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All the material on this website is copyrighted to J-P Metsavainio, if not otherwise stated. Any content on this website may not be reproduced without the author’s permission.

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Saturday, April 26, 2014

Astro Anarchy get published


Yesterday was an opening ceremony for the new facilities of The "Oulu Region Joint Authority for Education" in Haukipudas. One of my images was selected there as a public artwork in a main lobby.

The Cirrus of Cygnus
A very large photographic print on aluminium, 3x10m

The photo is printed on aluminium and it has a glossy finishing. This is one of the largest art prints I have ever seen. The size of the photographic prin is over 3 x 10 meters (= 10 x 33 feet) 
Even in that size, the image is very sharp, since the original image is in very high resolution due to mosaic technique used. An info board for the artwork can be seen next to the door at middle right.

An opening ceremony

Yours truly at left in a red shirt. Photo copyright OSAO

About the photo
Click for a very large image, 3000 pixels wide and 4,5MB

A mapped color image from the emission of ionized elements,
R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.

The image above spans about 15 degrees of sky horizontally, that's 30 fool Moons side by side in a sky!
There are nine panels seamlessly stitched together. Each panel has been shot three times for a color image by using emission line filters for Hydrogen, Oxygen and Sulfur. A camera lens, Canon EF 200mm f1.8, was used with a cooled astronomical camera, QHY9. Original image is about 20000 pixels wide . Total exposure time is around 90h.

The "Cirrus of Cygnus" is a part of a much large image of this area. 
Note! a very large image, 2300 pixels wide and 4,7MB
The Cirrus formation can be seen at upper part of the image above.


More info in this blog post: http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2011/12/cygnus-mosaic-18-panels-and-22-x-14.html

Couple of closeups from a mosaic image above

The propeller nebula, this area can be seen at middle of bottom edge in the topmost image.
Original blog post about the Propeller Nebula: http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2011/10/first-light-for-autumn-season-2011.html

Sharpless object 112 can be seen as a dim batch at left, near a bottom edge, next to a brighter blue area, in a topmost image.

Orientation in constellation Cygnus



It does look like a Cirrus cloud





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Thursday, April 10, 2014

Tone Mapping V2.0, my lecture at NEAIC conference, New York




Click the image to download a PDF-tutorial

Click the image to download a PDF-tutorial

I'm offering my development work for free.
Donations are welcome especially since I don't have any equipments to continue my imaging work.









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Saturday, April 5, 2014

Two collections of planetary nebulae in scale


Since I don't have any equipment to continue my imaging work, I have organized my image archives. This time I made an image collection out of the planetary nebulae imaged by me. I'm trying to show here, how large they appear to be in the sky. There is an image of the Moon as a scale in the posters. The Moon has an angular diameter of about 30 arc minutes, that's equal to 0,5 degrees. I have made a similar poster out of the supernova remnants, it can be seen HERE.


A collection of planetary nebulae as a poster
Click for a full resolution image




A collection of very large planetary nebulae as a poster
Click for a full resolution image. Please, read the NOTE under the image!


NOTE!

A friend of mine, Sakib Rasool, contacted me for this posters. There is an error in second one.
Sh2-223 is actually an emission nebula. You can read a paper about it here: http://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/abs/2006/29/aa4881-06/aa4881-06.html



INFO

For more information about palnetary nebulae: http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_nebula
All images are emission line images shot with a Baader narrowband filter set, cooled astronomical camera QHY and Meade LX200 GPS.

Links to my original photos with technical details

Poster 1


Poster 2




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Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Best amateur astronomy photos of the past four years, by the Telegraph




My photo of the constellation Cygnus was selected as one of the best amateur astronomy photographs of the past four years by the Telegraph. The collection of images can be seen HERE, my image is a number 09.

A mosaic image of constellation Cygnus 
Reprocessed, NOTE. a large image 2300 pixels wide and 4.3MB

Image is in mapped colors from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen. Native size of  this image is over 15.000 x 10.000 pixels.

More information and images HERE




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Monday, March 24, 2014

A collection of large supernova remnants as a poster



Since I don't have any equipment to continue my imaging work, I have organized my image archives. This time I made an image collection out of the supernova remnants with a large angular scale. I'm trying to show here, how large they really are in the sky. There is an image of the Moon as a scale in the poster. The Moon has an angular diameter of about 30 arc minutes, that's equal to 0,5 degrees.


A collection of large supernova remnants as a poster
Images are in mapped colors from the emission of ionized elements. NOTE a large image, 1900x2500 pixels and 6MB

All images are in Mapped colors from the emission of ionized elements,
R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.
Note. The Moon as a scale to show the apparent scale in the sky.


The same collection in visual spectrum
Click for a full resolution poster. NOTE a large image, 1900x2500 pixels and 6MB

Images are in Natural color palette from the emission of ionized elements,
R=Hydrogen + Sulfur, G=Oxygen and B=Oxygen + Hydrogen. This is very close to a visual colors.
Note. The Moon as a scale to show the apparent scale in the sky.

More information about SNR images above
Links to my original photos with technical details

All the images are shot with the camera optics, Canon EF 200mm f1.8 monster lens full open, Baader narrowband filters (H-a, O-III and S-II) and the QHY9, a cooled astronomical camera with the KAF 8300 CCD chip. Very long exposure times are used, 15 to 50 hours per image, to reveal dim and diffused structures buried in the dense star fields. All images are guided with the Meade LX200 GPS 12" and the Lodestar guider. Meade works also an imaging platform for the camera lens.

In this collection, there are couple of very rare images, like Simeis 147, Sharpless 224. There are also two "firs light" images out of two super nova remnants, Sharpless 221(Sh2-221) and G65.3+5.7SNR. I haven't been able to find any other color images out of them, showing the whole SNR.





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Monday, February 24, 2014

Exploded stars as an experimental 3d-stereopair

Images are for two different viewing methods, the first  is for the Parallel Vision method and the second one for the Cross Vision method. Viewing instructions can be seen HERE.

Anaglyph versions, for the Red/Cyan glasses, can be found from my portfolio HERE.

NOTE! This is a personal vision about volumes and shapes, based on some known facts and an artistic impression.

Image of Sh-221 and Sh2-216 as an experimental 3D study
Two ways to end a life of the star in a same seven degrees field of view!

For Parallel Vision method



For Cross Vision Method


Original blog post about this photo can be seen HERE

INFO

Just next to Sh2-221 locates a closest known planetary nebula, Sh2-216. This is also a very rarely images target, due to its low surface brightness and large angular dimension. This mosaic image covers over seven degrees of sky vertically. (The Moon has an apparent dimension of 0.5 degrees.)  Mosaic is made out of my new data of Sh2-221 and an older material of Sh2-216. Some new exposures was taken for the Sh2-216 to match the background for a mosaic image. 

Image shows two different ways to end a life of the star. At left, as a Supernova and at right as a Planetary Nebula. (Massive stars will go to a Supernova, after burning out all of the Hydrogen. There will be a Neutron star or a Black Hole left behind. Lighter stars, as our Sun, will turn to a Planetary Nebula, after ran out of Hydrogen. There is a core of the star left behind, it's called a White Dwarf  and it will cool down gradually. ) 






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Thursday, February 13, 2014

Astroa Anarchy is looking for sponsors



Business corporate sponsors needed

I recently lost my imaging system due to massive short circuit. After calculating the repair cost of the current setup, it turned to be more expensive, than a new one would be.  

I'm looking for Business Corporate sponsors to support my work as an astronomical photographer. I can offer lots of visibility in my pages. A free usage right to my photos is negotiable.

I have a plan for a new set up, the estimated cost will be around 25.000 Euros. (That's about 34.000$)
The new system will have a new telescope mount and the optics will be 14" SCT converted to a f2 astrograph, with the HyperStar system.  (The price is low for a high end system, since I have lots of usable material from my old setup and I will do the actual labor by myself.) 

How much visibility can be generated?

It's difficult to give any exact numbers, since I have Several channels to publish my images. My blog have had about 20.000 monthly visitors starting from the year 2007. My image portfolio have had about 15.000 monthly visitors, starting from the year 2010. Beside that, I have Facebook page for my photographs, it has about 1200 friends and about as many followers. Images get shared a lot by a popular Facebook pages.

Quite regularly my images get published by a very popular websites, like NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day or National Geographic, there is a collection of publishers logos at  upper right corner of this page.
Any time the photo get published by a popular page, it will get easily millions of views.


Contact for more information

jp.metsavainio (a.t.) gmail.com


My photo portfolio







www.tips-fb.com Posted by J-P Metsavainio at 10:11 AM 2 comments

Monday, February 10, 2014

All my images from the Spring season 2014



This is a small collection of my images, shot at Spring 2014. There are not many images and new ones aren't coming anytime soon, since my main telescope system has toasted beyond any repair. I'm having a hard time trying to figure out, how to restore my observatory to an imaging condition with a very limited assets. 

I managed to get some really rare images though. I think, that both supernova remnant images, Sharpless 221 and G65.3+5.7 SNR, are the first three band color images, showing the whole remnant, in the world! If someone is able to find other images, I'm very interested to hear about it. Both SNR images are kind of long projects. Exposure time for the G65.3+5.7 SNR 38 hours and for the Sharpless 221 was 33 hours, with the planetary nebula Sharpless 216, 58 hours. (Image at the bottom of the poster.)

Main work for the season was the large, ten panels mosaic of the constellation Cepheus. Every pane is shot three times to have a narrow band color composition. Total exposure time was 92 hours, it includes shots from six different years. 

All images from the Spring season -14 are shot with the Canon EF200mm f1.8 camera lens (full open), QHY9 a cooled astronomical camera and the Baader narrowband filters, H-a, S-II and O-III.

All my images from the Spring season 2014 as a poster
Click to see at full scale, 1600x2600 and 5MB

Images are in Natural color palette from the emission of ionized elements, 
R=Hydrogen + Sulfur, G=Oxygen and B=Oxygen + Hydrogen.


Ps.

All my astronomical photos can be seen HERE.




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Monday, February 3, 2014

A zoom in series of the Sharpless 132



Now and then I have published some zoom in series of various objects imaged by me.
The purpose is to show the apparent scale in the sky. Beside that, this series shows nicely the fractal nature of our universe.  Series are possible to make, since I have shot many objects with various focal lengths.
Like this one is shot with 200mm, 300mm and ~2000mm  focal lengths. Images are from my large mosaic image of the constellation Cepheus.

The Sharpless 132 (Sh2-132), a study about the scale in the sky
Note. A circle, size of the Moon, in the images as a scale. (An apparent scale of the Moon is 0,5 degrees, or 30  arc minutes.)

All images are in Mapped colors from the emission of ionized elements,
R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.


Orientation in constellation Cepheus

An orientation in constellation Cepheus. The mosaic image covers an area of ~18x10 dgrees.






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Sunday, February 2, 2014

A poster format collection from the Cepheus project



In this collection of my images, the objects shown in a large mosaic of the constellation Cepheus, are collected together. There are indicator lines to show the actual location of object in a large context. As can be seen, I have shot many objects in various focal lengths.

 The Cepheus project was my last published image before the major break down of my imaging equipment.

The Cepheus collection
Be sure to click the image to see it in full scale! (2400 x 2000 pixels and 4,5 MB)

All images are in mapped colors from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.
An Original blog post of The Cepheus project can be seen HERE.


Small images clockwise, starting from the top left 
  1. Cave Nebula, a closeup: http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2012/12/the-cave-nebula_9.html
  2. Cave Nebula, a wide field shot: http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2011/01/sh2-155-cave-nebula-reprocessed.html
  3. Sharpless 140: http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2012/02/dim-and-large-nebula-in-cepheus.html
  4. Sharpless 129: http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2013/12/a-start-of-new-project-cepheus-mosaic.html
  5. Elephant's Trunk Nebula: http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2012/12/elephants-trunk-nebula-reprocessed.html
  6. IC 1396: http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2011/10/ic-1396-home-of-elephants-trunk-nebula.html
  7. Sharpless 132, a wide field shot: http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2011/02/sh2-132-project-finalized.html
  8. Sharpless 132, a closeup: http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2013/10/the-second-image-of-autumn-season-2013.html
  9. The Wizard Nebula: http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2011/07/sh2-142-wizard-nebula-reprocessed.html
  10. Sharpless 157: http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2011/03/sh2-157-reprocessed.html
  11. Bubble Nebula: http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2011/03/bubble-nebula-reprocessed.html







www.tips-fb.com Posted by J-P Metsavainio at 1:08 PM 1 comments
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Friday, January 31, 2014

It's over, I cant do my loved astronomical imaging anymore



Sad news, my old Meade LX200 GPS 12" telescope gave up and died.

Two nights ago, when I was imaging, my telescope stopped tracking and gave an error message "Motor Stalled".
It turned to be a fatal problem, the control board of Ra motor was fried. There is no way to fix it myself, the board has several layers and lots of microscopic components. This is a very old scope and it has been under a heavy usage in a very extreme weather conditions. Replacement parts are very hard to find, since this telescope is not manufactured any more. Even if I managed to have needed parts, it'll take the rest of the season to put all up and running again.

This instrument has been way below my level as an astronomical photographer for a years. Lots of desperate looking DIY solutions was used to make this old scope work as a some kind of imaging platform. I really need a new mount and a better optics. 

I can't afford to buy any new instruments, it looks like my days are over now. I'm not going to buy any second rate stuff, I'll rather be without, than start fighting against constant malfunctions ones again. I have spent countless hours outside, soldering some bad connectors, in a freezing wind and a bellow -20 centigrade temperatures to fix my scope, not any more. 

The only way to solve this is trying to find a sponsor. It won't be easy and it might never happen. 

An update, February 02. 2014

After a careful study of damages in my scope, I found out, that not only the Ra motor controller card was toasted. Also the motherboard, Ra motor and its encoder are burned and partly smelted too. This means, that the whole system is beyond repair, least with any reasonable costs. 


Images, taken with this deceased scope can be seen HERE.


A collection of images with the Meade LX200 GPS 12" telescope, Baader narrowband filters and the QHY9 astronomical camera
(Be sure to click the image to see it in full scale)









www.tips-fb.com Posted by J-P Metsavainio at 11:49 AM 7 comments
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Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Three wide field projects, three constellations


Yesterday I published a large mosaic of Cepheus. I have done two other large mosaics from two other Constellations, Auriga and Cygnus. In this blog post I show all three at the same time. 


18-panels mosaic of the constellation Cygnus
Click for a large image, Note. 2300x1500 pixels and 3,5MB

Mapped colors from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.
Total exposure time around 120 hours. Buy a photographic print from HERE

A blog post about this photo with more info and images:


12-panels mosaic of  the Constellation Auriga
Click for a large image, Note. 2000x1000 pixels and 2,5MB

Mapped colors from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.
Total exposure time around 70 hours. Buy a photographic print from HERE

A blog post about this photo with more info and images:
http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2012/03/auriga-panorama-gets-bigger-12-panels.html


10-panels mosaic of the constellation Cepheus
Click for a large image, Note. 2900x1700 pixels and 6,6MB

Mapped colors from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.
Total exposure time around  92 hours. Buy a photographic print from HERE

A blog post about this photo with more info and images:
http://www.astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2014/01/a-grande-finale-of-cepheus-project.html

(I have done many smaller mosaic images but only the very large ones are listed here.)






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Tuesday, January 28, 2014

A grande finale of the Cepheus project, mosaic of ten panels with colors



I have planned this Cepheus project for a long time. Finally I have been able to finalize it. I have done some large mosaic images of nebula rich areas in our Milky way. The ultra fast camera optics, Canon EF 200mm f1.8, it's a perfect tool for the job. It has a large, flat and sharp, image field and full open at f1.8, it collects photons very fast. The final image covers an area of about 18x10 degrees. (Full Moon has an apparent size about 0,5 degrees. 720 full Moons are needed to cover this area in the sky.)

To have a color image, each of the panels have been shot three times. This narrowband image is shot with QHY9  (a cooled astronomical camera), Canon EF 200mm f1.8 camera optics full open,  Baader Planetarium Narrowband filter set for an emission of ionized elements, Hydrogen, Oxygen and Sulfur.  (H-alpha, O-III and S-III) The dimensions of the final mosaic image are 12000 x 6500 pixels.


Emission Nebulae in constellation Cepheus 
Mosaic image of ten individual panels, total exposures 92h.
Click for a very large image, 3000 pixels wide and 7MB.

Mapped colors from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.
Buy a real photographic print from HERE


About 1:1 detail from the image above
Click for a full size photo

Lots of stars out there.


Cepheus Nebulae in visual spectrum
Composed from the narrowband channels

Image is in Natural color palette from the emission of ionized elements, 
R=Hydrogen + Sulfur, G=Oxygen and B=Oxygen + Hydrogen.
 Buy a real photographic print from HERE


B&W image with an emission of Hydrogen alpha only

Image of light, emitted by an ionized Hydrogen.
 Buy a real photographic print from HERE


A labeled image and orientation

Some main objects are labeled here


An orientation in constellation Cepheus. The mosaic image covers an area of ~18x10 dgrees.

Technical details

I have used lots of an older material for this image. I have shot this area for years, with a different instruments, with different focal lengths and apertures. The total exposure time for the final mosaic image is calculated by adding the exposures for the actual mosaic to the exposures for sub-images used.  

List of the sub-images used for a large, 10 panels, mosaic of Cepheus


Panels, shot for a final mosaic


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
An extra background normalization in CCDStack for a mosaic match.
Color combine for each panel in PS CS3
Panel composition in PS CS3
Levels, curves and the final color matching in PS CS3.

Imaging optics used for the mosaic image

Meade LX200 GPS 12" reduced to f5
Tokina AT-X 300mm f2.8
Canon EF 200mm f1.8

Cameras and filters

Imaging camera QHY 9, with a QHY filter wheel
Guider camera, Lodetsar
Active optics unit SXV-AO with Meade LX200 12" telescope
Baader Filter set, 7nm H-aplha, 8nm S-II and 8.5nm O-III

Total exposures used for a mosaic image

H-alpha 160 x 1200s Bin 1x1
O-III 66 x 1200s Bin 1x1
S-II 50 x 1200s Bin 1x1

Total exposures 276 x 1200s = 92h


www.tips-fb.com Posted by J-P Metsavainio at 11:47 AM 2 comments
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Saturday, January 25, 2014

A zoom in series of the Cave Nebula, Sh2-155



Now and then I have published some zoom in series of various objects imaged by me.
The purpose is to show the apparent scale in the sky. Beside that, this series shows nicely the fractal nature of our universe.  Series are possible to make, since I have shot many objects with various focal lengths.
Like this one is shot with 200mm, 300mm and ~2000mm  focal lengths

The Cave Nebula, a study about the scale in the sky
Note. A circle, size of the Moon, in the images as a scale. (An apparent scale of the Moon is 0,5 degrees, or 30  arc minutes.)

All images are in Mapped colors from the emission of ionized elements,
R=Sulfur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.


Orientation in constellation Cepheus

An orientation in constellation Cepheus. The mosaic image covers an area of ~18x10 dgrees.









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Friday, January 24, 2014

A new header image, Oxygen emission of the Eastern Veil nebula



I have added a new header photo. It shows a small portion of the Veil Nebula supernova remnant in Cygnus. Image shows the Eastern veil but only in light emitted by ionized Oxygen, O-III.

I have published this image at January 7 this year. A blog post about it can be seen HERE.


An emission of ionized Oxygen in Eastern Veil Nebula.


The Veil nebula SNR

This is an image about the whole Veil Nebula. A blog post about this image can be seen HERE
A detail image above can be seen at left edge of the image bellow. Click for a large image.






www.tips-fb.com Posted by J-P Metsavainio at 12:04 PM 0 comments
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