Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Messier 31, M31, the Great Galaxy of Andromeda
Another collaboration image, this time with David Lane. He is also a master of landscape astrophotographing, please, have a look at his homepage: http://www.davelaneastrophotography.com/
Image acquisition is made by David Lane. He sent a massive amount of data to me to process and here is the first result, the Great Galaxy of Andromeda with 37 hours of exposure time.
Messier 31, M31, the Galaxy of Andromeda
Click for a large image
A deep H-alpha boosted LRGB exposure of the Galaxy of Andromeda
Large resolution detail from the image above
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Dust lanes of Andromeda
A starless view
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A vertical composition of M31
A poster format view to the M31
INFO
The Andromeda Galaxy, also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224, is a spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million light years from Earth. It is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way.
The Milky Way and Andromeda are expected to collide in 3.75 billion years, eventually merging to form a giant elliptical galaxy or perhaps a large disk galaxy.
At 3.4, the apparent magnitude of the Andromeda Galaxy is one of the brightest of any of the Messier objects, making it visible to the naked eye on moonless nights even when viewed from areas with moderate light pollution. It has an apparent diameter of six times as wide as the full Moon
An experimental test
This funny looking image is just stretched vertically to try to show the actual round shape of the galaxy.
It looks like a barred spiral to me.
Technical details
Data acquisition, David Lane
Image processing, J-P Metsavainio
Processing workflow
Deconvolution with a CCDStack2 Positive Constraint, 27 iterations, added at 33% weight
Color combine in PS CS3
Levels and curves in PS CS3.
Imaging optics
William Optics GT81
Camera
SBIG STL-1100 3 CCD
Exposure times
Luminance, 18h
H-alpha, 1h
Red = ~6h
Green = ~6h
Blue = ~6h
Total 37h
Thursday, September 17, 2015
APOD by NASA, Astro Anarchy gets published
Astronomy Picture of the Day
My shot of the Pickering's Triangle in Veil Nebula was selected today as an APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day) by NASA. You can see the NASA page here: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150917.html
Pickering's Triangle
Be sure to click for a large image!
Be sure to click for a large image!
INFO
Original blog post about this image, with technical details, can be seen here:
You can buy a real, museum quality, photographic print from HERE
This is my eighth APOD, older ones can be seen here:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap141115.html
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap131214.html
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110218.htmlhttp://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap141115.html
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap131214.html
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Pickering's Triangle, my first light for the Autumn season 2015
This is my opening photo for the Autumn season 2015. I started this imaging project a year ago, at Autumn 2014. Back then I shot 12h of the light form an ionized oxygen, O-III. This is a two frame mosaic of the Veil Nebula supernova remnant. This Autumn I shot 5h of light from an ionized hydrogen, H-alpha. I was able to make a Hubble palette image by using the S-II from my older wide field photo of the Veil Nebula.
Pickering's Triangle
Be sure to click for a large image!
Colors are from the ionized elements, Hydrogen, Sulfur and Oxygen.
S-II = Red, H-alpha = Green and O-III = Blue.
(A content of this O-III image can be seen as a blueish color at image above.)
A closeup
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A less zoomed version
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The whole two frame mosaic
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A two frame mosaic of the Pickering's Triangle
A wide field photo of the Veil Nebula supernova remnant
The Pickering's Triangle can be see at one o'clock position.
My blog post about the wide field shot can be seen 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
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
Mount
10-micron 1000
Cameras and filters
Imaging camera Apogee Alta U16 and Apogee seven slot filter wheel
Guider camera, Lodestar x2 and SXV-AOL
Astrodon filter, 5nm H-alpha
Astrodon filter, 3nm O-III
Astrodon filter, 3nm S-II
Exposure times
H-alpha, 15 x 1200s = 5h
O-III, 36 x 1200s binned = 12h (Autumn 2014)
S-II, from my older wide field photo of the Veil Nebula = 3h
Total 20h
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
IC 4603, at the core of the colorful Scorpion
This is a third image produced as a collaboration with me and Eric Recurt. The data is shot from his observatory at Tenerife. The Observatory locates at 2400 m altitude and at 28 degrees North. The site has excellent seeing conditions, 0.8 " on average and can be below 0.3 "
IC 4603, the core region of the Rho Ophiuchi complex in the constellation Scorpion
Click for a full size image
This is a broadband LRGB natural color image of the IC 4603 from a remote observatory in Tenerife.
Full scale closeups
Click for a full size image
Technical details
Full scale closeups
Click for a full size image
Technical details
Processing workflow
Deconvolution with a CCDStack2 Positive Constraint, 27 iterations, added at 33% weight
Color combine in PS CS3
Levels and curves in PS CS3.
Imaging optics
340mm F3.3 astrograph
Mount
ASA DDM 85
Cameras and filters
FLI PL 16803
Exposure times
Luminance, 10 x 300s
Red = 10 x 180s
Green = 9 x 180s
Blue = 8 x 180s
Total 2h 11min
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