Astro Anarchy

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Wide field vs closeups, IC405 & IC410

I have shot many targets with several focal lengths.

Due that, I will publish some older images as an image sets, with different field of view and detail levels.

The fractal nature of our universe stands out nicely by this way and it will make the orientation more easy.

Many times, it's difficult to understand the image scale of astronomical images.

Due that, I will add a Moon circle in some images to show the angular scale in a sky.

The full Moon has an angular scale of ~30 arc minutes in a sky, that's equal to ~0,5 degrees.

IC410 & IC405

An emission Nebula in constellation Auriga

Image is in HST-palette, (HST=palette used in Hubble Space Telescope images)

from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.

NOTE. The size of the full Moon (0,5 degrees) is marked as a gray circle at lower Left corner.

A wide field image of the area, covering about 4,5 degrees of the sky.

(Nine full Moons side by side)

Following targets can be seen in the image:

IC405, the "Flaming Star Nebula", locates in upper Right corner.

IC410 can be seen in lower Right.

There is a third cataloged object in the image, IC417 (Sharpless 234), it lays at upper Left corner.

Image is shot with a Tokina AT-X 300mm camera lens at F2.8. A Baader narrowband filter set was used, the exposure time was about 2h. Original Blog post can be found HERE.

Closeup of IC410

A HST-palette closeup of IC410.

I call this as an image of the "Cosmic Fertilization", you might be able to see why...

Image is shot with a Meade LX200 GPS 12" telescope @ f0.5 and a QHY9, a cooled astronomical camera.

Baader narrowband filter set, total exposure time was ~4 hours. Original Blog post can be found HERE.

Dusty emission nebula IC 410 lies about 12,000 light-years away in the northern constellation Auriga.

The size of the nebula is about 100 light years across. The open cluster NGC1893 has formed from the gas cloud about 4 million years ago, bright cluster can be seen just above a dark cloud in middle of the image.

Radiation from the star cluster makes the nebula glow by ionizing the elements. (The principle is very same as in neon tubes) Each "tadpole" seen in the image, has a length of about ten light years. The tip of the tadpole is a birth place for the new stars.

Closeup of IC405

A HST-palette closeup of IC 405, the "Flaming Star Nebula"

Image is shot with a Meade LX200 GPS 12" telescope @ f0.5 and a QHY9, a cooled astronomical camera.

Baader narrowband filter set, total exposure time was ~12 hours. Original Blog post can be found HERE.

IC 405 locates in constellation Auriga and it's an emission/reflection nebula. Refelction component can't be seen in my image, since I'm shooting only narrowband data and reflection part is broadband target.

Distance from Oulu, Finland, is about 1500 light years. Nebula is about 5 light years across.

Closeup of IC417

A HST-palette closeup of IC 417 (Sharpless 234), sometimes called as a "Spider Nebula"

Image is shot with a Meade LX200 GPS 12" telescope @ f0.5 and a QHY9, a cooled astronomical camera.

Baader narrowband filter set, total exposure time was ~10 hours. Original Blog post can be found HERE.

IC 417 locates in constellation Auriga, distance is about 10.000 light years. Image is about 30' wide and covers about 100 light years. Ra 05 hr 28 min 05.9 sec , Dec +34 hr 25 min26 sec

This is not too commonly imaged target due the lowish surface brightness and the proximity of two eye catchers, IC 405 and IC 410. This image was one of the most difficult one to process due the very weak signal. There was some very dim O-III emission in the target, it can be seen as a Blue.