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Monday, February 14, 2022

Supernova remnant HB3 and the cosmic heart

 I have shot this target originally at January 14 2020 and it was the second light to my modified Tokina lens. Now I have reprocessed the data and I do like this result much better.

 new imaging system based on Tokina AT-x 300mm f2.8 camera lens.


The Heart Nebula, IC 1805
Please, click for a large image

Going very deep just in two hours! Image is in visual color palette from emission of an ionized hydrogen and oxygen. R=hydrogen, G=Oxygen and B=oxygen. I have made a starless version out of this image, it can be seen here, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2020/01/an-animated-heart-nebula-ic1805805-with.html



SUPERNOVA REMNANT 132.7+1.3 (HB3)
IC 1805 in visual palette
Please, click for a large image


Supernova remnant

In this photo there is a large supernova remnant, marked as a white circle. I haven't seen any photos of it before. I must take more O-III exposures to see, if I'm able to pick up any signal from this supernova remnant. 

Radio image of the area shows mostly signal from OB6


SNR 132.7+1.3 at upper right. Source and more information, http://galaxymap.org/drupal/node/103


Technical details

Processing workflow
Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack2.
Deconvolution with a CCDStack2 Positive Constraint, 33 iterations, added at 50% weight
Color combine in PS CS3
Levels and curves in PS CS3.

Imaging optics
Tokina AT-x 300mm f2.8 camera lens

Mount
10-micron 1000

Cameras and filters
Imaging camera Apogee Alta U16 and Apogee seven slot filter wheel
Guider camera, Lodestar x 2 and an old spotting scope of Meade LX200

Astrodon filters,
5nm H-alpha 3nm S-II and 3nm O-III

Total exposure time
H-alpha, 12 x 600 s, binned 1x1 = 2 h
O-III, 3x 600 s, binned 1x1 = 30 min..
S-II, 2x1200 s, binned 2x2 = 40 min.

INFO About undersampling etc

The CCD I'm using has kind of large pixels, 9 microns, so I'm undersampled, the image scale is almost 5 arc seconds / pixel. Undersampling is not a bad thing when my targets are large and dim nebula complexes. This system collects photons very fast!

I selected the Heart Nebula as a target since I have plenty of reference material for it. Another reason is interesting and rarely imaged area after the bright tip of the heart. There are some remnants of a supernova explosion. I was really thrilled, when I saw the final stack of 12 600s H-alpha light frames. (Equal to 2h of exposures) I never have seen so much background nebulae and details from this popular target.
Beside 2h of H-alpha (Light from an ionized hydrogen) I shot 30 min of O-IIII (Light from an ionized Oxygen) To be able to make an image in visual palette.

Wednesday, January 5, 2022

Cygnus Mosaic in Visual Colors

 Three Musketeers of Swan 

Deepest and most detailed image showing the whole constellation Cygnus ever taken

There are three large supernova remnants visible in this image. The Veil nebula is the most bright of them, other two are really dim and diffused. I spent about 200 exposure hours for those two alone to show them well. I call this trio to the Three musketeers. 

I like the new composition, it's very dynamic and shows the whole constellation Cygnus first time ever at this detail level and deepness. I haven't seen anything like this before. Image spans now 31 x 23 degrees of sky and has 118 individual frames in it. total exposure time is now around 700 hours and the resolution 20.000 x 25.500 pixels. Image it took over a decade to finalize this photo between 2010 and 2021.

The mapped color version  of this mosaic can be seen here, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2021/12/cygnus-mosaic-gets-large.html

Bang, Bang & Bang
Three large supernova remnants in the same field of view
Click for a large image

Image is in visual palette from emission of an ionized elements, hydrogen (H-alpha), sulfur (S-II) and oxygen (O-III). Red=Hydrogen + 33% sulfur, Green=oxygen and Blue=oxygen + 33% hydrogen to compensate otherwise missing H-beta emission.

ZOOMABLE VERSION



Three Large Supernova Remnants
Click for a large image

Locations and names of the supernova remnants

INFO

Three supernova remnants, two Wolf Rayet stars and a black hole

In the orientation image above, there are three large supernova remnants visible, first the Cygnus Shell W63 , bluish ring at middle left, secondly the large SNR G65.3+5.7 at upper right and the third is a brighter SNR, the Veil nebula at right edge of the image.

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

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.

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.

Monday, December 20, 2021

Cygnus mosaic gets large

 Three Musketeers of Swan 
Deepest and most detailed image showing the whole constellation Cygnus ever taken

The new composition is made so that the veil nebula supernova remnant fits to the field of view.
There are three large supernova remnants visible in this image. The Veil nebula is the most bright of them, other two are really dim and diffused. I spent about 200 exposure hours for those two alone to show them well. I call this trio to the Three musketeers

I like the new composition, it's very dynamic and shows the whole constellation Cygnus first time ever at this detail level and deepness. Least I haven't seen anything like this before. Image spans now 31 x 23 degrees of sky and has 118 individual frames in it. total exposure time is now around 700 hours and the resolution 20.000 x 25.500 pixels. Image it took over a decade to finalize this photo between 2010 and 2021.

The previous version  of this mosaic can be seen here, Great Mosaic of Cygnus  

Bang, bang & bang
Three large supernova remnants in the same field of view
Click for a large image

This is a large area of sky, it spans 31 x 23 degrees of sky. Image is in mapped colors, from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulphur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen.  



ZOOMABLE VERSION

Image is reduced to 6000 x 7700 pixels size from the original 20.000 x 25.500 pixels.


118 Mosaic Panels
Click for a large image

All the 112 frames used are shown in this image. Since many of the frames are originally shot as independent artworks, panel structure is very complex. Also different instruments has a different field of view and resolution, so mosaic panels are at three different size.   


DETAILS
Click for a large image


Three large supernova remnants in constellation Cygnus, the Swan, are in image as colored circles
NOTE, there is an apparent size of the Moon as a scale at lower right corner in a grayscale image.



INFO

Three supernova remnants, two Wolf Rayet stars and a black hole

In the orientation image above, there are three large supernova remnants visible, first the Cygnus Shell W63 , bluish ring at middle left, secondly the large SNR G65.3+5.7 at upper right and the third is a brighter SNR, the Veil nebula at right edge of the image.

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 Nebula 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.

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.

Monday, December 13, 2021

The Pelican Nebula with new data

 I originally publish this nebula image at December 2016. After that, I have shot some very high resolution material from the same area of sky and I decided to upgrade my old image with better data. I'm kind of happy with the result, especially the details in dark nebulae are much sharper now and shows the complex structures of unionized gas and dust. Main reason is the long exposure time used, for H-alpha alone, there are 30 hours of exposures. Total exposure time is around 60 hours.

The dark nebula in the upper part of the photo is the gas bridge splitting visually the Pelican Nebula and the North America nebula so  that the they look like two separate nebula. In reality they are actually a one large emission area.

Pelican Nebula, constellation Cygnus, the Swan
Click for a large image

Image is in mapped colours, from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulphur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen. 
The older version of this image can be seen here: https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2016/12/pelican-nebula-two-frame-mosaic.html


Zoomable Image




Orientation in large context

The North America Nebula can be seen at upper part of the image