Sunday, January 14, 2018
Sharpless 157 between Cassiopeia and Cepheus
We have had only two clear nights, January 7. and 8., at this month. I shot exposures for this target at both nights. This is a kind of difficult target due to large intensity variations and low surface brightness.
Sharpless 157 (Sh2-157)
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A closeup
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INFO
Sharpless 157
The night sky between the constellations Cassiopeia and Cepheus is rich with nebulae and star clusters. The nebulae visible in this image include Sharpless 157 and Lynd’s Bright Nebula 537. The star clusters include Markarian 50 and NGC 7510.
Sharpless 157 is sometimes referred to as the Lobster Claw Nebula for obvious reasons. The bright spot at upper left quarter of this photo is Lynd’s Bright Nebula (LBN) 537. Also designated at Sh 2 – 157a, it is a ring nebula around the Wolf-Rayet star WR 157.
At the lower right quarter of the image lays open star cluster NGC 7510.
An older wide field photo of the area
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The area of a new photo is marked as a white rectangle. The Bubble nebula can be seen as a bluish pearl, just half a degree North West from the Sharpless 157.
This photo is shot at 2007 with a QHY 8 astrocamera and the Baader narrowband filter set, H-a, S-II and O-III
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 x 2 and SXV-AOL
Astrodon filters,
5nm H-alpha 3nm S-II and 3nm O-III
5nm H-alpha 3nm S-II and 3nm O-III
Exposure times
H-alpha, 12 x 1200 s, binned 2x2 = 4 h
O-III, 10 x 1200 s, binned 4x4 = 3 h 20 min.
S-II, 9 x 1200 s. binned 4x4 = 3 h
Total 10 h 20 min
A single uncropped, calibrated and stretched 20 min. exposures, for H-alpha, S-II and O-III emissions, as they come out from the camera.
H-alpha
S-II
O-III
Saturday, January 13, 2018
IC1396, a detail image
We have had two clear nights in this month. Here is my "quickie" shot of IC1396 from night at January 07.
Just three hours of exposures with Apogee Alta U16 and Atrodon H-alpha filter 5nm. Colors are from my older wide field photo.
Just three hours of exposures with Apogee Alta U16 and Atrodon H-alpha filter 5nm. Colors are from my older wide field photo.
A detail of IC1396
please, click for a large image
Image is in mapped colours, from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulphur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen. The photo covers about one square degree of sky. (The full Moon covers about 0,5 degrees of sky.)
A wider view
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Area of the new photo is marked as a white rectangle to this older wide field photo of IC1396. Image is from year 2010 and it's taken with Canon EF 200 mm f1.8 camera optics, Baader narrowband filters and QHY9 astronomical camera.
Even wider view
please, click for a large image
Area of the new photo is marked as a white rectangle to this older wide field photo of IC1396. This mosaic image of ten panels is back from year 2014 and it's taken with Canon EF 200 mm f1.8 camera optics, Baader narrowband filters and QHY9 astronomical camera. More info about this photo can be seen HERE
Couple of older shots from IC1396 details
Elephant's Trunk Nebula
Another detail of IC1396
Tuesday, January 2, 2018
Sharpless 119 in Cygnus in visual colors
This mosaic image shows the Sharpless 119 (Sh2-119) in a visual spectrum. My previous post about the same target shows it in mapped colors.
Sharpless 119 as a mosaic image of six panels
You really should click for a full size photo!
Image is in Natural color palette from the emission of ionized elements, R=Hydrogen + Sulphur, G=Oxygen and B=Oxygen + 10% Hydrogen to compensate the missing H-beta emission. A mapped color version can be seen HERE.
Sharpless 119 as a two frame mosaic
Please, click for a full size photo
Published at December 13, 2017, more info HERE
The first frame I shot for the mosaic image
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INFO
Sh2-119, Sharpless 119, is a large complex of emission nebulosity in Cygnus constellation, about 2 degrees east of the North American Nebula. It is located just around 68 Cygni, a quite bright star of magnitude 5. (The most bright star in the photo) This target is not very commonly photographed due to a close proximity of brighter and well known targets, like North America and Pelican Nebulae.
A wider field image of the area with the Canon 200mm f1.8 lens
Please, click for a full size image
Sharpless 119 can be seen at lower left corner. The white rectangle shows the location of my new mosaic photo. Sh2-119 spans about three degrees of sky horizontally. (The full Moon spans about 0,5 degrees of sky.)
This photo was taken with the Canon EF 200mm f1.8 lens and the QHY9 astrocam, Baader narrowband filter set at winter season 2012.
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 x 2 and SXV-AOL
Astrodon filter, 5nm H-alpha
Exposure times
H-alpha, 60x 1200s, binned 2x2 = 20h
O-III and S-II channels are borrowed form my older wide field photos.
Sunday, December 31, 2017
Happy new year!
HAPPY NEW YEAR
This post is about all of my astronomical photos from the year 2017
SUPPORT
My humble thanks to the supporters, they made my work possible!
All companies are offering the first class products and service!
Please, click for a large image, 2400 x 3500 pixels, 6MB
Individual blog posts about images in the poster with the technical details. (Up left to lower right)
Year 2017
This post is about all of my astronomical photos from the year 2017
All my photos from the Spring and Autumn seasons of 2017 are taken with my imaging setup. Celestron Edge HD 1100 with 0.7 reducer at 10-micron mount. Apogee Alta U16 camera with Astrodon narrowband filters and an active optics unit, SXV AO LF, from Starlight Xpress.
My humble thanks to the supporters, they made my work possible!
All companies are offering the first class products and service!
Year 2017 as an image poster
Individual blog posts about images in the poster with the technical details. (Up left to lower right)
- A six panel mosaic of the Sharpless 119, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2017/12/sharpless-119-in-cygnus-project.html
- A detail of Sharpless 119, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2017/11/sharpless-119-in-cygnus-project.html
- WR 134, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2017/11/first-light-for-autumn-season-2017.html
- Sharpless 188, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2017/02/a-new-photo-sharpless-188-sh2-188-in.html
- IC 63, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2017/01/the-ghost-of-christmas-past-ic-63.html
- Sharpless 140, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2017/01/a-quick-one-sharpless-140-in-cepheus.html
- A detail of Sharpless 119, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2017/11/sharpless-119-sh2-119-in-cygnus.html
- A detail of Southern Cygnus, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2017/11/an-other-detail-from-southern-cygnus.html
- A 12 panel mosaic of the Central Cygnus, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2017/01/bright-nebulae-of-central-cygnus-eleven.html
Year 2017
Overall the year 2017 was very cloudy up here 65N. Due to very high latitude we have only six months of usable astronomical darkness. Light pollution is increasing year after year. My observatory locates at roof top of the building in very centre of the city of Oulu. I can shoot only narrowband data from my location due to intense light pollution. In pas years the old mercury and sodium lamps has been replaced with new LED-lamps. The light from old lamps, yellowish glow, has kind of narrow band width and my 3 nm filters easily filter it out. The new LED-based lightning system emits light at very wide spectrum and even photos taken with 3 nm filters shows some artefacts from light pollution. At the same time the total amount of light power has grown year after year. That means a very bright future to us children of night.
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