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Showing posts sorted by date for query cygnus mosaic. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query cygnus mosaic. Sort by relevance Show all posts

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Photo number 8, The Chinese Dragon



Chinese Dragon, 
This is the only image in the World showing the constellation Cygnus so deep and detailed

Image is reduced to size of 2600 x 4200 pixels from the original 30.000 x 17.000 pixels. Click for a large image, it's worth it! Mosaic image was shot between September 2010 and December 2020


NEW, a Zoomable image




Click for a large image, area of interest ids marked as white rectangle


The Dragon, 4K-MOVIE
Duration ~one minute



About this photo

This photo means a lot to me personally. Not only due to large amount of work and time I spent with this area of sky, it also has a deeper meaning for me.

When you spent a decade working with a one photo to get it ready, it's like a long marriage. The passionate love is slowly turning to a deeper connection and at the end you'll grow together and can't live without the others company. As in marriage, during the years I have had friction in the relationship, even hate. But after desperate times the love always wins.

I'm a perfectionist, when dealing with my photography. This feature is essential  for a great results but it also can cause problems in relationship. There have been times when I almost get a divorce and started looking for another, easier target since I couldn't get out all of the extreme dim and difficult details I wanted to see and show. I didn't even know, if they are there since there wasn't any references to compare. I didn't give up and finally after long nights and hundreds of exposure hours I get what I was after. Now we can grow old together and I know for sure, I will always find something new and existing from my love one, the Chinese Dragon..

Total exposure time is way over 600 hours, they are shot between 2010 and 2020. Some areas of this mosaic panorama required more exposure time than others. There are two very diffused supernova remnants in this mosaic. Both are large and extremely dim. I have used about 170 hours of exposures for them alone! There aren't any deep and large enough photos around showing them well. 

I have started this imaging project back at 2010. My aim was to make a high resolution mosaic covering the whole constellation Cygnus. Work like that takes time and patience, especially since I have worked so, that many of the individual sub mosaics or frames can be published as an individual artworks. Here is a poster format presentation about all of the longer focal length images used for this mosaic beside longer focal length panels.

(3300 x 5500 pixels)

A location for each photo is marked at the older version of the mosaic image of the constellation Cygnus at center.


As a result I have now a huge 95 panel mosaic panorama covering 28 x 18 degrees of sky.  I have collected photons way over 600 hours during past ten years for this photo. The full size mosaic image has a size of about 25.000 x 15.000 pixels.

Two + one supernova remnants, two Wolf Rayet stars and a black hole

There are two large supernova remnants visible in this photo, first the Cygnus Shell W63 , bluish ring at upper left quarter, secondly the large SNR G65.3+5.7 at utmost right.
Just outside of the field of view lays the famous Veil Nebula SNR at bottom middle.

Beside two supernova remnants there are two Wolf Rayet stars with outer shell formations. NGC 6888, the Crescent Nebula at center of the image and the WR 134, it can be seen as a blue arch just right from the Crescent Nebula, near the Tulip nebula.

Next to the Tulip Nebula lays a Black hole Cygnus X-1.

Constellation Cygnus is an endless source of celestial wonders, both scientifically and aesthetically. For me, as an visual artist, this area of night sky is very inspiring There are endless amount of  amazing shapes and structures, I can spend rest of my life just shooting images from this treasury.

Please, click the image for full resolution


Note. The third supernova remnant is marked at this image, it's just outside of the actual field of view. I left it out on purpose due to compositional reasons.


Technical details

Original resolution in pixels, 25.000 x 15.000

The NASA astronomer wrote about this image:

In brush strokes of interstellar dust and glowing gas, this beautiful skyscape is painted across the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy near the northern end of the Great Rift and the constellation Cygnus the Swan. Composed over a decade with 400 hours of image data, the broad mosaic spans an impressive 28x18 degrees across the sky. Alpha star of Cygnus, bright, hot, supergiant Deneb lies at the left. Crowded with stars and luminous gas clouds Cygnus is also home to the dark, obscuring Northern Coal Sack Nebula and the star forming emission regions NGC 7000, the North America Nebula and IC 5070, the Pelican Nebula, just left and a little below Deneb. Many other nebulae and star clusters are identifiable throughout the cosmic scene. Of course, Deneb itself is also known to northern hemisphere skygazers for its place in two asterisms, marking a vertex of the Summer Triangle, the top of the Northern Cross.

This is a large area of sky! (28 x 18 degrees) The mosaic photo is in mapped colours, from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulphur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen. Image has over five million stars visible in it. 

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.


A  version of this photo was selected as an Astronomical Picture Of the Day by NASA
APOD, https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210211.html


Mosaic panels in chronological order

Here is an image about individual panels shot for this large mosaic image.
There are 37 base panels with shorter focal length tools (200mm f2.8 Tokina and 200mm f1.8 Canon) There is also 59 sub-panels used, they are shot with my old 12" Meade and 11" Celestron Edge scopes.
Here is a poster format presentation and a list all of longer focal length images used for this mosaic beside the actual panels, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2018/11/treasures-of-swan.html


Evolution of the mosaic between 2010 and 2020
Click for a large image


More info

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Friday, May 7, 2021

All my photos from the Spring season 2021

After each season and year, I have made a poster format presentation about all of my images taken at that period. Spring season 2021 was little different since I got ready the massive mosaic image of the Northern Milky Way. This is only photo in the World, showing the Northern Milky Way by this accuracy and depth. There are several extremely dim objects seen in full glory at the first time in the World in this mosaic panorama.


All my photos from the Spring season 2021
Click for a large image




  1. "The Space Between Us" https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2021/03/space-between-cygnus-and-cepheus.html
  2. The Constellation cassiopeia
  3. From Cassiopeia to Cygnus, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2021/02/this-gigapixel-mosaic-has-over-900.html
  4. "Cirrus of Cygnus", https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/12/cirrus-of-cygnus-and-supernova-remnant.html
  5. SNR G65.5+5.7, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/11/g65357-large-supernova-remnant-in_22.html
  6. Sharpless 132, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2021/02/sharpless-132-sh2-132-with-new-data.html
  7. Lower's Nebula, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2021/01/lowers-nebula.html
  8. From Taurus to Perseus, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2021/02/a-new-mosaic-image-from-taurus-to.html
  9. From Cassiopeia to Cepheus, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2021/01/mosaic-image-gets-large-400-hours-and.html
  10. From Cassiopeia to Cepheus, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2021/01/mosaic-image-gets-large-400-hours-and.html
  11. The Grand Mosaic of the Milky Way, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2021/03/gigapixel-mosaic-of-milky-way-1250.html

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. ore info about the year 2020 can be seen here, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/12/all-my-photos-from-year-2020.html




I have a new logo now

That's me in the silhuet. The image can be seen some kind of planetary conjunction or even a stylished Moon. But it actually shows a very typical situation when I'm about to start an imaging session and I'm looking for the sky quality. The half circle like cutting at two o'clock is showing the rear end of my telescope.



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Sunday, March 14, 2021

Space between Cygnus and cepheus

 I have published several large mosaic image panoramas in a past year. I have made several smaller sub-panoramas, they are working as an independent artworks.

This image shows an area between well known and much imaged objects, I always like to find a new viewpoints to the sky. 

The space between Cygnus and Cepheus
Click for a large image, it's worth it

Image in mapped colors from the light emitted by an ionized elements, hydrogen = green, sulfur = red and oxygen = blue. 

A closeup to show the resolution
Click for a large image,

A closeup from the main image shows the Sharpless 124 at up and the Cocoon nebula with a dark gas stream at bottom.

The mosaic, technical info

Panels used for the mosaic image are marked here, panels are shot between 2010 and 2021

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.

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Thursday, February 11, 2021

APOD by NASA, Astro Anarchy gets published

 

Astronomy Picture of the Day

My shot of the constellation Cygnus 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/ap210211.html



INFO

Original blog post about this image, with technical details, can be seen here:
https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2021/02/cygnus-mosaic-in-visual-colors.html
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Monday, February 8, 2021

Cygnus mosaic in visual colors

 
I have published this image in mapped colors at December 2020, it can be seen here, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/12/cygnus-project-grande-finale-for-now.html

I have started this imaging project back at 2010. My aim was to make a high resolution mosaic covering the constellation Cygnus. Work like that takes time and patience, especially since I have worked so, that many of the individual sub mosaics or frames have been published as an individual artworks. Here is a poster format presentation about all of longer focal length images used for this mosaic beside wide field panels, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2018/11/treasures-of-swan.html

As a result I have now a huge 37 panel (And 58 long focal length sub-panel) mosaic panorama covering 28 x 18 degrees of sky.  I have collected photons way over 400 hours during past ten years for this photo. The full size mosaic image has a size of about 25.000 x 15.000 pixels.


A photo of five million stars*

Great Mosaic of Cygnus (2010-2020)
28x18 degrees, 97 panels and over 400 hours of exposure time

The full size photo is worth to see!  (2700 x 1700 pixels)An apparent size of the Moon is marked as a scale at bottom left of the picture frame. 
This is a large area of sky! (28 x 18 degrees) Image is in visual colours, from the emission of ionized elements in the area.
* I actually counted the stars and in this field of view there are little over five million individual stars!

Orientation
Three supernova remnants, two Wolf Rayet stars and a black hole
Please, click the image for full resolution

In the orientation image above, there are three large supernova remnants visible, first the Cygnus Shell W63 , bluish ring at upper left quarter, secondly the large SNR G65.3+5.7 at utmost right and finally the third is a brighter SNR, the Veil nebula just outside of field of view at bottom center. (Image is partly overlapping with large mosaic  but I didn't want to include it yet due to artistic composition.)

Beside three supernova remnants there are two Wolf Rayet stars with outer shell formations. NGC 6888, the Crescent Nebula at center of the image and the WR 134, it can be seen as a blue arch just right from the Crescent Nebula, near the Tulip nebula.

Next to the Tulip Nebula lays a Black hole Cygnus X-1, it's marked in small closeup image of the Tulip Neula at center right in orientation image above. 

Constellation Cygnus is an endless source of celestial wonders, both scientifically and aesthetically. For me, as an visual artist, this are of night sky is very inspiring There are endless amount of  amazing shapes and structures, I can spend rest of my life just shooting images from this treasury.



THE MOSAIC

Evolution of the mosaic between 2010 and 2020
Click for a large image




Mosaic panels in chronological order

There are 37 base panels with shorter focal length tools (300mm f2.8 Tokina and 200mm f1.8 Canon) There is also 59 sub-panels used, they are shot with my old 12" Meade and 11" Celestron Edge scopes.
NOTE I recalculated the total exposure time and it's actually way over 600 hours.
Here is a poster format presentation and a list all of longer focal length images used for this mosaic beside the actual panels, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2018/11/treasures-of-swan.html


Equipments used

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.


Couple of close ups to show the resolution
Click for a large image

North america & pelican nebula region




Supernova remnant G65.3+5.7
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


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








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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








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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



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