Sunday, March 22, 2015
Messier 13, the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules
The season is about to end up here 65N for about six months. We have had clear skies for a couple of weeks now and I have lots of new material to publish in near future.
Messier 13 is a kind of fast project shot between dimmer targets. My location is not ideal for a broadband targets, like galaxies and clusters, due to massive light pollution. How ever, this is my try with a M13.
Messier 13
Click for a much large image
LRGB photo of the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules. Note. galaxy NGC 6207 at a lower left corner.
Click for a much large image
INFO
M13 locates in constellation Hercules at a distance of 25000 light years. The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules is one of the most brightest globular star clusters in northern sky. Stars are backed to a spherical formation with a diameter of about 150 light years.
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
Custom Scientific LRGB 50mm Square Filters
Exposure times
Luminance, 14 x 600s = 2h 20min
Red, 6 x 200s binned 2x2 = 20 min.
Green, 6 x 200s binned 2x2= 20 min.
Blue, 6 x 200s binned 2x2 = 20 min
Total 3h 20min
Thursday, March 19, 2015
NGC 2174, the Monkey Head Nebula, project finalized
This photo shows more about this nebula, than I have used to see in any images taken with the same detail level. I haven't been aware of the curved dimmer areas at lower part of my photo.
NGC 2175
Click for a large image
are from emission of sulfur and hydrogen, bluish hues are from ionized oxygen.
A large version
Click for a 1800x1400 pixels, 1,3MB
Fancy a burger?
NGC 2174 in visual colors
INFO
NGC 2174, also known as a Monkey Head Nebula, locates at constellation Orion at distance of about 6400 light years. My photo shows about one square degrees of sky (The apparent size of the Moon is 0,5 degrees) The lower part of the photo shows a rarely imaged dimmer parts of the gas formation.
Image in H-alpha emission alone
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-alpha
Astrodon filter, 3nm O-III
Astrodon filter, 3nm S-II
Exposure times
H-alpha, 16 x 1200s = 5h
O-III, 6 x 1200s = 2h min.
S-II, 6x1200s = 2h min.
Total 9h
A single un cropped, calibrated and stretched 20 min. H-alpha frame as it comes from the camera
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
A start of the new imaging project, NGC 2174, the "Monkey Head Nebula"
At March 9 I managed to exposure about four hours of H-alpha light for NGC 2147.
I'll shoot more exposures for this soon to have more signal and colors.
There seems to be some rarely imaged faint looped shapes at bottom of the object, I haven't seen them before.
NGC 2174, the Monkey Head Nebula in Orion
A starless version
An inverted image to show the bottom filaments better
Monday, March 9, 2015
The heart of the Heart nebula, melotte 15
A new photo from the night of 20. February and 6, March, Melotte 15 in the IC 1805, the Heart nebula.
Melotte 15
Click for a large image
Image is in mapped colors from an emission of the ionized elements. Golden areas
are from emission of sulfur and hydrogen, bluish hues are from ionized oxygen.
And even closer
INFO
An experimental starless image
Click for a large image
This experimental starless photo shows the object in light of an ionized hydrogen alone.
Image in visual colors
Natural color composition from the emission of ionized elements, R=80%Hydrogen+20%Sulfur, G=100%Oxygen and B=85%Oxygen+15%Hydrogen to compensate otherwise missing H-beta emission. This composition is very close to a visual spectrum.
Melotte 15
Click for a large image
are from emission of sulfur and hydrogen, bluish hues are from ionized oxygen.
A closeup
Click for a large image
A closer closeup
Click for a large image
And even closer
INFO
The open cluster centered in this image is known as Melotte 15 . Melotte 15 is embedded within a central portion of the much larger glowing nebula identified as IC 1805.
The interesting structure in the image is a giant area of ionized hydrogen, it's caused to glow by the intense ultraviolet radiation from the massive stars of the Melotte 15 star cluster.
Dust and gas clouds are twisted by the pressure of the intense radiation, the solar wind.
This formation is estimated to be 7,500 light years away from Earth, North is up.
An experimental starless image
Click for a large image
Image in visual colors
Orientation in an older wide field image of the area
The Heart and Soul nebulae, IC 1848 and 1805, in constellation Cassiopeia. Area of interest is marked as a white rectangle.
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 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-alpha
Exposure times
H-alpha, 12 x 1200s = 4h
O-III and S-II channels are from an older wide field photo of this area.
A single un cropped, calibrated and stretched 20 min. H-alpha frame as it comes from the camera
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