compositional reasons I ended up to a two panel mosaic image. Total exposure time is 23h.
When processing the final image I couldn't be noticing how much this formation looked like a mystical creature, the Phoenix Bird. I rarely use any other than official catalog numbers as a name of my photos but this time I simply had to name this composition to "Rising Phoenix".
When art meets science, the results can be beautiful. It can become something more than either of them on their own can ever be.
WR 134 as a Rising Phoenix
Click for a large image, 2500x1300 pixels photo shows the WR 134 like never seen before.
The photo is in mapped colors from an ionized elements, H-alpha=green, S-II=red and O-III=blue, Original resolution is 12.000 x 7000 pixels200% Enlarged Portion of the Full Resolution Photo
Click for a full size, 2000x2000 pixels
RISING PHOENIX PAREIDOLIA
Click for a large image
This image shows how I see the Phoenix Bird in this image
Info about the WR 134
WR 134 is a variable Wolf-Rayet star located around 6,000 light years away from us in the constellation of Cygnus. It's surrounded by a faint bubble of glowing ionized oxygen, blown out by the intense radiation and fast solar wind from the star. The star has five times the radius of the sun and it's 400,000 times more luminous.
My Wide Field Photo of the Area
Click for a large image, ~2500x2000 pixels
WR 134 can be seen just up left from the center, at right from the middle lays the Tulip Nebula,
Sh2-101. I took this narrowband photo with Tokina AT-X 300mm f2.8 camera lens @ full open.
The camera was a Apogee Alta U16 with an Astrodon narrowband filter set, exposure time around 10h. This is a one frame image. Note, the "noise" in the background is not a noise, there are millions of stars
This photo is a part of very large mosaic image,
can you find the WR 134 from THIS massive panorama of Northern Milky Way
WR 134, the Rising Phoenix in visual spectrum
Click for a large image, ~2500x1300 pixels
The photo is in visual colors from an ionized elements, H-alpha=red, S-II=red and O-III=blue
A Starless Image of WR 134 Animated
Click for a large image
An Animation about emission layers
Click for a large image
Click for a large image
In this animation the blue O-III channel can be seen alone without other two emission lines in image, H-alpha and S-II, and in a last frame, without other stars but WR134 visible
Technical details
Processing workflow
Image acquisition, MaximDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack2.
Deconvolution with a CCDStack2 Positive Constraint, 27 iterations, added at 50% weight
Color combine in PS CS3
Levels and curves in PS CS3.
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 23h
H-alpha, 15 x 1200 s, binned 1x1 = 5 h
O-III, 45x 1200 s, binned 1x1 = 15h
S-II, 9 x 1200 s. binned 2x2 = 3h
A single, full scale, 20 min O-III exposure
Click for a full scale image.
This is a dim target, 1200s O-III exposure doesn't show much about the O-III formation around the star WR 134.
This is one of the test shots after the collimation procedure. Exposure time is 1200s with 3nm O-III filter. Image is calibrated with Dark Frame and Bias corrected Flat Frame. Target is WR 134 in Cygnus. Stars are pinpoint from corner to corner. Optical analysis of this frame can be found at end of THIS blogpost
PS,
Terminator Arrives from the Future
My wife saw the new photo and pointed out, that the blue formation looks like an electric bubble used for a time traveling, as seen in a Terminator movies.
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Wednesday, October 9, 2024
FIRST LIGHT FOR MY NEW IMAGING SETUP
After a couple of years I'm able to publish a bran new photo!
This is a first light to my new imaging setup, it took couple of years to get it up and running.
I selected a relatively bright target since I wanted to test the system as soon as possible. The Pelican Nebula in constellation Cygnus, the Swan, is my first target.
The new system has a focal length of 2730mm with a massive 0.7 focal reducer for the Celestron EDGE 14" telescope. The new camera has 12 micron pixel size and it gives me an image scale of 0.91 arc seconds/pixel. (That's perfect for my seeing conditions.) The field of view spans 46.1 x 46.1 arcminutes of sky. (For a scale, Full Moon covers 30x30 arcminutes of sky)
The native resolution of the Apogee Alta U9000M camera is 3056x3056 pixels. I'm using a stacking method that doubles the measures by using the "Drizzle" while imaging. The final image is then 6112x6112 pixels.
Only five hours of light from an ionized hydrogen (H-alpha) is used for this photo. Other two color channels, O-III and S-II, are borrowed from my older long focal length photo of this target taken with Celestron EDGE 11" telescope.
Pelican Nebula
Click the photo to see a 2000x2000 pixel version
Click the image to see a full size version
This photo is in mapped colors from light from an ionized elements, hydrogen = green, sulfur=red and oxygen=blue. (H-alpha, S-II and O-III)
200% Enlarged Portion of the Full Resolution Photo
Click for a full size, 2000x2000 pixels
A Full Size H-alpha Frame
Click the image to see a full size version, 3056x3056 pixels
Click the image to see a full size version, 3056x3056 pixels
This is a stretched stack of fifteen 20min. calibrated H-alpha frames. Collimation wasn't perfect at the time so some oval stars can be seen in lower right corner. Now the collimation is under one arcseconds and the whole frame has pinpoint stars from corner to corner. (It's a large CCD, diagonal is 52mm) Optical analysis at end of this blog post,
Herbig-Haro Objects
Herbig–Haro (HH) objects are bright patches of nebulosity associated with newborn stars. They are formed when narrow jets of partially ionized gas ejected by stars collide with nearby clouds of gas and dust at several hundred kilometers per second. Herbig–Haro objects are commonly found in star-forming regions. (Source, Wikipedia)
I have labeled Herbig-Haro Objects in this closeup from my photo.
Technical details
Processing workflow
Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack2.
Deconvolution with a CCDStack2 Positive Constraint, 27 iterations, added at 50% weight
Color combine in PS CS3
Levels and curves in PS CS3.
Imaging optics
Celestron EDGE 14" with 0.7 Focal reducer
Mount
MesuMount Mark II
Cameras and filters
Imaging camera Apogee Alta U9000M and Apogee seven slot filter wheel
Guider camera, Lodestar x 2 and SXV-AO Active Optics @ 6hz
Astrodon filters,
5nm H-alpha 3nm S-II and 3nm O-III
Total exposure time
H-alpha, 15 x 1200 s, binned 1x1 = 5 h (Data from new setup)
O-III, 3x 1200 s, binned 2x2 = 1h (Older data with 11" Celestron EDGE)
S-II, 3 x 1200 s. binned 2x2 = 1h (Older data with 11" Celestron EDGE
Friday, October 31, 2014
The Cygnus Wall
A fast image from the last night, the Cygnus Wall, a part of the much large North america Nebula, NGC 7000. This is a relatively bright formation, three hours of H-alpha light and half an hour of O-III was captured for this photo. S-II channel is borrowed from an older wide field image, since the clouds rolled in before I was able to shoot it.
Click for a large image
Detail from the image above
INFO
Source: NASA APOD
The North America nebula on the sky can do what the North America continent on Earth cannot -- form stars. Specifically, in analogy to the Earth-confined continent, the bright part that appears as Central America and Mexico is actually a hot bed of gas, dust, and newly formed stars known as the Cygnus Wall. The above image shows the star forming wall lit and eroded by bright young stars, and partly hidden by the dark dust they have created. The part of the North America nebula (NGC 7000) shown spans about 15 light years and lies about 1,500 light years away toward the constellation of the Swan (Cygnus).
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
Color combine in PS CS3
Levels and curves in PS CS3.
Imaging optics
Celestron Edge HD 1100 @ f7 with 0,7 focal reducer for Edge HD 1100 telescope
Cameras and filters
Imaging camera Apogee Alta U16 and Apogee seven slot filter wheel
Guider camera, Lodestar x2
Astrodon filter, 5nm H-aplha
Astrodon filter, 3nm O-III
Exposure times
Astrodon filter, 3nm O-III
Exposure times
H-alpha 6 x 1200s = 3h
O-III 3 x 600s = 30min.
S-II is borrowed from my older wide field image
A single un cropped, calibrated and stretched 20 min. H-alpha frame
A single un cropped, calibrated and stretched 20 min. H-alpha frame
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
NGC 6992, Eastern Veil, an ionized Oxygen only
Eastern Veil was my opening image of the Autumn season 2013.
I just made a new image out of it. This photo shows only an emission of the ionized Oxygen.
NGC 6992
A portion of the Eastern Veil in Oxygen light
An emission of ionized Oxygen in Eastern Veil Nebula.
An original image shows three emission lines, H-alpha, Sulfur II and Oxygen III
Link to an original blog post with the technical details HERE.
Three emission lines as an animation
I just made a new image out of it. This photo shows only an emission of the ionized Oxygen.
NGC 6992
A portion of the Eastern Veil in Oxygen light
An original image shows three emission lines, H-alpha, Sulfur II and Oxygen III
Three emission lines as an animation
Sunday, October 20, 2013
A rarely imaged object, the Sharpless106, Sh2-106
Sh2-106, The Hourglass nebula, an emission nebula in Cygnus
Ra 20h 27m Dec +37° 22′
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
R=Hydrogen + Sulfur, G=Oxygen and B=Oxygen + Hydrogen.
Buy a photographic print from HERE
There are not too many images around about this little fellow.
Sharpless 106, the Hourglass Nebula, locates in constellation Cygnus approximately at distance of 2000 light years. This is kind of a small object, an apparent size is about four arc minutes (Moon is about 30 arc minutes.) There is a young star at the center of the nebula, S106IR. The solar vind, a radiation pressure, from the young star is responsible for the gas cloud's hourglass like shape.
I think, there is a hint of the outer shock front visible in my image. It locates symmetrically at both side of the central nebula .
Image in mapped colors
Processing work flow:
Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack2.
A light, 33 iterations, deconvolution added at 50% weight in CCDStack2.
A light, 33 iterations, deconvolution added at 50% weight in CCDStack2.
Levels, curves and color combine in PS CS3.
Optics, Meade LX200 GPS 12" @ f5
Camera, QHY9
Guiding, SXV-AO, an active optics unit, and Lodestar guide camera
Image Scale, ~0,8 arc-seconds/pixel
15 x 1200s exposures for H-alpha emission
3x1200s exposures for the O-III
3x1200 exposures for the S-II
Total 7h of exposures3x1200s exposures for the O-III
3x1200 exposures for the S-II
Friday, October 18, 2013
The second image of the Autumn season 2013. Sharpless 132
Sh2-132, an emission nebula in Cepheus
Ra 22h 19m 20s Dec +56° 06′ 00"
Buy a photographic print from HERE
A starless version
Buy a photographic print from HERE
INFO
Sharpless 132 is a very faint emission nebula, it locates at the border of Cepheus and Lacerta. Distance is about 10.000 light years. This image covers about 210' x 160', that's about 3,5 x 2,7 degrees. Resolution is 3,79 arc seconds/pixel.
In this final version, a strong O-III area is visible as a Blue color in both color palettes. There is some S-II in the area too but it's weak.
Image in visual colors
R=Hydrogen + Sulfur, G=Oxygen and B=Oxygen + Hydrogen.
Buy a photographic print from HERE
Buy a photographic print from HERE
A wide filed image of the Sh2-132
A blogpost about this older image of mine can be found HERE.
Buy a photographic print from HERE
Technical details
Processing work flow:
Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack2.
A light, 33 iterations, deconvolution added at 50% weight in CCDStack2.
A light, 33 iterations, deconvolution added at 50% weight in CCDStack2.
Levels, curves and color combine in PS CS3.
Optics, Meade LX200 GPS 12" @ f5
Camera, QHY9
Guiding, SXV-AO, an active optics unit, and Lodestar guide camera
Image Scale, ~0,8 arc-seconds/pixel
12 x 1200s exposures for H-alpha emission = 4h.
O-III and S-II channels are from an older wide field image.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
First light for the Autumn Season 2013, NGC 6992
In this year it took some time to have a real first light for the season due to the weather up here 65N.
Image is exposed during several nights, 13.09 - 14.10, between the speeding clouds.
NGC 6992
A portion of the Eastern Veil in constellation Cygnus.
Image is in mapped colors, from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.
Buy a photographic print from HERE
INFO
NGC 6992, the Eastern Veil, is part of the Veil Nebula, a supernova remnant in constellation Cygnus at distance of about 1470 light years. This is one of the more luminous areas in this SNR.
The shock front formed by the material ejected from giant explosion, the super nova, can be seen in this image.
Image in visual spectrum
Image is in Natural color palette from the emission of ionized elements,
A starless version
An experimetal starless image to show the actual nebula better.
Buy a photographic print from HERE
Orientation
Location in Veil Nebula supernova remnant is marked with a white rectangle.
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An animated image
This animation shows the difference between emission lines. The target is shot three times for a RGB-color image.
Image is exposed during several nights, 13.09 - 14.10, between the speeding clouds.
NGC 6992
A portion of the Eastern Veil in constellation Cygnus.
Buy a photographic print from HERE
INFO
NGC 6992, the Eastern Veil, is part of the Veil Nebula, a supernova remnant in constellation Cygnus at distance of about 1470 light years. This is one of the more luminous areas in this SNR.
The shock front formed by the material ejected from giant explosion, the super nova, can be seen in this image.
Image in visual spectrum
R=Hydrogen + Sulfur, G=Oxygen and B=Oxygen + Hydrogen.
Buy a photographic print from HERE
Buy a photographic print from HERE
A starless version
Buy a photographic print from HERE
Orientation
Buy a photographic print from HERE
An animated image
Technical details
Processing work flow:
Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack2.
A light, 33 iterations, deconvolution added at 50% weight in CCDStack2.
A light, 33 iterations, deconvolution added at 50% weight in CCDStack2.
Levels, curves and color combine in PS CS3.
Optics, Meade LX200 GPS 12" @ f5
Camera, QHY9
Guiding, SXV-AO, an active optics unit, and Lodestar guide camera
Image Scale, ~0,8 arc-seconds/pixel
12 x 1200s exposures for H-alpha emission = 4h
18x 1200s exposures for O-III, emission of ionized Oxygen = 6h
12 x 1200s exposures for S-II, emission of ionized Sulfur = 4h
Total exposure time 14h.
Ps.
A collection of Veil Nebula details from the past
A blog post about this poster and links to an original images can be found HERE
Buy a photographic print from HERE
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