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Tuesday, November 20, 2018

A Giant Squid, Ou4, a start of the new imaging project



I have planned to shoot this very dim nebua for a long time. So far I have collected ~20h of light emitted by an ionized oxygen (O-III). I'll shoot more exposures for this object in near future, if the weather gives any support.

The Celestron Edge 11" telescope with a 0.7 focal reducer has a perfect field of view for this object. This combo delivers a very high quality image from edge to edge. The Apogee U16 can be very challenging to have a good orthogonality and collimation with it, due to very large CCD-shell. 


Ou4 in light of an ionized oxygen only
Please, click for a large image

20h of O-III expoures with the Apogee U16 astro camera and Astrodon 3nm O-III filter.
Telescope, Celestron Edge 11"



An experimental starless version
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Only the central star is visible in this experimental starless photo.


This object is dim to extreme

I shit this object at several night between 1. and 18. November. Total 60 frames of 20 min. exposures,
all binned down 4x4. (Total 20h of O-III signal) By this way I can have  16 times more signal  than by using 1x1 binned exposures. I will shoot 1x1 binned high resolution exposures later for stars and some high signal to noise features and details in the area. 

A single 20 min. calibrated and stretched O-III exposure 
Please, click for a large image

Image is divided with a bias corrected flat frame and subtracted with master dark. Even after a heavy nonlinear stretching, very little of O-III signal can be seen in a single light frame.


INFO

Very faint but also very large on planet Earth's sky, a giant Squid Nebula cataloged as Ou4 is composed out of 20 hours of narrowband O-III image data. The telescopic field of view is 1 degrees or 2 Full Moons across. Discovered in 2011 by French astro-imager Nicolas Outters, the Squid Nebula's alluring bipolar shape is distinguished here by the telltale blue-green emission from doubly ionized oxygen atoms. The true distance and nature of the Squid Nebula have been difficult to determine. Still, a recent investigation suggests Ou4 really does lie within Sh2-129 some 2,300 light-years away. Consistent with that scenario, Ou4 would represent a spectacular outflow driven by HR8119, a triple system of hot, massive stars seen near the center of the nebula. The truly giant Squid Nebula would physically be nearly 50 light-years across.

Source, Nasa APOD


The scale in the sky and the orientation in a constellation Cepheus
Please, click for a large image











Sunday, November 18, 2018

Treasures of the Swan


I made a poster format collection out of my photos from constellation Cygnus, the Swan.
This area of sky is full of wonders, emission nebulae, supernova remnants, planetary nebulae, complex networks of dark nebulae and many other objects and cosmic phenomenon. I think I can spend rest of my life by shooting this nebula complex, it's a source of never ending wonders and visual treasures.


Treasures of Cygnus
Please, click the image to see a large version, it's worth it!
(3300 x 5500 pixels)

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



Image info


At center of the poster there is a large mosaic image of constellation Cygnus. I publish this 18-panels narrow band mosaic image at 2011.

  1. The Tulip nebula (APOD), https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2014/10/tulip-nebula-finalized-project.html
  2. Clouds of Swanhttps://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2018/10/clouds-of-swan.html
  3. The Crescent nebula (APOD), https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2011/01/ngc-6888-crescent-nebula-reprocessed.html
  4. Dark filaments of Cygnushttps://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2016/11/a-detail-photo-of-dark-filaments-in.html
  5. The Pelican nebulahttps://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2014/10/first-light-image-for-my-new.html
  6. The Great Wall of Cygnushttps://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2016/12/a-panoramic-view-to-north-america-nebula.html
  7. Dark Filaments of Cygnushttps://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2016/12/dark-filaments-in-cygnus-project.html
  8. NGC 7000 detailshttps://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2016/11/a-little-different-view-to-north.html
  9. Sharpless 119https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2017/12/sharpless-119-in-cygnus-project.html
  10. Filaments of Cygnushttps://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2015/10/filaments-of-cygnus-project-continues.html
  11. Filaments of Cygnushttps://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2015/10/filaments-of-western-cygnus.html
  12. Sharpless 115https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2014/11/sharpless-115-and-planetary-nebula.html
  13. Sharpless 112https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2015/10/sharpless-112-sh2-112-in-cygnus.html
  14. Filaments of Cygnushttps://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2015/11/filaments-of-cygnus.html
  15. The Propeller Nebulahttps://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2014/11/dwb-111-propeller-nebula.html
  16. Cygnus Shell, W63, (APOD)  https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2018/10/a-very-rare-photo-cygnus-shell.html
  17. LBN 251, 239 and IC 1311, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2018/10/this-new-photos-shows-lbn-251-and.html
  18. PN PM 1-320, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2015/11/more-filaments-of-cygnus-and-couple-of.html
  19. LBN 243https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2018/11/lbn-243.html
  20. W 134https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2017/11/wr-134-ring-nebula-area-as-mosaic-image.html
  21. The Central Cygnus, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2017/01/bright-nebulae-of-central-cygnus-eleven.html
  22. Pelican nebula panoramahttps://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2018/11/pelican-nebula-panorama.html
  23. Dark Clouds of Cygnushttps://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2018/11/dark-clouds-of-cygnus.html
  24. The Great Wall of Cygnus panoramahttps://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2018/11/panoramic-photo-of-great-wall-of-cygnus.html




Saturday, November 17, 2018

Panoramic photo of the Great Wall of Cygnus


My source of endless visual treasures is the constellation Cygnus. Supernova remnants, planetary nebulae, emission nebulae and complex dark nebula networks among the other beautiful objects and cosmic phenomena. I have shot this area of sky for many years and some of my photos are overlapping. I was able to make some new panoramic mosaics out of this overlapping material.


Great Wall of Cygnus as a panoramic view
Please, click for a much large image (2300 x 900 pixels)


Mapped colours from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulphur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.
There are material from four individual images combined to this panoramic view. All photos are shot with a Celestron EDGE 11" reflecting telescope, Apogee Alta U16,a cooled astrocam and the Astrodon narrowband filter set. Photos are shot between the years 2015 and 2017, total exposure time is around 40h.


Wilder View photo of the area
Please, click for a  large image

The area of the panoramic image is marked as white rectangle. This older photo from 2012 is shot with a Tokina AT/X 300mm f2.8 camera lens, QHY9, a cooled astrocam and the Baader narrowband filter set.





Friday, November 16, 2018

Dark Clouds of Cygnus



My source of endless visual treasures is the constellation Cygnus. Supernova remnants, planetary nebulae, emission nebulae and complex dark nebula networks among the other beautiful objects and cosmic phenomena.  

I went through my photographic material, I have shot this area of sky for many years and some of my photos are overlapping. I was able to make some new compositions by stitching photos together seamlessly. 


Dark Clouds of Cygnus
Please, click for a large image

Mapped colours from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulphur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.
There are material from four individual images combined to this composition. All photos are shot with a Celestron EDGE 11" reflecting telescope, Apogee Alta U16,a cooled astrocam and the Astrodon narrowband filter set. Photos are shot between the years 2015 and 2017, total exposure time is around 20h.


Wilder View photo of the NA and Pelican nebula

Please, click for a  large image

The area of the panoramic image is marked as white rectangle. This older photo from 2012 is shot with a Tokina AT/X 300mm f2.8 camera lens, QHY9, a cooled astrocam and the Baader narrowband filter set.