View allAll Photos Tagged Nebulae
From bottom to top: Orion Nebula (M42, pink and white), NGC 1975 (blue), Horsehead nebula (faint purple/red), Flame nebula (orange, just above-left of the star Alnitak), Messier 78 (faint blue near the top of the image). Not the best capture in the world, but the best I've done so far. From a stack of only 6 x 30-second exposures.
One of my favourite planetary nebulae - revisited with additional data and revised processing techniques. IPHASX J015624.9+652830 is a planetary nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia.
It was initially discovered as part of the IPHAS survey. It was spectroscopically confirmed as a true planetary nebula by the professional astronomer Laurence Sabin in September 2011. It was also independently discovered by the French amateur astronomer Laurent Ferrero in 2013 and is also known as Fe 6. It is 212 arc seconds in diameter. I love the way it appears to be a translucent sphere suspended in space. It's spherical shape is slightly distorted. This, combined with the brighIPHASX J015624.9+652830t rim to the north east suggests some interaction with the interstellar medium. The small bright central blue progenitor star is clearly visible. The internal morphology also hints at it being a possible bipolar PN.
Captured on my remote observatory in Spain.
Scopes: APM TMB LZOS 152 Refractors
Cameras: QSI6120wsg8
Mounts: 10Micron GM2000 HPS
A total of 77 hours 25 minutes (HaOIIILRGB)
More information at
I spent an entire month out in my garden with my telescope, capturing light of this little nebula in the constellation of Cygnus.
I managed to capture a total of 46 hours across the month - 28 hours of RGB and 18 hours of hydrogen alpha data.
By capturing so much light, it reveals the faint dust that is surrounding the main nebula. Space often looks pitch black, but it’s anything but!
- 8” newtonian telescope
- ZWO 533MC
- EQ6R Pro
- Astronomik 6nm Ha & UV IR
- ZWO OAG with 290MM
- NINA
- APP for stacking and processing
- Photoshop CC
IC1805 is a large emission nebulae in Cassiopeia that I captured here with narrowband filters, a monochrome camera, and a telescope with a focal length of 464mm. It was all shot from my light polluted backyard in Somerville, MA. Mapped color in the Hubble Palette (SHO->RGB).
Processing in PixInsight and Photoshop.
Drizzle 2x, Deconvolution, MedianMultiscaleTransform on each linear master, Starnet++, Ha luminance/stars.
ZWO ASI6200MM-P/EFW 2" x 7 (SHO)
Tele Vue NP101is (4" f/4.3)
Losmandy G11
Integration:
Ha: 10 x 600s = 1:40
Oiii: 12 x 600s = 2:00
Sii: 17 x 600s = 2:40
Total: 6:30
Captured with NINA. Processed in PixInsight. Finished in Affinity Photo.
My first successful astro mosaic! It's a total of 380 minutes of imagery, 11 different panels, so panel integrations average 34 minutes. The Orion, Running Man, Horsehead, and Flame Nebulae area has the most imagery behind it, as well as the Witch Head Nebula.
Imagery was acquired in 2019 and 2020 on 9 different nights from the same location under rural skies (Bortle 3/4). All subs were taken with my Fuji X-T10 and Samyang 135 mm on the iOptron SkyTracker Pro. Each sub is 60 seconds, taken at ISO 1600 with the Samyang 135mm open to f2.
I integrated individual panels using DeepSkyStacker, and used the 'remove light pollution' tool of Astro Pixel Processor to flatten integrations, which had substantial vignetting from being shot at f2. These flattened panels were then mosaiced with Astro Pixel Processor using the process outlined here: www.astropixelprocessor.com/part-3-register-normalize-int.... Curves adjustment, star reduction, and color tweaking were then done with GIMP. This image is downscaled 50%.
It's not a perfect process and the data has issues, but I'm happy with the result. It was fun to explore the less-imaged nebulosity between the Orion and the Witch Head Nebulae, and around Saiph.
I'm sure I'll keep tinkering with this, and I still plan to shoot the entirety of Orion this winter, but this is a nice mosaic in and of itself, so I wanted to post it.
Aug. 2021 update: I've been looking through my astro photos, ramping up for some imaging this fall and winter (hopefully I'll complete this Orion mosaic). I decided this image could use a little lightening.
The local sky cleared (sort of) for an hour or so very early this morning, although seeing was not good due to a sea haze generated by rough seas. Brighter stars are consequently accompanied by small coronas. The upper part of the celestial Emu (Gawarrgay) can be discerned within the Milky Way, its head marked by the dark Coal Sack nebula, with the body extending downwards to Scorpio (yet to rise).
This image is a test shot using my SMC PENTAX (K) 28mm f2 lens wide open. It confirms that focus is stopping a tiny bit short of infinity, and it revealed coma around the margins (image has been cropped to exclude this). It's also my first outing with my K1 and a firmware update that provides two new Astrotracer modes. I used the new Mode 3, which does not require calibration, and which operates free of potential electro-magnetic interference. I'm impressed!
NGC 6888 - The Crescent Nebula and Surrounding Region
Taken over many nights between July 13 and August 1, 2020 near Seattle, Washington
Telescope: TEC 180 @ f/5 using Astro-Physics Quad-TCC
Camera: QHY600
Guide Camera: Starlight Xpress Lodestar
Mount: Astro-Physics 900GTO with CP4 and APCC-Pro
Capture Software: SGPro and NIINA
Exposure:
Ha: 18 hours 15 minutes (73 x 15 min, bin 1x1)
OIII: 18 hours 15 minutes (73 x 15 min, bin 1x1)
SII: 18 hours 15 minutes (73 x 15 min, bin 1x1)
Total Integration Time: 54 hours 45 minutes
Processed in PixInsight 1.8
NB Combination:
R = HA + SII
G = 25% Ha + 75% OIII
B = OIII
I really love this region and making this mosaic was amazing for me. Hope you like it!
Each frame has 2h30min of total exposure (30x300s).
Equipment:
TS80 Triplet Apo + x0.79 reducer
Canon 750Da + IDAS LPS D1
NEQ6 Pro II Mod + autoguiding
Software used for processing:
Deep Sky Stacker
Photoshop CC
Lightroom
Taken w/ Skywatcher Evostar Pro 80 ED (w/.85x reducer/corrector & QHYCCD Polemaster), Skywatcher EQM-35, Nikon D7500.
120 lights x 90 s @ ISO 800, ~45 dark, ~45 flat, ~100 bias, stacked in DSS and post-processed in Photoshop
🌊💥 Entre Terre, Mer et Guerre…
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🚢 Le Hourdel, situé en Baie de Somme, est un des hameaux de Cayeux-sur-Mer. Durant la seconde guerre mondiale, sous l'occupation des Nazis, des blockhaus ont été construits le long de la manche afin de préparer d'éventuels débarquements des troupes alliées (anglais). On compte 15 000 blockhaus au total sur la côte ouest allant de la frontière franco-espagnole à la côte norvégienne. Ce système de fortification s’appelle “le mur de l’Atlantique” et le projet fût opéré entre les années 1942 et 1944… Le Hourdel fait parti de ces villages qui ont été investis et qui ont vu apparaître sur leur plage des blockhaus. Aujourd'hui, celui-ci est à l’abandon sur la plage, rongé au fur-et-à-mesure des années par l'érosion au gré des marées.
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💫 Il me tardait de faire enfin ma première VL de l’année avec le bulbe galactique ! C’est seulement mi-Mai que j’ai pu m’adonner à cette tentative avec un panorama complet de la Voie Lactée au-dessus du blockhaus. Je n’avais jamais fait ma première Voie Lactée estivale aussi “tard” dans l’année depuis mes débuts en astrophoto, merci la météo 😪🔫. Après une journée magnifique sur la côte sous un soleil de plomb avec ma chérie @amande.sen , @otsugaphoto et @aurelienbaill me rejoignent, un peu sur un coup de tête, en début de nuit pour tenter ce petit projet photo.
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Bon y’a une chose que j’ai bien sous-estimée, c’est la marée . La marée haute était prévue aux alentours de 1h du matin mais je ne pensais vraiment pas que l’eau montait si loin… On a pris notre mal en patience pour enfin descendre les pieds dans l’eau au niveau du blockhaus vers 2h45. Il a fallu se dépêcher pour faire notre panorama avant 3h20, heure de la fin de la nuit astronomique (nuit noire). Le ciel n’était pas incroyable avec cette pollution lumineuse, mais malgré cela, j’ai pu remarquer au traitement quelques lueurs lointaines d’aurores boréales à gauche de l’image ! Après vérification, il y a bien eu une activité aurorale assez intense en cette fin de nuit. On est grassement bien servi par notre étoile ces derniers mois 🌞.
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EXIF :
-Canon EOS R astro-mod by a-m.de
-Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L II
-58 tuiles de 6s f/1.8 ISO 6400
The constellation of Scorpius lies in the general direction of the galactic core of our Milky Way galaxy. As a result, myriads of star clusters and nebulae can be found within the boundaries of the constellation. This 12 panel mosaic attempts to capture as much detail in the constellation as possible by combining the view through a 90mm lens together to cover the entire well known region of Scorpius.
Technical details:
10X30s
5X30s (with Softon Filter)
12 panel panorama combined
Sony A7S + Leica 90mm Elmarit f2.8@f4 ISO2000
Skywatcher Star Adventurer tracking mount (unguided)
Median stacked in Photoshop
Panorama stitched in PTGUI
Probably the best test subject for a full-frame camera on the Raptor.
Sharp, Flat, Wide.
Canon EOS Ra
Radian Raptor 61 Triplet APO
Radian Triad Ultra (2")
50 x 5-minutes @ ISO 3200
Review coming soon!
Sh2-117 North America Nebula (NGC 7000) and Pelican Nebula (IC 5070) and Surrounding Region
Pictured here is a region known as Sh2-117 (roughly the area of brightest intensity), a complex star-forming region comprised of bright emission nebulae and patches of dust lanes which obscure stars and light includes. Featuring prominently, among other interesting structures, is the North America Nebula (NGC 7000), named for its resemblance to the land comprising the United States, and the Pelican Nebula (IC 5070), named for resembling, well, a pelican. Sh2-117 is estimated to span some 140 light years across with the North America Nebula, on its own, spanning some 90 light years end-to-end.
Departing our little blue marble, it would take us about 1,800 light years to arrive at the Pelican or 2,200 light years to arrive at the North America Nebula.
(A “light year” is the distance light would travel given a year of transit. For context, in a vacuum light travels at 670,616,629 mph or 1,079,252,849 km/h. These numbers are stupid-hard to comprehend. Traveling 2,680 miles across the United States, at this speed, we would arrive in 14.39 milliseconds.)
I’m guessing it is obvious which structure is the North America Nebula, but the “Pelican” may not be so clear. It is the prominent structure “above right” from the North America Nebula, and makes more sense with the view rotated 90°. Or, click below for a preview.
If we could see these nebulae clearly with the naked eye, we would also be in for a treat. In terms of apparent “size” in the sky from our point of view, this region is massive. The moon is large enough (if it were eclipsing these nebulae from our view) to rather effectively plug the “Great Lakes” void in the North America Nebula. But it is hard to see much of this region with the naked eye, beyond cloudiness under dark skies, in part due to the most intense light from this region emitting in Hydrogen-alpha at a red-spectrum wavelength our eyes aren’t sensitive to. But you can see more in binoculars, and a consumer camera can start to “see” clear structure in seconds.
This photo is comprised of 17 hours of images captured across four nights at my home in Salt Lake City, Utah. A narrowband filter was used to isolate wavelengths imaged on a color camera and blended into a false-color palette (a form of presenting narrowband in color, similar to how Hubble images are presented) where the blues represent dominant Oxygen III regions and the reds represent regions rich in Hydrogen-alpha regions. I used a RedCat 51 telescope and a Sony A7R IV, mounted on an iOptron CEM-40EC equatorial mount. Editing was done in PixInsight and Adobe Photoshop. Synthetic channels were derived from the color data to create the false color palette. For more information about equipment and detailed editing notes, see below on AstroBin.
NGC 2024 and Barnard 33: The Horsehead and Flame Nebula
Taken February 18-20 and 27 and March 8-9, 2020 near Seattle, Washington
Telescope: TEC 180 @ f/5 using Astro-Physics Quad-TCC
Camera: QHY600
Guide Camera: Starlight Xpress Lodestar
Mount: Astro-Physics 900GTO with CP4 and APCC-Pro
Capture Software: SGPro and NIINA
Exposure:
Ha: 6 hours 45 minutes (27 x 15 min, bin 1x1)
OIII: 5 hours 45 minutes (23 x 15 min, bin 1x1)
SII: 6 hours 45 minutes (27 x 15 min, bin 1x1)
Total Integration Time: 19 hours 15 minutes
Processed in PixInsight 1.8
Both emission nebulae are about 5,500 light-years from Earth, which makes them more than just apparent neighbours
Captured with 9 x 5 seconds of live stacking
NGC 7000 - IC 5070 - Deneb (Alpha Cygni)
Credit: Giuseppe Donatiello
The North America Nebula and the nearby Pelican Nebula (IC 5070) are parts of the same interstellar H II region located in the Orion Arm of the Galaxy. Recent estimates of the distance to this nebula put the distance between 1800 and 2000 light years.
Taken with two Tair-3S 300mm telephoto lens array. Single layer mosaic.
The constellation of Orion needs no introduction. It's a rich area encapsulated by a molecular cloud and featuring some of the most destinct and most popular nebulae the night sky has to offer. These nebulae are popular targets for amateur visual observers with binoculars and small telescopes, particularly the great Orion Nebula (M42) and its immediate companion, the Running Man Nebula. But others are far fainter and benefit from large aperture telescopes or long exposure photography, such as the Horsehead, Flame and Witch Head Nebulae, and smaller, faint nebulae, many of which are represented in this field of view.
This is my first deep sky image produced with my new Nikon Z6ii. It's similar to a surprisingly good test image that I shared some weeks ago shot with my D750, only now with the constellation much higher, I didn't have horizon glow and treetops to crop out. And since the constllation is up much earlier, I didn't have to cut my night short. I would have actually gotten more exposure time but unfortunately the battery in my SkyGuider Pro died after 150 minutes, putting this session to an end. But overall, I'm very pleased to be able to share what I consider by far my best wide field image of this constellation to date.
Nikon Z6ii mirrorless
Rokinon 135mm f/2 @ f/5
iOptron #SkyGuiderPro
100 x 90 second exposures @ ISO 800
These two nebulae are in the constellation of Auriga. The Spider nebula on the left is more properly known as IC 417 or SH2-234; the smaller Fly nebula over on the right is SH2-237.
This image is an integration of over 10 hours of data captured on a QHY183C camera with a William Optics Zenithstar 103 telescope. All post-processing was carried out in PixInsight
NGC 7293, better known as the Helix Nebula, Caldwell 63 and in pop culture as "The Eye of God" or the "Eye of Sauron" - is a planetary nebula located in 655 light years away in the Constellation Aquarius. Planetary Nebulae are formed when an intermediate to low-mass star sheds its outer layers as it reaches the end of its life. The Helix Nebula is one of the closest planetaries to the Earth, is estimated to be about 2.5 light years in diameter.
I've always liked the Helix Nebula but it's not a very attractive target for me as it is due south and very low in the sky. This raises two issues.
First, I have a lot of trees on my property and I can only see low in the south if I look down the tree tunnel formed by my driveway. At best, I have maybe an hour and half or so to shoot it as it emerges from the trees on one side of the driveway and before it sets in the trees on the other side of my driveway.
Secondly, it is very low for me, about 26 degrees of elevation when it transits. It basically sits right over the roof of my neighbor's house for most of its exposure time.
So what's not to love? Short access window, low elevation, looking through the maximum amount of atmosphere possible, thermal currents from the neighbor's roof…So shooting this is kind of a joke right?
On the other hand, this target does seems to bound the far side of the "goodness" continuum - I wonder what I could up with? Sounds like a bit of a challenge….
So last night is one of the few partially clear nights that we have had recently, so I went for it.
This image is the result of 42x150 seconds subs. Seeing was terrible and the guiding was less than optimal as well. My autofocus routine seemed to fail about half the time (normally it never fails) and I really needed way more subs to manage the noise better. I had a lot of work to do to try and pull an image out and this is what I ended up with. Looking on the bright side, all my future efforts should be easier and produce better results than what I just got - right?
Here are the details for the image:
42 x 150 seconds, bin 1x1 @ -15C
50 Bias exposures
25 Dark exposures
50 Flats
Scope: William Optics 132mm FLT F/7 APO
Guide Scope: Apterna 60mm
Camera: ZWO ASI294MC-Pro
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI290Mini
Focus Motor: Pegasus Astro Focus Cube 2
Field Rotator: Pegasus Astro Falcon
Mount: Ioptron CEM60
Polar Alignment: Ioptron Ipolar integrated alignment cameras
Capture Software: PHD2 Guider, Sequence Generator Pro controller
Image Processing: Deepsky Stacker, Pixinsight, Photoshop, Coffee, extensive processing indecision and second guessing, and much swearing…..
This is a reprocess of the Horsehead and Flame Nebula with additional Hydrogen Alpha data. Shot from Samphran, Thailand by the team at SC Observatory using an Officina Stellare RH 300 on a 10 Micron GM3000 with an FLI PL 29050. Processed using PixInsight and Photoshop.
_MG_1646_3_f_rf2x,ccr,hk,co,hl100KF1m80
Explore Nov 14 '16
Texture by Kersten Frank
www.flickr.com/photos/kerstinfrank-design/sets/7215763299...
BE142 shot in LRGB.
Data subs courtesy of Telescope Live.
Subs stacked in Astro Pixel Processor, then into PixInsight with the finishing touches in Affinity Photo.
I have come to the conclusion that these nebula are my favourite targets.
NGC 346 and friends in the Small Magellanic Cloud
Distance: 206,000 light years.
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Image exposure: 120 minutes.
Image field of view: 87.6' x 56.4'.
Image date: 2021-08-17
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More information: www.galactic-hunter.com/post/ic-434-the-horsehead-flame-n...
Get a print here: www.galactic-hunter.com/prints
A cold Orion’s belt with a warm heart!
Hate it love it, this is a rarely used color palette (O/H/S) that shows the Hydrogen Alpha as blue instead of the usual red. I started processing it as a regular Hubble Palette (SHO) and also tried in true color (HSO), but did not like how strange the Orion Nebula looked, so decided to go crazy and stick with OHS.
This was taken from Las Vegas, with just 8 hours of integration time! You can see the image in higher definition with much more information and also several past attempts here: www.galactic-hunter.com/post/ic-434-the-horsehead-flame-n...
A video will be available in a few days on the Galactic Hunter Youtube channel :)
Mount: Atlas EQ-G
Scope: Radian Raptor 61
Camera: QHY600M
Filter: Chroma Narrowband
Bortle 9 Las Vegas
The Great Orion Nebula (Messier 42). We all know it. It’s one of the first targets we point our telescope or camera at before stumbling down the ridiculous rabbit hole that is astrophotography.
One of my main goals in astsophtoogrpahy has been to meticulously create the most detailed and deep image of the Orion Nebula I could manage. A perfect challenging in astrophotography, in my opinion, as Orion is both a delightful and easy target for beginners, and as advanced a target as we might like for revisiting in years to come. Over the past three years or so I’ve accumulated some 150 hours of data on Orion, scattered amidst assorted experiments and attempts in editing (which, up until now, I’ve never finished). Over the past four months I’ve collected the images for this rendition, and spent an embarrassing amount of time learning and experimenting with new (to me) post-processing approaches to arrive at this result. I’m sincerely delighted to share this labor of love with everyone.
Constrictive feedback and discussion are absolutely welcome.
Acquisition Details
Takahashi FSQ-106EDX4, ZWO ASI2600MM Pro, iOptron CEM-40EC
- Jan 22 2022, Jan 26 2022, Feb 4 2022
- Astronomik RGB: 75x30" (37' 30") f/5 -20°C bin 1x1
- Astronomik RGB: 480x10" (1h 20') f/5 -20°C bin 2x2
- Astronomik UV+IR L2: 136x120" (4h 32’) f/5 -20°C bin 1x1
- Astronomik UV+IR L2: 160x30" (1h 20') f/5 -20°C bin 1x1
Celestron RASA-8, ZWO ASI2600MC Pro, iOptron CEM-40EC
- Jan 23 2022, Jan 24 2022, Jan 28 2022
- Color Imaging: 60x5" (5') f/2 -20°C bin 1x1
- Color Imaging: 129x120" (4h 18') f/2 -20°C bin 1x1
Additional Details at AstroBin
Post-Processing
Source data includes two nights of long and short exposures captured with my Celestron RASA-8 and ZWO ASI2600MC Pro, and numerous nights captured with my Takahashi FSQ-106EDX4 and ZWO ASI2600MM Pro with Astronomik UV/IR L2 and Deep Sky RGB filters. With the Takahashi I captured short and long exposures in luminance and color, along with a separate 4-panel mosaic in LRGB (binned color) which I used for stars and fine detail in highlights. I discarded sub-par data from sessions liberally. A master luminance image was created with data combined from both telescopes (blended into RASA data for the larger field of view, which was a point of challenge). A master color image was created with the RASA data, which contributed color for nebulae and background. And the four-panel mosaic was prepared and processed separately, ultimately contributing detail in highlights and the stars in the final rendition. And just because, why not—I’ve gone this far—I used my best subset of 5s exposures captured in Hα, last year, for luminance on the Trapezium. (The original is more than 16000 pixels across, and I went out of my way to present fine detail so a large print could end up on my wall, allowing me to appreciate details up close, returning me to these fun and stupidly cold nights whenever I like.) Starless versions were sent out to Adobe Photoshop for final combination and blending. Some normal PixInsight steps, like HDR combination, also ended up being handled, in part, in Adobe Photoshop. PixInsight was used during this process for features such as Local Histogram Equalization.
It’s challenging to outline post-processing details on this one because the workflow ended up looking like the stereotypical insane person’s wall cataloging a crime scene investigation, but I’m delighted to answer any questions someone may have.
Sh2-129 and OU4 - The Flying Bat and Squid Nebulas
Taken August 13-15, 17, 18, and 22-29 and September 3, 5, 6, and 27-29, 2020 near Seattle, Washington
Telescope: Astro-Physics 130GTX @ f/4.5 using Astro-Physics Quad-TCC
Camera: QHY600M
Filters: Chroma Ha and OIII, 3nm
Guide Camera: Starlight Xpress Lodestar
Mount: Astro-Physics 900GTO with CP4 and Astro-Physics Mach2GTO and APCC-Pro
Capture Software: SGPro and NINA
Exposure:
Ha: 40 hours 30 minutes (162 x 15 min, bin 1x1)
OIII: 38 hours 30 minutes (154 x 15 min, bin 1x1)
Total Integration Time: 79 hours
Processed in PixInsight 1.8.8-6
NB Combination:
R = HA
G = 15% Ha + 85% OIII
B = OIII
Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex | Deep Sky Astrophotography (tracked, stacked)
www.instagram.com/robin_onderka
This beautiful complex full of nebulae is located in the constellation Scorpio. In our country, it climbs quite low above the horizon, so it is more difficult to photograph it. It is part of the summer constellations (summer Milky Way) and is located near its center. It is one of the most photogenic areas ever, and if Orion is the jewel of the winter sky, Rho Ophiuchi dominates the summer one :-)
it is only a remake of the original data from this summer, processed in APP and Photoshop, photographed from Beskid Mountains, Czech Republic (Bortle 4)
Canon 6D astro-mod, Samyang 135 mm f / 2
22 x 60 "f / 2.4 ISO 1600 + 10 darks and calibration
Skywatcher Star Adventurer
Zooming in with my Hubble based lense....?
omg...I do see a face now (7 hrs. later)...and he's flipping us the bird I think? See he's wearing glasses? LOL!!!! I promise I'm honest about this!!
This is obviously "the cookie monster" flippin' me off!
sh2-263 and vdB-38 are both nebulae located in the constellation of Orion. Sh2-263 is the red emission nebula and vdB is the blue reflection nebula. Both are located at the northern part of Orion, near the star Bellatrix
I haven't imaged a thing since early Nov 2020, nothing but clouds. March 2021 has given me a few clear nights. I'm surprised that everything still worked!
Camera: QHY163M
Telescope: 11" Celestron Edge HD w/Hyperstar V4
Mount: Orion HDX-110
3/6/21, 3/7/21, 3/13/21
LUM- 107x30sec
RED-55x30sec
GREEN-63x30sec
BLUE-43x30sec
annotated version: flic.kr/p/2kN1o5q
#Celestron
#Optolong
#QHYCCD
#Lovemyhyperstar
This image builds upon the dataset from which the same image uploaded on 2025-07-01 was rendered. Two additional nights of capture were added to nearly double the total integration time. Also, the white stars in the original image have been replaced with true color RGB stars in this image. It is possible that better processing is the reason that this image is much improved over the original.
Equipment:
ZWO ASI6200MM-P/EFW 2" x 7 (SHO)
TeleVue NP101is (4" f/4.3)
Losmandy G11
Software:
Captured in NINA
Processed in PixInsight
Finished in Affinity Photo
Integration:
SII 13 x 600s = 4:00
Ha 17 x 600s = 5:30
OIII 16 x 600s = 5:30
Total integration: 15:00
A new imaging project has been published on my website!
SH2-114 - The Flying Dragon Nebula - is an extremely faint emission nebula located in the constellation of Cygnus. This image was the result of 17.5 hours of HSSrgb exposure.
This image was shot with my Askar FRA400 72mm f/5.5 Astrograph system - using a ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro camera - all mounted on an IOptron CEM26 mount.
This target is not very well known and is even more rarely imaged. There is not a lot of information about it available. It is believed to be the result of a supernova, but no supernova remnant has been associated with this object.
An early 5-minute exposure test through narrowband filters showed the nebula only barely registering in Ha, even fainter in S2, and non-existent in O3. This demonstrated how challenging this target was going to be to deal with! It demands a great deal of total image integration - but given my weather patterns and restricted access to the sky because of the tree lines on my property - this was going to be a tough challenge for me to go after. But sometimes, I like those kinds of challenges!
After my first imaging cycle, I collected 8 hours of useful data. Processing that data produced image results that I was not satisfied with, so I went back during another imaging cycle and increased my integration time to 17.5 hours. I also included RGB data to replace the HSS stars with true RGB stars.
I am pleased with my final result and the challenge this target gave me.
Is this the right amount of integration for this object? Is this the best image of the Flying Dragon you will ever see?
No!
But I must say I found this project to be quite enjoyable and I am pleased with the result I was finally able to produce - given the constraints of my capture situation.
The full posting covering the entire story of this project, as well as a complete image processing walkthrough, can be seen here:
cosgrovescosmos.com/projects/sh2-114-flying-dragon
This posting also includes a video overview. I am still learning how to do the whole video thing, and so I am forcing myself to do one for each new posting so that I can learn by doing!
This video can be seen on my just-born Youtube channel:
Please consider subscribing and "ringing the bell" to help the channel get off the ground.
Thanks - and Clear Skies!
Pat
Abell 31, an ancient planetary nebula in the constellation Cancer, is a rare nebula-like object in the spring night sky. Like all planetary nebulae, it is the last glorious bloom of a low - to medium-mass star at the end of its life.
The star, which had twice the mass of the sun, burned steadily for more than a billion years before entering its final phase about 130,000 years ago, began to eject its outer gas shell in waves.
The gases, which have been spreading out at different speeds and bumping into each other, have now expanded into a complex mass about 10 light-years across.
And now, the star has also thrown away almost all of its outer material, leaving only a core about four times the diameter of the Earth, with about half the mass of the Sun, and a surface temperature of 85,000 degrees Celsius, emitting intense ultraviolet radiation.
The high-energy radiation lights up the previously ejected outer layers of gas. The vibrant colors of the Abell 31 nebula are derived from excited light from different elements, the red light from hydrogen in the outer ring, and the green light from oxygen in the center.
In fact, oxygen is everywhere in the nebula, but only near the central source of radiation is it illuminated. The nearly dead star, in the center of that mass of green light, is an unremarkable, faint blue star.
Abell 31 is asymmetrical in shape, with sharp edges on the south side (left) and blurry edges on the north side (right). This is because the star is moving southward at high speed in the interstellar medium, and the gas it throws out is compacted even more on the "upwind side."
In about five billion years, our sun will also reach the end of its life. By then, it will also throw out its outer gas shell, and at the final moment bloom the same gorgeous cosmic flower. Hopefully, there will still be humans at that time, able to appreciate it from a safe distance, just as we appreciate Abell 31 today.
Location: Galaxy Remote Observatory, Kangbao, Hebei, China
Time: Jan. 18, 2020 - Mar. 9, 2021
Telescope: SharpStar 150 2.8 HNT
Camera: QHY268C
Mount: iOptron CEM60
Guide: QHYCCD OAG-M
Guide camera: QHY5L-II-M
Frames: 231×300 seconds
Integration: 19.2 hours
Acquired by APT
Processed by PixInsight and PhotoShop
The image shows the region around the stars RZ CAS and SU CAS in the constellation Cassiopeia. I intended to highlight the dark nebulae and filaments in that area and reveal as much as possible of the reflexion nebulae VdB 7 and VdB 9. There are also some dark nebulae in the frame (i.e. LDN 1355, 1357, 1358, see anntotated version D). Together they form a dark nebula composition that is sometimes calle "The Helping Hand" which is of course upside down in my image. The other bright star in the field SU CAS is a Cepheid star.
Shooting into this region was proposed by a friend whose focus was more on the variable star RZ CAS. RZ CAS is an eclipsing star with a period of 1.2 days. Image revision C is a fast-foreward gif-animation of the brightness variation I could capture in my Lum light frames.
I loaded the normalized frames into MuniWin and let it calculate the brightness variation curve of RZ CAS for that eclipse (see revision D). So this project was also my first attempt of a photometric astro work. The calculated curve has two gaps. The first one was caused by the meridian flip procedure that fell into the time of the eclipse. The second gap was caused by clouds. In the literature I found a maximum variation of 1.5 mag while mine is much less. This may be caused by the fact that in RZ CAS is quite saturated in my 60 s exposures which might have compromised the measurements.
Milky Way Core with an IR mod. Canon 550D and a Sigma Art 35 mm lens at f/4, using an iOptron Skytracker. Shot from Mt. Helmos, Peloponnese, Greece, @ alt. 2340 m.
Photography and Licensing: doudoulakis.blogspot.com/
My books concerning natural phenomena / Τα βιβλία μου σχετικά με τα φυσικά φαινόμενα: www.facebook.com/TaFisikaFainomena/
better resolution: nicolasillustrations.com/project/ldn-1235
LDN 1235 (or Lynds Catalog of Dark Nebulae n° 1235) is a dark/absorption nebula in the constellation Cepheus. It is composed by interstellar dust that is so dense that it obscures the visible wavelengths of light from objects behind it, such as the Horse Head Nebula or the Cone Nebula. It also blocks light from background stars.
Lynds Catalog of Dark Nebula is an updated version of the original version of the Lynds’ Catalog of Dark Nebulae that was published in 1962.
The data was acquired by my friend Démoniak's Alexkid using his ASKAR 400 in August 2021 from Ardèche in France (bortle 4). Two CMOS were used to capture this faint object:
ASI 2600MM with Luminance filter
ASI 2600MC for RGB data
RA: 21h 58m 36.2s
DEC: +72° 47' 23.5"
Size: 3.97 x 2.75 deg
Orientation: Up is 356 degrees E of N
Location: Cepheus
Distance : 650 ly
Acquisition 2021-08
Total acquisition time of 15 hours.
Technical Details
Data acquisition: Démoniak's Alexkid
Processing: Nicolas ROLLAND
Location: Ardèche, France
L: 10 hours
RGB: 5 hours
Optics: ASKAR 400 @F/5.6
Mount: iOptron CEM70
Camera: ZWO ASI 2600MM & ASI 2600MC
Pre Processing: CCDstack, Pixinsight & Excalibrator
Post Processing: Photoshop CC
Gateway to eternity (Durdle Door)
Category: Tracked/Stacked/Composite
Social:
Story:
First day of the new season has arrived. As we are slowly heading into Autumn, we have to say goodbye to the Milky Way for a while. This picture is the result of a perfect camping at Durdle Door on 1st of September. The Milky Way was fantastic that night. After I have finished to capture the foreground, me and my girlfriend were heading back to the top of the cliff, and slowly walk along the edge of it to find a good spot to set up my tracker and start shooting the Milky Way. There were another 2-3 person aswell, nightowls like us, enjoying the night sky. Bortle 4 sky.
Exifs:
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24mm f/1.8G ED
Sky watcher sky adventurer
Light 10 x f/2.8 ISO 1600 , 120 sec
Dark 15 x f/2.8 ISO 1600 , 120 sec
FG: 1 x f/4 ISO 1200 , 250 sec
Stacked in Sequator
Edit in LR / PS
The winter Milky Way constellation of Auriga is rich in nebulae and star clusters. This widefield image shows the Flaming Star nebula at the extreme left, the Tadpole nebula to its upper right, near the centre of the frame is the Spider nebula with the small Fly nebula right and up. Two large open star clusters are in the frame - M36 at the right and M38 at the bottom edge.
This image is an integration of a stack of over 14 hours of data captured with a QHY268C camera and a William Optics Redcat51 telescope. Image acquisition was controlled by Sequence Generator Pro and PHD2, all post-processing was carried out in PixInsight.
Observed from Prachinburi, Thailand.
At 8209x4068 pixels this one really needs a download to see it in all its glory. The screen view really does not do it justice.
Imaging telescopes or lenses: Rokinon 135mm f/2.0 ED UMC Telephoto Rokinon 135mm, Officina Stellare Veloce RH 200, Takahashi FSQ 106EDXIII
Imaging cameras: FLI MicroLine 8300 CCD-camera FLI, QSI 683WSG-8 OAG QSI 683
Mount: Paramount-ME
Guiding cameras: FLI MicroLine 8300 CCD-camera FLI, QSI 683WSG-8 OAG QSI 683
Software: Pixinsight 1.8
Filters: Astrodon Luminance, Astrodon Blue, Astrodon Red, Astrodon Green
Accessories: FLI Atlas, Starlight Xpress lodestar 2
Resolution: 8289x4068
Dates: Nov. 30, 2015, May 31, 2016, Oct. 23, 2016, Oct. 31, 2016
Frames:
Astrodon Blue: 145x300" bin 1x1
Astrodon Blue: 51x600" bin 1x1
Astrodon Blue: 42x900" bin 1x1
Astrodon Green: 113x300" bin 1x1
Astrodon Green: 80x600" bin 1x1
Astrodon Green: 18x900" bin 1x1
Astrodon Luminance: 286x300" bin 1x1
Astrodon Luminance: 87x600" bin 1x1
Astrodon Luminance: 46x900" bin 1x1
Astrodon Red: 116x300" bin 1x1
Astrodon Red: 56x600" bin 1x1
Astrodon Red: 42x900" bin 1x1
Integration: 137.7 hours
Locations: FOVO - Field of View Observatory, Home, Worcestershire, United Kingdom; Deep Sky West Remote Observatory (DSW), Rowe, New Mexico, United States
Where to begin 1058 subs, 138 hours of data spanning 1 year all in one image, oh and my first serious attempt and a mosaic of any sorts!
I have taken the 6 panel mosaic of the area and enhanced Calderbald 30, California, IC 348, M45 and LDN 777 areas with either FSQ or OS RH 200 data.
Surely something for everyone in this image - even a PN in there for good measure (start in the middle and work down)
Hope you like.
M42 is a glorious mix of diffuse nebula and one of the the brightest nebulae in the sky. It's a wonderful target for novice to experienced imagers as there's always more data and detail to find. It's easy to capture - but difficult to master. This is my 5th go at imaging M42, it feels like l I'm coming full circle as this was the target that inspired me to purchase by current Officina Stellare APO.
Previous attempts:
www.flickr.com/photos/astro-tanja/8206842708/ (imaged through my 80mm Celestron Guide Scope)
www.flickr.com/photos/astro-tanja/8103586461/ (Imaged with a C11' SCT)
www.flickr.com/photos/astro-tanja/8103642749/ (comparisons since my 1st ever imaging of the target)
The choice of 2 exposure settings was to capture more feint outer detail with the longer exposure, and shorter exposures to maintain the inner core. After calibration the 2 masters were integrated using the HDRcomposition function in PixInsight. It's an easy method, making me wish I shot even more data for longer subs to get more detail in the surrounding feint nebulosity.
This target was imaged from the Johannesburg light polluted suburbs, with no light pollution filter. I spent 2 nights on this to acquire more data so that I can keep ISO lower.
Excited to see if next season will bring more improvements.
Image details:
Total: 196min (3:16hrs)
40x 240sec ISO400
36x 60sec ISO400
20 darks
100 bias
30 flats
Canon 60Da
Officina Stellare HiperAPO
Celestron Advance VX
Guiding: SSAG & PHD
Acquisition: Nebulosity
Processing: PixInsight and PhotoShop