View allAll Photos Tagged PlanetaryNebula
I was surprised to find concentric shells around this one, much like the Cat's Eye Nebula that is so famous. They are quite faint and were difficult to process but they should be easy enough to spot.
Processing notes: I combined the PC data with the rest of the WF data to create a partially more detailed image than without the PC data. The bad part of this is that I have a very hard time getting the two to match up no matter what I do and some parts of the PC data are actually less detailed. I sort of understand why but I don't understand it well enough to explain it better. I mix and matched it in a way I thought was both aesthetic and faithful to the object. Anyway, there are some faint lines visible across the image because of this.
Red: hst_11122_17_wfpc2_f658n_pc_drz + hst_11122_17_wfpc2_f658n_wf_drz + hst_08390_60_wfpc2_f658n_pc_drz
Green: hst_11122_17_wfpc2_f656n_pc_drz + hst_11122_17_wfpc2_f656n_wf_drz
Blue: hst_11122_17_wfpc2_f502n_pc_drz + hst_11122_17_wfpc2_f502n_wf_drz
North is NOT up.
Processed version of an image from the Hubble Space Telescope of NGC 6818, a planetary nebula called the Little Gem Nebula.
Original caption: This colourful bubble is a planetary nebula called NGC 6818, also known as the Little Gem Nebula. It is located in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer), roughly 6000 light-years away from us. The rich glow of the cloud is just over half a light-year across — humongous compared to its tiny central star — but still a little gem on a cosmic scale. When stars like the Sun enter retirement, they shed their outer layers into space to create glowing clouds of gas called planetary nebulae. This ejection of mass is uneven, and planetary nebulae can have very complex shapes. NGC 6818 shows knotty filament-like structures and distinct layers of material, with a bright and enclosed central bubble surrounded by a larger, more diffuse cloud. Scientists believe that the stellar wind from the central star propels the outflowing material, sculpting the elongated shape of NGC 6818. As this fast wind smashes through the slower-moving cloud it creates particularly bright blowouts at the bubble’s outer layers. Hubble previously imaged this nebula back in 1997 with its Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, using a mix of filters that highlighted emission from ionised oxygen and hydrogen (opo9811h). This image, while from the same camera, uses different filters to reveal a different view of the nebula. A version of the image was submitted to the Hubble’s Hidden Treasures image processing competition by contestant Judy Schmidt.
The Eskimo Nebula (NGC 2392) located in the constellation Gemini.
10 x 1minute exposures
Optics: Celestron C-11 @ f/10 (2800mm)
Camera: SBIG ST-10XME
Mount: Astro-Physics 900GTO
Processing: CCDStack 2, Photoshop CS5
9x305s stack from a Celestron Edge HD 9.25" with f/6.3 focal reducer using an Atik 314L+ Color CCD camera; taken 2011-07-20 0800 UT from the Santa Monica Mountains in California; processed with Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop Elements and GIMP 2.6
A nice planetary nebula in Ursa Major. Mag 9.9 so quite hard to spot but just possible in binoculars on a really dark, clear night.
Altair Astro RC8, Atik 460EX LRGB
Details here:
Edited Hubble Space Telescope image of the Butterfly Nebula. Color/processing variant.
Original caption: Hubble was recently retrained on NGC 6302, known as the "Butterfly Nebula," to observe it across a more complete spectrum of light, from near-ultraviolet to near-infrared, helping researchers better understand the mechanics at work in its technicolor "wings" of gas. The observations highlight a new pattern of near-infrared emission from singly ionized iron, which traces an S shape from lower left to upper right. This iron emission likely traces the central star system ís most recent ejections of gas, which are moving at much faster speeds than the previously expelled mass.
The star or stars at its center are responsible for the nebula's appearance. In their death throes, they have cast off layers of gas periodically over the past couple thousand years. The "wings" of NGC 6302 are regions of gas heated to more than 36,000 degrees Fahrenheit that are tearing across space at more than 600,000 miles an hour.
NGC 6302 lies between 2,500 and 3,800 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius.
There is very few images of this extremely dim planetary nebula in Pegasus.
It's largish as a Planetary, 5,5 x 4.9 arcminutes.
Technical details:
astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2010/11/jones-1-extreme-dim-pla...
Processed version of an image from the Hubble Space Telescope of NGC 6818, a planetary nebula called the Little Gem Nebula.
Original caption: This colourful bubble is a planetary nebula called NGC 6818, also known as the Little Gem Nebula. It is located in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer), roughly 6000 light-years away from us. The rich glow of the cloud is just over half a light-year across — humongous compared to its tiny central star — but still a little gem on a cosmic scale. When stars like the Sun enter retirement, they shed their outer layers into space to create glowing clouds of gas called planetary nebulae. This ejection of mass is uneven, and planetary nebulae can have very complex shapes. NGC 6818 shows knotty filament-like structures and distinct layers of material, with a bright and enclosed central bubble surrounded by a larger, more diffuse cloud. Scientists believe that the stellar wind from the central star propels the outflowing material, sculpting the elongated shape of NGC 6818. As this fast wind smashes through the slower-moving cloud it creates particularly bright blowouts at the bubble’s outer layers. Hubble previously imaged this nebula back in 1997 with its Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, using a mix of filters that highlighted emission from ionised oxygen and hydrogen (opo9811h). This image, while from the same camera, uses different filters to reveal a different view of the nebula. A version of the image was submitted to the Hubble’s Hidden Treasures image processing competition by contestant Judy Schmidt.
Edited Chandra Space Telescope x-ray image of the planetary nebula G292.0+1.8 superimposed on an optical version of the same object.
Original caption: In commemoration of the 15th anniversary of NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, four newly processed images of supernova remnants dramatically illustrate Chandra's unique ability to explore high-energy processes in the cosmos. The images of the Tycho and G292.0+1.8 supernova remnants show how Chandra can trace the expanding debris of an exploded star and the associated shock waves that rumble through interstellar space at speeds of millions of miles per hour. The images of the Crab Nebula and 3C58 show how extremely dense, rapidly rotating neutron stars produced when a massive star explodes can create clouds of high-energy particles light years across that glow brightly in X-rays.
Edited ESA image (data combined from ESA's XMM-Newton and the Hubble Space Telescope) of the planetary nebula called Jupiter's Ghost.
NGC 5189
Planetary nebula
Source: Hubble Legacy Archive hst_06119_20_wfpc2_f555w_wf
hst_06119_20_wfpc2_f814w_wf
Minkowski 1-14 is a small planetary nebula. The Hubble was able to detect a faint halo surrounding it.
A planetary nebula lying 2,030 light years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. Approximately 8,000 years old, Messier 97 is the result of a low mass star which had transformed into a red giant, much like our sun will, reaching the end of its stellar life.
Imaged using the Bradford Robotic Telescope's Galaxy Camera (Schmidt-Cassegrain Celestron C14 optical tube. 3910mm focal length, 355mm aperture at f/11 with a FLI MicroLine fitted with a E2V CCD47-10. 1k x 1k pixels, each 13um square. Class 2).
Further processing done using FITS Liberator & Pixelmator 3.0 FX.
Processed version of an image from the Hubble Space Telescope of NGC 6818, a planetary nebula called the Little Gem Nebula.
Original caption: This colourful bubble is a planetary nebula called NGC 6818, also known as the Little Gem Nebula. It is located in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer), roughly 6000 light-years away from us. The rich glow of the cloud is just over half a light-year across — humongous compared to its tiny central star — but still a little gem on a cosmic scale. When stars like the Sun enter retirement, they shed their outer layers into space to create glowing clouds of gas called planetary nebulae. This ejection of mass is uneven, and planetary nebulae can have very complex shapes. NGC 6818 shows knotty filament-like structures and distinct layers of material, with a bright and enclosed central bubble surrounded by a larger, more diffuse cloud. Scientists believe that the stellar wind from the central star propels the outflowing material, sculpting the elongated shape of NGC 6818. As this fast wind smashes through the slower-moving cloud it creates particularly bright blowouts at the bubble’s outer layers. Hubble previously imaged this nebula back in 1997 with its Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, using a mix of filters that highlighted emission from ionised oxygen and hydrogen (opo9811h). This image, while from the same camera, uses different filters to reveal a different view of the nebula. A version of the image was submitted to the Hubble’s Hidden Treasures image processing competition by contestant Judy Schmidt.
This is a fun image. The guide star acquisition had failed, meaning that there was no lock on the target. This meant that there were very few exposures since they were trying to image blindly. This makes for a pretty gross image.
Minkowski 1-73 is another one of those small planetaries. This image is in false color with nitrogen represented in blue and hydrogen in red. There is no green band.
Processed version of an image from the Hubble Space Telescope of NGC 6818, a planetary nebula called the Little Gem Nebula.
Original caption: This colourful bubble is a planetary nebula called NGC 6818, also known as the Little Gem Nebula. It is located in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer), roughly 6000 light-years away from us. The rich glow of the cloud is just over half a light-year across — humongous compared to its tiny central star — but still a little gem on a cosmic scale. When stars like the Sun enter retirement, they shed their outer layers into space to create glowing clouds of gas called planetary nebulae. This ejection of mass is uneven, and planetary nebulae can have very complex shapes. NGC 6818 shows knotty filament-like structures and distinct layers of material, with a bright and enclosed central bubble surrounded by a larger, more diffuse cloud. Scientists believe that the stellar wind from the central star propels the outflowing material, sculpting the elongated shape of NGC 6818. As this fast wind smashes through the slower-moving cloud it creates particularly bright blowouts at the bubble’s outer layers. Hubble previously imaged this nebula back in 1997 with its Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, using a mix of filters that highlighted emission from ionised oxygen and hydrogen (opo9811h). This image, while from the same camera, uses different filters to reveal a different view of the nebula. A version of the image was submitted to the Hubble’s Hidden Treasures image processing competition by contestant Judy Schmidt.
Processed version of an image from the Hubble Space Telescope of NGC 6818, a planetary nebula called the Little Gem Nebula.
Original caption: This colourful bubble is a planetary nebula called NGC 6818, also known as the Little Gem Nebula. It is located in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer), roughly 6000 light-years away from us. The rich glow of the cloud is just over half a light-year across — humongous compared to its tiny central star — but still a little gem on a cosmic scale. When stars like the Sun enter retirement, they shed their outer layers into space to create glowing clouds of gas called planetary nebulae. This ejection of mass is uneven, and planetary nebulae can have very complex shapes. NGC 6818 shows knotty filament-like structures and distinct layers of material, with a bright and enclosed central bubble surrounded by a larger, more diffuse cloud. Scientists believe that the stellar wind from the central star propels the outflowing material, sculpting the elongated shape of NGC 6818. As this fast wind smashes through the slower-moving cloud it creates particularly bright blowouts at the bubble’s outer layers. Hubble previously imaged this nebula back in 1997 with its Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, using a mix of filters that highlighted emission from ionised oxygen and hydrogen (opo9811h). This image, while from the same camera, uses different filters to reveal a different view of the nebula. A version of the image was submitted to the Hubble’s Hidden Treasures image processing competition by contestant Judy Schmidt.
Processed version of an image from the Hubble Space Telescope of NGC 6818, a planetary nebula called the Little Gem Nebula.
Original caption: This colourful bubble is a planetary nebula called NGC 6818, also known as the Little Gem Nebula. It is located in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer), roughly 6000 light-years away from us. The rich glow of the cloud is just over half a light-year across — humongous compared to its tiny central star — but still a little gem on a cosmic scale. When stars like the Sun enter retirement, they shed their outer layers into space to create glowing clouds of gas called planetary nebulae. This ejection of mass is uneven, and planetary nebulae can have very complex shapes. NGC 6818 shows knotty filament-like structures and distinct layers of material, with a bright and enclosed central bubble surrounded by a larger, more diffuse cloud. Scientists believe that the stellar wind from the central star propels the outflowing material, sculpting the elongated shape of NGC 6818. As this fast wind smashes through the slower-moving cloud it creates particularly bright blowouts at the bubble’s outer layers. Hubble previously imaged this nebula back in 1997 with its Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, using a mix of filters that highlighted emission from ionised oxygen and hydrogen (opo9811h). This image, while from the same camera, uses different filters to reveal a different view of the nebula. A version of the image was submitted to the Hubble’s Hidden Treasures image processing competition by contestant Judy Schmidt.
This one looks like a piece of jade to me with these colors. The colors are, of course, representative or "false" color, depending on how you want to word that. As an example, here is another rendition of this nebula using almost the same data. For this, the bluer patches indicate slightly stronger OIII emissions while the greener ones are slightly stronger in H-alpha. There are tiny little red things to the left and right of the nebula glowing in NII which look something like slightly smudged stars. I presume they are tiny FLIERS.
Red: hst_11956_04_wfpc2_f658n_wf_sci
Green: hst_11956_04_wfpc2_f656n_wf_sci
Blue: hst_11956_04_wfpc2_f502n_wf_sci
North is NOT up. It's 33.3° clockwise from up.
The Ring Nebula is a bright example of a planetary nebula—a shell of gas expelled from a dying star. The central star is barely visible in this image. Canon EOS 450D 7x 10s Exposures prime focus Skywatcher 150 Explorer Newtonian. Stacked and processed in PixInsight and Photoshop CS5.
Processed version of an image from the Hubble Space Telescope of NGC 6818, a planetary nebula called the Little Gem Nebula.
Original caption: This colourful bubble is a planetary nebula called NGC 6818, also known as the Little Gem Nebula. It is located in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer), roughly 6000 light-years away from us. The rich glow of the cloud is just over half a light-year across — humongous compared to its tiny central star — but still a little gem on a cosmic scale. When stars like the Sun enter retirement, they shed their outer layers into space to create glowing clouds of gas called planetary nebulae. This ejection of mass is uneven, and planetary nebulae can have very complex shapes. NGC 6818 shows knotty filament-like structures and distinct layers of material, with a bright and enclosed central bubble surrounded by a larger, more diffuse cloud. Scientists believe that the stellar wind from the central star propels the outflowing material, sculpting the elongated shape of NGC 6818. As this fast wind smashes through the slower-moving cloud it creates particularly bright blowouts at the bubble’s outer layers. Hubble previously imaged this nebula back in 1997 with its Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, using a mix of filters that highlighted emission from ionised oxygen and hydrogen (opo9811h). This image, while from the same camera, uses different filters to reveal a different view of the nebula. A version of the image was submitted to the Hubble’s Hidden Treasures image processing competition by contestant Judy Schmidt.
Image by Richard Ford
58 Second Exposure
ISO 1600
Stacked in Deep-Sky Stacker
Processed in Photo Plus X4
02/11/2013
23:41pm
12-inch Dobsonian Reflector Telescope
Dobtorial Tracking Platform
Canon 1100DSLR Camera
Edited European Southern Observatory image of the planetary nebula Abell 33. Color/processing variant.
Original caption: Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile have captured this eye-catching image of planetary nebula Abell 33. Created when an aging star blew off its outer layers, this beautiful blue bubble is, by chance, aligned with a foreground star, and bears an uncanny resemblance to a diamond engagement ring. This cosmic gem is unusually symmetric, appearing to be almost perfectly circular on the sky.
Edited Hubble Space Telescope image of the planetary nebula (which doesn't look very round here) NGC 5307. Inverted grayscale variant.
Original caption: This Picture of the Week from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows NGC 5307, a planetary nebula which lies about 10000 light years from Earth. It can be seen in the constellation Centaurus (The Centaur), which can be seen primarily in the southern hemisphere. A planetary nebula is the final stage of a Sun-like star. As such, planetary nebulae allow us a glimpse into the future of our own Solar System. A star like our Sun will, at the end of its life, transform into a red giant. Stars are sustained by the nuclear fusion that occurs in their core, which creates energy. The nuclear fusion processes constantly try to rip the star apart. Only the gravity of the star prevents this from happening.
At the end of the red giant phase of a star, these forces become unbalanced. Without enough energy created by fusion, the core of the star collapses in on itself, while the surface layers are ejected outward. After that, all that remains of the star is what we see here: glowing outer layers surrounding a white dwarf star, the remnants of the red giant star’s core.
This isn’t the end of this star’s evolution though — those outer layers are still moving and cooling. In just a few thousand years they will have dissipated, and all that will be left to see is the dimly glowing white dwarf.
Kitt Peak Observatory image of the planetary nebula HFG 1. It almost looks as if the nebula is zapping something with a red-band of energy.
Perek 1-1 is another one of those strikingly beautiful planetary nebulae. How this has not been processed yet, I am not sure (other than the fact you need to submit a DADS request to get it). This data may just make a very nice color image. I'll probably check that out later.
Barely visible (and not visible unless you zoom to full size and search very hard) is what seems (although I'm not certain) to be the central star of the planetary nebula. This time, when I was processing it in FITS Liberator, I knew what I was doing, so I think it looks much better than the last one.
This image is of original size.
Processed version of an image from the Hubble Space Telescope of NGC 6818, a planetary nebula called the Little Gem Nebula.
Original caption: This colourful bubble is a planetary nebula called NGC 6818, also known as the Little Gem Nebula. It is located in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer), roughly 6000 light-years away from us. The rich glow of the cloud is just over half a light-year across — humongous compared to its tiny central star — but still a little gem on a cosmic scale. When stars like the Sun enter retirement, they shed their outer layers into space to create glowing clouds of gas called planetary nebulae. This ejection of mass is uneven, and planetary nebulae can have very complex shapes. NGC 6818 shows knotty filament-like structures and distinct layers of material, with a bright and enclosed central bubble surrounded by a larger, more diffuse cloud. Scientists believe that the stellar wind from the central star propels the outflowing material, sculpting the elongated shape of NGC 6818. As this fast wind smashes through the slower-moving cloud it creates particularly bright blowouts at the bubble’s outer layers. Hubble previously imaged this nebula back in 1997 with its Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, using a mix of filters that highlighted emission from ionised oxygen and hydrogen (opo9811h). This image, while from the same camera, uses different filters to reveal a different view of the nebula. A version of the image was submitted to the Hubble’s Hidden Treasures image processing competition by contestant Judy Schmidt.
Camera: Meade DSI Color II
Exposure: 50m (25 x 1m) RGB + (25 x 1m)L
Focus Method: Prime focus
Telescope Aperature/Focal Length: 203×812mm
Mount: LXD75
Telescope: Meade 8" Schmidt-Newtonian
Guided: Envisage
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Adjustments: cropped/leveled in Photoshop
Location: Flintstone, GA
Edited European Southern Observatory image of the planetary nebula ESO 577-24. Color/processing variant.
Original caption: The faint, ephemeral glow emanating from the planetary nebula ESO 577-24 persists for only a short time — around 10,000 years, a blink of an eye in astronomical terms. ESO’s Very Large Telescope captured this shell of glowing ionised gas — the last breath of the dying star whose simmering remains are visible at the heart of this image. As the gaseous shell of this planetary nebula expands and grows dimmer, it will slowly disappear from sight. This stunning planetary nebula was imaged by one of the VLT’s most versatile instruments, FORS2. The instrument captured the bright, central star, Abell 36, as well as the surrounding planetary nebula. The red and blue portions of this image correspond to optical emission at red and blue wavelengths, respectively. An object much closer to home is also visible in this image — an asteroid wandering across the field of view has left a faint track below and to the left of the central star. And in the far distance behind the nebula a glittering host of background galaxies can be seen.
Processed version of an image from the Hubble Space Telescope of NGC 6818, a planetary nebula called the Little Gem Nebula.
Original caption: This colourful bubble is a planetary nebula called NGC 6818, also known as the Little Gem Nebula. It is located in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer), roughly 6000 light-years away from us. The rich glow of the cloud is just over half a light-year across — humongous compared to its tiny central star — but still a little gem on a cosmic scale. When stars like the Sun enter retirement, they shed their outer layers into space to create glowing clouds of gas called planetary nebulae. This ejection of mass is uneven, and planetary nebulae can have very complex shapes. NGC 6818 shows knotty filament-like structures and distinct layers of material, with a bright and enclosed central bubble surrounded by a larger, more diffuse cloud. Scientists believe that the stellar wind from the central star propels the outflowing material, sculpting the elongated shape of NGC 6818. As this fast wind smashes through the slower-moving cloud it creates particularly bright blowouts at the bubble’s outer layers. Hubble previously imaged this nebula back in 1997 with its Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, using a mix of filters that highlighted emission from ionised oxygen and hydrogen (opo9811h). This image, while from the same camera, uses different filters to reveal a different view of the nebula. A version of the image was submitted to the Hubble’s Hidden Treasures image processing competition by contestant Judy Schmidt.
This was supposed to be 20x2 minute exposures, but the remote only took 1 light frame. Despite that, this is still my best image of the Ring Nebula so far.
Telescope: Celestron Ultima 8 with PEC
Camera: Hutech modified Canon XT
Exposure: 1x2 minutes
ISO: 1600
Processed in MaxDSLR, Photoshop with Astronomy Tools plugin
M27, the Dumbbell Nebula, in narrowband (Esprit 120ED, ZWO ASI1600MC Pro, Radian Triad Ultra Quad-band Narrowband filter)
Edited Hubble Space Telescope image of the planetary nebula NGC 7027.
Original caption: Recently, NGC 7027's central star was identified in a new wavelength of light ó near-ultraviolet ó for the first time by using Hubble's unique capabilities. The near-ultraviolet observations will help reveal how much dust obscures the star and how hot the star really is.
This object, which resembles a colorful jewel bug, is a visibly diffuse region of gas and dust that may be the result of ejections by closely orbiting binary stars that were first slowly sloughing off material over thousands of years, and then entered a phase of more violent and highly directed mass ejections. Hubble first looked at this planetary nebula in 1998. By comparing the old and new Hubble observations, researchers now have additional opportunities to study the object as it changes over time.
Planetary nebulas are expanding shells of gas created by dying stars that are shedding their outer layers. When new ejections encounter older ejections, the resulting energetic collisions shape the nebula. The mechanisms underlying such sequences of stellar mass expulsion are far from fully understood, but researchers theorize that binary companions to the central, dying stars play essential roles in shaping them.
NGC 7027 is approximately 3,000 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus.
Processed version of an image from the Hubble Space Telescope of NGC 6818, a planetary nebula called the Little Gem Nebula.
Original caption: This colourful bubble is a planetary nebula called NGC 6818, also known as the Little Gem Nebula. It is located in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer), roughly 6000 light-years away from us. The rich glow of the cloud is just over half a light-year across — humongous compared to its tiny central star — but still a little gem on a cosmic scale. When stars like the Sun enter retirement, they shed their outer layers into space to create glowing clouds of gas called planetary nebulae. This ejection of mass is uneven, and planetary nebulae can have very complex shapes. NGC 6818 shows knotty filament-like structures and distinct layers of material, with a bright and enclosed central bubble surrounded by a larger, more diffuse cloud. Scientists believe that the stellar wind from the central star propels the outflowing material, sculpting the elongated shape of NGC 6818. As this fast wind smashes through the slower-moving cloud it creates particularly bright blowouts at the bubble’s outer layers. Hubble previously imaged this nebula back in 1997 with its Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, using a mix of filters that highlighted emission from ionised oxygen and hydrogen (opo9811h). This image, while from the same camera, uses different filters to reveal a different view of the nebula. A version of the image was submitted to the Hubble’s Hidden Treasures image processing competition by contestant Judy Schmidt.
Edited Chandra Space Telescope x-ray image of Tycho's supernova remnant (because he's the person who described it first).
Original caption: In commemoration of the 15th anniversary of NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, four newly processed images of supernova remnants dramatically illustrate Chandra's unique ability to explore high-energy processes in the cosmos. The images of the Tycho and G292.0+1.8 supernova remnants show how Chandra can trace the expanding debris of an exploded star and the associated shock waves that rumble through interstellar space at speeds of millions of miles per hour. The images of the Crab Nebula and 3C58 show how extremely dense, rapidly rotating neutron stars produced when a massive star explodes can create clouds of high-energy particles light years across that glow brightly in X-rays.
M97 and M108 as seen on May 12 & 14, 2013. Taken at Montebello OSP on two nights. There was a third night that had bad data because of clouds and accidentally leaving the camera on ISO 400.
Standard setup: SV4 and cooled Pentax K10D DSLR. My first real use of the cold-finger modified camera outside of the back yard. Thermostat was set to -10C and the EXIF temps read 14-15C on the warmer night and 10C on the cooler night. I also added flocking material to the inside of the flattener to help control off-axis flare. This latter modification seems to help significantly.
Flats were generated using the LED panel but I'm considering that these are not really flat. I'll probably make a flat box repurposing the LED panel to give better and wider flats for consistency.
Getting much better results with flexure, too. I've been able to mostly fix the flexure, now I just have field rotation to control.
Image data is from 20 subs of 1200 seconds duration at 100 ISO. Guided and calibrated with Maxim. Stacked in DSS. Processed in PI.
Here's the plate solve:
Resolution ........ 1.909 arcsec/pix
Rotation .......... 91.658 deg
Focal ............. 655.81 mm
Pixel size ........ 6.07 um
Field of view ..... 1d 59' 44.1" x 1d 21' 27.4"
Image center ...... RA: 11 12 47.265 Dec: +55 21 17.86
Image bounds:
top-left ....... RA: 11 17 14.653 Dec: +54 19 58.40
top-right ...... RA: 11 17 53.471 Dec: +56 19 32.53
bottom-left .... RA: 11 07 55.809 Dec: +54 22 17.64
bottom-right ... RA: 11 08 05.781 Dec: +56 21 58.91
On Vacation in Arizona, I went to Kitt Peak and worked with one the the operators there (Adam Block) to take this image. This is Abell 70, a plaetary Nebula. One thing that makes this one so interesting is that there is a background galaxy right behind the nebula. More details about the image at:
www.noao.edu/outreach/aop/observers/abell70.html
I highly recommend the Advanced Observing Program at Kitt Peak if you get a chance to do it.
Minimum credit line: Mike Durkin and Lily Joe/Adam Block/NOAO/AURA/NSF
Planetary Nebula PNG 016.3-02.3 is just visible above the base of the "arrow".
Imaged at the Astronomical Society of Edinburgh's Remote Observatory (ASERO) in Trevinca, Spain on 23 August 2024.
Equipment: Dalrada scope.
Askar 94 mm f/4.4 Triplet Apo
ToupTek Colour IMX571
JTW mount
Optolong LeNhance filter
9x300s exposures.
Stack by the ASERO Team.
Processed with GraXpert, Siril, Gimp and AstroSharp.
Hubble Space Telescope image of the star Jonckheere 900 inside its planetary nebula. (The star on the left is incidental.)
Edited Chandra Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope image of the Helix Nebula.
Image source: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/news/nasas-chandra-ope...
Original caption: When a star like the Sun runs out of fuel, it expands and its outer layers puff off, and then the core of the star shrinks. This phase is known as a "planetary nebula," and astronomers expect our Sun will experience this in about 5 billion years. This Helix Nebula images contains infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (green and red), optical light from Hubble (orange and blue), ultraviolet from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer (cyan), and Chandra's X-rays (appearing as white) showing the white dwarf star that formed in the center of the nebula. The image is about four light years across.