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After noticing this blue shell pop out in my wider field, 200mm, image of this area I was curious to image it up closer. This image was shot almost entirely during the full moon, with the oiii (blue green) shot when the the moon was 78% illuminated. Given those circumstances I am actually astonished I got this much detail. The Ha and Sii filters are near infrared, and though the moon reflects the light of the sun back to us almost perfectly (if you compensate for exposure the colors of a picture taken under full moon will look practically identical to the same image in daylight) the moon does not reflect infra red as well. That's why it is possible to get nice detail with Ha and Sii filters. Oiii is another matter, basically I have avoided using it when the moon is visible. But I used the telescopius website which makes a calculation based on the moons illumination and the distance to the object. It suggested that a moon at 78% illumination and ~80° distance from the object could yield results, and it did! I probably could have captured this in half the time during a new moon, but I have to take clear nights when I can get them. In future I won't discount the presence of the moon as much.
Overview
The WR 134 Nebula—also popularly called the Snail Nebula or the Cygnus Shell—is a faint, nearly circular shell of doubly ionized oxygen (O III) surrounding the Wolf–Rayet star WR 134 in the constellation Cygnus. The bubble is the result of strong stellar winds from the massive, evolved star colliding with surrounding interstellar material.
Central Star
The heart of the nebula is the Wolf–Rayet star WR 134 (also cataloged as HD 191765), a hot, massive star of spectral type WN6. Its intense ultraviolet radiation and powerful stellar winds drive the formation and continued expansion of the surrounding O III shell.
OIII Shell Structure
The nebula forms a roughly circular ring about 1.5° in diameter.
It is dominated by OIII emission, giving it the characteristic teal-blue color captured in narrowband images.
The shell represents a Wolf–Rayet wind bubble—gas swept up by centuries of fast, dense stellar wind colliding with the slower material shed earlier in the star’s life.
Relation to Nearby Nebulae
Lies between the Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888) and the Tulip Nebula (Sh2-101).
Shares the same rich star-forming environment as other Cygnus X emission complexes, though it is physically distinct from them.
Emission Characteristics
Strong OIII signal; very faint Hα emission, making it ideal for narrowband OIII imaging. The contrast between the bright OIII shell and the weaker Hα background highlights the dynamics of a Wolf–Rayet stellar wind bubble.
History & Discovery
First recognized as an OIII shell in the late 20th century through deep narrowband photography and spectroscopic surveys of Wolf–Rayet stars, the WR 134 Nebula became popular among astrophotographers in the 2010s as imaging equipment and narrowband filters improved.
Astrophysical Importance
The nebula offers a clear example of how massive stars shape their environment before ending their lives as supernovae.
Sources for text
*Professional studies of Wolf–Rayet wind bubbles and O III emission shells.
*Narrowband imaging surveys of the Cygnus region (e.g., IPHAS, amateur deep-sky imaging projects).
*Observational data from amateur astrophotographers and large-field astrophotography archives such as AstroBin.
Acquisition
Askar 120APO with .8 reducer: 660mm f/5.5
ZWO ASI533MM Mono Camera at -20C
Guided on ZWO AM5
Chroma filters
10x15s with R,G and B filters
32xHa, 47xOiii, 68xSii @5m
Captured with N.I.N.A. processed with PixInsight, Ps
There are so many delights in Orion. This region in the head of Orion spans Barnard's Loop. Cederblad 51 is the blue reflection nebula near the centre which is surrounded by various LDN and Barnard dark structures together with areas of Hydrogen Alpha emissions.
More details on the capture and annotated version on Astrobin: astrob.in/wngl0f/E/
Shot in India's Dark Sky Reserve - Hanle. A very small village high in the plateausque region above 4500m m.s.l.
Triplet 115/800
Reducer 0.79
ZWO ASI 183MMPRO
HA: 5 hours
L: 3 hours
RGB: 30 minutes each channel
Total: 9:30 hours
PixInsight + PS6
HaLRGB
M106 - (conosciuta anche come NGC 4258) è una galassia a spirale visibile nella costellazione dei Cani da Caccia distante 23 milioni di anni luce; sembra che il suo interno ospiti un buco nero supermassiccio su cui sta collassando l'intera galassia.
(@https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/M106)
photo specs:
Celestron C11 mirror lock mod e Starizona 0.75x redu/corr + Zwo ASI1600MM-cool su Losmandy G11 Avalon HQMotors and StarGo (~ 4 ore in LRGB) - da Tiglieto (GE)
Rosette Nebula - Narrowband
About to make some tweaks and upgrade the camera on Gus the RH 200 [to a 16200 chip] so working through the test data I have accumulated - here we have a look at the Rosette Nebula in narrow band. The speed of this scope is great and even though short of a few subs I have been able to generate a tidy image with <8hrs data.
The object lends itself to detail so have focused on that while keeping the overall image as clean and tidy as possible.
Hope you enjoy.
Don't forget you can subscribe to this scope at www.imagetheuniverse.co.uk
Hi-Res versions here (just click on it :) once loaded) www.astrobin.com/334662/
Imaging telescope or lens: Officina Stellare Veloce RH 200 MKII Gus
Imaging camera: FLI MicroLine 8300 CCD-camera FLI
Mount: Paramount-ME
Software: Pixinsight 1.8
Filters: Astronomik Ha 6nm, Astronomik SII 6nm, Astronomik Oiii 6nm
Accessory: FLI Atlas
Resolution: 3276x2434
Dates: Feb. 1, 2018, Feb. 16, 2018, Feb. 20, 2018
Frames:
Astronomik Ha 6nm: 21x600" bin 1x1
Astronomik Oiii 6nm: 11x600" bin 1x1
SII 5nm: 14x600" bin 1x1
Integration: 7.7 hours
Avg. Moon age: 6.96 days
Locations: Image The Universe Remote Telescopes, Fregenal de la Sierra, Extremadura, Spain
First attempt with starless layers to bring more details, depth and structure in the nebulas
Canon EOS 6Da | Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L
Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro | Lacerta M-GEN | Finderscope 9x50
25x 300sec | ISO800
Flats, Bias, no filters used
My Astrobin My 500px My Facebook
© Claus Steindl
The central region of NGC 7822 which includes SH2-171 and the young star cluster Berkeley 59 in narrowband, presented in SHO with RGB stars. The area is also covered by various LDN and LBN designated areas of dust which contrast nicely with the emission areas. I've concentrated on processing this to bring out as much detail in the darker areas as possible.
Full capture details on Astrobin: app.astrobin.com/i/k610uo
When in high altitudes I try to capture the night sky, the visuals are just amazing. Caught a shooting star in this one :)
This region of the sky, in the constellation Monoceros, contains many different types of objects including Reflection nebulae (NGC2170), Hydrogen Alpha Emission nebulae (LBN999) and lots of surrounding molecular dust clouds. It is low in the sky from my latitude so more difficult to capture clean data and I also battled with intermittent clouds and a large number of satellite trails.
Takahashi FSQ-85EDX with 1.01x Flattener
Altair Astro Hypercam 26C
iOptron CEM70
16 hours of RGB data captured with APT
Processed using AstroPixelProcessor, Pixinsight and Photoshop
More details and hires on Astrobin: astrob.in/swtfm6/K/
The Dumbbell Nebula (also known as the Apple Core Nebula, M 27, and NGC 6853) is a planetary nebula (nebulosity surrounding a white dwarf) in the constellation Vulpecula, at a distance of about 1360 light-years. A planetary nebula is a type of emission nebula consisting of an expanding, glowing shell of ionized gas ejected from red giant stars late in their lives. [wikipedia]
Imaged using the Celestron C14 Edge HD telescope in dome 4 at Turismo Astronómico, Los Coloraos observatory in Gorafe, Spain.
A higher resolution image with imaging details can be found on my Astrobin page at: astrob.in/3hreww/0/
Thank you for looking.
Technical summary:
Captured: 8 Nights in June 2024
Location: Turismo Astronómico, Los Coloraos, Gorafe, Spain
Bortle Class: 3
Total Integration: 21 hours 25mins
Filters: UV-IR 329 x 120s, Red 68 x 180s, Green 74 x 180s, Blue 67 x 180s
Pixel Scale: 0.4 arcsec/pixel
Telescope: Celestron C14 Edge HD
Image Camera: ZWO ASI6200MM Pro
Filters: Astronomik Lum, Red, Green, Blue,
Mount: Skywatcher EQ 8
Computer: Minix NUC
Capture software: NINA, PHD2
Editing software: PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom
I have been very fortunate over the past week to have had 7 continuous clear nights which is unheard of here in Devon, in fact I can't ever remember having such a prolonged spell.
This image of the Strawberry or Raspberry nebula is the first from this week. SH2-263 is an emission nebula juxtaposed with the reflection nebula VdB 38. The main sequence, blue giant HD34989, located around 736.26 light years from Earth, illuminates the nebula which is located just north of the star Bellatrix in the head of Orion.
Capture details on Astrobin: app.astrobin.com/i/yuajdn
Apologies if you've seen this before, I accidentally deleted it so I'm reposting it!
L: 10x300s
RGB: (10, 10, 10)x300s
Image aquisition : Eric Recurt
Processing : Roberto Colombari
Astrograph: 350mm F3.3
CCD: FLI PL 16803-65 / FLI Atlas focuser
Mount: ASA
From Teide Observatory , Cosmos Tenerife , IAC/ TADer dome .
Tenerife , 2360m
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Explanation: Why does this starfield photograph resemble an impressionistic painting? The effect is created not by digital trickery but by large amounts of interstellar dust. Dust, minute globs rich in carbon and similar in size to cigarette smoke, frequently starts in the outer atmospheres of large, cool, evolved stars. The dust is dispersed as the star dies and grows as things stick to it in the interstellar medium. Dense dust clouds are opaque to visible light and can completely hide background stars. For less dense clouds, the capacity of dust to preferentially reflect blue starlight becomes important, effectively blooming the stars blue light out and marking the surrounding dust. Nebular gas emissions, typically brightest in red light, can combine to form areas seemingly created on an artist's canvas. Photographed above is the central part of the nebula IC 4603 surrounding the bright star SAO 184376 (actually 8th magnitude) which mostly illuminates the blue reflection nebula. IC 4603 can be seen near the very bright star Antares (1st magnitude) toward the constellation of Ophiuchus.
Source: APOD
The Tadpoles
My latest astro image taken recently. The Tadpoles is an emission nebula and star forming region in the constellation Auriga. The colours are determined by assigning the three main bands of emission to the R,G and B respectively - Sulphur SII to R, Hydrogen Alpha to G and Oxygen OIII to Blue. This colour mapping was first developed for the Hubble telescope an hence known as the Hubble palette.
High resolution and capture details: app.astrobin.com/i/d7e1ps
This area in the well known constellation of Orion consists of dark dust and Hydrogen emissions, including a small part of Barnard's Loop which surrounds the familiar stars of Orion.
For more details have a look on Astrobin: astrob.in/p1id2c/E/
RGB HDR composition: data from my archive
180", 60" and 5" frames to compose the HDR for each RGB channel.
T:Takahashi FSQ 106ED reduced @f3.8
M: Astrophysics Mach1 GTO
C: QSI 690ws-g8
G: Lodestar X2
F: Astrodon LRGB E-Gen2 set;
Foc: Sesto Senso - Primalucelab
CPU: Eagle-S Primalucelab
Sw: Sequence Generator Pro - PHD2 - Pixinsight 1.8
bias: 512
dark: 64
flat 30:30:30
ASTROBIN : astrob.in/0sbsky/0/
The first color image to feature Sivan 5 and Sivan 6?
I believe this is the first successful color image of the nebulae Sivan 5 and Sivan 6. Siv 5 is the larger mass at the top. Siv 6 lies beneath it and includes Sh2-287, the bright section bottom center. The swooping red wisp that stretches from left to right and looks like a ship’s hull isn’t officially part of either nebula.
Astronomer J.P. Sivan identified these forgotten nebulae in 1974 from an Hα survey of the Milky Way in which they appeared as a couple of tiny, irregular blots. Apparently, no one has bothered with them since.
Sivan nebulae are large and exceedingly faint: this image spans over 5° of the constellation Monoceros; and total exposure time is 74 hours with narrowband filters. This area has been photographed before, but always with far less exposure time. Thus, they scarcely reveal these Sivan objects at all, not that anyone was looking for them. In fact, even the small, brighter Sharpless objects in this image barely appear in most other widefield images. If you find any that clearly show these Sivan nebulae, please let me know and I will update this page.
...Speaking of blots, in the cosmic Rorschach ink blot test that is interstellar space, to me this looks like a dog (or seal) sitting in a boat with a single sail. So, I call this the Seadog Nebula.
OTA: Takahashi FSQ-106 EDX4
GUIDER: Stellarvue F50
MOUNT: Software Bisque Paramount MyT
CAMERA: FLI ML-16070M
GUIDE CAMERA: ZWO ASI 174 Mini M
REDUCER: Takahashi 645 QE .72x f/3.6
SOFTWARE: SGP, PhD2, TheSkyX, Pixinsight, Starnet++, Photoshop
FILTERS: Astrodon LRGB
ACCESSORIES: Optec Gemini Focuser/Rotator
LOCATION: SRO
COPYRIGHT: 2021 JKLOVELACE
Data Acquisition from 2020-10-17 until 2021-01-13
DSO Color Mapping: SH-HO-O with RGB stars
Original Image (Pix) Scale: 4.00
For More Technical Information: www.astrobin.com/1dnvcy/0/
To see more of my work and to buy prints visit www.jklovelacephotography.com/pages/space
Montsec, 1200m, 14 de novembre de 2015.
Canon 400D sense filtre i refrigerada.
9 imatges 600s ISO800.
Darks, no flats.
Montsec, 1200m, November 14th, 2015.
Canon 400D without filter and cooled.
9 x 600s, ISO800.
Darks, no flats.
We can see:
Stars: Electra, Celaeno, Tayget, Merope, Sterope, Maia, Pleione, Atlas,
Nebulas: NGC1435 (Merope nebula) and NGC1432 (Maia nebula).
More information:
IC 1396 is a large, faintly bright, star-forming region that is about 100 light-years across and lies toward the constellation Cepheus at a distance of about 2,400 light-years from our Solar System. In this nebula, cometary globules and long columns of dense dark dust are abundant, potential sites for the generation of new stars. One of these columns is the popular Elephant Trunk Nebula, better known by its name in English Elephant Trunk Nebula, named by astronomers for its amazing resemblance to an elephant's trunk, is cataloged as IC 1396A and shown by contrast against the bluish cavity that fills the center of IC 1396. This dense column of star births is more than 20 light-years long and is eroded by ultraviolet radiation from the star HD 206267, which is part of the open star cluster cataloged as Collinder 439 and Trumpler 37, which is located in the center of the nebula.
Infrared observations, capable of passing through the dust, indicate that this dense column of dust contains more than 250 very young stars in and around this cloud, some of them are baby stars that are not older than 100,000 years, in addition to 2 stars young of two million years of age, residing in a circular cavity located in the head of the globule. This cavity may have been carved out by radiation and winds from stars in the process of being born. The combined action of the light from the massive star that ionizes and compresses the edge of the cloud, and the wind from the young stars that displaces gas from the center outward, leads to very high compression in the Elephant Trunk Nebula, this pressure has unleashed the current generation of protostars. The star mu Cephei, 38,000 times brighter than the Sun, is a red supergiant with a diameter greater than the orbit of Saturn, some 2,536 times the diameter of the Sun, making it one of the largest known stars. mu Cephei is a variable whose brightness oscillates between magnitudes 3.4 and 5.1 in periods that approximate 730 days.
View in High Resolution
AstroBin app.astrobin.com/i/p8yzmh
Technical Info:
Total Integration time 13.8 hours
Location: Whitewater, Colorado
HA 275 min, 55 x 300 sec
OIII 345 min, 69 x 300 sec
SII 210 min, 42 x 300 sec
Camera: QHY600M Back Illuminated Full Frame Color CMOS
Gain 26 Offset 76
Read Mode: Photographic 16 bit
Calibrated with Dark, Bias and Flat Frames
Optics: Takahashi E-180 F2.8 Astrograph
Filters by Chroma
Image Acquisition software Maxim DL6
Mount: Paramount ME
Image Scale:1.55 arcsec/pix
Pre Processed Pixinsight and Post Processed in Photoshop
Here’s the RGB version.
Sh2-115 from the Sharpless catalogue is a region of Emission Nebula located in the constellation Cygnus at a distance of 7500 light-years from Earth, 2 degrees northwest of Deneb. Also Of interest in this area is the Planetary Nebula Sh2-116, close to the famous North America Nebula NGC7000.
Captured in HA-RGB using a QHY600 60 Megapixel Full Frame Monochrome CMOS camera mounted on a Takahashi 130 FSQ
Captured bin 2x2 over 4 nights in October 2022 for a total acquisition time of 7.3 hours.
View in High Resolution
Astrobin app.astrobin.com/i/krk2b3
Captured and processed by: Terry Hancock of www.downunderobservatory.com
Dates of Capture October 13, 15, 17, 18 2022
HA 175 min, 35 x 300 sec
RED 88 min, 44 x 120 sec
GREEN 88 min, 44 x 120 sec
BLUE 88 min, 44 x 120 sec
Filters by Chroma
Camera: QHY600 Monochrome CMOS Photographic version
Gain 26, Offset 76 in Read Mode Photographic 16 bit, bin 2x2
Calibrated with Dark, Dark/Flat Frames
Optics: Takahashi FSQ 130 APO Refractor @ F5
Mount: Paramount ME
Image Scale:2.39 arcsec/pix
Image Acquisition software Maxim DL6, Pre Processing Pixinsight using BlurXterminator, StarXterminator and Post Processed in Photoshop
Getting new astro gear always summons the clouds, so it took about six weeks to actually get the 400mm pointed skywards. Had some doubts about using such a long focal length on an unguided star tracker, but even with a very approximate polar alignment I could still reliably get 45s exposures, and Orion is, as always, a merciful target.
1 stack of 50 45s images, Canon 800D at ISO 800, Canon 400mm f5.6 lens wide open, iOptron Skyguider Pro tracker. 100 darks, 350 biases. Processing details at www.astrobin.com/4hi5cx
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• Sky-Watcher Quattro 250P
• Sky-Watcher EQ8-R Pro
• ZWO ASI294MM-Pro
• Astronomik L: 27x300s bin1 gain 0
• Astronomik RGB: 30x300s bin2 gain 125
• ZWO Hα 7nm: 41x600s bin1 gain 200
• ZWO Hα 7nm: 13x300s bin1 gain 200
• ZWO OIII 7nm: 4x600s bin2 gain 200
• ZWO OIII 7nm: 36x300s bin2 gain 200
(total integration 16.3h)
• ZWO OAG & ASI290Mini guide cam
• TS GPU coma corrector
• ZWO EFW, ZWO EAF & Pegasus Astro Ultimate Powerbox 2
Trevinca, Valding, Spain
Bortle 3, SQM 21.8
processed with Pixinsight
The God Of Thunder
NGC 2359 otherwise known as Thor’s Helmet and Sharpless 2-298 in the constellation of Canis Major at a distance of 15,000 light years from earth and spanning 30 light years, The central star is the Wolf-Rayet star WR7, a very hot star thought to be in a pre-supernova stage of it's life.
Photographed using broadband filters in channels RGB together with narrowband filters H-Alpha mapped to the red channel and OIII mapped to the blue channel using the Sky-Watcher Esprit 150ED Triplet Super APO Refractor (which we have on loan for testing thanks to Sky-Watcher USA) together with the QHY163M Monochrome CMOS
This setup is available immediately for people wanting to subscribe to Grand Mesa Observatory's system 2B grandmesaobservatory.com/equipment
Total acquisition time 21.13 hours.
View in High Resolution
Astrobin : www.astrobin.com/naqfkx/
Technical Details
Captured and Processed by Kim Quick and Terry Hancock
Location: GrandMesaObservatory.com Purdy Mesa, Colorado
HA 280 mins 40 x 420
OIII 280 mins 40 x 420
RED min 192 mins 32x360
GREEN 258 min 43x360
BLUE 258 min 43x360
Filters by Optolong
Camera: QHY163 Monochrome CMOS
Calibrated with Dark, Dark Flat and Flat Frames
Optics: Sky-Watcher 150 Esprit (courtesy of Sky-Watcher USA)
Image Scale: 0.75 arcsec/pix
Field of View: 1.37 degrees
EQ Mount: Paramount MEII
Image Acquisition NINA, Pre Processing in Pixinsight Post Processed in Photoshop CC
Thor (from Old Norse: Þórr) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, and fertility. Besides Old Norse Þórr, the deity occurs in Old English as Þunor, in Old Frisian as Thuner, in Old Saxon as Thunar, and in Old High German as Donar, all ultimately stemming from the Proto-Germanic theonym *Þun(a)raz, meaning 'Thunder'.
An interesting part of the northern sky, in the constellation Cepheus, with clouds of dark dust, LDN 1235, making the easily recognisable Shark, two reflection nebulae (vdB 149 and vdB 150) and a couple of distant galaxies, one of them (PGC 67671) near the centre of the field is some 55 million light years distant. This has been captured over several nights in January 2024 as a side project to complete the night after my other targets in Orion have got too low.
Capture details and hires on Astrobin: astrob.in/qh8hus/0/
LRGB Version of B33 Horsehead Nebula with stars
Winter wouldn’t be complete without capturing an object within the glorious constellation of Orion, and fortunately we have a huge legacy archive at Grand Mesa Observatory and this time around I decided to process The Horsehead and Flame Nebula captured using our system 1 from broadband data (LRGB) collected in November 2020.
As I have done this so many times before I decided to process and present both a regular LRGB and starless versions which in my opinion provides a very surrealistic rendering of the nebulous regions full of detail that are otherwise hidden by the many visible stars.
As B33 has been selected as one of the GMO targets for January I am also hoping to add more data in narrowband soon “and when the snow clears”
Starless Version
Astrobin: www.astrobin.com/5k8k7b/
Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/terryhancock/52603009902/in/datepos...
This setup is available immediately for people wanting to subscribe to Grand Mesa Observatory's system 1 grandmesaobservatory.com/equipment-rentals
Total acquisition time 5.5 hours.
Technical Details
Captured and processed by: Terry Hancock
Location: GrandMesaObservatory.com Purdy Mesa, Colorado
LUM 86 min 43x120
RED 90 min 45x120
GREEN 80 min 40x120
BLUE 76 min 38x120
Filters by Chroma
Camera: QHY600 Monochrome CMOS Photographic version
Gain 60, Offset 76 in Read Mode Photographic 16 bit
Calibrated with Dark, Bias and Flat Frames
Optics: Walter Holloway's Takahashi FSQ 130 APO Refractor @ F5
Image Scale: 1.19 arcsec/pix
Field of View: 3d 7' 41.0" x 2d 3' 5.3 (127.3 x 190.1 arcmin)
EQ Mount: Paramount ME
Image Acquisition software Maxim DL6 Pre Processing in Pixinsight Post Processed in Photoshop CC
Less than one hundred light years from the Orion Nebula lies the aptly named Horsehead Nebula, another outcropping of the Orion Molecular Cloud and one of the most recognizable assemblies in the heavens. Whereas the Orion Nebula generates enough light to be visible to the unaided eye, the Horsehead has a far lower surface brightness and presents a challenge to visual observers even with large telescopes. But it’s a delight for astrophotographers and arm chair stargazers.
The Horsehead complex lies just south of the brilliant blue supergiant star Alnitak, the easternmost star in Orion’s Belt and just north of the Orion Nebula. The glowing reddish-pink region in the background is cataloged by astronomers as IC 434. Like the Orion Nebula, IC 434 is an emission nebula. It’s powered by the blazing-hot star Sigma Orionis, just south of Alnitak. Much of the nebula is permeated by tenuous streaks caused by magnetic fields in the region. This extract from The Armchair Astronomer by Brian Ventrudo and Terry Hancock
The book is available in multi-media format from Apple’s iBooks store, in high-resolution PDF format, and in standard e-book format from Amazon’s Kindle store. cosmicpursuits.com/astronomy-courses-and-e-books/armchair...
#IC434 #astro #astrophotographer #NASA #universetoday #APOD #deepspacephotography #photography #astrophoto #deepskyphotography #astrohobby #longexposure #photoshop #pixinsight #QHY600 #Space #Sky #deepspaceobject #deepsky #grandmesaobservatory #colorado #Milkyway #milkywaychasers #Astronomy #Astrophotography #Astroimaging #Universe #awesome #nightimages #Orion
forgot to upload this here. image of the day on astrobin 11/29/2013.
M31 frankenimage from oakland, ca (bortle red/white)
L(HaR)GB
Ha, Red, Green : STT-8300M + Canon 200mm f/2.8L @ f/2.8 + field stop to f/4 + lodestar/50mm finder guider
Lum, Blue: STT-8300M + TMB92SS + TRF-2008 0.8x reducer (400mm, f/4.4) + FW8G-STT OAG
mount: mach1GTO
L: 24x300s, 10x60s
Ha: 2x1200s, 9x300s, 49x600s
R: 54x300s
G: 53x300s
B: 31x300s
total: 23h15m
RGB Ha + OIII composition
7575:75x180"=R:G:BX180"
55x1200"= Ha x T
55x1200" OIII x T
T:Takahashi FSQ 106ED @f/5.0
M: Astrophysics Mach1 GTO
C: QSI 690 SW-g8
G: Lodestar X2
F: Astrodon RGB set E-type Gen 2 + Astronomik Ha and OIII 6nm
Foc: PrimaLuceLab Sesto Senso 2
CPU: Eagle-S Primalucelab
Sw: Sequence Generator Pro - PHD2 - Pixinsight 1.8.8-8
Also on Astrobin at: astrob.in/4ep1pa/0/
Another collaboration by Tom Masterson and Terry Hancock
Captured on the 21st July at Grand Mesa Observatory using System 4a with the QHY367 Pro C full frame One Shot Color CMOS and the Takahashi E-180 (available on our subscriptions)
As Comet NEOWISE pulls away from the sun it's now possible to see the green coma. The grey/yellow dust tail and blue ion tail are also easily seen in this image.
Here's a handy guide on how to spot Comet NEOWISE: www.nasa.gov/feature/how-to-see-comet-neowise
Total Integration time: 10 minutes
Image details
Location: GrandMesaObservatory.com Purdy Mesa, Colo.
38.963365, -108.237225
View in Astrobin High Resolution
Date of capture: July 21st 2020
Color RGGB 10 min, 10 x 60 sec
Camera: QHY367 Pro C Color CMOS
Gain 2850, Offset 76
Calibrated with Dark & Bias
Optics: Takahashi E-180 Astrograph
Image Acquisition software Maxim DL6
Pre Processed in Pixinsight and Deep Sky Stacker
Post Processed in Photoshop
Rho Ophiuchi
A 2 panel mosaic recorded with a Rokinon 135mm F2 and QSI583.
Panel 1 @F2.8:
L: 6x300s
RGB: (6, 6, 6)x300s
Panel 2 @F2.8:
L: 8x300s
RGB: (8, 8, 5)x300s
Copyright: R. Colombari
_______________________________
Explanation: Why is the sky near Antares and Rho Ophiuchi so colorful? The colors result from a mixture of objects and processes. Fine dust illuminated from the front by starlight produces blue reflection nebulae. Gaseous clouds whose atoms are excited by ultraviolet starlight produce reddish emission nebulae. Backlit dust clouds block starlight and so appear dark. Antares, a red supergiant and one of the brighter stars in the night sky, lights up the yellow-red clouds on the lower center of the featured image. Rho Ophiuchi lies at the center of the blue nebula on the left. The distant globular cluster M4 is visible to the upper right of center. These star clouds are even more colorful than humans can see, emitting light across the electromagnetic spectrum.
Source: APOD
The Cygnus Loop has been on my bucket list of deep sky objects to photograph. NGC 6960, aka the Western Veil Nebula, Witch's Broom Nebula, etc. contains so many interesting features that I created a mosaic to include just this feature of the Loop. Red hydrogen alpha and cyan oxygen 3 give a striking warm and cool contrast to the emission nebula.
The mosaic was created using 200 x 60s images stacked and stitched together using Pixinsight and Photoshop. More details of image processing can be viewed at my astrobin webpage:
What started off as a 3 panel mosaic covering The Great Nebula in Orion, The Horsehead, Barnards Loop and M78 soon became a much larger project including over 20 deep space objects and the majority of the Orion Molecular Cloud. The final mosaic image covers 13.5 x 6.8 degrees of our night's sky.
The detail captured in this image is best seen by looking at the 1.99 arcsecond per pixel full resolution 1.8 gigabyte mosaic which can be viewed in full resolution here: tinyurl.com/2mzfvybs
Or View on Astrobin: www.astrobin.com/1f5i46/
Dominating the night sky from December through March, the ancient constellation Orion is one of the most famous and most photographed star groups in the heavens. The ancient Greeks associated these stars with a mighty hunter adorned with a belt and sword, holding a westward facing shield in his left hand and an upraised club in his right. These stars were even included in the fictional world of J.R.R. Tolkien where they were called Menelva-gor, the “Swordsman of the Sky”
Captured over 14 nights from Grand Mesa Observatory. Total integration time of 33 hours.
Here are the details:
Captured and processed by Nicolas Rolland, Tom Masterson and Terry Hancock
Location: GrandMesaObservatory.com Purdy Mesa, Colorado www.grandmesaobservatory.com
Camera: QHY367 Pro C Full Frame One Shot Color CMOS
Optics: Takahashi E-180 Astrograph
Image Acquisition software Maxim DL6
Pre-Processed in Pixinsight, PTGui
Post Processed in Photoshop, Pixinsight, Registar
H2-174 the Valentine Rose, is a mysterious object and extremely faint at a magnitude of 14.7 located in the northern constellation Cepheus. It's also the most northerly entry in the Sharpless Catalogue at 81° North.
Imaged over several nights in August and September with my colour camera with Ha combined with the pure RGB totalling just over 18 hours.
High resolution and capture details on Astrobin: astrob.in/397bww/0/
The area surrounding Pleiades is rich in brown dust, which contrasts nicely with the bright blue colors of the Seven Sisters.
This is a crop from of an old image which I didn't finished back then because it had several issues like trailed stars and poor calibration. Currently I am working on a new version having different framing, and hopefully, better star shapes.
Technical Details:
179 x 60s frames taken under suburban skies on October 2017. Canon 550D at ISO 800, Samyang 135mm f/2. Tracked with a Star Adventurer Mini bundle. More details at AstroBin.
Another collaboration by Tom Masterson and Terry Hancock.
Captured on August 6th at Grand Mesa Observatory using System 4a with QHYCCD’s latest offering the QHY410C Back Illuminated Full Frame CMOS camera that we have the honor of testing. In this photogenic scene NEOWISE is, by our perspective on Earth passing by Globular Clusters M53 and NGC5053.
View in High Resolution
Astrobin www.astrobin.com/n3pucz/
Technical Info:
Total Integration time: 54 minutes
Location: www.grandmesaobservatory.com Purdy Mesa, Colorado.
Date of capture: August 6th 2020
Color RGGB 54 min, 27 x 120 sec
Camera: QHY410C Back Illuminated Full Frame Color CMOS
Gain 0, Offset 76
ReadMode: High Gain Mode
Calibrated with Dark, Bias and Flat Frames
Optics: Takahashi E-180 Astrograph
Image Acquisition software Maxim DL6
Pre Processed in Pixinsight and Deep Sky Stacker
Post Processed in Photoshop
A couple of weeks ago I posted an image of the Soul Nebula without stars as “work in progress” so here is the final result with the more natural star color made possible by inserting stars from the LRGB image into the starless image. In this Hubble Palette version (SHO) the H-Alpha is mapped to green, SII is mapped to red and OIII is mapped to the blue channel and while the colors in this image are not the true colors, the narrowband filters used in the making of this Hubble Palette image reveal much more of the hidden gasses not visible in a broadband image.
Captured over 5 nights in October and November 2020 for a total acquisition time of 23.4 hours.
7000 light-years distant in the constellation of Cassiopeia lies the emission nebula colloquially known as the Soul Nebula. The gasses (mostly hydrogen) that comprise the nebula are being ionized by the stars within the region and as a result, the gases glow, much like a neon sign.The pressures exerted upon the material by the stars nearby are causing the material to become compressed. When enough of the gas becomes highly compacted, it triggers the birth of new stars. In effect, this is a beautiful snapshot of a multimillion-year process of an enormous cloud of dust and gas transforming itself into new stars.
View in High Resolution
Astrobin www.astrobin.com/yt6gt4/
Technical Details
Captured and processed by: Terry Hancock
Location: GrandMesaObservatory.com Purdy Mesa, Colorado
Dates of Capture October 18, 19, 21, 22, November 11th 2020
LUM 46 min 23 x 120 sec
RED 46 min 23 x 120 sec
GREEN 44 min 22 x 120 sec
BLUE 40 min 20 x 120 sec
HA 560 min 56 x 600 sec
OIII 350 min 35 x 600 sec
SII 320 min 32 x 600 sec
Narrowband Filters by Chroma
Camera: QHY600 Monochrome CMOS Photographic version
Gain 60, Offset 76 in Read Mode Photographic 16 bit
Calibrated with Dark, Bias and Flat Frames
Optics: Walter Holloway's Takahashi FSQ 130 APO Refractor @ F5
Image Scale: 1.19 arcsec/pix
Field of View: 3d 7' 41.0" x 2d 3' 5.3 (127.3 x 190.1 arcmin)
EQ Mount: Paramount ME
Image Acquisition software Maxim DL6 Pre Processing in Pixinsight Post Processed in Photoshop CC
Last night 2/11/2023 Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF made a very close approach to Mars in our night sky passing about 1.3 degrees away from the red planet from our perspective here on Earth. In this image you can also see some dusty reflection nebula in the background which also makes this scene quite interesting.
You can find out more about Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF here on it’s wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2022_E3_(ZTF)
This data and setup is available immediately for people wanting to subscribe to Grand Mesa Observatory's system 1 grandmesaobservatory.com/equipment-rentals
Captured on 10th February for a total acquisition time of 24 minutes
High Resolution
Astrobin: www.astrobin.com/ezhh06/
Technical Details
Captured and processed by Tom Masterson and Terry Hancock
Location: GrandMesaObservatory.com Purdy Mesa, Colorado
Date of Capture February 10th 2023
12 x 120 second exposures
Camera: QHY367 Pro C
Gain 2850, Offset 76
Optics: Takahasi FSQ 130 APO Refractor @ F5
EQ Mount: Paramount ME
Image Acquisition software Maxim DL6 Pre Processing in Pixinsight Post Processed in Photoshop CC
The Tulip Nebula is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus. The image also shows the bow shock from the Cygnus X-1 blackhole (the central blue region glowing in Oxygen III emission).
Alternative versions and capture details on Astrobin: app.astrobin.com/i/uux69q
The Rosette Nebula captured recently in Narrowband using a QHY600 60 Megapixel Full Frame Monochrome CMOS camera mounted on the Takahashi 130 FSQ that we have the honor of testing for QHYCCD.
This setup is available immediately for people wanting to subscribe to Grand Mesa Observatory's system 1.
grandmesaobservatory.com/equipment-rentals.
In this Hubble Palette version (SHO) the H-Alpha is mapped to green channel, SII is mapped to red channel and OIII is mapped to the blue channel.
Captured bin 2x2 over 3 nights in March 2021 for a total acquisition time of only 4.75 hours.
View in High Resolution
Astrobin: www.astrobin.com/lnqzfq/
Technical Details
Captured and processed by: Terry Hancock
Location: GrandMesaObservatory.com Purdy Mesa, Colorado
Dates of Capture March 1st, 6th and 8th 2021
HA 90 min 18 x 300 sec
OIII 90 min 18 x 300 sec
SII 105 min 21 x 300 sec
Narrowband Filters by Chroma
Camera: QHY600 Monochrome CMOS Photographic version
Gain 60, Offset 76 in Read Mode Photographic 16 bit, bin 2x2
Calibrated with Dark, Bias and Flat Frames
Optics: Walter Holloway's Takahashi FSQ 130 APO Refractor @ F5
Mount: Paramount ME
Image Scale:2.39 arcsec/pix
Image Scale: 2x2 = 2.38 arcsec/pix
Field of View: 3d 7' 41.0" x 2d 3' 5.3 (127.3 x 190.1 arcmin)
Image Acquisition software Maxim DL6, Pre Processing and Starnet in Pixinsight Post Processed in Photoshop CC
The dim constellation Monoceros, just east of Orion, hosts yet another majestic star factory. The Rosette Nebula, a vast wreath of gas and dust with a cluster of new stars near its center, is not associated with the Orion Molecular cloud but lies further along the Orion Arm of the Milky Way.
The Rosette has an apparent size similar to the Orion Nebula. But at a distance of 5,000 light years, it’s three times farther than the Orion Nebula, which means it’s intrinsically three times larger, spanning a diameter of about 115 light years.
This extract from The Armchair Astronomer by Brian Ventrudo and Terry Hancock
The book is available in multi-media format from Apple’s iBook’s store, in high-resolution PDF format, and in standard e-book format from Amazon’s Kindle store.
cosmicpursuits.com/astronomy-courses-and-e-books/armchair...
Otherwise known as OU4 and Sh2-129 in the constellation Cepheus lying at a distance of approximately 2300 light years. Both emission Nebulae, the Flying Bat mainly composed mainly of Hydrogen emission and the Squid’s emission composed of double ionized oxygen. An extremely faint object The Squid Nebula was discovered in 2011 by French Astro-imager Nicolas Outters
Captured recently in Narrowband (H-Alpha and OIII) and Broadband using a QHY600 60 Megapixel Full Frame Monochrome CMOS camera mounted on a Takahashi 130 FSQ, courtesy of QHYCCD.
This setup is available immediately for people wanting to subscribe to Grand Mesa Observatory's system 1.
grandmesaobservatory.com/equipment-rentals.
In this Bi Color version (HOO) the H-Alpha is mapped to the red channel and OIII is mapped to the green and blue channel. The raw data was preprocessed using Pixinsight, the stars were then removed using a tool in Photoshop called "StarXTerminator and the stars were later replaced with the more naturally colored stars from the RGB data.
Taken bin 2x2 over 17 nights between September and October 2021 for a total acquisition time of 51 hours.
View in High Resolution
Astrobin: www.astrobin.com/g8zawj/
Technical Details
Captured and processed by: Terry Hancock
Location: GrandMesaObservatory.com Purdy Mesa, Colorado
HA 1330 min, 266 x 300 sec
OIII 1430 min, 286 x 300 sec
LUM 88 min, 44 x 120 sec
RED 86 min, 43 x 120 sec
GREEN 78 min, 39 x 120 sec
BLUE 58 min, 29 x 120 sec
Narrowband Filters by Chroma
Camera: QHY600 Monochrome CMOS Photographic version
Gain 26, Offset 76 in Read Mode Photographic 16 bit, bin 2x2
Calibrated with Dark, Dark/Flat Frames
Optics: Walter Holloway's Takahashi FSQ 130 APO Refractor @ F5
Mount: Paramount ME
Image Scale:2.39 arcsec/pix
Image Acquisition software Maxim DL6, Pre Processing in Pixinsight Post Processed in Photoshop CC
Winter wouldn’t be complete without capturing an object within the glorious constellation of Orion, and fortunately we have a huge legacy archive at Grand Mesa Observatory and this time around I decided to process The Horsehead and Flame Nebula captured using our system 1 from broadband data (LRGB) collected in November 2020.
I decided to process and present a starless version (using Russell Croman’s Photoshop version of StarXterminator) which in my opinion provides a very surrealistic rendering of the nebulous regions full of detail that are otherwise hidden by the many visible stars.
This setup is available immediately for people wanting to subscribe to Grand Mesa Observatory's system 1 grandmesaobservatory.com/equipment-rentals
Total acquisition time 5.5 hours.
View in High Resolution:
Astrobin: www.astrobin.com/5k8k7b/
Technical Details
Captured and processed by: Terry Hancock
Location: GrandMesaObservatory.com Purdy Mesa, Colorado
LUM 86 min 43x120
RED 90 min 45x120
GREEN 80 min 40x120
BLUE 76 min 38x120
Filters by Chroma
Camera: QHY600 Monochrome CMOS Photographic version
Gain 60, Offset 76 in Read Mode Photographic 16 bit
Calibrated with Dark, Bias and Flat Frames
Optics: Walter Holloway's Takahashi FSQ 130 APO Refractor @ F5
Image Scale: 1.19 arcsec/pix
Field of View: 3d 7' 41.0" x 2d 3' 5.3 (127.3 x 190.1 arcmin)
EQ Mount: Paramount ME
Image Acquisition software Maxim DL6 Pre Processing in Pixinsight Post Processed in Photoshop CC
Less than one hundred light years from the Orion Nebula lies the aptly named Horsehead Nebula, another outcropping of the Orion Molecular Cloud and one of the most recognizable assemblies in the heavens. Whereas the Orion Nebula generates enough light to be visible to the unaided eye, the Horsehead has a far lower surface brightness and presents a challenge to visual observers even with large telescopes. But it’s a delight for astrophotographers and arm chair stargazers.
The Horsehead complex lies just south of the brilliant blue supergiant star Alnitak, the easternmost star in Orion’s Belt and just north of the Orion Nebula. The glowing reddish-pink region in the background is cataloged by astronomers as IC 434. Like the Orion Nebula, IC 434 is an emission nebula. It’s powered by the blazing-hot star Sigma Orionis, just south of Alnitak. Much of the nebula is permeated by tenuous streaks caused by magnetic fields in the region. This extract from The Armchair Astronomer by Brian Ventrudo and Terry Hancock
The book is available in multi-media format from Apple’s iBooks store, in high-resolution PDF format, and in standard e-book format from Amazon’s Kindle store. cosmicpursuits.com/astronomy-courses-and-e-books/armchair...
The California Nebula Captured recently in color (LRGB) using the new QHY600 60 Megapixel Full Frame Monochrome CMOS camera mounted on the Takahashi 130 FSQ that we have the honor of testing for QHYCCD.
This time around mainly due to a lack of clear nights lately I decided to capture the LRGB binned 2x2 for 2 minute exposures so I can capture the data quickly, H-Alpha data that I had captured previously at 1x1 binning was then added to the red channel and as a luminance layer during post processing in photoshop.
I was more than pleased with the results as I found with the 2x2 binning and 4788x3194 pixels there was no if any loss of resolution or detail when using on the TAK. Binning at 2x2 increases the pixel size to 7.5um pixels and full well capacity is increased to 196ke.
LRGB and H-Alpha Captured over 4 nights in January, February and March 2021 for a total acquisition time of 8.1 hours.
This setup is available immediately for people wanting to subscribe to Grand Mesa Observatory's system 1.
grandmesaobservatory.com/equipment-rentals
View in High Resolution on Astrobin:
Technical Details
Captured and processed by: Terry Hancock
Location: GrandMesaObservatory.com Purdy Mesa, Colorado
Dates of Capture January 16th, 31st, February 28th, March 1st2021
LRGB 280 min 35 x 120 sec (each channel)
HA 210 min 21 x 600 sec
Filters by Chroma
Camera: QHY600 Monochrome CMOS Photographic version
Gain 60, Offset 76 in Read Mode Photographic 16 bit (same for 2x2)
Calibrated with Dark, Bias and Flat Frames
Optics: Walter Holloway's Takahashi FSQ 130 APO Refractor @ F5
Image Scale: 1x1 = 1.19 arcsec/pix
Image Scale: 2x2 = 2.38 arcsec/pix
Field of View: 3d 7' 41.0" x 2d 3' 5.3 (127.3 x 190.1 arcmin)
EQ Mount: Paramount ME
Image Acquisition software Maxim DL6, Pre Processing and Starnet in Pixinsight Post Processed in Photoshop CC
The Horsehead and Flame Nebulae region in the constellation Orion. The horse head shape is silhouetted against a backdrop of illuminated hydrogen gas.
Mosaico da 121 megapixel , realizzato unendo 23 scatti fatti con una Canon 700d e un obiettivo Samyang 24 f2.0 Full res qui : www.astrobin.com/full/i66bxa/0/?nc=gianluc1&real=&...
Resembling the shape of a medieval Sorcerer in the constellation Cepheus the open cluster NGC 7380 and the surrounding Nebula known as “The Wizard Nebula” otherwise known as Sh2-142 lies at a distance of approximately 8500 light years and spans 20 light years.
Captured recently using the new QHY600 60 Megapixel Full Frame Monochrome CMOS camera mounted on the Takahashi 130 FSQ that we have the honor of testing for QHYCCD.
This new setup is available immediately for people wanting to subscribe to Grand Mesa Observatory's system 1. grandmesaobservatory.com/equipment
In this Hubble Palette version (SHO) the H-Alpha is mapped to green, SII is mapped to red and OIII is mapped to the blue channel. while the colors in this image are not the true colors, the narrowband filters used in the making of this Hubble Palette image reveal much more of the hidden gasses not visible in a broadband image, I used Starnet in Pixinsight to make the image Starless and then added the more natural star color by inserting stars from the RGB image. Captured over 4 nights in October 2020 for a total acquisition time of 11.6 hours.
View in High Resolution
Astrobin: www.astrobin.com/owlueu/
Technical Details
Captured and processed by: Terry Hancock
Location: GrandMesaObservatory.com Purdy Mesa, Colorado
Dates of Capture October, 14th, 19th, 20th, 21st 2020
RED 65 min 13 x 300 sec
GREEN 60 min 12 x 300 sec
BLUE 40 min 8 x 300 sec
HA 170 min 17 x 600 sec
OIII 170 min 17 x 600 sec
SII 190 min 19 x 600 sec
Narrowband Filters by Chroma
Camera: QHY600 Monochrome CMOS Photographic version
Gain 60, Offset 76 in Read Mode Photographic 16 bit
Calibrated with Dark, Bias and Flat Frames
Optics: Walter Holloway's Takahashi FSQ 130 APO Refractor @ F5
Image Scale: 1.19 arcsec/pix
Field of View: 3d 7' 41.0" x 2d 3' 5.3 (127.3 x 190.1 arcmin)
EQ Mount: Paramount ME
Image Acquisition software Maxim DL6 Pre Processing and Starnet in Pixinsight Post Processed in Photoshop CC
Comet C/2017 T2 makes quite the photo op as it passes by Galaxies Messier M81 and M82 in the night sky this past Sunday night, May 24, 2020, in this image taken at Grand Mesa Observatory, www.grandmesaobservatory.com. Captured and processed by Terry Hancock and Tom Masterson.
Discovered on Oct. 2, 2017 by the PanSTARRS sky survey, this comet has put on quite the show this year. Here it's seen passing about one and a half degrees away from Bode's Galaxy (M81) and the Cigar Galaxy (M82). At about 12 million light-years distant, these galaxies would take a bit longer to get to than the 13.79 light-minutes it would take you to get from Earth to C/2017 T2. Next month around June 16, C/2017 T2 will make another close rendezvous in our night sky with another Galaxy, M109, coming within a degree of it. Then, on June 23, it'll be less than one degree from Galaxy M106. It is now visible in small telescopes or decent binoculars, a nice treat to those with dark and clear skies in the Northern Hemisphere!
View in High Resolution on Astrobin
www.astrobin.com/9qmfdd/0/?nc=user
Technical Info:
Captured from Grand Mesa Observatory in Western Colorado on the May 24 2020 using the QHY367 Pro C Full Frame One Shot color CMOS camera on one of the Twin Takahashi E-180 Astrographs “System 4a”
Total Integration time: 2.1 hours
Image details
Location: GrandMesaObservatory.com Purdy Mesa, Colo.
38.963365, -108.237225
Dates of capture: May 24, 10:49pm - May 25, 1:02am
Color RGGB 125 min, 25 x 300 sec
Camera: QHY367 Pro C Color CMOS
Gain 2850, Offset 76
Calibrated with flat, Dark & Bias
Optics: Takahashi E-180 Astrograph
Image Acquisition software Maxim DL6
Pre Processed in Pixinsight and Deep Sky Stacker
Post Processed in Photoshop CC
I turned my scope to this when I researched Astrobin and found only 1 image taken with an Esprit 120mm, like mine. Now there will be 2! Adam Block calls it Galileo's finger...and I see the resemblance...I saw the finger while in Florence a couple years ago!...but this looks like a sperm head to me. It's all like naming cloud patterns anyway.
Esprit 120, QHY268M, Optolong HLRGB. total integration 28hr 45m. Starfront Obs