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Tuesday, December 30, 2014

It looks like.... a collection of my photos as I see them



We have had a solid cloud cover, up here 65N, over two months now. My new imaging system stands useless at the rooftop, very frustrating.

We are easily seeing quasi logical forms in random shapes since we have a most powerful shape recognition machine in our brains.  Based on previous phenomena, I made a funny collection out of my photos. There is an original version of my photo and same photo as I see it in my head. Part of the images are named after my own observations and some are commonly known nicknames. NOTE. All of the astronomical photos in this blog post are originally taken by me. 

It looks like...

a Hawk

The Great Wall of Cygnus is a part of the North America Nebula, NGC 7000. Image info HERE


a Twirling Dancer

Melotte 15 cluster in IC 1805, info about this photo can be seen HERE


a Giacometti's "Walking Man"

An Elephant's Trunk Nebula in IC 1396, info about this photo can be seen HERE


an Alpine View


A closeup of NGC 1499, the "California Nebula"info about this photo can be seen HERE


a Cone

The "Cone Nebula", info about this image HERE


a Horse

Sharpless 132, "The furious cosmic horse gets blinded by a divine blue light" Image info HERE
The horse sculpture at right is shot from the Piazza Navona, Rome, and it's made by the great Bernini.


a Wizard

Info about the NGC 7380, the Wizard Nebula, can be seen HERE


an Eagle


Messier 16, M16, the Eagle Nebula, more info about this photo HERE


a logo of Grateful Dead

Simeis 147 supernova remnant in Taurus, information about this photo of mine can be found HERE
Info about the Grateful Dead HERE


a Nuclear Blast

IC 443, supernova remnant, a cosmic Nuclear Blast (It really is a one!) more info HERE


a Smiley Face

Eastern Veil Nebula, more info about this photo can be seen HERE


a Soap Bubble

Bubble Nebula, information about this photo of mine can be found HERE


a Pizza Pie


Messier 104 galaxy, information about this photo of mine can be found HERE


a Lobster

IC 410 and 405 Nebulae, more info about this photo can be seen HERE


a Baby Polar Bear

IC 1848, the Soul Nebula, information about this photo of mine can be found HERE


a Velvet Curtain

IC 405, the Flaming Star Nebula,  info about this photo can be seen HERE


a Ball of Tangled String

Simeis 147 supernova remnant in Taurus, information about this photo of mine can be found HERE


a Scottish Terrier

Sharpless 132, Sh2-132, information about this photo of mine can be found HERE


a Silver Dollar

NGC 253, a "Silver Dollar Galaxy", information about this photo of mine can be found HERE


a Gargoyle

A detail of the Elephant's Trunk Nebula in IC 1396, info about this photo can be seen HERE


a Question Mark

Cederblad 214, information about this photo of mine can be found HERE


a Bat


IC 1848, the Soul nebula, info about this photo can be found HERE

Or

an Angel




a Monkey Head

Info about the NGC 2174, the Monkey Head Nebula, can be seen HERE


a Siamese Fighting Fish

NGC 281, the "Pac Man Nebula", can be found HERE

This is traditionally seen as a "Pac Man" (A game figure from 80's)



a Cosmic Fertilization

IC 410, info about this photo can be seen HERE


a Burning Tree


Melotte 15 cluster in IC 1805, info about this photo can be seen HERE


a Heart

IC 1805, the Heart Nebula and a photo of a lamb's heart at right. Info about the IC 1805 photo HERE


a Chili Pepper


IC 410, info about this photo can be seen HERE


a Cirrus Cloud

Hydrogen filaments in Cygnus, info about this photo of mine can be seen HERE


a Christmas Tree

A Christmas Tree Cluster and the Cone Nebula, info about this photo can be seen HERE


A Chinese Dragon

18-panel mosaic photo of constellation Cygnus, info about this photo can be seen HERE


a Horus


NGC 6357, Sharpless 11, an Egyptian Horus, more info HERE


a Butterfly

Butterfly Nebula, info about this photo of mine can be found HERE


a Pelican

Pelican Nebula in Cygnus, more information about Pelican Nebula can be seen  HERE


a Ghost

IC 63, the Red Ghost, more info about this photo can be seen HERE


a Medusa's Head

A wide field shot of the Tulip Nebula area, in constellation Cygnus, looks like the Bernini's sculpture of Medusa's Head. More info about this photo can be seen HERE

(or a Sideshow Bob from the Simpsons...)




a North America

NGC  7000, the North America nebula, more info about this photo HERE


a Nike of Samothrace

IC 1340, "an Electric Nike of Samothrace", part of the Eastern veil nebula in light emitted by the ionized Oxygen only. More info about this image can be seen HERE


a Piece of Marble

The Propeller Nebula area in constellation cygnus looks like tile of a marble stone. More info about this target can be seen HERE.


a Rose

Rosette Nebula, more info about this object can be found HERE


a Leaping Puma

A detail from the Rosette Nebula looks like a leaping Puma. More info about this photo HERE


a Teapot

The Tulip Nebula, Sh2-101, a Cosmic Teapot. (Note. the famous Russell's teapot!)
Info about this photo of mine can be seen HERE.


a Tulip

The Tulip Nebula, Sharpless 101, more info can be seen HERE


a Tennis Ball


Sh2-216, A planetary Nebula in Perseus, the closest PN to Earth ever discovered, looks like a cosmic tennis ball. More info about this object can be found HERE



Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Hyvää Joulua, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Joyeux Noël




Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, God Jul, 
Hyvää Joulua, Joyeux Noël




Info about the image above in HERE




Saturday, November 29, 2014

Astro anarchy gets published, an art gallery just opened!



For this holiday season I got invited to participate to a temporary art exhibition "Joulun Tähdet" (Stars of Christmas" in my home town Oulu.

We now have a small gallery opened at the very center of the city for about one month. 
Beside my astrophotos, there are oil paintings from Matti mikkola and some older nineteenth huderts century paintings from the collections of Kuru Koru. There are also some special collectables and antique for sale from kuru Koru's collections too.

You can follow us on Facebook:

Our address in Oulu, Pakkahuoneenkatu 10, "Vanhan Apteekin talo", at street level.
We are open daily from 12.00 to 18.00 until christmas.

You Are very welcome!



Some pictures from the gallery







Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Sharpless 132, Sh2-132, in visual spectrum



I published the original photo of  Sharpless 132 at November 11 but only in mapped colors. In this version, the narrowband channels are combined so, that the resulting image is as close as possible to a visual spectrum of human eye. Red is the dominating color since the ionized hydrogen, H-alpha, is the strongest emission line and it's emitting deep red light. Blue hues are coming from the emission of an ionized oxygen, O-III. 

A furious cosmic horse gets blinded by a divine blue light
Sharpless 132 (Sh2-132) in Cepheus

Image is in visual colors, if human eye could be able to see colors in extremely low light, most emission nebulae appears in deep red color due to dominance of an ionized hydrogen, H-alpha. Blue color is coming from the emission of an ionized oxygen, O-III.

An experimental starless version

When all the stars are removed, the actual nebula stands out much better.


A closeup composition




INFO

Sharpless 132 is a very faint emission nebula, it locates at the border of Cepheus and Lacerta. Distance is about 10.000 lightyears. My photo covers about one square degree of the sky (63x63"). The blue color in the image is from the emission of an ionized Oxygen (O-III). "The divine blue light" at horses face seems to be an Oxygen jet of some kind, or it's just a tens of light years long oddly shaped area of glowing gas. The shape can be seen in H-alpha channel too. (Ionized 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 50% 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

Cameras and filters
Imaging camera Apogee Alta U16 and Apogee seven slot filter wheel
Guider camera, Lodestar x2
Astrodon filter, 5nm H-alpha
Astrodon filter, 3nm O-III

Exposure times
H-alpha, 9 x 1200s = 3h


O-III, 3 x 1200s = 1h
S-II, 3x1200s = 1h


A single un cropped, calibrated and stretched 20 min. H-alpha frame







Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Soul Nebula, IC 1848, as a two frame mosaic



This image is originally shot this Autumn between 27 and 29.10. I haven't publish it before, since I have had so much material to share. The new imaging system gives me a nice field of view, with a high resolution. 
63x63 arc minutes at a scale of 0,95 arc seconds/pixel. That's over a square degree of sky.

IC 1848, the Soul Nebula
Ra 02h 51m 36.24s Dec +60° 26′ 53.9"  Click for a large image!

Mapped colors from an emission of the ionized elements, Red=Sulfur, Green=Hydrogen and the Blue =Oxygen. The photo is stitched together from two separate shots.

An experimental starless view

Details of the actual nebula stands out better in this starless view.

Info

Soul Nebula, (Sh2-199, LBN 667) is an emission nebula in constellation Cassiopeia. IC 1848 is a cluster inside Soul Nebula. Distance is about 7.500 light years. This complex is a Eastern neighbor of IC 1805, the "Heart Nebula" and they are often mentioned together as Heart and Soul.

A wider field photo

In this wide field image of mine, the Soul Nebula is shown with its neighbor, the Heart nebula. Image is shot with the Canon EF 200mm f1.8 lens, Baader narrowband filters and the QHY9 cooled astronomical camera. My older photos of the Soul nebula can be seen HERE

Nebula in visual spectrum

Red is a dominant color since the strongest emission line of hydrogen, H-alpha, emits red light. Bluish hues are from ionized oxygen, O-III

Hydrogen alpha image

Nebula in H-alpha light alone.


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 @ f7 with 0,7 focal reducer for Edge HD 1100 telescope

Cameras and filters
Imaging camera Apogee Alta U16 and Apogee seven slot filter wheel
Guider camera, Lodestar x2
Astrodon filter, 5 nm H-alpha

Exposure times
H-alpha, 24 x 1200s = 8h (4h/panel)
O-III, 6x1200 (1h/panel), binned 4x4
S-II, 6x1200 (1h/panel), binned 4x4
Total 12h





Saturday, November 15, 2014

APOD by NASA, Astro Anarchy gets published



Astronomy Picture of the Day

My shot of the Tulip Nebula, Sh2-101, was selected as an APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day) by NASA. You can see the NASA page here: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap141115.html

The Tulip Nebula
In constellation Cygnus 


Originla blog post about this image, with technical details, can be seen here:

You can buy a real museum quality photographic print from HERE

This is my seventh APOD, older ones can be seen here:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap131214.html
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110218.html




Thursday, November 13, 2014

DWB-111, the Propeller nebula



The data for this object is shot at 31.10 last month but I got it processed just now.
The data for the emission of ionized Oxygen and Sulfur (O-III and S-II) is borrowed from my wide field shot of the area back from the first light image of Autumn 2011.


DWB-111, the Propeller Nebula
In constellation Cygnus, click for a large images

Mapped colors from an emission of the ionized elements, Red=Sulfur, Green=Hydrogen and the Blue =Oxygen.

An experimental starless view

The actual nebula stands out nicely in this experimental starless version of my photo.

Info

Propeller Nebula (DWB 111, MRSL 497). This S-like formation is part of the much large area of emission nebula in constellation Cygnus. There are very little information about the origin and distance of this structure is unknown.

Image in visual colors

Emission line channels are combined to match to a visual spectrum.

A wide field image of the nebula

A wide field image from the Autumn 2011. More info and image in this blog post:
http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2011/10/first-light-for-autumn-season-2011.html
Also O-III and S-II channels are borrowed from this photo.

Orientation in Cygnus

The area of new photo 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 @ f7 with 0,7 focal reducer for Edge HD 1100 telescope

Cameras and filters
Imaging camera Apogee Alta U16 and Apogee seven slot filter wheel
Guider camera, Lodestar x2
Astrodon filter, 5 nm H-alpha

Exposure times
H-alpha, 12 x 1200s = 4h
O-III & S-II from an older wide field photo of mine.



A single un cropped, calibrated and stretched 20 min. H-alpha frame



Tuesday, November 11, 2014

A furious cosmic horse gets blinded by a divine blue light



My latest photo, Sh2-132. I rarely give a name to my photos, other than the official catalog number or well known nickname, this time I couldn't resist to give a name of my own.

A furious cosmic horse gets blinded by a divine blue light
Sharpless 132 (Sh2-132) in Cepheus

Mapped colors from an emission of the ionized elements, Red=Sulfur, Green=Hydrogen and the Blue =Oxygen. If you like to have a photographic print, click HERE

A closeup composition

If you like to have a photographic print, click HERE

Why a furious horse?

A marble horse sculpture from Piazza Navona, Rome Italy, it's placed in the image to show the horse figure.

INFO

Sharpless 132 is a very faint emission nebula, it locates at the border of Cepheus and Lacerta. Distance is about 10.000 lightyears. My photo covers about one square degree of the sky (63x63"). The blue color in the image is from the emission of an ionized Oxygen (O-III). "The divine blue light" at horses face seems to be an Oxygen jet of some kind, or it's just a tens of light years long oddly shaped area of glowing gas. The shape can be seen in H-alpha channel too. (Ionized Hydrogen)

The actual nebula is much large, as can be seen in my older wide field photo of the area.

Area of interest is marked at my older wide field image of the Sh2-132. The original image from the Winter 2011, with technical details, can be found from HERE

A starless view

The actual nebula stands out nicely in this experimental starless version of my photo.

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 @ f7 with 0,7 focal reducer for Edge HD 1100 telescope

Cameras and filters
Imaging camera Apogee Alta U16 and Apogee seven slot filter wheel
Guider camera, Lodestar x2
Astrodon filter, 5nm H-alpha
Astrodon filter, 3nm O-III

Exposure times
H-alpha, 9 x 1200s = 3h
O-III, 3 x 1200s = 1h
S-II, 3x1200s = 1h

A single un cropped, calibrated and stretched 20 min. H-alpha frame






Friday, November 7, 2014

Astro Anarchy gets published



I shot my astronomical photos about five years from the rooftop of the Swedish Private School here in Oulu, Finland. Last year I had to find another location since they started to build an expansion for the school at the rooftop. I was so glad, when Anders Wentin from the school contacted me and ask, if I'm able to deliver an artwork from some of my photos to the School.  Yesterday, at 6. 11. 2014, the artwork was revealed.

The photo is printed on dibond aluminium sheets and covered with a hard and glossy laminate. The size is 3600 x 1600mm (142 x 63 inch). There are three panels used for the final artwork. Seams are so thin, that's not possible to see them easily.

The Path of Swans 
A large photo print in Swedish Private School, Oulu

One of the guests as a scale. The photo is very sharp in that scale since it's a mosaic image of about 18 panels from the high resolution astronomical camera. The photo is taken from the rooftop of the same building, where is now for display.




The photo
Click for a large image, 2400 x 1100 pixels and 3,5MB

Original print size was around 22000 x 10000 pixels. This is actually a smaller area from one of my large mosaic images. The original blog post about the image, with technical details, can be found HERE.

My previous large print

Artwork above is not a largest print made from my photos. Much larger one was published at spring 2014. More ifo about this gigantic, over 10 x 3 m, print can be seen in this blog post:  http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2014/04/astro-anarchy-get-published.html

The Cirrus of Cygnus
A very large photographic print on aluminium, 3x10m

The photo is printed on aluminium and it has a glossy finishing. This is one of the largest art prints I have ever seen. The size of the photographic prin is over 3 x 10 meters (= 10 x 33 feet) 


Even in that size, the image is very sharp, since the original image is in very high resolution due to mosaic technique used. An info board for the artwork can be seen next to the door at middle right.

This photo is actually a upper part from the very large cygnus mosaic. The new print is the lower part of the mosaic. Here is the original photo of the whole area.

More inf about this photo: http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2013/09/a-collection-of-images-from-large.html