Astro Anarchy

Saturday, March 14, 2020

From Bubble to Cave, round II

I have published a horizontal version of this image few days ago, it can be seen here, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/03/from-bubble-to-cave-nebula-area.html
This vertical version works too, it's little longer, than horizontal one. This area is part of much larger mosaic image of Cepheus, it can be seen here, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/03/great-mosaic-of-cepheus.html

From Bubble to Cave Nebula

Click for a large image,

Image is in mapped colors from a light from the ionized elements, hydrogen = green, sulfur = red and oxygen = blue.

Sharpless 157, a Zoom Out Series
Click for a large image, NOTE, 4500 x 1024 pixels!

I made a Zoom out serie about Sharpless 157. It's a complex region near the famous Bubble nebula and it's kind of large. There are not too many photos of it around. I have marked the apparent size of the full Moon in each image. The angular size of a Moon is about 0,5 degrees, that's 30 arc minutes.
This kind of image gives an idea, how complex and fractal the gas structures can be. there are endless amount of variations and new details at every zoom level and beyond.

Technical details

The vertical image is taken with Tokina AT-x camera optics, Apogee Alta U16 astrocamera and Astrodon narrowband filter set. Info about my imaging system can be seen here,

https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-frankenstein-monster-my-current.html
Some older parts of the photo are taken back in 2014 with QHY9 astrocam, Baader narrowband filters and Canon EF 200mm f1.8 camera lens.

Photo is taken from downtown Oulu, Finland. Due to an extensive light pollution I can do only narrowband imaging in my location.

Total exposure time is around 20 hours.

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

From the Bubble to Cave nebula area

Yesterday I published a panoramic photo of constellation Cepheus, there is new material in upper left corner area of the panorama. I made an individual composition out of this interesting area, dark clouds of gas and dust are shadowing light from energetic emission areas. Bubble Nebula can be seen as tiny pearl like formation at middle left. Near the Bubble lays much large Sharpless 157, thae bright area at lower left. Cave Nebula is located to upper right area of the photo.

From Bubble to Cave

Click for a large image

Image is in mapped colors from a light from the ionized elements, hydrogen = green, sulfur = red and oxygen = blue.

Orientation

The area of the new image above is marked as a white rectangle.
Large image and information about this Great Mosaic of Cepheus can be seen here,https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/03/great-mosaic-of-cepheus.html

Technical details

Image is taken with Tokina AT-x camera optics, Apogee Alta U16 astrocamera and Astrodon narrowband filter set. Info about my imaging system can be seen here,

Photo is taken from downtown Oulu, Finland. Due to an extensive light pollution I can do only narrowband imaging in my location.

Total exposure time is around 20 hours.

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Great Mosaic of Cepheus

At 2014 I published a large mosaic image out of Constellation Cepheus. I have now shot new photos from the area and I was able to update my original panoramic photo mosaic.
This is the second updated mosaic image in a week, first one was the Grande Mosaic of Auriga, it can be seen here, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-grande-mosaic-of-auriga.html

I have now somehow better tools but also my skills has been improved. I have also reprocessed the original photo for better colors and details.

Original mosaic had 10 panels, since my current imaging system has much large image sensor, I was able to cover several panels with just two photos. The mosaic photo has resolution of 13.000 x 7000 pixels and it has twelve panels.
Originally I used The Canon EF 200mm f1.8 camera lens and QHY9 astronomical camera with Baader narrowband filter set. new material is shot with Tokina AT-x 300mm f2.8 camera lens and Apogee Alta U16 astronomical camera with Astrodon 50mm square narrowband filter set.
The total exposure time before current additions was around 92h. With new photos, the exposure time is now over 160h. (Most time is spend for the planetary nebula OU4 at upper right corner. 48 hours.)

Panoramic Photo of Cepheus

Click for a large image, it's worth it! (2400 x 1300 pixels)

Mapped colors from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.
Large image 2400 pixels wide and ~4MB. Original resolution was about 13000 x 7000 pixels.

A detalji from a full size image
Click to see a large image

Dense starfield from about center of the full size photo.

Labeled image

Some main objects are labeled here

Photos used to upgrade the mosaic

Sharpless 132

https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2019/02/sharpless-132-sh2-132.html

IC 1396

https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/01/ic-1396-wide-field-reprocessed.html

From the bubble to Cave Nebula

https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/01/second-light-for-my-wide-field-imaging.html

OU4

https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-giant-cosmic-squid-nebula-au4-new.html

Sharpless 157 (Sh2-157)

https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2018/02/sharpless-157-in-cassiopeia-project.html

Orientation

The Grande Mosaic of Auriga in visual colors

At 2012 I published a large mosaic image out of constellation auriga. I have now shot new photos from the area and I was able to update my original panoramic photo mosaic.
I have already made a new mapped color version of it and it can be seen here, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-grande-mosaic-of-auriga.html

I have now somehow better tools but also my skills has been improved. In this image there are active star forming regions and there are two supernova remnants visible in this panoramic image. I have also reprocessed the original photo for better colors and details.

Original mosaic has 12 panels, since my current imaging system has much large image sensor, I was able to cover several panels with just two photos. The photo has resolution of 15.000 x 9000 pixels.
Originally I used The Canon EF 200mm f1.8 camera lens and QHY9 astronomical camera with Baader narrowband filter set. new material is shot with Tokina AT-x 300mm f2.8 camera lens and Apogee Alta U16 astronomical camera with Astrodon 50mm square narrowband filter set.
The total exposure time before current additions was around 70h. With new photos, the exposure time is now 90h.

Panoramic Photo of the constellation Auriga in natural colors

Click for a large image, it's worth it! (2400 x 1300 pixels)

Note, the apparent size of the full Moon is marked as a white circle at lower left corner for the scale.

Natural colors from the emission of ionized elements, R=hydrogen - sulfur, G=Oxygen and B=Oxygen.
Large image 2400 pixels wide and ~4MB. Original resolution was about 15000 x 9000 pixels.

There are some rarely imaged objects, like Sharpless supernova remnants Sh2 224, 225 and 240 (Simeis 147). At middle there are several open clusters and Sharpless objects. (Look for an attached map at end of this page.) Outer parts of IC 405 and 410 Nebula complex are seen too. There is an interesting looking loop of gas at the Left side of the central nebula complex.

H-alpha light only, labeled