View allAll Photos Tagged deepspace
Distance from Earth: 5219 light years
30*2min ( ~1h not enough but the cloud incoming ! )
DOF (20/20/20)
200/1000 PDS on HEQ5 Pro Mount
Altair GPcam on 80/400 for guiding
Canon 1200d Astrodon inside
Operations image of the week:
On 10 August 2016, ESA’s tracking station at New Norcia, Western Australia, hosting a 35 m-diameter, 630-tonne deep-space antenna, received signals transmitted by NASA’s Cassini orbiter at Saturn, through 1.44 billion km of space.
“This was the farthest-ever reception for an ESA station, and the radio signals – travelling at the speed of light – took 80 minutes to cover this vast distance,” says Daniel Firre, responsible for supporting Cassini radio science at ESOC, ESA’s operations centre in Darmstadt, Germany.
The signal reception was part of a series of tests to prepare several ESA stations to support Cassini’s radio science investigations, planned to begin later in 2016.
This image shows New Norcia station as seen in 2014 by Dylan O’Donnell, an amateur photographer based in Byron Bay, Australia (the blob of light apparently hovering above the antenna is a light artefact, ‘lens flare’).
Credit: ESA/D. O'Donnell
IC 1396 is an open cluster with a diffuse and emission nebula as well as dark dust clouds, the winds of these nebulae forms the IC 1396 complex. The “Elephant Trunk” itself (IC1396A) is about 20 light years and the whole area covers hundreds of light years. IC 1396 is approximately 2,400 to 3,000 light years distant residing in the constellation of Cepheus (The King).
Image Profile:
Lee, IL
Type: HaLRGB
Frames: Ha 12x300 1x1; Lum 18x180 1x1; RGB 18x120 2x2 each
Imaging Date: 20140802
Hardware:
-Main scope: AT8RC with 0.8 reducer/flattener
-Guiding Scope: Orion 80mm Short Tube
-CCD: QHY9M with filter wheel with LRGB Ha
-Orion Atlas Mount
Imaging Applications:
-Acquiring: Nebulosity Ver. 3.0.2
-Guiding: PHD Ver. 1.11.3
Processing Applications:
-CCD Stack
-Photoshop cs3
Comments: Fair night with decent transparency until 3:00am, low winds and dew. Low temp 67 F.
IC1396 - Elephant's Trunk Nebula
The Elephant's Trunk Nebula is a concentration of interstellar gas and dust located in the constellation Cepheus about 2,400 light years away from Earth. This nebula is now thought to be a site of star formation, containing several very young (less than 100,000 yr).
Equipment & Image Details:
Orion ED80 scope, Celestron AVX mount, ZWOASI1600MM Pro camera. Narrowband subs: 9*360 sec Ha filter, 9*360 sec OIII filter, 8*360 sec SII filter.
Processed with PixInsight and Photoshop.
Unfortunately the animation of the .GIF in Flickr can only work if viewed in the All Sizes page and click on the "Original". Here is a link and this should work :)
www.flickr.com/photos/terryhancock/49386432311/sizes/o/
I wanted to illustrate to you the differences between the more natural colors seen in the HaLRGB image as opposed to the incredible detail seen in the narrowband Hubble Palette image by providing you with an animated .GIF of the 2 images
Original images used for the animation can be viewed here
HaLRGB image www.flickr.com/photos/terryhancock/49381291587/in/photost...
Hubble Palette www.flickr.com/photos/terryhancock/49386215066/in/datepos...
For some scary summer fun, and with a nod to it being Shark Week on Discovery Network, I shot the Shark Nebula (LDN 1235) in Cepheus. It was first light with my new ASI2600MC Pro cooled astro camera, used with an Orion ED80T (f/6) carbon fiber triplet refractor right from my back yard in Bend, OR. I did not use any filters for this image. The image consists of 123 exposures of 5 minutes each, for a total of 10.25 hrs of integration (this thing is faint)! Light frames and calibration frames were stacked in Deep Sky Stacker, and the combined image was processed using Photoshop and Topaz Denoise AI, and a few of Annie's Actions. This is a first swipe at processing Celestial Jaws. He needs work, but I'll save that for another day.
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• Sky-Watcher BK P2001 with TS Optics 2" Dual Speed Focuser
• EQ6-R Pro
• ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
• Baader Hα 7nm: 16x600s
• Baader OIII 8.5nm: 16x600s
(total integration 5.3h)
• -20° sensor temp., Gain 139 (UG)
• Baader MPCC Mark III coma corrector
• 60x240 guide scope, ZWO ASI290Mini guide cam
Captured with ZWO EFW, ZWO EAF, ZWO ASIAIR, Pegasus Astro Powerbox
Saint Petersburg, Russia. Red light pollution zone, balcony
IC1396, top image 40 minutes of exposure with Canon T6i and 85mm lens. Bottom image, 40 minutes of exposure with modified Canon 60D and William Optics RedCat 51mm. Images processed with Photoshop.
This is an open star cluster in the constellation Scorpius. It was first recorded in 130AD by the Greek Astronomer Ptolemy and is the southern most Messier object.
Takahashi TAO-150B
FLI 16200 (scale 1.1")
AP 1600GTO Abs Encoders
Data from Deepskywest El Sauce Observatory (Rio Hurtado, Chile)
R (22x5min)
G (17x5min)
B (20x5min)
L (29x5min)
Total Integration = 7.3hrs
Pixinsight:
Bias/Dark/Flat/CC
LocalNorm/Drizzle/Resample 50%
ChannelCombination RGB
PCC
Lum / Deconvolution
Delinearize
ChannelCombination Lum on RGB
Photoshop:
Minimum Filter (star reduction)
Curves/Saturation
Le condizioni meteo, nel periodo autunno-inverno non sono favorevoli per l'astrofotografia, soprattutto quando si è costretti ad acquisire tante ore di integrazione.
Mi ero dedicato alla "Nebulosa Mago"
(Sh2-142) associata all'ammasso aperto "NGC7380", ma non ho avuto la possibilità di acquisire le tante ore necessarie quando si utilizzano filtri a banda stretta.
Questa volta però ho pensato di unire insieme anche l'acquisizione fatta il mese precedente con un altro telescopio (Scopos TL805). Forse non ho aggiunto dettagli ma un pò di SNR l'ho guadagnato, ottenendo un'immagine gradevole e recuperando un discreto segnale debole Ha.
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The weather conditions in the autumn-winter period are not favourable for astrophotography, especially when you are forced to acquire many hours of integration.
I had dedicated myself to "Wizard Nebula"
(Sh2-142) associated with the open cluster "NGC7380", but I did not have the opportunity to acquire the many hours necessary when using narrow-band filters.
This time, however, I thought of combining the acquisition made the previous month with another telescope (Scopos TL805). Maybe I did not add details but I gained a bit of SNR, obtaining a pleasant image and recovering a fairly weak signal Ha.
______________
Optics: APO Refractor Askar 103APO + 0.6X and Scopos TL805+0.8X
Camera: ZWO ASI533MC-Pro
Mount: Sky Watcher HEQ5 Synscan
Seeing: 4 (scala Antoniadi)
Filter: Narrowband Optolong L-eNhance 2"
-85x300s 121gain /26 dark /21 flat / 18 darkflat /100 bias (with Scopos TL805+0.8X)
-69x300s 121gain /26 dark /21 flat / 18 darkflat /100 bias (with Askar 103APO)
t° sensor: -10°C
Date: 29/10/2024, 03+16/11/2024, 10+16/12/2024
Integration: 12h 50min
Temperature: 6°C (media)
location for : Biancavilla -Catania-(Italy) 515m slm
Acquisition: NINA, PHDGuiding
Processing: DSS, SIRIL, PS, GraXpert.
* Setup:
Telescope: Refractor Orion ED80
Focal Length: 600mm
Camera: ZWO ASI178MC-C
Mount: HEQ5
Exposure: 3.5 hours (subs 180s) bin1x1
Andromeda is the closest spiral galaxy to our galaxy, the Milky Way. It is approaching us and will collide with the Milky Way in about 2 billion years.
Takahashi FSQ-106ED with Focal Reducer (f/3.6)
FLI PL16803
L: 27x10m
R: 31x10m
G: 29x10m
B: 25x10m
Total Integration = 18.7h
Pixinsight
RGB: CC / LN / Drizzle / MMT / DBE / RGB Combo / ArcSin / StarXterminator to Rescreen non-ArcSin Stars
L: CC / LN / Drizzle / MMT / DC / HT / HDR / CT / LRGB
Photoshop
ColorEfex DetailExtractor / Curves / Sponge / Dodge / Vibrance
Data from Telescope.Live
The dark nebula Barnard 37 on the left side of the image is flanked by an entourage of reflection nebulae, most notably IC 447 at lower right which connects to a smaller reflection nebula IC 446 via another trail of dust, LDN 1607.
The pair of reflection nebulae at lower left are NGC 2245 and 2247.
IC447 is approximately 1 light year in largest dimension.
This region is located in the constellation Monoceros which borders Gemini and Orion during the winter months in the Northern Hemisphere.
Capture info:
Location: SkyPi Remote Observatory, Pie Town NM US
Telescope: Orion Optics UK AG14 (F3.8)
Camera: QHY 268M
Mount: 10 Micron GM3000
Data: LRGB 6,6,6,5 hours approximately.
Processing: Pixinsight
NGC 1499 a.k.a. California Nebula
...........................................................
Discovered in 1884, NGC1499 is a hydrogen emission nebula which can be found at about 1500 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Perseus, on the Orion arm of the Milky Way. Stretching over a length of 80-100 light years, the California nebula received this name under which it is best known for its shape that more or less resembles the American state of California. The California Nebula is an extremely popular target in terms of astrophotography, images with this target being easy to take with relatively simple equipment. Being an emission nebula, the use of a narrowband filter is highly recommended for better results.
Equipment and settings:
Mount: Skywatcher EQ6R
Telescope: Skywatcher 72ED Evostar
Camera: ASI 533MM Pro
Filters: SHO Astrodon 5nm
Integration: 13h15’
Edit in Pixinsight.
Location: my Bortle 6+ backyard
False color narrow band image of the Rosette Nebula in Monoceros (The Unicorn). This nebula has nice strong emission lines in hydrogen-alpha, doubly ionized oxygen and sulpher. I took this image in my backyard in December, 2013.
Details: NP127is at f4.1; Atik 383L+ at -18 deg C; Orion EQ-G mount;TS OAG; Astrodon 3nm filters: Ha;SII;OIII.
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• Sky-Watcher Quattro 250P
• Sky-Watcher EQ8-R Pro
• ZWO ASI294MM-Pro
• Astronomik L: 24x300s bin1 gain 0
• Astronomik RGB: 47x300s bin2 gain 125
(total integration 5.9h)
• 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
Sh2-155 was first noted as a galactic emission nebula in 1959 in the extended second edition of the Sharpless catalogue.
The name "Cave Nebula" was coined for this object by Patrick Moore, presumably derived from photographic images showing a curved arc of emission nebulosity corresponding to a cave mouth.
Sh2-155 is a diffuse nebula in the constellation Cepheus, approximately 2,400 light-years away from Earth.
Image captured over 4 nights; 2021-10-01 to 2021-10-07.
17 hours and 20 min total integration
Ha subs 24 * 1,200sec = 8 hours
OIII subs 13 * 1,200sec = 4 hours 20 minutes
SII subs 15 * 1,200sec = 5 hours
Imaging Equipment:
SharpStar 140PH Triplet 910mm focal length
Mesu 200 MKII,
ZWOASI2600MM Pro camera
3nm Ha, OIII & SII filters
SH2-132, known as The Lion Nebula, is a rich Hydrogen Alpha, Oiii region with star clusters, emission nebulae, and dark dust regions. Located in the southern portion of the constellation Cepheus, it is roughly 10,00 light-years away.
I spent the last three nights imaging the Lion Nebula and another target (in between clouds) using the Plan mode in ASIAir. I used the William Optics FLT132 with the FLAT8 reducer (0.7x) and it just about cover most of the nebula.
I used the ZWO ASI2600MC Pro with the Antlia ALP-T 5nm dual band filter. I think I managed to get more detail than I did before with the FLT91, so I'm happy with this image. Unfortunately the weather forecast is now cloudy for the next week+, so I've decided to process what I have (over 11 hours) and publish it.
Processed with PixInsight and Affinity Photo 2.
See SHO without stars here: flic.kr/p/2q7qVN1
More acquisition details and other versions in Astrobin: astrob.in/1sqlxz/0/
Thanks for looking!!
Clear Skies
Eduardo
Three of the most beautiful objects in the sky framed into a single photo. Alnitak is one of the three stars that make up the belt of Orion. Hiding near her are two very nice emission nebulae breaking out of the surrounding dust and gases.
Takahashi TAO-150B
FLI 16200 (scale 1.1")
AP 1600GTO Abs Encoders
Data from Deepskywest El Sauce Observatory (Rio Hurtado, Chile)
Ha (14x15min)
L (21x5min)
R (24x5min)
G (19x5min)
B (17x5min)
Total Integration = 10.3hrs
Pixinsight:
Bias/Dark/Flat/CC
LocalNorm/Drizzle/Resample
ChannelCombination RGB
PCC
H combined with L in PS using masks
ChannelCombination HL on RGB
Photoshop:
ColorEfex Detail Extractor
Local adjustments with Burn/Dodge/Sponge tools
English below
Nuova elaborazione di LDN673 pubblicata qualche giorno fa.
Somma di pose guidate da 10 minuti per un'integrazione di 21 ore e 30 minuti. Telescopio newton 150/600 con correttore Tecnosky 0.95x, camera Tecnosky Vision 571C, montatura Eq6-R Pro, elaborazione Pixinsight.
New processing by LDN673 published a few days ago.
Sum of 10-minute guided exposures for an integration time of 21 hours and 30 minutes. 150/600 Newtonian telescope with Tecnosky 0.95x corrector, Tecnosky Vision 571C camera, EQ6-R Pro mount, Pixinsight processing.
The last image from my Esprit 100 telescope - Barnard 22 in Taurus. A cool space blob, if you will. Part of the larger Taurus Molecular Cloud, this irregular object also houses some reflection nebula: IC 2087 (the jet in its center), Bernes 1977, and GN 04.39.1. There are also a few small galaxies in the lower left quadrant of the image.
- Location: Remote Observatory (Bortle 1, SQM 21.99) near Fort Davis, TX
- Total Exposure Time: 36 Hours
Equipment:
- Scope: Esprit 100ED w/ 1x Flattener
- Imaging Camera: QHY 268M
- Filters: Chroma LRGB (36mm)
- Mount: Astro Physics Mach1GTO
- Guidescope: SVBony 50mm Guidescope
- Guide camera: ASI 120mm mini
- Focuser: Moonlite Nitecrawler WR35
- Accessories: Pegasus Ultimate Powerbox v2, QHY Polemaster, Optec Alnitak Flip Flat
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Software:
- N.I.N.A for image acquisition, platesolving, and framing
- PHD2 for guiding
- PixInsight for processing
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Acquisition:
- L: 372 x 3m
- R: 120 x 3m
- G: 118 x 3m
- B: 117 x 3m
- All images at Gain 56, Offset 25 (Readout mode 1) and -5C sensor temperature
- 20 flats per filter
- Master Dark, Flat & Bias from Library
- Nights: 12/19, 12/20, 12/23-12/25, 12/27/22
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Processing:
- WeightedBatchPreProcessing for calibration
- StarAlignment and ImageIntegration for stacking
RGB Processing (apply to each master):
- DynamicCrop
- MureDenoise
- DynamicBackgroundExtraction
- StarAlign G and B to R
- ChannelCombination to combine into linear color image
- DynamicBackgroundExtraction
- SpectrophotometricColorCalibration
- BackgroundNeutralization
- StarAlign to Luminance
- Duplicate and StarXterminator to save RGB stars and create starless
- HistogramTransformation x3 for stretch
- NoiseXterminator x2 at full and 3/4 strength with stretched luminance mask for noise reduction
Luminance Processing:
- DynamicCrop
- MureDenoise
- DynamicBackgroundExtraction
- HistogramTransformation for stretch
- NoiseXterminator x2 with same luminance mask as before for noise reduction
- HistogramTransformation for slight stretch
- LocalHistogramEqualization for slight detail push
- Slight UnsharpMask for sharpening
Combine Luminance and RGB:
- LRGBCombination to add luminance to RGB
- MultiscaleMedianTransform for chrominance noise reduction
Further Processing:
- CurvesTransformation for saturation boost
- Slight SCNR green
- HistogramTransformation x3 to stretch RGB stars
- Invert -> SCNR green -> invert to remove green from rgb stars
- HistogramTransformation to stretch luminance stars to approximately the same as RGB stars
- LRGBCombination to combine luminance and RGB stars
- PixelMath to combine stars and starless nebula image
- ColorSaturation to saturate brown
- ACDNR for chrominance NR
- Various CurvesTransformations and ColorSaturation for color balance
- DynamicCrop to remove edges
- Save and export
The North America Nebula (NGC 7000 or Caldwell 20) is a Hydrogen II emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus. The shape of the nebula resembles that of the continent of North America, complete with a prominent Gulf of Mexico. (upper right portion of image)
The Pelican Nebula (also known as IC 5070 and IC 5067) is a Hydrogen II emission region associated with the North America Nebula. The gaseous contortions of this emission nebula bear a resemblance to a pelican, giving rise to its name. (center of image below North America Nebula)
Image captured from Bortle 1 skies in Grasslands National Park, SK
2020-08-22
RGB subs = 28*180 seconds (1 hour 24 min)
Ha = 22* 300 seconds (1 hour 50min)
ZWOASI071MC Pro camera
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM @ 135mm
AZ-GTi Mount
C11 EdgeHD in HyperStar mode
f/2 Baader H-alpha, OIII; total exposure: 4,8 h
Sony a7s (a)
Spicheren, France
#DeepSky #DeepSpace #California #Nebula #NGC1499 #Hyperstar
● Target data:
► M1 | NGC1952
► Stellar coordinates:
-Ra: 05h 34m 31.94s
-DEC: +22° 00′ 52.2″
► Distance: 6500±1600 ly
► Constellation: Taurus
● Gear:
► Telescope: SW 200/1000 F5
► Mount: IOptron CEM60-ec
► Camera: Canon EOS 700d astrodon
► Autoguiding: guidescope 50mm microspeed + ZWO asi
120mm
► Other optic(s): Baader mpcc mk3 coma corrector
► Filter(s): Astronomik CLS CCD eos clip
● Softwares:
► Preprocessing: PixInsight
► Autoguiding: PHD guiding 2
► Processing: PixInsight
● Data acquisition:
► 45 X 200 sec, total 2H30
► ISO 800
► Date: 12/02/2021
New setup at the observatory with the Astro-Physics Mach1 GTO and the Altair Astro 250 RC10 truss.
Mach1 seems overloaded and needs a replacement for this fixed location. Anyway, the performance is quite amazing.
Look at astro.carballada.com/galaxies-season-is-coming/
Another topic to considere is that with the ASI1600 working at 0.5 arc/px I am wondering if a 16200 sensor could solve the problem :D
Also designated Sharpless 171, this is a young irregular emission nebula and star forming region of about 40 light-years across, located some 3,300 light-years away at the edge of a giant molecular cloud toward the northern constellation Cepheus.
Cosmic pillars of cold molecular gas and clouds of dark dust lie within. Powering the nebular glow are the young, hot stars of the Berkeley 59 cluster. This includes one of the hottest stars discovered in the vicinity of our Sun, namely BD+66 1673, an eclipsing binary system containing a very bright star with a luminosity ~100000 times that of the Sun.
Its been a while since my last astro image due to short summer nights, the mainly bad weather since then and work and other commitments, but good to get posting again.
The data for this image was gathered a few months back over 6 separate nights during June through August 2012, just took a while to get to the processing!
Tech details below:
Skywatcher MN190 (@F5.3)
Mount - EQ6
Starlight Xpress SXVR-H18 @ -20 degs
QHY5 PHD guiding, guidesope Celestron ED80
Ha - Baader 7nm
- 20x15min bin1x1
S2 - Baader 8nm
- 16x15min bin2x2
O3 - Baader 8nm
- 16x15min bin2x2
Total time 13h
HST mapping: Red - SII, Green - Ha, Blue - OIII
Captured in Nebulosity 2
Calibration, stack and DDP in Images Plus
Curves + all other processing PS CS3
Details & MakingOf: angeknipst.tiesing.de/2018/theres-something-out-there/
Source image: Chris Mock / www.flickr.com/photos/chris_mock/
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Omega Centauri (ω Cen or NGC 5139) is a globular cluster in the constellation of Centaurus. Remotely captured from Carnegie Institution's LCO.
Sharpless 2-132, the Lion Nebula, is a dim emission nebula on the border of Cepheus and Lacerta. Imaged in narrowband from SRO in California:
Scope: FSQ-106ED
Mount: Paramount ME
Camera: QSI683
Filters: Astrodon 5nm Ha, OII, SII
Guiding: QSI OAG + Lodestar
Image scale: 2.094 arcsec/pixel
Exposures: 27x1800s Ha, 12x1800s OIII, 19x1800s SII (17 hrs)
Processing: PixInsight 1.8
Space Rift
Interplanetary Travel
Youtube: "4K" Road Trip in Tunisia - Visiting Tunisia "2019"
Camera: Canon EOS Kiss X7i
Photograph by Yusuf Alioglu
Location: Outer space (space)
This is a reprocess of my latest wide field process of the Rosette Nebula otherwise known as Caldwell 49 using legacy data from Grand Mesa Observatory’s system 1a the William Optics Redcat together with a QHY16200A Monochrome CCD camera with Optolong Narrowband Filters. In this Hubble Palette version 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. In this new version I used the naturally colored stars from the LRGB data
Captured over 4 nights in November 2019 for a total acquisition time of 17.8 hours.
View in High Resolution www.flickr.com/photos/terryhancock/49058519297/in/datepos...
Technical Details
Captured and processed by: Terry Hancock
Location: GrandMesaObservatory.com Purdy Mesa, Colorado
November 1, 2, 3, 4th 2019
HA 430 min 43 x 600 sec
OIII 340 min 34 x 600 sec
SII 300 min 30 x 600 sec
Narrowband Filters by Optolong
Camera: QHY16200A
Gain 0, Offset 130 Calibrated with Dark and Bias Frames no Flat.
Optics: William Optics Redcat 51 APO @ F4.9
EQ Mount: Paramount ME
Image Acquisition software Maxim DL6
Pre Processing in Pixinsight
Post Processed in Photoshop CC
Starnet (star removal)
This is something a little different for me. I typically do wide-field astrophotography, but had been thinking about trying to capture Orion's Belt and the nebula in the same image... I never dreamed you'd be able to see the horsehead nebula and the flame nebula (which I didn't even know existed until I did this) in the same shot! So fun, but man it takes a lot patience!
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• Sky-Watcher BK P2001 with TS Optics 2" Dual Speed Focuser
• EQ6-R Pro
• ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
• ZWO L: 180x120s
• ZWO R, G, B: 60x120s bin2
(total integration 8h)
• -20° sensor temp., Gain 0 (HDR)
• Baader MPCC Mark III coma corrector
• 60x240 guide scope, ZWO ASI290Mini guide cam
Captured with ZWO EFW, ZWO EAF, ZWO ASIAIR, Pegasus Astro Powerbox
Saint Petersburg, Russia. Red light pollution zone, balcony
M101 with one of the closest Supernova in the past decade. It is the bright blue dot in the outermost arm.
LRGB 100x5m 8.3hrs
Taken without light pollution filters in New Orleans under Bortle 8 skies.
So Far Out To Civilization
Interplanetary Travel
Youtube: "4K" Road Trip in Tunisia - Visiting Tunisia "2019"
Camera: Canon EOS Kiss X7i
Photograph by Yusuf Alioglu
Location: Outer space (space)
Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex
This is perhaps one of my favourite deep-sky objects for its breathtaking structure. It shows up in many of my Milky Way photos and it’s hard to find a more colourful region in the entire night sky.
At first glance, the most striking feature is the sheer amount of colour. Why is it so colourful?
Well, the pinkish-red regions got their colour from a process called ionisation. Have you ever seen neon light that glows pinkish red? Neon lights glow pinkish-red because there is hydrogen in them; the pinkish-red nebulas in the image are made up of hydrogen too. They are gigantic neon lights hundreds of light-years across, made of hydrogen gas, powered by extremely powerful stars!
The yellow and blue parts have their colours for different reasons. The blue regions are reflected light whereas the yellowish part is light going through the clouds. They have different colours because blue light tends to bounce off small particles whereas red-orange-yellow light just goes through(Rayleigh scattering). This might sound like physics from an alien world, but we actually see this phenomenon every day. That’s why we have blue skies and yellowish sunsets!
Another striking feature is the dark nebulas; those are thick-dense interstellar dust no visible light can penetrate through. The long streak of thick clouds actually makes a dust lane that connects to the milky way.
This region is sometimes called the ‘Antares Nebula Complex’ because it hosts the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius - Antares. Antares is a red giant, the size of which dwarfs our own sun. It’s so gigantic that if you place it at the centre of our solar system, it would engulf Mercury, venus, earth, mars and even Jupiter!
(The data was acquired from Telescopelive, which I processed using pixinsight and photoshop).
Finished my other image from last weekend by gathering RGB data from the backyard. My 4th attempt at M31 - the Andromeda Galaxy, which I haven't imaged in 4 years. The last time I photographed it, I was using a DSLR and camera lens on top of a small tracking mount. Now that I've imaged it with a proper scope and monochrome camera, I likely will not image it again in favor of (in my opinion) more interesting and challenging targets. Really nice to look back and see what 5 years of progress does.
The Andromeda Galaxy is our closest galactic neighbor outside the Milky Way. It is quite large from our perspective - almost 4 full moon diameters across in apparent size. Under exceptionally dark skies, it is easily seen with the naked eye.
Quick comments: After shooting the Luminance last weekend, I added an extra 0.5mm of spacers to further push the backfocus of the sensor and it seems to have made a world of a difference as the RGB image barely had any spacing artifacts at the corners. I likely won't mess with the spacing any further.
- Location(s): Houston Astronomical Society dark site (Bortle 3/4) for Luminance; Bortle 6/7 backyard for Ha & RGB
- Total Integration Time: 17.3 Hours
Equipment:
- Scope: TS107 w/ 0.79x Reducer
- Imaging Camera: QHY 268M
- Filters: Chroma LRGB & 5nm Ha (36mm)
- Mount: Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro
- Guidescope: SVBony 50mm Guidescope
- Guide camera: QHY5L-ii mono
- Accessories: ZWO EAF, PocketPowerbox Micro, QHY Polemaster
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Software:
- N.I.N.A for image acquisition, platesolving, and framing
- PHD2 for guiding
- PixInsight for processing
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Acquisition:
- L: 30 x 3m
- R/G/B: 65 x 3m each
- Ha: 119 x 3m (5nm)
- All images at Gain 56, Offset 25 (Readout mode 1) and 5C sensor temperature
- 20 flats per filter
- Master Bias from Library
- Nights: 9/4, 9/9, 9/10, 9/17/21
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Processing:
- BatchPreProcessing for calibration
- SubFrameSelector to weigh Lum subs
- ImageIntegration to integrate masters
Luminance Processing:
- DynamicCrop
- MureDenoise for linear noise reduction
- DynamicBackgroundExtraction
- Deconvolution
- Duplicate and apply STF to duplicate to stretch
- MaskedStretch using background preview on original
- PixelMath: 0.65*masked_stretch + 0.35*STF
- CurvesTransformation for contrast
- DarkStructureEnhance script at 0.2
- RangeMask + LocalHistogramEqualization on core
- Apply inverted luminance mask and slight ACDNR for noise reduction
- Convolution on inverted duplicate and MLT for further luminance noise reduction
RGB Processing:
- DynamicCrop
- DynamicBackgroundExtraction
- StarAlign R/G/B to Luminance
- ChannelCombination to combine into color image
- PhotometricColorCalibration
- MaskedStretch to bring to non-linear
- HistogramTransformation and CurvesTransformation for further stretch
- LRGBCombination to combine with Luminance w/ saturation at 0.3
- Invert -> SCNR Green -> invert back to remove magenta
- SCNR Green to remove green cast
- CurvesTransformation for contrast and saturation boost
- ColorSaturation for blue boost
- CurvesTransformation for contrast/saturation and 'c' curve adjustments
Ha Processing:
- DynamicCrop
- MureDenoise
- DynamicBackgroundExtraction
- STF to stretch
- StarAlignment to LRGB
- Starnet to make starless
- RangeMask to isolate Ha nebulae
- Clonestamp out core
Add Ha to LRGB:
- Split LRGB into R/G/B channels
- PixelMath:
R: $T + 1.5*Ha_starless
B: $T + 0.2*Ha_starless
- ChannelCombination to recombine RGB
Final Processing:
- SCNR Green
- RangeMask to select galaxy
- CurvesTransformation to neutralize background
- Invert RangeMask and further curves to adjust color in galaxy
- Save & Export
start of a long term project, this mag 30 nebula is 3 degrees across so need at least four pane mosaic!
This was shot at 55mm with a bright moon. Heavily cropped due to over exposed areas. Was taken at home in class 7 sky. Happy to capture the flame, running man and very faint horse head nebulas along with M42. Looking forward to hopefully moonless and clear skies early next month to have a better try a few hours away from the city!
WR 134 is a variable Wolf-Rayet star located around 6,000 light years away from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus. It is surrounded by a faint shell-like nebula blown by the intense radiation and fast wind from the star.
A typical Wolf-Rayet star is several times the diameter of the Sun and thousands of times more luminous. WR134 is five times the radius of the sun, but due to a temperature over 63,000 K it is 400,000 times as luminous as the Sun.
Wolf-Rayet stars are relatively rare, only a few hundred are known, located mostly in the spiral arms of the Milky Way Galaxy. The type was first distinguished in 1867 by the French astronomers Charles-Joseph-Étienne Wolf and Georges-Antoine-Pons Rayet.
Image captured over 10 nights; 2023-11-09, 10, 14, & 17, 2024-09-03, 5, 7, 25, & 26
28 hours total integration
Ha subs 31 * 1,200 sec = 10 hours 20 min
OIII subs 40 * 1,200 sec = 13 hours 20 min
SII subs 8 * 1,200 sec = 2 hours 40 min
R, G, B for stars = 1 hour 40 min
Imaging Equipment:
PlaneWave CDK14 at 2,563mm
CDK accessories by rouzastro.com/
Mesu Mark II friction drive mount
QHY268M camera
SHO 3.0nm filters
RGB filters
NGC 3521 is a spiral galaxy 40 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo. It belongs to a class of galaxies known as flocculent spirals. Unlike galaxies with well-defined spiral arms, this galaxy has many small, patchy spiral arms, giving it a woolly appearance.
Remarkably, this galaxy is enshrouded by a gigantic bubble-like shell. The shell is made of debris and star streams that once belonged to small satellite galaxies. They were torn apart by tidal forces and devoured by NGC3521 (this process is vividly called “galactic cannibalism”). The remaining became the ghostly shell.
(The original data was acquired from iTelescope, which I processed using pixinsight and photoshop).
I took this image, also being featured on NASA's APOD page today June 2, 2015 (apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150602.html), a bit over a week ago. While it might not seem as much, what you see here is a comet (the green ball, designated as C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy) cruising near one of the most famous stars in our sky: Polaris, the Northern Star. The comet does not feature the flashy tail most people expect when they picture a comet, but as a bonus, the image does feature a large amount of dense high galactic latitude nebulae that due to being very faint, it is often neglected in astroimages.
A small area of the beautiful Rho Ophiuchi cloud and nebula complex. Located in the constellation Ophiuchus, at 460 ly from earth this is a major star forming region in our galaxy.
Takahashi FSQ-106
Software Bisque MyT
QSI 683WSG-8
L 27x5min
R 23x5min
G 21x5min
B 23x5min
Total Integration Time = 7.8hrs
Data from Deepskywest Remote Observatory
RCOS 14.5" f/9 - APOGEE U16 - L (240m) R (40m) G (40m) B (40m) - Lightbuckets LB003, NM, USA
If you would like to see larger sizes of this image or get high quality professional prints please visit my homepage at www.glitteringlights.com
Captured from my backyard in Gérgal, Almeria Spain over 3 nights.
This project was to be paired with RGB stars from the RGB image also posted here. Unfortunately the stars were not good enough due to a rotator tilt problem I had during some of the imaging sessions. Instead, this the whole image with Ha, Sii and Oiii data.
Captured on 21, 22, 23rd of February 2022.
Subframes
59 x Ha 300s : 4h 55min
42 x Sii 300s : 3h 30min
51 x Oiii 300s : 4h 15min
Calibration:
20 Bias and Darks
20 Flats for each filter per night.