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Tuesday, October 11, 2016

A little different view to the North America nebula, part II



Yesterday I published a new photo out of the North America Nebula. I had some extra exposures for it since at first I used a wrong image position. Images are overlapping so I was able to build a small two panel mosaic.


A detail from the North America nebula as a two panel mosaic
Please, click for a large image

Image is in mapped colours, from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulphur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.


An experimental starless version as a vertical composition
Please, click for a large image

There is a somehow eerie feel in this starless version


Orientation
Please, click for a full size photo

Area of interest is marked as a white rectangle 


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 @ f10 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 for both panels
H-alpha, 9x 1200s = 5h
O-III, 3 x 1200s binned 2x2 = 2h 
S-II,  3 x 1200s binned 2x2 = 2h 
Total 9h




Monday, October 10, 2016

A little different view to the North America nebula, NGC 7000



I have planned to shoot this area of the North America Nebula for years. NGC 7000 is very well known and much imaged area of the sky. I always trying to find new visual aspects from the popular objects. Nebula itself is relatively bright, only five hours of exposures was needed for a good signal.

A detail from the North America nebula
Please, click for a large image

Image is in mapped colours, from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulphur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.

An experimental starless view reveals details in the actual nebula
Please, click for a large image

There is a somehow eerie feel in this starless version


Image in visual spectrum
Please, click for a large image

Image is in Natural colour palette from the emission of ionized elements, 
R=Hydrogen + Sulphur, G=Oxygen and B=Oxygen + ~10% Hydrogen.


Orientation
Please, click for a full size photo

Area of interest is marked as a white rectangle 


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 @ f10 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 2x2 = 1h 
S-II,  3 x 1200s binned 2x2 = 1h 
Total 5h

A single uncropped, calibrated and stretched 20 min. H-alpha, O-III and S-II frames as they comes from the camera

H-alpha emission



S-II emission



O-III emission




Friday, September 30, 2016

First light for the Autumn season 2016, Eastern part of the Veil nebula supernova remnant.



This is an opening shot for the Spring season 2016, it's good to be back again!
This time I shot a two frame mosaic out of the Eastern part of the Veil Nebula SNR. This image shows well the complex nature of the shock front sourced by an exploded star, a supernova.
Total exposure time from several nights is around 15 hours.


A two panel mosaic of the Eastern Veil Nebula
Please, click for a full size photo, 1850 x 1200 pixels

Image is in mapped colors, from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.


A closeup
Please, click for a full size photo, 1850 x 1200 pixels




Orientation
Please, click for a full size photo

Area of interest is marked as a white rectangle


INFO

 Eastern Veil is a part of theVeil Nebula supernova remnant at constellation Cygnus.
Veil Nebula is a cloud of ionized gas and dust, leftovers from an exploded star. The star went off some 5000-8000 years ago at distance of about 1470 light years. The whole Veil Nebula is a relatively faint target and difficult to image due to the large angular diameter, about three degrees, and a dense star field.

Eastern Veil in visual colours
Please, click for a full size photo

Image is in Natural color palette from the emission of ionized elements, 
R=Hydrogen + Sulfur, G=Oxygen and B=Oxygen + Hydrogen.


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 25% weight
Color combine in PS CS3
Levels and curves in PS CS3.

Imaging optics
Celestron Edge HD 1100 @ f10 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 = 6h (3h per panel)
O-III, 3 x 1200s binned = 6h (3h per panel)
S-II,  3 x 1200s binned = 3h (1.5h per panel)
Total 15h

Color channels used for the final image 
Please, click for a full size photo



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





Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Flash from the past, Cederblad 214, the Cosmic Question mark, reprocessed



The new imaging season will start at 5. of September up here 65N. I have been practising my data processing skills by reprocessing some of my older image data. This time the Cederblad 214 got a new processing. Not a big difference to original processing, little better colors and the detail level is somehow higher.


Cederblad 214, the Cosmic Question Mark
Click for a much large image

Image in mapped colors from ionized elements, Red=Sulfur, Green=Hydrogen & Blue=Oxygen. Image was taken with the Canon camera optics, EF 200mm f.8 full open, QHY9 astrocamera and the Baader narrowband filters. The original blog post from 2012, with technical details, can be seen HERE


A detail

A detail shot from the bright central region of the image at the top.  This photo was taken with my new setup, Celestron Edge HD 1100 f7, Apogee Alta U16 astrocamera and the Astrodon narrowband filters, Spring 2014. The original blog post from 2012, with technical details, can be seen HERE

INFO
Source: NASA APOD

Towering pillars of cold gas and dark dust adorn the center star forming region of Sharpless 171. An open cluster of stars is forming there from the gas in cold molecular clouds. As energetic light emitted by young massive stars boils away the opaque dust, the region fragments and picturesque pillars of the remnant gas and dust form and slowly evaporate. The energetic light also illuminates the surrounding hydrogen gas, causing it to glow as an emission nebula. Pictured above is the active central region of the Sharpless 171 greater emission nebula. Sharpless 171 incorporates NGC 7822 and the active region Cederblad 214, much of which is imaged above. The area above spans about 20 light years, lies about 3,000 light years away, and can be seen with a telescope toward the northern constellation of the King of Ethiopia (Cepheus).