View allAll Photos Tagged Nebulae
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
IC 2944, also known as the Running Chicken Nebula, is an open cluster with an associated emission nebula found in the constellation Centaurus, The nebula's estimated 6,000 light-years distance from Earth.
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/
These nebulae lie in the constallation of Orion at a distance of 900-1500LY away from Earth.
The Horsehead Nebula, obviously named from its striking resemblane to the head of a horse, is a dark nebula. The red glowing hydrogen cloud behind it is actually a separate nebula, IC 434. The dark Horsehead blocks light from IC 434 and stands out in its familiar shape from the background.
The Flame Nebula to the bottom left is also aptly named for what it resembles. It's a large star formation region filled with custers of young stars that are hidden away in visible light, but illuminate the surrounding clouds of gas and backlight the contrasting dark nebulae running through it.
The large, bright star above the Flame is Alnitak, the western-most star in Orion's belt.
-=Tech Data=-
-Equipment-
Imaging Scope: Sky-Watcher Esprit 100
Mount: Celestron CGX
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI 1600MC-Pro
Filter: Baader UV/IR cut
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI120 Mini
Guide Scope: Starfield 60mm guide scope
Dew Control: Kendrick
Power: Pegasus Astro Pocket Power Box
- Acquisition -
4H 15M of 3 min exposures
- Software -
Acquisition / Rig Control: Sequence Generator Pro
Stacking: Astro Pixel Processor
Processing: PixInsight
Post Processing: Photoshop CC
Shot at the Camden Lake Provincial Wildlife Area near Moscow, Ontario.
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
IC 1396/1396A is also known as The Elephant Trunk Nebula, is an area of bright emission and dark nebulae located 2400 light-years away in the constellation of Cepheus.
This image results from only 3 hours of narrowband data collected on October 13th - and is the first use of my portable Askar FRA400 platform for travel. It was also the first time I had to do Polar Alignment when I could not see the northern portion of the sky.
North Carolina is supposed to have good weather but that was not my experience on this trip. After being there for three weeks, I only had a single evening clear and Moon free so that I could do some exposures!
The processing was a bit challenging on this project because of the short integration time and the fact that I ran into some guiding issues that caused elongated stars. But all-in-all, it was a good learning exercise, and despite the problems with collection, I thought the image came out reasonably well.
Full details on the capture and extensive processing notes for this image are available on my website at the link below:
cosgrovescosmos.com/projects/ic1396-widefield
The details of how I prepared the mount for travel and my use of the mount when I got to my destination can be seen here
cosgrovescosmos.com/tips-n-techniques/going-mobile
Please check it out and let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks for looking!
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
IC 2944, also known as the Running Chicken Nebula,is an open cluster with an associated emission nebula found in the constellation Centaurus, near the star λ Centauri.
The region of nebulosity visible includes both IC 2944 and IC 2948, as well as the fainter IC 2872 nearby. IC 2948 is the brightest emission and reflection nebulae towards the southeast, while IC 2944 is the cluster of stars and surrounding nebulosity stretching towards λ Centauri.IC 2944 gets the running chicken nebula name from a group of stars that resemble a running chicken. The star Lambda Centauri lies just outside IC 2944. The nebulae is 6,500 light years from earth.
NGC 3766 (also known as Caldwell 97) is an open star cluster in the southern constellation Centaurus. It is located in the vast star-forming region known as the Carina molecular cloud.In the image to the right. It is also known as the Pearl cluster.
A dark nebula Sa 129 can also be seen between IC2944 and NGC 3766
The image was taken in December from the southern skies (Namibia) with a 600mm f3.0 telescope and a full range monocrome camera with Ha, R, G and B filters.
Ha, B, G 18 each x 300s
R16 x 300s
The processing has been done with HaRGB palette in Pixinsight and PS
IC 2944, también conocida como la Nebulosa del Pollo Corredor, es un cúmulo abierto con una nebulosa de emisión asociada que se encuentra en la constelación de Centaurus, cerca de la estrella λ Centauri.
La región de nebulosidad visible incluye tanto el IC 2944 como el IC 2948, así como el cercano IC 2872, más débil. IC 2948 es la nebulosa de emisión y reflexión más brillante hacia el sureste, mientras que IC 2944 es el cúmulo de estrellas y la nebulosidad circundante que se extiende hacia λ Centauri. IC 2944 recibe el nombre de nebulosa de pollo corriendo de un grupo de estrellas que se asemejan a un pollo corriendo. La estrella Lambda Centauri se encuentra en las afueras de IC 2944. La nebulosa se encuentra a 6.500 años luz de la Tierra.
NGC 3766 (también conocido como Caldwell 97) es un cúmulo estelar abierto en la constelación austral de Centauro. Se encuentra en la vasta región de formación de estrellas conocida como la nube molecular de Carina. En la imagen a la derecha. También se le conoce como el cúmulo de la Perla.
También se puede ver una nebulosa oscura Sa 129 entre IC2944 y NGC 3766
La imagen fue tomada en diciembre desde los cielos del sur (Namibia) con un telescopio de 600 mm f3.0 y una cámara monocromática de rango completo con filtros Ha, R, G y B.
Ha, B, G 18 cada uno x 300s
R 16 x 300s
El procesado se ha realizado con paleta HaRGB en Pixinsight y PS
Star nebulae. Beautiful and mysterious, but alas, I left the keys to my space shuttle in my other pants. Something from the crafting room will have to do... ;)
Nikon d5500
35mm
ISO 3200
f/2
17 x 30 seconds
iOptron SkyTracker
Stiched in MS ICE
This was shot as I was waiting for the core to rise over the mountain range. Bluff Knoll is the tallest peak you see here and one of the only places in the entire state where it snows regularly. The air glow here was crazy and the skies are among the darkest in the country, which means they're also some of the darkest in the world.
Here you can see the Carina Nebula near the top, the Lambda Centauri Nebula just below it and a little further down is the dark Coal Sack Nebula.
Contains: IC 4605, NGC 6144, rho Oph nebula, IC 4604, IC 4603, M 4, NGC 6121, The star 22Sco, The star Antares (αSco), The star ρOph, The star Al Niyat (σSco), The star οSco
Resolution: 5340x4400
Dates: July 31, 2006
Frames:
Astrodon Blue: 16x600" bin 1x1
Astrodon Green: 16x600" bin 1x1
Astrodon Luminance: 48x600" bin 1x1
Astrodon Red: 16x600" bin 1x1
Integration: 16.0 hours
First, thanks to Steve Mazlin for sharing this data with me (Data which Jim Misti was also involved in collecting).
Had a few issues with aligning one of the panels so it's been sitting on the hard drive for a while.
A look at the wonderful Rho Ophiuchi. A four-panel mosaic taken on Steve's FSQ STL-11k combo.
Hope you enjoy.
A large nebula complex located in the Cygnus constellation just below the bright star Deneb and about 1,800 light years away from earth.
Image taken with a TS Star71/347mm flatfield apo & ATIK 383l+ CCD Camera. Total exposure about 6 hours.
Messier 8 - Messier 20
Credit: Giuseppe Donatiello
Messier 8 - The Lagoon Nebula (below)
RA: 271,039° Dec: -24,379°
M8 - The Lagoon Nebula (NGC 6523) is a giant H II region in the constellation Sagittarius at 4,000-6,000 light years. The nebula contains several Bok globules (dark, collapsing clouds of protostellar material), the most prominent of which have been catalogued as B88, B89 and B296.
Messier 20 - "The Trifid Nebula" (above)
J2000 RA: 18h 02m 23s Dec: −23° 01′ 48″
NGC 6514, also known as The Trifid Nebula, is an HII region in Sagittarius discovered by Charles Messier on June 5, 1764.
The object is a combination of an opened cluster of stars, emission nebula, reflection nebula and a dark nebula that divide into three lobes this object.
This time I show nebulae there around the Alnitak star in the constellation of Orion.
In the photograph stand out among others the B33 ( Horsehead Nebula ) and NGC 2024 ( Flame Nebula ) nebula.
Photography is made in RGB ( true color ), it highlights the reddish color of the area due to a composition rich in hydrogen. In the area they can be distinguished reflection nebulae NGC 2023 below B33 .
The nebular area is about 1500 light years from Earth telescopes to observe and middle opening would be necessary in skies without light pollution.
To take the picture I used the following exposure times with the team great field :
5 × 600 "RGB Bining in February from 21.2 in heaven magnitude Pinoso
10 x 900 " L Bining 1 from 21.9 in heaven magnutd Revolcadores
Some shots of HA from home for HDR to the Stars.
Sitting in a rich field of OIII and Halpha emission nebulae, a remarkable and beautiful, striated, teal coloured, almost perfectly spherical, bubble, is being blown in the interstellar medium by the intense stellar wind from a very hot and massive Wolf-Rayet star at its centre. Wolf-Rayet stars have surface temperatures of between 30 000K and 210 000 K, compared to our Sun, which has a surface temperature of just 5800K!
Takahashi FSQ106EDX4
FLI Proline 16803, CFW-5-7, Robofocus
HaOIIIRGB = 525 555 140 140 160min = 25.3hrs total exposure (bin 1X1)
New Deep-Sky RGB Astronomik filters
-30C chip temp, dark frames and flats (using Aurora Flat Field Panel) applied
Focal length 530mm, FOV = 4deg X 4deg
Image scale 3.5"/pix
Guide Camera: Starlightxpress Lodestar
Comments
Data collected over 5 nights 8, 9, 15, 16 and 18 Jan 2020
Messier 8 and 20. The Lagoon and Trifid Nebulae
These are two famous nebulae in the constellation Sagittarius. M20 (Trifid) is a combination of emission nebula(red) and reflection nebula (blue) and contains some dark nebula too. M8 (Lagoon) is a giant emission nebula.
About the setup:
Canon60Da
63min. 21x 180sec exposures
ISO 800
25x Darks
16x Flats
Officina Stellare HiperAPO105
Celestron CGem DX
Guided with PHD, SSAG 50mm Orion Guide Scope
Image acquisition : Nebulosity
Processing: PhotoshopCS4
Star and nebula colour has not been enhanced. The red nebulosity is all due to the HA sensitivity of the Canon60Da.
Location: Sutherland, South Africa
Location: Sutherland, South Africa
Date: 11 May 2013
Iconic reflection nebula created by the passage of an open cluster of bright young stars through a dust cloud. The magnetic fields of the stars warp the dust into lines and swirls.
Dust preferentially scatters blue light and absorbs red and IR imparting a blue colouration to the dust near to the stars whilst in the bottom right corner the dust cloud appears more red.
Taken robotically at Grand Mesa Observatory, Colorado with the system 1 scope.
Camera: QHY600M 16-Bit CMOS
Pixel Size: 3.76 x 3.76 microns
Image Scale (1x1): 1.19 arcsec/pixel
FOV: 3.17° x 2.12°
Optics: Takahashi FSQ130
Aperture: 130mm
Focal Length: 650mm
Focal Ratio: F5
Guiding: Stellarvue 50mm
Mount: Paramount ME
Lagoon and Trifid nebulae in Sagittarius.
Imaged with the Telescope Live remote CHI-6 telescope in Chile.
Officina Stellare RH200 f/3 telescope.
FLI ML16200 CCD camera.
Astrodon 3nm narrowband filters.
6 x 10m per SHO filter.
Processed with Maxim DL, PixInsight and Affinity Photo.
To save my sanity at the inability to get out and about for my landscape photography, i have ventured into some Backyard Astro. So this is my first deep sky image of the Orion Nebula M42 in the constellation of Orion. This image was taken from my back garden in a Bortle 4 area.
Out of 160 light frames only 69 made the cut thanks to intermittent cloud cover. 84 minutes total exposure time with 69 light and 58 dark frames @ 40 seconds, iso 800 and f4.9. Pleased with the result considering the reduced exposure time. Now absolutely hooked!
This is my first take on astrophotography. Not the best night because the Milky Way galaxy center is starting to slide away into the horizon's heavy atmospheric haze. So, basically I had less than an hour to experiment. There were a lot of people and cars coming in and out.
I wanted to capture a panorama but the constant light changes by cars and torches would've made nearly impossible (I think).
I was an awesome experience though. The location is just beautiful at night. It was in captured in the Pinnacles Desert (Nambung) in Western Australia. About 2 hours drive from Perth City
Lying within the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy to ours 158,000 light years away in the constellation of Doradus, this nebula complex presents a Ha and OIII rich tapestry of colourful nebulae and star clusters. Data was gathered over multiple nights in a moonless sky for a total of 17 hours of total exposure time.
This is a natural colour palette image (I.e. an LRGB image augmented with Ha and OIII narrow band data).
NGC 2011: is a Open Cluster
NGC 2014: is a HII emission nebula surrounding an open cluster of stars. Along with NGC 2020 it makes up what is called the Cosmic Reef.
NGC 2020: an Oxygen emission structure erupting from a single central Wolf-Rayet star. Along with NGC 2014 it makes up what is called the Cosmic Reef.
NGC 2021: is a Open Cluster
NGC 2029 / 2030 is a HII Ionized region and is listed as part of Lucke-Hodge stellar association 82, along with NGC 2032 and 2035. NOTE: The coordinates for NGC 2029 and NGC 2030 were reversed between Herschel's original Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars and the New General Catalogue. Consequently, there is much confusion over what designation the object in this image should get. Depending on which source you look at, it could be either. Most images I've seen indicate 2030 as the correct catalogue number. However, I'm still confused.
NGC 2032: is an emission nebula and consists of NGC 2029, NGC 2035 and NGC 2040.
NGC 2035: is part of a complex of nebulae and stars, including NGC 2032 and NGC 2040. It consists of large bright gas clouds which are separated by dark dust clouds. NGC 2029, NGC 2032 and NGC 2035 are star-forming regions
NGC 2040: is a supernova remnant which contains an open cluster whose stars have a common origin and are drifting together through space. There are three different types of stellar associations defined by their stellar properties. NGC 2040 is an OB association, a grouping that usually contains 10–100 stars of type O and B — these are high-mass stars that have short but brilliant lives.
For an annotated version see:
This is the OSC or Color version without H-alpha using the QHY367C, captured from grand mesa observatory using Walter Holloway’s 130mm Takahashi. I will post the OSC version with the H-alpha shortly
Image capture details
Terry Hancock downunderobservatory.com
Location: GrandMesaObservatory.com Whitewater, Colorado
Dates: September 21 2017
RGGB 64 x 4 min
Camera: QHY367C
Gain 2850, Offset 76 with Dark Frames no Flat.
Optics: Walter Holloway's Takahashi FSQ 130 APO Refractor @ F5
EQ Mount: Paramount ME
Image Acquisition software Maxim DL5
Registed, Calibrated and Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
Post Processed with Pixinsight and Photoshop CS6
For comparisons please refer to my earlier imagery of this region: www.flickr.com/…/terryhanc…/albums/72157646963366983
The “Heart Nebula” show the reddish glow of hydrogen atoms ener-gized by bright stars that form inside this emission nebula. Lanes and patches of dark nebulae are also visible in the foreground of this star-
forming region of the Milky Way.
Read more about the Heart Nebula in our e-book cosmicpursuits.com/e-books/armchair-astronomer-volume-1-n...
To get a bit more up close and personal with the central part of this image, try this mosaic I made instead.
The area around the star Antares (yellow, below the center of the image) is rich with gas and dust. Toward the left of it in this image is the Rho Ophiuchi dust complex. We also see reddish emission nebulae and dusty blue reflection nebulae in this region of the sky. The prominent globular cluster is M4 -- the nearest globular cluster to our solar system at a distance of 6000 light years -- is to the right of and above Antares.
This is a stack of 44 exposures whose settings either match the information in EXIF or are at higher ISO and/or longer exposures. Taken with a Nikon D5100 that was modified for astrophotography on a polar aligned move shoot move NOMAD. Images were preprocessed, registered, and stacked in PixInsight. Processing also took place in PixInsight.
This is my deepest ever Narrowband image of NGC7000, in part it has helped by having the use of some better equipment.
For starters I had a significant upgrade to my QHY11 Mono CCD which now has the new heating ring to combat the dew when we have very high humidity (most of the time it’s around 80% here in Western Michigan) and the new QHY Large 7 Position Filter Wheel. For this image I used the Chroma 7nm H-Alpha, SII and OIII Filters and I am extremely happy with the detail and contrast these filters have helped me achieve. For the focusing I am using the Optec Gemini Focusing Rotator and the precision of this Focuser goes beyond anything I have experienced to date.
The North America Nebula (NGC 7000 or Caldwell 20) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus that resembles the shape of North America and The Gulf Of Mexico. It lies at a distance of approximately 1800 light years away from us.
It contains some very interesting areas such as The Cygnus Wall which is representative of Mexico and Central America and the nearby Pelican Nebula (IC5070) which is not usually referred to as within The American Nebula however it is part of the same cloud of ionized Hydrogen.
Image details
Location: DownUnderObservatory, Fremont, MI
Total Integration time 9 Hours
Filters by Chroma 7nm
H-Alpha 180 min, 18 x 10 min bin 1x1
OIII 180 min, 18 x 10 min bin 1x1
SII 180 min, 18 x 10 min bin 1x1
QHY11 monochrome CCD cooled to -20C
Optec Gemini Focusing Rotator
Takahashi E-180 F2.8 Astrograph
Rainbow Astro RST-400 EQ Mount
Image Acquisition Maxim DL
Pre Processing Pixinsight
Post Processing Photoshop CS6
Here is one of my older images of NGC7000 for comparison
www.flickr.com/photos/terryhancock/20568533905/in/datepos...
Camera : Nikon D5600
Lens : 70-300mm kit lens (300mm @f6.3)
Mount : iOptron Skyguider Pro
Tripod : Manfrotto MT190
Total exposure : 1 Hour 26 mins
172 framses stacked,cropped and processed.
Light frames : 30"x 172
no dark,flat,bias frames
Bortle scale : class 4
The Heart and Soul Nebulae are two emission nebulae located in the constellation Cassiopeia, about 6,000 light-years from Earth. Together, they form a vast star-forming complex, making them fascinating objects for astronomers and stargazers alike.
This is a revisit of some older data sets from 2017 and 2018. It was originally supposed to be a 6 panel mosaic of the Heart and Soul region. Unfortunately, I had far too many gaps in the overall field of view, so the panorama project was scrapped. And with my skills and tools at the time, I had never been able to get a good result out of any of the subframes.
Fast forward a few years, and I managed to use at least 2 frames in the panorama to create this image. And with the extra experience and better tools, I was able to finally do this nebula justice!
-= Tech Data =-
-Equipment-
Imaging Scope: Esplore Scientific ED80
Mount: Celestron AVX
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI 1600MC-Pro
Guide Camera: Orion
Guide Scope: Orion
- Acquisition -
∙ 60 x 5 minute exposures per frame.
Shot at the L&A Country Dark Sky Viewing Area near Erinsville, Ontario
Here's the product of last night's chilly foray from the back yard. Horsehead Nebula and Flame Nebula in Ha / hydrogen alpha. I love the ability to capture data like this from our light polluted back yard.
I'd normally wait to post this until I captured and combined some SI and Oiii data or RGB but it looks like Virginia has cloudy weather in store for a while so alas... here it is as it will be until nature gives me a shot to improve.
Specs:
22x600" Ha
30 dark frames
30 flats frames
30 dark flats
Astrotech AT111 refractor, Zwo ASI294MCPRO camera, Zwo / @gazingoutwards Ha filter and filter wheel, Skywatcher EQ6-R mount, 60mm guidescope and Orion starshoot guide cam. Captured with APT, Stacked in DSS, Processed in Startools, final touches in Lightroom CC. Enjoy!
Sharpless-82 is a small emission nebula, surrounded by a blue reflection nebula. These two nebulae are located in front of the huge and branched dark dust clouds, resembling the wings of an eagle, which absorb light from distant stars. The whole complex is located in the small constellation Sagitta.
This picture was photographed during 2015 August in Petrivske village, Ukraine.
Equipment: home assembled reflector 10 in., f/3.8
Mount WhiteSwan-180 with a control system «Eqdrive Standart», camera QSI-583wsg with Paracorr-II. Off-axis guidecamera QHY5L-II.
LRGB filter set Baader Planetarium.
L = 19 * 900 + 49*600 seconds, RGB = 13 * 600 seconds in each filter, bin.1. Total of 19.5 hours.
FWHM source (in the filter L) 2.25″-3.59″, Sum in L channel - 2.67"
The height above the horizon from 58 ° to 35 °, scale = 1.01"/ pixel.
Processed Pixinsight 1.8 and Photoshop CS6
About this image
A widefield image of a section of the large Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex. Rho Ophiuchi is a dark nebula of gas and dust that is located 1° south of the star ρ Ophiuchi of the constellation Ophiuchus (close to the red Supergiant star Antares).
About the Interstellar Cloud Colors:
Fine dust illuminated from the front by starlight produces blue reflection nebulae. The atoms of gaseous clouds that are excited by ultraviolet starlight produce reddish emission nebulae. Back-lit dust clouds block light and appear dark. Antares (a red super-giant star, and one of the brighter stars in the night sky), lights up the yellow-red dust clouds. Rho Ophiuchi lies at the center of the blue nebula. Interstellar clouds are even more colorful than we can see in visible light, emitting light across a large portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
About the Star Colors:
Star colors vary from red, orange, yellow, to blue. This is an indication of the temperature of the star's Nuclear Fusion process. This is determined by the size and mass of the star, and the stage of its life cycle. In short, the blue stars are hotter, and the red ones are cooler.
Gear:
William Optics Star 71mm f/4.9 Imaging APO Refractor Telescope.
William Optics 50mm Finder Scope.
Celestron SkySync GPS Accessory.
Orion Mini 50mm Guide Scope.
Orion StarShoot Autoguider.
Celestron AVX Mount.
QHYCCD PoleMaster.
Celestron StarSense.
MBox USB Meteostation.
RoboFocus RF3 Focuser.
Optolong L-Pro and LRGB filters.
QHYCFW2-M-US Filterwheel (7 position x 36mm).
QHY163M Cooled CMOS Monochrome Astronomy Camera.
Tech:
Guiding in Open PHD 2.6.5.
Sequence Generator Pro.
Imaged in LRGB:
L = 34 x 180 sec.
R = 24 x 180 sec.
G = 24 x 180 sec.
B = 24 x 180 sec.
Camera Settings:
Gain: 120
Offset: 35
Imaged at -30°C or -22°F
Calibration Frames:
50 x Bias/Offset.
30 x Darks.
20 x Flats.
Image Acquisition:
Sequence Generator Pro Framing Wizard.
Plate Solving:
Astrometry.net ANSVR Solver via SGP.
Processing:
Pre-Processing and Linear workflow in PixInsight,
and finished in Photoshop.
Astrometry Info:
View the Annotated Sky Chart for this image.
Center RA, Dec: 247.220, -25.077
Center RA, hms: 16h 28m 52.873s
Center Dec, dms: -25° 04' 38.916"
Size: 4.42 x 3.08 deg
Radius: 2.696 deg
Pixel scale: 9.95 arcsec/pixel
Orientation: Up is 83.8 degrees E of N
View this image in the WorldWideTelescope.
&creditsUrl=&ra=247.001014&dec=-24.672772&x=663.0&y=644.4&rotation=96.25&thumb=http://nova.astrometry.net/image/5032001){kind=link}
SQM-L Sky Quality Reading:
22.05
Flickr Explore:
Photo usage and Copyright:
Medium-resolution photograph licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Terms (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). For High-resolution Royalty Free (RF) licensing, contact me via my site: Contact.
Martin
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Simeis 147/Sh2-240
Taken over several nights between September, 2020 and March, 2021 near Seattle, WA
Telescope: Astro-Physics 130 GTX @ f/4.5 using Astro-Physics Quad-TCC
Camera: QHY 600M
Filters: Chroma 3nm Ha
Guide Camera: Starlight Xpress Lodestar
Mount: Astro-Physics Mach2 with CP5 and APCC-Pro
Exposure:
Panel 1:
Ha: 12 hours 45 minutes (51 x 15min, bin 1x1)
Panel 2:
Ha: 12 hours (48 x 15min, bin 1x1)
Total Integration Time: 24 hours 45 minutes
Processed in PixInsight 1.8.8-7
Lagoon and Trifid nebulae, another time, cause i'd want to shoot without any filter, from the dark sky of the italian western alps :)
this is about 1h and half with a canon 600d full spectrum mod and a 80/480 super apo triplet (reduced 0.8x ~400mm) on a heq5 mount.
wiki:
I almost continued work on my Orion mosaic last night, but ultimately decided to image the Cone Nebula region again. My previous image of this area from a year ago always bugged me - the focus was off and I didn't like the processing.
So I reshot this area last night - this time my focus was on, the skies were better, and I like the color I ended up with more. Not as happy with the framing, but at least the data is good so I can potentially add more data to this at a later date to improve framing or create a mosaic.
Fujifilm X-T10, Samyang 135mm f/2.0 ED UMC @ f2.0, ISO 1600, 47 x 60 sec, tracking with iOptron SkyTracker Pro, stacking with DeepSkyStacker, editing with Astro Pixel Processor and GIMP, taken on Jan. 13, 2021 under Bortle 3/4 skies.
The area is rich in dust and gas in addition to these red nebulae.
This was my 4th trial of the object, this time with the fastest optics.
in 2016: www.flickr.com/photos/hiroc/27274960821
in 2011: www.flickr.com/photos/hiroc/6930606968
in 2008: www.flickr.com/photos/hiroc/3137523322
equipment: Takahashi FSQ-130ED, F3 Reducer 0.6x, and Canon EOS R-sp4II, modified by Seo-san on Takahashi EM-200 Temma 2 Jr, autoguided at a star nearby with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, Starlight Xpress Superstar Autoguider, GPUSB, and PHD2 Guiding
exposure: 8 times x 30 minutes, 1 x 15 min, 4 x 4 min, and 4 x 1 minute at ISO 1,600 and f/3.0
site: 11,000 feet or 3,280m above sea level at lat. 19 32 31 North and long. 155 34 00 West near Mauna Loa Observatory in The Big Island Hawaii