Saturday, November 3, 2018
LBN 243
I have been using my large 18-panels mosaic image of the Cygnus Nebula Complex as a map to a some rarely imaged dimmer nebulae in that area. The large mosaic photo was taken with a Canon EF 200mm@f1.8 camera lens. I have shot many interesting areas from that photo with much longer focal length instruments.
Last few years I have been using an excellent telescope for that task, Celestron Edge 11" reflecting telescope with 0.7 focal reducer. BTW, this is one of the very best focal reducers I have ever been using! Its build like a tank and optical quality is next to nothing. The reducer cost about as much as an good quality refracting telescope but it's worth of every penny. With this reducer my Apogee Alta U16 camera has a spatial resolution of about one arcsecond per pixel. That image scale is pretty much optimal for my imaging purposes.
This time I picked up an interesting looking object from Cygnus Nebula Complex, the emission nebula LBN 243. It's a kind of dim target and I was able to dig out some extreme dim emission of ionized oxygen too (O-III) I haven't seen any pictures focusing to this target so far.
Click for a large image
An experimental starless version
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It's much easier to see the shapes and details in actual nebula, when the stars are removed.
Orientation in large context
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Technical details
Processing workflow
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, 13 x 1200 s, binned 2x2 = 4 h
O-III, 6 x 1200 s, binned 4x4 = 2 h.
S-II, 3 x 1200 s. binned 4x4 = 1 h
APOD by NASA, Astro Anarchy gets published
Astronomy Picture of the Day
My shot of the Cygnus Shell, supernova remnant W63, was selected today as an APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day) by NASA. You can see the NASA page here: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap181102.html
Cygnus Shell, W63
Please, click for a large photo it's worth it!
Image is in mapped colours, from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulphur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen. This mosaic image of twelve individual panels covers about four degrees of sky vertically.
Original blogpost with the technical details can be found from here:
https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2018/10/a-very-rare-photo-cygnus-shell.html
Thursday, November 1, 2018
The sky on fire, filaments of the Western cygnus
This is a two frame mosaic from the Western part of the Cygnus nebula complex. Blueish hues are emission from the Cygnus Shell, a supernova remnant W63
This two panel mosaic image has a total exposure time of about 28 hours.
Each panel is shot with Celestron Edge 11" reflecting telescope (with a 0.7 focal reducer), Apogee Alta U16 cooled astrocamera and Astrodon narrowband filter set (5nm H-alpha, 3nm S-II and 3nm O-III)
The Sky on Fire
Please, click for a large image
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.
Photo in mapped colors
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H-alpha emission alone
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Wednesday, October 31, 2018
Filaments of Cygnus
I have shot the constellation Cygnus for many years with different instruments. Due to that, I'm able to build mosaic images from my overlapping material. This time I made a four panel mosaic showing remains of the two exploded stars in Western Cygnus.
Bluish hues at left part of the panoramic image are from supernova remnant W63. At most right lays the planetary nebula PM 1-320.
Bluish hues at left part of the panoramic image are from supernova remnant W63. At most right lays the planetary nebula PM 1-320.
This four panel panoramic mosaic has a total exposure time of about 35 hours.
Each panel is shot with Celestron Edge 11" reflecting telescope (with a 0.7 focal reducer), Apogee Alta U16 cooled astrocamera and Astrodon narrowband filter set (5nm H-alpha, 3nm S-II and 3nm O-III)
Filaments of cygnus
Please, click for a large image
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.
H-alpha alone
Please, click for a large image
This photo shows the light from an ionized hydrogen (H-alpha emission) alone
Filaments of Cygnus in mapped colors
Please, click for a large image
Image is in mapped colours, from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulphur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen. This mosaic image of four individual panels covers about four degrees of sky vertically.
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