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Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Sharpless-114, the Flying Dragon Nebula, reprocessed data


Originally I published this photo of Sh2-114 at 8. November 2015. I did some reprocessing, especially to the mapped color version.
Also I found another photo of this emission area taken by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory and its four meter telescope. It was nice to notice, that my photo and processing with  only 0.28 meter telescope  could reveal a good level of details out of this dim target, if compared to a photo by Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory.

Sharpless-114, the Flying Dragon Nebula
Click for a large image

Image in mapped colors from the light emitted by the ionized elements. 
Red=Sulfur, Green=Hydrogen and Blue=Oxygen.


Kitt Peak 4-meter telescope vs. Astro Anarchy 0.28-meter telescope
Click for a large image

A photo by 4-meter telescope of NOAO compared to my photo of Sh2-114 with a Celestron Edge HD 11 inch telescope. Both images are in mapped colors from the light emitted by the ionized elements. 
Photos are cropped,scaled and rotated to match the data.


Image in visual spectrum
Click for a large image

Natural color composition from the emission of ionized elements. 


INFO

Sh2-114 is a complex and unusual HII emission nebula. Its complex, wispy structure is likely the result of winds from hot, massive stars interacting with the magnetic fields in the interstellar medium. But very little is known about it. (Source, https://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im1112.html)

There is a planetary nebula at the same field of view, Lan 384 (Kn 26)
Using existing digital sky surveys, Jacoby et al. (2010) presented Kn 26, a bipolar PN candidate known for a long time as the emission line source Lan 384. Here we present high spatial-resolution optical and near-IR narrow-band images of this nebula, high-dispersion long-slit echelle spectra, and low-resolution spectroscopy. The new data confirm the PN nature of Kn 26 and reveal features typical of bipolar PNe: butterfly morphology, H2 emission, and nitrogen enrichment. A detailed analysis of the morphology and kinematics, however, suggests the possible presence of two pairs of bipolar lobes that would make Kn 26 a new member of the class of quadrupolar PN.  (Source, http://www.iac.es/congreso/iaus283/pages/meeting/view-abstract.php?aid=138)


Lan 384 closeup

This is a closeup from top right third  of my photo.
Some latest info confirms this a s bipolar planetary nebula, http://www.iac.es/congreso/iaus283/pages/meeting/view-abstract.php?aid=138


Technical details

Processing work flow

Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack2.
Deconvolution with a CCDStack2 Positive Constraint, 21 iterations, added at 25% 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, 9x 1200s = 3h
O-III, 3 x 1200s binned = 1h 
S-II,  3 x 1200s binned = 1h 
Total 5h


A single uncropped, calibrated and stretched 20 min. H-alpha frame as it comes from the camera



www.tips-fb.com Posted by J-P Metsavainio at 8:41 AM 2 comments
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Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Astrophotography by J-P Metsavainio, a video


Last weekend I participated to a Finnish Star Party at Artjärvi, southern Finland, as a speaker. Thanks to the organizators, everything went very smoothly!

I made a small movie out of the images used in my presentation. At first, there are couple of minutes some quick info, how my photos are taken. Rest of the movie is made out of my photos taken between 2007 and 2016.


Astrophotography by J-P Metsavainio 2007 -2016
Note.
For the best impression, select HD 1080p from settings and watch in fullscreen. Music is by Tchaikovsky, enjoy!



Click to start and stop the movie


Watch in Youtube, HD 1080p:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXMaVoOvS1o



You can find and follow my photos from here








www.tips-fb.com Posted by J-P Metsavainio at 5:56 PM 0 comments
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Monday, April 11, 2016

Just for a fun, a Kepler launch pareidolia



Kepler is a space observatory launched by NASA to discover Earth-size planets orbiting other stars. The spacecraft, named after the Renaissance astronomer Johannes Kepler was launched on March 7, 2009. I spotted the NASA picture out of the launch and I simply had to do this manipulation to show, how I saw the photo at the first time.

Something is holding back the Kepler's launch
Click for a large image

Original photo credit: NASA/Sandra Joseph, Kevin O'Connell. Image manipulation by J-P Metsavainio, Astro Anarchy Observatory, Oulu, Finland. 





www.tips-fb.com Posted by J-P Metsavainio at 10:18 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

The end, all of my photos from the Winter season 2015-2016

This is a collection of my photos from the past Winter season, Autumn 2015 and Spring 2016. We are now out of astronomical darkness for about six months due to high latitude, 65N. As every time, it's hard to give up imaging the beauty of the deep sky.

The season was very cloudy as usually. We had many months a solid cloud cover this winter and clear nights just now and then. The good side is, that I have been forced to develop new imaging and processing methods to be able to finalise maximum number of photos. The "Tone mapping" method and a new unpublished "VARES" (Variable Resolution imaging method) are very powerful tools for astrophotography. I'll publish the VARES.method in a year or so, after I have tested it well enough.


A poster format collection from all of my photos, Spring season 2016 
Please, click for a large image, 2200 x 3000 pixels, ~4MB




Autumn season 2015 
Please, click for a large image, 2200 x 2500 pixels, ~4MB


Photos from the Winter season 2015 - 2016 in chronological order, oldest first
Autumn season 2015



All photos above have been taken with this setup

My humble thanks to the supporters, they made my work possible once again!
This setup was possible due to great support!


  • Mount, 10-micron 1000
  • Optics, Celestron Edge HD 1100
  • Camera, Apogee U16 D09 with KAF16803 chip, 4096x4096 9 microns pixels, 36,8x36,8mm 
  • Filter Wheel, Apogee, seven square slots 50x50mm 
  • Focuser, FeatherTouch with MicroTouch control unit 
  • Heater, Dew Buster 
  • Active Optics Unit, SXV AO LF from Starlight Xpress + OAG 
  • Guider, an ultra sensitive Lodestar X2, also from Starlight Xpress 
  • Focal Reducer, Celestron reducer 0.7 for Edge 1100 
  • Finder, Telrad 
  • Filters, Astrodon, H-alpha 5nm, O-III 3nm, S-II 3nm. R, G, B and L

Some highlights from the season past 

  • Exhibition in Mikkeli Center of Photography




  • Cooperation with David Lane

This photo get published by WIRED and CNET



Dr.Ioannis - Hugh Seiradakis Professor of the Physics Department of AUTH
J-P Metsavainio Finnish astrophotographer
The Dr.Fiori Anastasia Metallinou is an associate of the Institute of Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Applications and Remote Sensing of the National Observatory of Athens.
Dr.Kosmas gauze is Lecturer of the Department of Astrophysics, Astronomy and Mechanics, University of Athens

  • A gallery exhibition in Helsinki, Finland, Galleria Kajaste



  • An art exhibition in Oulu, Finland


  • Concert, thousand year old vocal music with my astronomical photos

Two concerts with two vocal ensemble Cappella pro Vocale from Oulu and Punctum from Rovaniemi. Thousand year old vocal music with my astronomical photos turned to be a timeless combination.

My imageshow was matched with music and it was projected on the walls and ceiling with four power projectors. Concert took place in two places, first one was in Oulu, Finland at the Church of St Thomas, the second one took place in Rovaniemi in Northern Finland at the Chapel of Korkalovaara.

Concert in Rovaniemi, Chapel of Korkalovaara at Polar Circle (Image is taken during rehearsal)

Concert in my hometown Oulu at Church of St Thomas

Concert in my hometown Oulu at Church of St Thomas

Concert in Rovaniemi, Chapel of Korkalovaara at Polar Circle (Image is taken during rehearsal)

Concert in Rovaniemi, Chapel of Korkalovaara at Polar Circle (Image is taken during rehearsal)







www.tips-fb.com Posted by J-P Metsavainio at 3:02 PM 0 comments
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