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Sunday, September 11, 2011

Cygnus Treasures




A collection of objects in constellation Cygnus.
All images are in HST-palette from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen & B=Oxygen.
Note. Images 1,2,3,5,9 are in same scale as a group (300mm Tokina lens @ f2.8). Closeup images, 4,6,7,8 are in same scale. (Meade LX200 GPS 12" reduced to f4,65)

I made this image since I haven't have an opportunity to do any imaging yet, due the weather. We have couple of hours of astronomical darkness now and my first targets will be locating in constellation Cygnus.
Original image is really large, since I kept all the images in native resolution, 11.000 x 12.000 pixels!

Natural color composition from the emission of ionized elements, R=80%Hydrogen+20%Sulfur, G=100%Oxygen and B=85%Oxygen+15%Hydrogen to compensate otherwise missing H-beta emission. Star colors are mixed from the NB channels, Red=H-a, G=O-III and B= 85%O-III + 15%H-a.This composition is very close to a visual spectrum. 




Images from upper Left to a lower Right corner:

1. Wide field image of NGC6888, the "Crescent Nebula"
2. Wide field image of the "Butterfly Nebula"
3. Wide field image of the Sharpless 101, the "Tulip Nebula"
4. Closeup of the NGC6888, "Crescent Nebula"
5. "Veil Nebula", a supernova remnant
6. Closeup of the Sharpless 101, the "Tulip Nebula"
7. Closeup of the NGC7000, the "North America Nebula"
8. Closeup of the "Pelican Nebula"
9. Wide field image of the North Ameriac and the Pelican Nebulae.



Thursday, September 8, 2011

M27, the "Dumbbell Nebula", reprocessed ones again





Since my processing technique gets better and weather doesn't give any support, I have reprocessed some older images. There is now star colors added and other processing is tweaked too.


Messier 27, the "Dumbbell Nebula"
Ra 19h 59m 36.340s Dec +22° 43′ 16.09″

Image is in HST-palette, (HST=Hubble Space Telescope) from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen & B=Oxygen.Star colors are mixed from the NB channels, Red=H-a, G=O-III & B= 85%O-III + 15%H-a.
Buy a photographic print from HERE

I redid the composition too, the old one was little too static to my taste, image is cropped.

The Dumbbell Nebula (also known as a Messier 27, M 27, or NGC 6853) is a planetary nebula in the constellation Vulpecula, at a distance of about 1360 light years. It has a large angular diameter as a planetary nebula, about 8 x 5,6 arc minutes. (Rarely imaged outer halo is not included, it can be seen in my image. With an outer shell, the diameter is over 15'' (more than a size of the half a Moon))
Planetary nebulae are shells of gas shed by stars late in their life cycles after using up all of their nuclear fuel. The star then ejects a gaseous shell, which is illuminated by its extremely hot central star, a core left from the original star. n this image, the central star is clearly visible at very center of the nebula. M27's central star has a magnitude of 13.5 and is an extremely hot blueish dwarf with a temperature of about 85,000 K.
Our own star, the Sun, is expected to undergo the same process in a couple of billion years.



Natural color composition from the emission of ionized elements, R=80%Hydrogen+20%Sulfur, G=100%Oxygen and B=85%Oxygen+15%Hydrogen to compensate otherwise missing H-beta emission. Star colors are mixed from the NB channels too.This composition is very close to a visual spectrum.
Buy a photographic print from HERE

This is the whole field image with the old composition.
Buy a photographic print from HERE
Previous version of the M27 can be found here:



Details:
Camera, QHY9
Optics, Meade LX200 GPS 12" @ f4.65
Guiding, Lodestar and SXV-AO @ 13Hz
image scale is 0.8 arcsecond/pixel

Exposures: 
9x1200s  Binned 1x1+ 7x600 Binned 2x2 with 7nm H-alpha filter 
6x600s, binned 2x2, for O-III 
2x600s, binned 3x3, for S-II.




Monday, September 5, 2011

Bubble Nebula reprocessed, again




Since my processing technique gets better and weather doesn't give any support, I have reprocessed some older images. There is now star colors added and other processing is tweaked too.


Sharpless 162, NGC 7635, the "Bubble Nebula"
Ra 23h 20m 48s Dec +61° 12′ 06″

Image is in HST-palette, (HST=Hubble Space Telescope) from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen & B=Oxygen.Star colors are mixed from the NB channels, Red=H-a, G=O-III & B= 85%O-III + 15%H-a.





A closeup






A closer closeup of the bubble feature
Not a bad resolution for an olde Meade LX200 GPS 12" telescope...


I made this animation originally to be sure, that I don't have any artifacts from my experimental processing workflow.




This is one of the most interesting looking structures in a sky.
NGC 7635 aka "Bubble Nebula, Sh2-162 or Caldwell11, is a Hydrogen emission nebula in constellation Cassiopeia. It locates near the open cluster M 52 at distance of about 11.000 light years from the Earth.
The bubble structure is created by a strong stellar wind, a radiation pressure, from massive hot magnitude 8,7 central star, SAO 20575, it can be seen in an image inside of the bubble, off centered at Right.

Bubble is an expanding shock front inside a giant molecular cloud and it has a diameter more than Six light years. The spherical formation is expanding at speed of 6500.000 km/h, due the huge scale and distance we can't see the movement easily. In a century, the bubble in this image will be only about one pixel wider, than now! ( ~1 arc second)
Strong UV-radiation from a central star ionized elements in a gas and makes them glow at typical wavelength to each element. (Hydrogen glows Red light as Sulfur, Oxygen emits Green/Blue light at visible wavelengths) 

If you are interested about color schemes used in my images, I wrote a small study about them, please, have a look here: http://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2009/11/colors-in-astro-images.html





Natural color composition from the emission of ionized elements, R=80%Hydrogen+20%Sulfur, G=100%Oxygen and B=85%Oxygen+15%Hydrogen to compensate otherwise missing H-beta emission. Star colors are mixed from the NB channels, Red=H-a, G=O-III and B= 85%O-III + 15%H-a.This composition is very close to a visual spectrum. 


A closeup






Previous version of the Bubble Nebula can be seen here:


Please, let me know, if this one looks better!


Processing work flow: 

Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07. 

Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack. 
Deconvolution with a CCDSharp, 30 iterations. 
Levels, curves and color combine in PS CS3.
Imaged in three nights between 27.09 - 04-09 2009, seeing varys between 4-2,5 FWHM  
Telescope, Meade LX200 GPS 12" @ f4.65 Camera, QHY9 Guiding, SXV-AO @ 11Hz
Exposures:
H-alpha 21x1200s Binned 1x1 = 7h
S-II 10x600s Binned 3x3
O-III 5x600s Binned 3x3


A study of the apparent scale in a sky


NOTE. The size of the full Moon (0,5 degrees) is marked as a scale.

3D-study of the Bubble Nebula:
http://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2009/10/bubble-nbula-as-stereogram.html




Wide field images of the Bubble Nebula area

Sharpless 157, Sh2-157, in a middle, Bubble Nebula can be seen at about ten a clock position.


A panoramic, two panel mosaic, from the Bubble to the Wizard Nebula at Right.







Friday, September 2, 2011

IC 1848, the "Soul Nebula", reprocessed





Since my processing technique gets better and the time of year doesn't give any support, I have reprocessed some older images. There is now star colors added and other processing is tweaked too.



IC 1848, the "Soul Nebula"

Ra 02h 51m 36.24s Dec +60° 26′ 53.9"


Image is in HST-palette, (HST=Hubble Space Telescope)
from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.
Star colors are mixed from the NB channels, Red=H-a, G=O-III and B= 85%O-III + 15%H-a.

This image is taken with a Tokina AT-X 300mm F2.8 camera lens.
Soul Nebula (Sh2-199, LBN667) is an emission nebula in Cassiopeia at distance of about 7500 light years.
This complex is the eastern neighbor of IC1805 (Heart Nebula) and the two are often mentioned together as the "Heart and Soul".

Here is a "scale study" about the apparent scale of the IC1848 in a sky:
http://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2011/06/ic1848-soul-nebula-apparent-scale-in.html






Natural color composition from the emission of ionized elements, R=80%Hydrogen+20%Sulfur, G=100%Oxygen and B=85%Oxygen+15%Hydrogen to compensate otherwise missing H-beta emission. This composition is very close to a visual spectrum.



Processing work flow:
Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack. 
Deconvolution with a CCDSharp, 20 iteration, added at 50% weight.
Levels, curves and color combine in PS CS3.

Equipments:
Tokina AT-a 300mm f2.8 @ f2.8
Platform and guiding, Meade LX200 GPS 12" @ f5
Camera, QHY9
Guider, Lodestar
Image Scale, 3,79 arcseconds/pixel

Exposures:
Baader H-alpha 7nm 15x1200s, binned 1x1
Other channels are from an older image



Older images from the same target


Image shows both, Soul and Heart, nebulae
Colors for a new image are taken from this older one.

Soul Nebula closeup 1


Soul Nebula closeup 2