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Monday, February 1, 2021

This gigapixel mosaic has about 1000 exposure hours between 2010 - 2021


Over a ten years and about 1000 hours of exposures, the image spans 82 x 20 degrees of sky at resolution of 17.000 x 72.000 pixels (Over a gigapixel) 
Individual frames are shot between 2010 and 2021, there are total 168 images stitched together! There are more than ten million stars visible in this mosaic image!

From Perseus to Cygnus
Click for a large image (6000 x 1500 pixels)

Image in mapped colors from the light emitted by an ionized elements, hydrogen = green, sulfur = red and oxygen = blue. NOTE, the apparent size of the Moon in a lower left corner. 
Click for a large image 




Details
Click for a large image 




Evolution of the grande mosaic shot between 2010 and 2021
Click for a large image



Imaging info

It took over a ten years to finalize this mosaic image. The reason for a long time period is naturally the size of the mosaic and the fact, that image is very deep. Another reason is that I have soht most of the mosaic frames as an individual compositions and publish them as independent artworks. That leads to a kind of complex image set witch is partly overlapping with a lots of unimaged areas between and around frames. I have shot the missing data now and then during the years and last year I was able to publish sub mosaic images as I got them ready first.

My processing workflow is very constant so very little tweaking was needed between the mosaic frames. Total exposure time is way over 900 hours. Some of the frames has more exposure time, than others. There are some extremely dim objects clearly visible in this composition, like a extremely dim supernova remnant W63, the Cygnus Shell. It lays about six degrees up from North America nebula and it can be seen as a pale blue ring. I spent about 100 hours for this SNR alone. An other large and faint supernova remnant in Cygnus can be seen at near right edge of the image. G65.5+5.7 is as large as more famous Veil nebula. There are over 60 exposure hours for this SNR alone.  (Veil SNR is just outside of the mosaic area but can be seen in "Detail" image above.) 
Frames used for the large mosaic
Click for a large image


Tools

I have used several optical configurations for this mosaic image during the years. Up to 2014 I was using an old Meade LX200 GPS 12" scope, QHY9 astrocam, Canon EF 200mm f1.8 camera optics and baader narrowband filter set. After 2014 I have had 10-micron 1000 equatorial mount, Apogee Alta U16 astro camera, Tokina AT-x 200mm f2.8 camera lens and the Astrodon 50mm square narrowband filter set. I have shot many details with a longer focal length, before 2014 by using Meade 12" scope with reducer and after 2014 Celestron EDGE 11" and reducer. Quider camera has been Lodestar and Lodestar II.



Details from the large mosaic to show the resolution
(Images are reduced for a web usage)

Click for a large image!

North America and the Pelican Nebula

NOTE, image is reduced to 2000 x 1300 pixels from 6000 x 4000 pixels.



The Central Cygnus

Original size in mosaic image is 5000 x 2500 pixels


The supernova remnant G65.3+5.7

More info about this image here, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/11/g65357-large-supernova-remnant-in_22.html


A closeup from the supernova remnant G65.3+5.7
The noise is not a noise, just a massive amount of stars

The starfield in this part of Milky Way is extremely dense, blog post about this SNR can be seen here, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/11/a-supernova-remnant-in-cygnus-g65357-snr.html


The whole Cassiopeia




The tulip nebula area

The Tulip Nebula, Sh2-101, can be seen at center right, there is also a black hole Cygnus X-1
The blog post with technical details can be seen here, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-tulip-nebula-in-cygnus-sh2-101.html


Cirrus of Cygnus and the supernova remnant W63

Blog post about this photo, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/12/cirrus-of-cygnus-and-supernova-remnant.html








www.tips-fb.com Posted by J-P Metsavainio at 7:45 PM 4 comments
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Monday, January 25, 2021

Lower's Nebula

 I originally shot this data at february 2016, this is a reprocessed version. Lower's Nebula is also known as Sharpless 261 (Sh2-261) and it located in constellation Orion at an estimated distance of about 3300 light years, This is not a bright object, especially the O-III signal is very weak. Seeing wasn't very good at the time.

Lower's Nebula (Sh2-261)
Click for a large image

Image is in mapped colors from an emission of  the ionized elements. Golden areas are from emission of sulfur and hydrogen, S-II and H-alpha, blueish areas are from ionized oxygen, O-III.


Image in visual spectrum
Click for a large image

Natural color scheme from the emission of an ionized elements, H-a, S-II and O-III. This is a very dim and diffused nebula, this image spans vertically about one degrees


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

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, 15 x 1200s = 5h
O-III, 6 x 1200s binned 4x4 = 2h min.
S-II, 6 x 1200s  binned 4x4 = 2h min.
Total 9h
www.tips-fb.com Posted by J-P Metsavainio at 4:20 PM 2 comments
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Thursday, January 21, 2021

Mosaic image gets large, 400 hours and 41 panels


Nine years and over 350 hours of exposures, 41 panels and 31 high resolution sub-panels stitched together seamlessly. This mosaic image spans about 45 x 18 degrees of sky, the original resolution is 14.000 x 41.000 pixels.

Previous version of this mosaic image can be seen here, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/12/from-cassiopeia-to-cepheus-eight-years.html

From cassiopeia to Cepheus
Click for a full size image, it's really worth it! (3700 x 1400 pixels)


Image is in mapped colors from a light from the ionized elements, hydrogen = green, sulfur = red and oxygen = blue. NOTE, there is an image of the Moon at the same scale in lower left corner.
The heart and Soul nebulae are at upper left corner and the IC 1396 with the Elephant's Trunk Nebula at center right. There are many well known objects in this massive mosaic image including the Bubble and Cave Nebulae at just a little right from the center. There are about six million stars in this composition.



Orientation
Click for a full size image




Evolution of the mosaic image shot between 2012 - 2021
Click for a full size image


Equipments

I have used several optical configurations for this mosaic image during the years. Up to 2014 I was using an old Meade LX200 GPS 12" scope, QHY9 astrocam, Canon EF 200mm f1.8 camera optics and baader narrowband filter set. After 2014 I have had 10-micron 1000 equatorial mount, Apogee Alta U16 astro camera, Tokina AT-x 200mm f2.8 camera lens and the Astrodon 50mm square narrowband filter set. I have shot many details with a longer focal length, before 2014 by using Meade 12" scope with reducer and after 2014 Celestron EDGE 11" and reducer. Quider camera has been Lodestar and Lodestar II.


Some reduced size details from the full size mosaic image

Sharpless 132



IC 1396



Supernova remnant CTB1



Sharpless 124


From Bubble to Cave Nebula



www.tips-fb.com Posted by J-P Metsavainio at 12:30 PM 2 comments
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Monday, January 11, 2021

First new photo for the Year 2021

 Between Cygnus and Cepheus, near the constellation Lacerta, locates the Sharpless 124 (Sh2-124) 
This emission nebula is kind of large and has a brighter formation at middle of it. There is some very dim O-III emission too, generally this emission nebula is not  a very easy target for imagers.
There are very few good phoptos of it around.

My wide field setup covers enough sky to capture both, the Cocoon Nebula (Sh2-125) and the Sharpless-124 in a same field of view. Data for the photo was shot at December 2020


Sharpless 124 and the Cocoon Nebula
Click for a large image

Cocoon Nebula can be seen at lower left corner, Sh2-124 at center. Photo in mapped colors, from the emission of ionized elements,R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen. (Known as Hubble Palette) 
NOTE, an apparent size of the Moon as a scale


A closeup
Click for a large image

The starfield is very densy in this part of  Milky Way


An older longer focal length photo
Click for a large image




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
Tokina AT-x 300mm f2.8 camera lens

Mount
10-micron 1000

Cameras and filters
Imaging camera Apogee Alta U16 and Apogee seven slot filter wheel
Guider camera, Lodestar x 2 and an old spotting scope of Meade LX200

Astrodon filters,
5nm H-alpha 3nm S-II and 3nm O-III

Total exposure time
H-alpha, 6 x 1200 s, binned 1x1 = 2 h
O-III, 3x 1200 s, binned 2x2 = 1h
S-II, 3x1200 s, binned 2x2 = 1h

H-alpha channel alone (Two hours)
Click for a large image


www.tips-fb.com Posted by J-P Metsavainio at 3:25 PM 0 comments
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Thursday, December 31, 2020

All my photos from year 2020

 
The year 2020 has been interesting since I'm between the scopes at the moment. I converted my old Tokina At-x 300 mm f2.8 camera optics and paired it with the Apogee Alta U16 astro camera.
At first it looked like an impossible task since the back focus distance of Tokina lens was way too short for the camera. After some heavy handed modifications (including an angle grinder) I managed to marry those too junks of metal, glass and silicon together. Kind of Frankenstein's monster but worked!


Tokina 300mm f2.8 and Apogee Alta U16

After many years shooting with a long focal length instrument it was like a fresh air to work with wide field tool. 

All my photos from the year 2020
Click for a full size poster (2000 x 2800 pixels)

NOTE, images are not in scale to each other


There are some very rarely imaged objects in the the poster

Photo 11, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/04/two-ways-to-go-in-same-field-of-view.html

Supernova remnant Sh2-221 and a planetary nebula Sh2-216. There are very few images out of them, I haven't seen any other three band NB images from Sh2-221

43 hours of exposures was needed to reveal targets in full glory. There are very few images out there from Sh2-205 and even less from LBN 696.

Photo 12, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/11/a-supernova-remnant-in-cygnus-g65357-snr.html

This is a very large dim and diffused supernova remnant in Cygnus, The dense starfield almost buries faint filament structures. Extremely few photos out there showing the whole SNR.
This SNR is part of the Cygnus mosaic (Image 21).

Photo 21, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/01/deep-in-to-my-heart-ic-1805-in-mapped.html

A very commonly imaged target but this deep exposure reveals a very dim supernova remnant just above the "Tip of the Heart". SNR can be seen at eight o'clock position in the photo. 


Two massive panorama mosaics

This year I got ready two very large narrowband mosaic images. 
Material for them was collected during past ten years. 
The Great Mosaic of Cygnus covers now the whole constellation.
Second as large mosaic spans sky from Cassiopeia to Cepheus. 
Exposure time for both of then is over 800 Hours.

Cygnus 

https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/12/cygnus-project-grande-finale-for-now.html

Cassiopeia to Cepheus

https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/12/from-cassiopeia-to-cepheus-eight-years.html


THE BOOK
At 2020 we published a book about nebulae, "Cosmic Clouds 3D" We =  Brian May, David J Eicher and Me. It was a pleasure to work with talented people. The idea for the book came from Brian may, the legendary Queen guitarist and astrophysicist. At the moment the book is practically sold out.




IMAGE INFO

  1. Sh2-124, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/11/sharpless-124-sh2-124.html
  2. Sh2--124 wide field
  3. Clouds of Cassiopeia, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/11/cassiopeia-mosaic-gets-larger.html
  4. SNR CTB1, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/02/ctb1-supernova-remnant-in-cassiopeia.html
  5. Simeis 147,  https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-birth-of-venus.html
  6. Tulip nebula area, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-tulip-nebula-in-cygnus-sh2-101.html
  7. Sh2-205, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/03/a-rare-image-sharpless-205-and-ngc-1491.html
  8. NGC 1499, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/01/a-deep-view-to-california-nebula-in.html
  9. Sh2-132, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/11/a-new-photo-of-sharpless-132-sh2-132.html
  10. Sh2-126, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/10/new-photo-sharpless-126-in-lacerta.html
  11. Sh2-216 & 221, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/04/two-ways-to-go-in-same-field-of-view.html
  12. SNR G65.3+5,7,https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/11/a-supernova-remnant-in-cygnus-g65357-snr.html
  13. IC 63 & NGC281, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/03/ic-63-and-ngc-281.html
  14. SNR IC443, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/03/supernova-remnant-ic-443-wide-field.html
  15. Bubble to Cave, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/03/from-bubble-to-cave-nebula-area.html
  16. Cygnus, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/12/cygnus-project-grande-finale-for-now.html
  17. Sh2-114, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/12/sharpless-114-flying-dragon-nebula.html
  18. IC 405 & 410,  https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/03/new-photo-deep-in-to-darkness.html
  19. Cederblad 214,https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/02/new-photo-of-cederblad-214-cosmic.html
  20. From CTB1 to Cave,https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/03/from-cassiopeia-to-cepheus.html
  21. IC 1805,  https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/01/deep-in-to-my-heart-ic-1805-in-mapped.html
  22. IC 1396, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/01/ic-1396-wide-field-reprocessed.html
  23. Cassiopeia to Cepheus, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/12/from-cassiopeia-to-cepheus-eight-years.html
  24. Bubble to cave, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/03/from-bubble-to-cave-round-ii.html
  25. Sh2-205 & LBN 696, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/03/a-two-frame-mosaic-photo-of-sharpless.html



www.tips-fb.com Posted by J-P Metsavainio at 3:33 PM 0 comments
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Sunday, December 27, 2020

From Cassiopeia to Cepheus, eight years and 300 hours of exposures

I started this imaging project back at 2012.  During the years I have shot more frames for this active region of the sky. Now there are 26 panels and 22 high resolution sub-panels stitched together. Photo covers about 35 x 17 degrees of sky and the physical resolution is over 25.000 x 12.000 pixels.  There are about 4,5 million individual stars visible in this image.

This is my second large mosaic image finalized in this month, a very large mosaic image of Cygnus can be seen here, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/12/cygnus-project-grande-finale-for-now.html

From Cassiopeia to Cepheus
Click for a large image, it's really worth it! (2000 x 4000 pixels)

Image is in mapped colors from a light from the ionized elements, hydrogen = green, sulfur = red and oxygen = blue. NOTE, there is an image of the Moon at the same scale in lower left corner.

A horizontal version
Click for a large image, it's really worth it! (1500 x 3000 pixels)



Orientation and size
Click for a large image



Upper one in the map is a new mosaic image, lower is another large new mosaic image about Cygnus.
Info about the Cygnus mosaic can be seen here, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/12/cygnus-project-grande-finale-for-now.html




Closeups from the large mosaic
You should click the images to see them in full glory, it's worth the effort!

Supernova remnant CTB1

From Bubble to Cave Nebula

IC 1396

Sharpless 132


Zoom out series
This zoom out series gives a good view to the resolution. (Photo is 6500 pixel long)




THE MOSAIC

Evolution of the mosaic between 2012 and 2020
Click for a large image


Frames
There are 26 base panels with shorter focal length tools (200mm f2.8 Tokina and 200mm f1.8 Canon) There is also 22 sub-panels used, they are shot with my old 12" Meade and 11" Celestron Edge scopes.


Equipments

I have used several optical configurations for this mosaic image during the years. Up to 2014 I was using an old Meade LX200 GPS 12" scope, QHY9 astrocam, Canon EF 200mm f1.8 camera optics and baader narrowband filter set. After 2014 I have had 10-micron 1000 equatorial mount, Apogee Alta U16 astro camera, Tokina AT-x 200mm f2.8 camera lens and the Astrodon 50mm square narrowband filter set. I have shot many details with a longer focal length, before 2014 by using Meade 12" scope with reducer and after 2014 Celestron EDGE 11" and reducer. Quider camera has been Lodestar and Lodestar II.
 






www.tips-fb.com Posted by J-P Metsavainio at 2:05 PM 3 comments
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Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Sharpless 114, the Flying Dragon Nebula

 While shooting more frames for my great mosaic of Cygnus I shot a set of frames for the Sharpless 114 (Sh2-114) , the Flying Dragon Nebula. Part of the image was used for the mosaic but the dragon part was out of the field of view.
I decided to make an individual image out of it since it's not a very well known object and it's beautiful too. I have shot the Sh2-114 with a longer focal length instrumen back in 2015
 

The Flying Dragon
Click for a large image

Photo is in natural colors combined from narrowband channels. An ionized hydrogen, H-alpha, is emitting deep red light and it's dominating the color scheme.

A closeup
Click for a large image

Photo is in natural colors combined from narrowband channels. An ionized hydrogen, H-alpha, is emitting deep red light and it's dominating the color scheme.

An older long focal length version
Click for a large image

Photo is in natural colors combined from narrowband channels. An ionized hydrogen, H-alpha, is emitting deep red light and it's dominating the color scheme.

INFO

Sh2-114 is a complex and unusual HII emission nebula. Its complex, wispy structure is likely the result of winds from hot, massive stars interacting with the magnetic fields in the interstellar medium. But very little is known about it. (Source, https://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im1112.html)

Orientation
Click for a large image

Sharpless 114 can be seen at lower left corner, field of view is framed.

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

Mount
10-micron 1000

Cameras and filters
Imaging camera Apogee Alta U16 and Apogee seven slot filter wheel
Guider camera, Lodestar x 2 and an old spotting scope of Meade LX200

Astrodon filters,
5nm H-alpha 3nm S-II and 3nm O-III

Exposure time

H-alpha, 15 x 1200 s, binned 1x1 = 5 h
O-III, 1x 1200 s, binned 2x2 = 20 min.
S-II, 1 x 1200 s. binned 2x2 = 20 min.
www.tips-fb.com Posted by J-P Metsavainio at 1:07 PM 0 comments
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