Tuesday, September 28, 2021
Veil nebula unveiled II
I haven't start the imaging season yet, up here 65N. Nights are still short and I haven't got my imaging rig ready after the mandatory six months Summer break.
I have reprocessed some older shots with new data, this time the Veil nebula supernova remnant in Cygnus. Original image was shot with the Canon EF 200 mm f1.8 camera optics full open, QHY9 astro camera and Baader narrowband filters at 2013.
New data is shot with Tokina 300mm f2.8 camera optics and Celestron Edge HD 11" telescope, Apogee Alta U16 astro camera with Astrodon narrowband filters.
Total exposure time is now about 45 hours. I published yesterday a Pickering's Triangle photo taken with Celestron Edge HD 11"-. It's part of this new image among other.
Veil nebula Unveiled
Click for a large image, 1250 x 1700 pixels
Image is in visual palette from emission of an ionized elements, hydrogen (H-alpha), sulfur (S-II) and oxygen (O-III). Red=Hydrogen + 33% sulfur, Green=oxygen and Blue=oxygen + 33% hydrogen to compensate otherwise missing H-beta emission.
A Closeup
Click for a large image
https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2013/12/veil-nebula-unveiled.html
Monday, September 27, 2021
Pickering's Triangle in Visual palette
I have reprocessed some older data and made a new composition out of it. Pickering's Triangle is part of the Veil nebula supernova remnant in constellation Cygnus. It has an amazing structure of complex gas filaments. This image is one of the most detailed presentations, showing the whole triangle shape formation, I have seen so far.
Image is in visual palette from emission of an ionized elements, hydrogen (H-alpha), sulfur (S-II) and oxygen (O-III). Red=Hydrogen + 33% sulfur, Green=oxygen and Blue=oxygen + 33% hydrogen to compensate otherwise missing H-beta emission. (H-beta and H-alpha has a same shape but H-beta is weaker. H-alpha emits red light and H-beta emits blue light.) Exposure time ~20 hours.
here you can see ta mapped color image from same data, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2021/08/pickerings-triangle-reprocessed-with.html
Pickering's Triangle with some new lights
click for a large image
click for a large image
Image is in visual palette from emission of an ionized elements, hydrogen (H-alpha), sulfur (S-II) and oxygen (O-III). Red=Hydrogen + 33% sulfur, Green=oxygen and Blue=oxygen + 33% hydrogen to compensate otherwise missing H-beta emission.
A Closeup
click for a large image
The complex structure of gas filaments
Orientation in Veil nebula SNR
click for a large image
Orientation in Veil nebula SNR
click for a large image
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 33% 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, 36 x 1200s binned = 12h (Autumn 2014)
S-II, from my older wide field photo of the Veil Nebula = 3h
Total 20h
Tuesday, September 21, 2021
Supernova Remnant Simeis 147, new data added
I have made a new version of my NASA APOD and National Geographic Image of the Week photo. Simeis 147 is a large and very dim supernova remnant in constellation Taurus.
I combined an old data with a new data, with different optics and camera, together.
As a result I have more details, vivid colors and better overall signal in the new photo. An
older photo is from 2011 and the new photo from 2020. Total exposure time in this new composition is over 45 hours.
Simeis 147 SNR
Click for a large image, 1700 x 1200 pixels
Image is in mapped colors, from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulphur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen
An Experimental Starless Version
Actual filaments of the supernova remnant can be seen better in this starless version.
A Closeup
Photo in Visual palette
INFO
Simeis 147 (sharpless 240), is a very faint and large supernova remnant in constellation Taurus at distance of ~3000 light years. It's constantly expanding at speed of 1000 km/second but due the size of it, we can't see any movement in it. This SN spans over 160 light years and the apparent scale in the sky is about three degrees (Moon has an apparent size of 30" = 0,5 degrees). Explosion took place approximately 30.000 years ago and left behind a pulsar (Neutron star). The pulsar has recently identified.
How long it'll takes to this supernova remnant to expand 1% large when the diameter is 160 light years and it expands at speed of 1000 km/second.
How long it'll takes to this supernova remnant to expand 1% large when the diameter is 160 light years and it expands at speed of 1000 km/second.
Answer is ~480 years.
(1% of diameter 160/100= 16, as kilometers ~151.372.800.000.00, = Y, km,
1000 km/second is ~315.360.000.00, = Z, kilometers/year.
So, X x Z = Y and X=Z/Y, X = 480 years with given values)
(1% of diameter 160/100= 16, as kilometers ~151.372.800.000.00, = Y, km,
1000 km/second is ~315.360.000.00, = Z, kilometers/year.
So, X x Z = Y and X=Z/Y, X = 480 years with given values)
SOMETHING DIFFERENT!
This artwork belongs to my VISION Series, the image is made out of my original photo of starless Simeis 147 supernova remnant.
Every single element in Vision series photos are from my original astronomical photos. I have been using the Overlapping Lightning Method (Multi Exposure Method) to create my Vision series photographs. By this method the forms and structures in astronomical object get multiplied, they are now forming a new visual dimension beyond our physical universe.
Every single element in Vision series photos are from my original astronomical photos. I have been using the Overlapping Lightning Method (Multi Exposure Method) to create my Vision series photographs. By this method the forms and structures in astronomical object get multiplied, they are now forming a new visual dimension beyond our physical universe.
Closeup
Artworks are made purely out of starless Simeis 147 image.
Technical Details
Photo from 2020
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
Total exposure time
H-alpha, 15 x 1200 s, binned 1x1 = 5 h
O-III, 24x 600 s, binned 2x2 = 4 h
S-II, 1 x 12 x 600 s. binned 2x2 = 2 h
Photo from 2011
Photo from 2011
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
Levels, curves and color combine in PS CS3.
Optics, Canon EF 200mm camera lens at f1.8
Camera, QHY9
Guiding, Meade LX200 GPS 12" and a Lodestar guider
Image Scale, ~5 arcseconds/pixel
Exposures
H-alpha 34x900s, Binned 1x1
H-alpha 14x1800s, Binned 1x1
H-alpha 42x1200s, binned 1x1
H-alpha 42x1200s, binned 1x1
Total exposure time for Hydrogen alpha is 26h
O-III & S-II channels are from an older image, exposure time 8h
Thursday, September 16, 2021
Viral Nebula Rocks
IC1396 converted to 3D animation, very first of its kind
NOW on SuperRare
I turned my photo of IC1396 to a 3d-model at 2012 to show that it’s actually a three-dimensional volume floating in three-dimensional space. This artwork is not just a guess work, it’s based on scientific data about the structure of emission nebulae and real distance information.
This animation went viral and it was published by several news media and major websites globally at 2012, links after the photos
Location, Constellation Cepheus at distance of about 3000 light years
IC 1396 spans about three degrees of sky (Full Moon has diameter of 0,5 degrees)
I took the photo and made the model at 2012, exposure time 15 hours.
Time used for the collecting scientific data, 3D-model and animation way too much.
Original photo used for the animation
My original photo of emission nebula IC1396
Original photo used for the animation
Rotating Nebula in media
SLATE by Phill Plait
Best Astronomy Images of 2012:
DISCOVER MAGAZINE,
Jaw-dropping rotating 3D nebula
SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE by Colin Schultz
Amazing Astrophotography Lets You See Nebulae in 3D
WIRED by Nadia Drake,
New Dimension: Nebulas Are Even More Amazing in 3-D
https://www.wired.com/2013/02/nebulas-in-3-d/
HUFFINGTON POST by Ryan Grenoble,
Nebula IC 1396, Animated In 3D By Finnish Astrophotographer J-P Metsavainio, Is Astounding
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nebula-animated-3d-photo_n_1949152
INSIDER, Jennifer Welsh
Awesome Animation Shows An Interstellar Gas Cloud In 3D https://www.businessinsider.com/awesome-animation-shows-a-nebula-in-3d-2012-10?r=US&IR=T
PETAPIXEL, Michael Zhang
Amazing Animated GIFs Capture Nebulae in 3D Using Artificial Parallax
https://petapixel.com/2013/02/20/amazing-animated-gifs-capture-nebulae-in-3d-using-artificial-parallax/
This animation was selected to a Moving the Still exhibition in Miami Art Week 2012
How the 3D-model is made
My Moleskine notebook pages from 2008, I planned how to convert nebulae to 3D
For as long as I have captured images of celestial objects, I have always seen hem three-dimensionally in my head. The scientific information makes my inner visions much more accurate, and the 3-D technique I have developed enables me to share those beautiful visions with others.
How accurate my 3-D-visions are depending on how much information I have and how well I implement it.
The final 3-D-image is always an appraised simulation of reality based on known scientific facts, deduction, and some artistic creativity.
After I have collected all the necessary scientific information about my target, I start my 3-D conversion from stars. Usually there is a recognizable star cluster which is responsible for ionizing the nebula. We don’t need to know its absolute location since we know its relative location. Stars ionizing the nebula have to be very close to the nebula structure itself. I usually divide up the rest of the stars by their apparent brightness, which can then be used as an indicator of their distances, brighter being closer. If true star distances are available, I use them, but most of the time my rule of thumb is sufficient. By using a scientific estimate of the distance of the Milky Way object, I can locate the correct number of stars in front of it and behind it.
Emission nebulae are not lit up directly by starlight; they are usually way too large for that. Rather, stellar radiation ionizes elements within the gas cloud and the nebula itself is glowing light, the principle is very much the same as in fluorescent tubes. The thickness of the nebula can be estimated from its brightness, since the whole volume of gas is glowing, brighter means thicker.
By this means, forms of the nebula can be turned to a real 3-D shape. Nebulae are also more or less transparent, so we can see both sides of it at the same time, and this makes model-making a little easier since not much is hidden.
The local stellar wind, from the star cluster inside the nebula, shapes the nebula by blowing away the gas around the star cluster. The stellar wind usually forms a kind of cavity in the nebulosity. The same stellar wind also initiates the further collapse of the gas cloud and the birth of the second generation of stars in the nebula. The collapsing gas can resist the stellar wind and produces pillar like formations which must point to a cluster.
Ionized oxygen (O-III) glows with a bluish light, and since oxygen needs a lot of energy to ionize it, this can only be achieved relatively close to the star cluster in the nebula. I use this information to position the O-III area (the bluish glow) at the correct distance relative to the heart of the nebula.
Many other small indicators can be found by carefully studying the image itself. For example, if there is a dark nebula in the image, it must be located in front of the emission one, otherwise we couldn’t see it at all.
Using the known data in this way I build a kind of skeleton model of the nebula. Then the artistic part is mixed with the scientific and logical elements, and after that the rest is very much like creating a sculpture on a cosmic scale
Monday, September 13, 2021
Beyond the astronomical photography
NOTE. Vision series artworks are soon to be sold as NFT @SuperRare
I’m an astrophotographer but first of all I’m a visual artist, as an artist, I’m dazzled by all the forms I’m able to capture in my photos of cosmic objects, nebulae, supernova remnants, galaxies, etc. Colors from ionized elements are connected to the shapes and textures, they form a physical reality around us.
I’m telling a story with my photos, and many times my artworks are also personal notes. The Vision series of photos are forming visual notes about shapes, structures, textures, and colors I have seen and captured during my couple of decades-long journey as an astronomical nature photographer.
Every single element in Vision series photos are from my original astronomical photos. I have been using the Overlapping Lightning Method (Multi Exposure Method) to create my Vision series photographs. By this method the forms and structures in astronomical object get multiplied, they are now forming a new visual dimension beyond our physical universe.
The photographic method I'm using was fashionable back in the 1920s among avant-gardists and surrealistic photographers. At the time the work was done in a darkroom, I’m using about the same technique but instead of a darkroom, I’m using digital image processing.
The original photo is rotated, moved, and/or mirrored as I like, and then multiple layers stacked back together so that the original brightness is maintained. For this task, I use Photoshop and various astronomical stacking methods and applications.
Few samples of my Vision Series, the original astronomical photo I used to create them at end of the page.
Visions of Veil
Please, click for a large image
Visions of Veil series is based on my original photo
Image info can be seen here, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2015/09/pickerings-triangle-my-first-light-for.html
Friday, August 27, 2021
Visions of Veil
This is an experimental test with a 3D-conversion of my astronomical image. Only real elements from the original image are used, there is nothing added but the estimated volumetric information!
NOTE. This is a personal vision about shapes and volumes, based on some scientific data, deduction and an artistic impression.NFT of this video is for sale @SuperRare
Visions of Veil
Original 2D Image, NASA APOD 2015
Click for a large image
How is the volume added to my photos?
Importantly, for as long as I have captured images of celestial objects, I have always seen them in three dimensions in the theatre of my mind. I did develop a unique process to create scientifically accurate 3D volumetric images of 'my' nebulas. The final 3D volumetric image is always an appraised simulation of reality based on known scientific data, deduction, and some artistic creativity.
After I have collected all the necessary scientific information about my target, I start my 3-D conversion using the stars in the image. Usually there is a recognizable star cluster which is responsible for ionizing the nebula. We don’t need to know its absolute location since we know its relative location. Stars ionizing the nebula have to be very close to the nebula structure itself. I usually divide up the rest of the stars by their apparent brightness, which can then be used as an indicator of their distances, brighter being closer. If true star distances are available, I use them, but most of the time my rule of thumb is sufficient. By using a scientific estimate of the distance of the Milky Way object, I can then locate the correct number of stars in front of it and behind it.
Emission nebulae are not lit up directly by starlight; they are usually way too large for that. Rather, stellar radiation ionizes elements within the gas cloud. So, it’s the nebula itself that is glowing. (The principle is very much the same as in fluorescent tubes.) The thickness of the nebula can be estimated from its brightness, since the whole volume of gas is glowing, brighter means thicker. Nebulae are also more or less transparent, so we can see both sides of it at the same time, and this makes model-making a little easier since not much is hidden.
The local stellar wind, from the star cluster inside the nebula, shapes the nebula by blowing away the gas around the star cluster. The stellar wind usually forms a kind of cavity in the nebulosity. The collapsing gas can resist the stellar wind and produces pillar like formations which must point to a cluster.
Oxygen needs a lot energy to ionize it, this can only be achieved relatively close to the star cluster in the nebula. I use this information to position the O-III area (the bluish glow) at the correct distance relative to the heart of the nebula.
Many other small indicators can be found by carefully studying the image itself. For example, if there is a dark nebula in the image, it must be located in front of the emission nebula, otherwise we can’t see it.
Explosions in space are more or less symmetrical, due to that, most of the supernova remnants and planetary nebulae mainly has a ball like appearance.
Using the known data in this way I build a kind of skeleton model of the nebula. Then the artistic part is mixed with the scientific and logical elements, and after that the rest is very much like creating a sculpture on a cosmic scale.
Tuesday, August 17, 2021
A starless Pickering's Triange
As far as I know, I was the first who published starless nebula images back in 2007. At the time the feedback was less than positive.
The reason to publish such a unorthodox images was that the starless version is a part of my processing workflow and it can sometimes show more than the actual image.
I have used this technique ever since and published some starless images now and then.
Starless images are very powerful, when I want to dig out some really dim objects in a very dense starfield. It makes processing so much easier, I don't need to be careful not to blow up the stars.
Normally all the stars are placed back with a zero data lost after processing is done.
Starless images are also a great help to see the actual structure in the nebula since human brains has a tendency to form a quasi logical shapes out of the random cloud of dots, like stars are.
A Starless Pickering's Triangle
Please, click for a large image, it's worth it!
Please, click for a large image, it's worth it!
Part of Veil Nebula supernova remnant, the Pickering's Triangle.Colors are from the ionized elements, Hydrogen, Sulfur and Oxygen. S-II = Red, H-alpha = Green and O-III = Blue. This is one of the most detailed image of the Pickering's Triangle I have ever seen.A wide field photo of the Veil Nebula supernova remnant
The Pickering's Triangle can be see at one o'clock position.
My blog post about the wide field shot can be seen HERE.Technical details:
https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2015/09/pickerings-triangle-my-first-light-for.html
https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2015/09/pickerings-triangle-my-first-light-for.html
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