Monday, December 17, 2012
Messier 27, the Dumbbell Nebula
I reprocessed this image since weather doesn't support imaging up here and my processing work flow is somehow different now. My new work flow produces softer images with high details.
Messier 27, the "Dumbbell Nebula"
Ra 19h 59m 36.340s Dec +22° 43′ 16.09″
M27 in mapped colors, from the emission of ionized elements,
R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.
Click for a large image.
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.
A closeup from the image center,
the central star shines at magnitude 13,5
M27 in visual colors
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.
Click for a large image.
Closeup
A mapped color closeup with a different orientation.
Technical details:
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.
Telescope, Meade LX200 GPS 12" @ f5
Camera, QHY9 Guiding, SXV-AO @ 6,5Hz
Image Scale, 0,75 arcseconds/pixel
Exposures H-alpha 14x1200s, binned 1x1
2 x S-II 1x600s, binned 3x3
6 x O-III 1x600s, binned 2x2
A single 20 min. H-alpha light frame
Calibrated with Bias corrected flat and Dark masters in CCDStack
1200 seconds of light from the ionized Hydrogen with Meade LX200 12" @ f5, Baader 7nm H-a filter and a cooled astrocam QHY9. Image is scale down ~50% from the original.
At the time of imaging, the seeing was kind of good, FWHM around 2,5.
At the time of imaging, the seeing was kind of good, FWHM around 2,5.
Original version, from 2009, of Messier 27 can be seen here
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Soul Nebula, up close & personal
In this blog post of mine, I'm showing a collection of the Soul Nebula images. Some of them are shot in previous years and some at this Autumn season. All images are reprocessed since I have now a better technique.
IC 1848, the "Soul Nebula"
Ra 02h 51m 36.24s Dec +60° 26′ 53.9"
Image is in mapped colors, from the emission of ionized elements,
R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.
Soul nebula in wider field image
In this wide field image, 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.
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.
Closeups of the Soul Nebula
Images are shot with a Meade LX200 12" telescope
Image is in mapped colors, from the emission of ionized elements,
R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.
Image is in mapped colors, from the emission of ionized elements,
R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.
A two frame mosaic from previous images.
Image is in mapped colors, from the emission of ionized elements,
R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.
Orientation
The previous closeups are marked in this image as a white rectangles.
A collection of images in visual spectrum
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.
Technical details
All technical data for the mages in this blog post can be found from my portfolio.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
The Pelican Nebula reprocessed
I reprocessed this image since weather doesn't support imaging up here and my processing work flow is somehow different now. My new work flow produces much softer images, I think.
The "Pelican Nebula"
Ra 20h 50m 48s Dec +44° 20′ 60"
R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.
A closeup
Info
The Pelican Nebula (also known as IC5070 and IC5067) is an Hydrogen emission region associated with the North America Nebula in the constellation Cygnus. The nebula resembles a pelican in shape, hence the name. The Pelican Nebula is , close to Deneb, and divided from its brighter, larger neighbor, the North America Nebula, by a molecular cloud filled with dark dust. Distance is about 1800 light 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. This composition is very close to a visual spectrum.
Orientation
The area of interest is marked with a white rectangle. This image shows a large portion of constellation Cygnus, North America Nebula, NGC 7000 at right and Pelican Nebula at left. This image is a small part of very large mosaic image of the Cygnus.
Image showing a light emitted by the ionized Hydrogen, H-alpha
Technical details
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.
Camera QHY9,
Optics Meade LX200 GPS 12" forced to @ f4.65
Guiding with SXV-AO active optics unit 11Hz
Filters
Baader H-alpha 7nm, 6h, 20 min subs
Baader O-III 8,5nm 1h, 10 min. subs binned 3x3
S-II 1,40h, 10 min subs binned 3x3
Original processing can be seen here:
Ps.
A study about an apparent size in the sky
More info in here:
The size of the Moon (0.5 degrees) is marked at first image in the series.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
The Wizard Nebula reprocessed
I reprocessed this image since weather doesn't support imaging up here and my processing work flow is somehow different now. My new work flow produces much softer images, I think.
NGC 7380, Sh2-1142, the "Wizard Nebula", in Cepheus
Ra 22h 47m 0s Dec +58° 06′ 00″
R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.
A closeup
Info
NGC 7380 is a catalog number of the open star cluster inside Wizard nebula, SH2-142.
Nebula locates in constellation Cepheus, about 7000 light years from my home.
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.
An experimental starless version
This image shows just the gas formation, without stars interfering.
Previous version
same raw data is used here
Technical details:
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.
Telescope, Meade LX200 GPS 12" @ f5
Camera, QHY9 Guiding, SXV-AO @ 6,5Hz
Image Scale, 0,75 arcseconds/pixel
Exposures H-alpha 15x1200s, binned 1x1
S-II 1x1200s, binned 4x4
O-III 1x1200s, binned 4x4
Beside data here, a color information from an older wide field image is used.
Image can be seen here: http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2011/02/sh2-142-wizard-nebula-wide-field.html
A study about an apparent scale in a sky
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