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NGC7822 in Ha
NGC7822 - in Hydrogen Alpha Hi all. Last night was one of the best seeing nights that I have experienced in my life, despite the bright moon. The skies were very stable. I decided to try a little hydrogen alpha imaging of NGC7822. I like this object because of the exquisite detail in the nebula and all the dark lanes. This image was stacked from 20 images, each of 20 minutes duration, for a total of 400 minutes. I couldn't be happier with the result. There are only a few night that allow my AP130 to really shine, and this was one of them. Please take a moment to look around this image... it is about as good as I will ever get. I hope to add some great OIII and SII data sometime soon, to complete a narrowband color version.
NGC7822 Narrowband Tricolor - Hubble Palette Hi all. This is my first real attempt at tricolor narrowband imaging. This image is composed of 3 emission line wavelengths of data: hydrogen alpha (mapped to green), oxygen III (mapped to blue), and sulfer II (mapped to red). This presentation of data is widely used in Hubble Telescope images, and allow the viewer to see which areas of an object are emitting light at specific wavelengths. This image was taken over three nights and includes over 1000 minutes of data.
M27 in RGB, Ha, and OIII Hi all. This image was taken over two nights from Nocturne Observatory in Northern Utah. I used five filters to create this image that is essentially in real color. The image particulars are listed below. Scope: AP130 EDF F/6 Mount: Losmandy G-11/Gemini L4 Camera: FLI MicroLine 3200ME Filter Wheel: FLI CFW-2-7 Filters: Optec R,G,B,Ha,OIII 180 minutes Ha and OIII 60 minutes each RGB MaxIm DL5, Photoshop CS3, PixInsight
This is a new image of the Great Hercules Globular Cluster designated as Messier 13 (M13). It was taken a few nights ago from Nocturne Observatory... in my back yard. This image is a composite of 28 images of 3 minutes each, taken through a luminance filter.
Scope: Astro-Physics AP130EDF F/6 with dedicated field flattener Mount: Losmandy G-11 Gemini L4 Camera: Finger Lakes Instrumentation FLI MicroLine ML3200ME with CFW-2-7 Filter Wheel Optec Filter
Abell 2151
Abell 2151 - The Hercules Galaxy Cluster Abell 2151, also known as the Hercules Galaxy Cluster, is part of a larger complex of galaxy clusters, superclusters, and clusters of superclusters, known as The Great Wall. This complex is approximately 15 million light years thick, 500 million light years long, and 200 million light years wide, and is the largest known structure in the universe. This image is filled with galaxies with many different forms, which makes for a nice field of view. Taken with a 5-inch telescope, a sensitive CCD, and some patience.
AP130 EDF F/6 Losmandy G-11/Gemini FLI 3200ME camera Optec Luminance Filter MaxIm DL5, CCDStack, and Photoshop CS3
This object, aptly named the Black-Eye Galaxy and designated as Messier 64 (M64), is located roughly 17 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices.
Observations have shown that M64 is actually
composed
of two,
counter-rotating groupings of stars, one in the inner 3,000 light-years
and the other extending to roughly 40,000 light-years, and interestingly, rotating in
the opposite direction.
The dusty black eye and bizarre rotation is likely the result of a
merger
of two different galaxies.
This spectacular spiral galaxy, designated Messier 101 (M101), is roughly 170,000 light years across. That is nearly nearly twice the size of our own Milky Way galaxy. The beautiful spiral arms are filled with interesting structures. What an amazing sight!!
Scope: Astro-Physics AP130 EDF Starfire refractor operating at F/6 Mount: Losmandy G-11/Gemini Camera: Finger Lakes Instrumentation FLI 3200ME with CFW-2-7 filter wheel Filter: Optec Autoguider: Starfish with Borg 45 34x10 minutes Luminance
This spectacular pair of interacting galaxies is located approximately 31 million light years away in the constellation Canes Venatici. I imaged the Whirlpool Galaxy last night and just decided to collect lots of luminance data and leave the color for another time. I ran the camera all night and collected 80 frames of 5 minutes each, for a total of 400 minutes.
This beautiful spiral galaxy, designated Messier 63 (M63 - NGC5055) is located about 25 million light years away in the constellation Canes Venatici. Also known as the Sunflower Galaxy, it is nearly 100,000 light years across. The incredible structure of this galaxy makes it a Springtime favorite for many observers. This image is a collaboration between myself and Patrick Wiggins. Patrick took the excellent luminance data (30 x 600 seconds) and I added my color data from an earlier image, taken at a much shorter focal length. Patricks data really is spectacular, capturing great detail in the complex structure of this beautiful galaxy. Patrick uses a C-14 with a mirror lock riding on a Paramount ME, with an SBIG ST-10 camera. My color data was taken using an ASA N8 Astrograph on a Losmandy G-11 mount, with a Starlight Xpress SXVF-H16 camera. Be sure to click this one a couple of times to get to the full version. Thanks Patrick!!
This was taken on the night of April 19, 2010, from Nocturne Observatory. This rarely imaged region sports a wealth of nicely colored stars with lots of obscuring dust. I am not completely sure about the designation of this object. The Sky 6 database calls it Lynds Dark Nebula #354, but I am pretty sure it is LDN1251. The orange star is HD214710, and the two other objects are small galaxies designated PGC69472 (left side) and PGC166755. This image required 24 Luminance frames of 300 seconds, and 8 frames each of 300 seconds for red, green, and blue (RGB).
Scope: Astro-Physics AP130 EDF F/6 with dedicated AP field flattener Mount: Losmandy G-11 with Gemini Camera: FLI MicroLine 3200ME with KAF3200ME chip Autoguided with Borg 45ED and Starfish Guide Camera Acquired using MaxIm DL5 and processed with MaxIm, PixInsight, and Photoshop CS3
As I examined my previous posting of this object, I was unhappy with the color processing. Some how I managed to lose the nice blues that are present in the reflection portion of this nebula complex. I started from scratch and reprocessed the color, being careful to hold the blues. Here is the result. This image was captured over several nights in March 2010, and is located in the constellation Monoceros. This part of the sky is loaded with areas of hydrogen-alpha emissions, but also offers a nice bright reflection nebula in the central portion of the image. This star-forming region of the sky is home to over 600 hot young stars, ranging from 1 to 4 million years old.
Scope: Astro-Physics AP130 F/6 Mount: Losmandy G-11 Camera: Starlight Xpress SXVF-H16 Optec Filters Total Exposure Time = Approx. 3.5 hours
This image was captured over several nights in March 2010, and is located in the constellation Monoceros. This part of the sky is loaded with areas of hydrogen-alpha emissions, but also offers a nice bright reflection nebula in the central portion of the image. This star-forming region of the sky is home to over 600 hot young stars, ranging from 1 to 4 million years old.
Scope: Astro-Physics AP130 F/6 Mount: Losmandy G-11 Camera: Starlight Xpress SXVF-H16 Optec Filters Total Exposure Time = Approx. 3.5 hours
The field
of view in this image includes three magnificent galaxies, NGC3628
(left), M65 (top right), and M66 (bottom right). These galaxies are all
spirals, but look different from each other because their disks are
tilted at different angles to our position. They are located in the
constellation Leo, and are roughly 30 million light years away from
earth.
This is an image of a very interesting group of objects, comprised of a molecular cloud with over 27,000 solar masses, with active star formation. It was photographed using narrowband hydrogen-alpha, oxygen III, and sulfer II filters. The image is a false color version, with hydrogen-alpha mapped to green, sulfer II mapped to red, and oxygen III mapped to blue, which is the Hubble telescope palette. The stars in this image are from the pseudo natural color version shown above. I hope you like this image.
Scope: Astro Systeme Austria ASA N8 astrograph - 8-inch at F/3.6 Mount: Losmandy G-11/Gemini Camera: Finger Lakes Instrumentation FLI MicroLine 3200ME with CFW-2-7 filter wheel Filters: Optec
This image is the same as above, but the hydrogen-alpha was mapped to red, the sulfer II to green, and the oxygen III to blue. This version provides a pseudo-natural color version of this interesting area of the sky. The equipment and data are the same as the Hubble color image below.
After trying and failing to image tonight, I decided to snap this shot of a huge moon ring. You can see Orion's Belt on the right, along with the Pleiades at the top of the image. Well... Its better than no image at all! Cheers, Tyler
This image was collected from my new observatory during a brief imaging session on February 19th, 2010. I managed to get 15 luminance frames of 600 seconds each.
Thesetwo objects are apparently the same size the the sky, but they are not the same at all. The object on the upper right (M97 - The Owl Nebula) is a star that is expelling gas shells at it slowly dies and becomes a white dwarf. It is only approximately 1500 light years distant from Earth. The object in the lower left of the frame is a nearly edge-on galaxy (M108) that is composed of several hundred billion stars and is approximately 45 million light years distant from Earth. If you look carefully, you can see dozens of small galaxies scattered throughout the image. These two objects can be captured in a single frame and make this area of Ursa Major a very nice place to point your telescope!
Scope: Astro-Physics AP130 Starfire EDF F/6
Mount: Losmandy G-11/Gemini
Camera: Starlight Xpress SXVF-H16 with FLI CFW-2-7 Filter Wheel and Optec LRGB filters
Guider: Fishcamp Starfish Autoguider
Exposure Details: 18 x 10 minutes Luminance unbinned - 8 x 10 minutes each RGB binned 2x2
This image was taken by a group of local astronomy enthusiasts from the Salt Lake Astronomical Society (SLAS) on the night of Friday, January 15th. It was captured using the 2-meter Faulkes North telescope on Haleakala in Hawaii.
The image nicely illustrates the intricate structure of this remnant of a huge supernova that was recorded by Chinese and Arab astronomers in 1054 CE. The nebula has a spinning neutron star at its core that has been dubbed the "Crab Pulsar". This neutron star has a spin rate of roughly 30.2 revolutions per second, and it is extremely energetic: giving off radiation at wavelengths from gamma rays to radio waves. The pulsar has been creating shock waves that can be seen near the center of this image as concentric arcs. These shockwaves have been captured in many images and their speed has been computed at an astounding 24,000 km per second, or nearly 8 percent of the speed of light. The diffuse blue light, called synchrotron radiation, is emitted from curving electrons traveling at up to 1/2 the speed of light.
This image was possible due to the hard work of many individuals, who handled all the arrangements, including Rodger Fry and Bob Moore, among many others. A special "Thank You" goes out to J.D. Armstrong, who made this entire project possible.
For more information on the shockwaves, CLICK HERE.
NGC1977 New Color
NGC1977 - The Running Man Nebula This image includes color data taken on the second night with the new observatory. The entire setup seems to be working well and I am keeping warm in the electric blanket that I got for Christmas. :)
This image was another that was captured during my recent trip to Kanab, Utah. Although the nebula itself is fairly bright, the dust that surrounds the area is extremely dim and challenging to capture with my AP130 at F/6. I imaged nearly all night for two nights to capture this image.
This image was taken during my recent imaging trip to Kanab, Utah. Jerry and Cindy Foote invited several friends to their home for a weekend of imaging, fine dining, and great conversation. This image shows astronomy blogger and former reporter Joe Bauman enjoying a gorgeous night while sitting at his computer taking digital images through his telescope. Our own Milky Way Galaxy, dotted with satellites, meteors, and airplanes, provides a lovely backdrop to the scene. Just looking at this image makes me want to return to that beautiful setting as soon as possible. I really love this hobby.
Nikon D700 - Original date/time: 10/17/2009 at 22:19:13 Exposure: 30 seconds - F/2.8 - ISO speed: 5000 Focal length: 14 mm
This is the first of several images taken from the home of Jerry and Cindy Foote near Kanab, Utah, on a recent imaging trip to their home. The skies are dark and the hospitality is wonderful. This object is a favorite target of mine.
Scope: Astro-Physics AP130 EDFS operating at F/4.5 with reducer Mount: Losmandy G-11/Gemini Camera: Starlight Xpress SXVF-H16 Filter Wheel: Finger Lakes Instrumentation FLI CFW-2-7 Filters: Optec L:R:G:B image - 180:120:120:120 L = 18x10 minutes RGB = 12x10 minutes Acquired using MaxIm DL Processed using MaxIm and Photoshop
This is my latest version of this favorite, taken with my new AP130 EDFS F/6 using the Starlight Xpress H16 camera. It is a combination of over 50 frames, each frame 5 minutes in length. Separate images were taken for red, green, and blue frames, along with luminance frames. I think this may be my favorite object in the night sky. I am always happy to see it return each fall.
Hi all. I used my Starlight Xpress SXVF-H16 camera to image this interesting area of the sky last week but just got around to processing it. This image shows many objects, including the star cluster IC1369 (above center right), Barnard 61 (or perhaps B361 aka LDN970 - large dark area in lower center), planetary nebula PLN 89-0.1 (red area above left center), dark nebula LDN975 (just right of open cluster), dark nebula LDN967 (below brighter pair of blue and yellow stars, and dark nebula LDN964 (extreme lower right corner).
Hi stargazers! Here is an obscure group of dark nebulae in SH2-119. The dark nebulae include LDN944, LDN946, LDN947, LDN952, LDN953, and probably a few others. These dark nebulae are found in the constellation Cygnus (The Swan). The dense star field is very colorful, but is blotted out by these dark nebulae. The entire area appears to have some dust which makes it look almost redish brown in may locations.
This spectacular area of the skyin the constellation Cepheus. The highly structured area of this image, also known as the "Elephants Trunk Nebula", is composed of ionized gas that is excited by a massive star. The area is also a star-forming region, with several very young stars (less than 100,000 years) and a couple of somewhat older stars (still young, estimated at roughly 2,000,000 years), located at its center. The entire area is colorful and presents a beautiful vista for the camera.
Here is my attempt at the new bubble in Cygnus, discovered in 2008 by Dave Jurasevich. The "soap bubble" is located in the upper left quarter of this image, which also includes the frequently photographed Crescent Nebula. I spent two night collecting Ha and OIII data for this image, and here is the result.
This image shows an area of the sky in the constellation Cassiopeia. This area is part of the larger "Heart Nebula" which is ionized by the star cluster IC1805, which is below center right in this image. This area of the sky shows a great deal of structure within the glowing nebulosity. The image was taken over two nights and includes approximately 4 hours of data.
This star cluster is one of the most dense open clusters in the sky, showing approximately 2900 stars. Its location in the sky in the general direction of the center of the galaxy provides an incredible star field in the background as well. This image is only 60 minutes of data in red, green, and blue. What a beautiful sight!
Hi all. This object may be the faintest thing I have ever imaged. It is a ring nebula in the constellation Cygnus (The Swan). This image is 220 minutes of hydrogen alpha light, in 20 minute subs. It isn't great, but I have never seen an image of it before so I guess it will have to do for now.
Hi all. Here is a quick and dirty version of M13, taken with my new AP130 EDFS Starfire F/6 scope. It is five frames each of RGB, with each frame being 180 seconds. It was taken with my Starlight Xpress SXVF-H16 camera and Optec filters.
IC5146
IC5146 - The Cocoon Nebula This object is a combination of emission and reflection nebulae, surrounded by dust, which makes for a beautiful sight. This star-forming region has a bright central star (magnitude 9.6) that is surrounded by an open cluster of 12th magnitude stars.
Scope: Astro Systeme Austria N8 astrograph Mount: Losmandy G-11/Gemini Camera: FLI Microline 3200ME with CFW-2-7 Filter Wheel Optec Filters Ha:R:G:B - 210:30:30:50 minutes Ha subs 10 minutes RGB subs 5 minutes Click here for a higher quality closeup
This image is first light for my new Finger Lakes Microline 3200ME camera. The camera worked perfectly last night, holding the temperature steady at -30 degrees C despite the warm summer night. Noise level are pretty low even with the big stretch applied to the image. This version is 12 frames of 10 minutes each in hydrogen alpha wavelength. I think the camera is going to be a winner for narrowband imaging given the incredibly high quantum efficiency of the KAF3200ME chip. I am pretty excited about the camera. Scope: Astro Systeme Austria N8 astrograph Mount: Losmandy G-11/Gemini Camera: FLI Microline 3200ME Filter: Optec 8nm Ha in a Finger Lakes CFW-2-7 filter wheel MaxIm DL and Photoshop
I noticed that my original processing of this object had caused the stars to get a littl e fuzzy, so I decided to reprocess it... trying to keep the stars nice and sharp. Although this image is a little darker, I like it better. The image info is the same as below.
This section of the Veil Nebula is not photographed as often as some other areas, but it sure is loaded with structure. This image is a composite of hydrogen alpha wavelengths (red) and OIII wavelengths (blue and green). This is one of my favorite parts of the sky.
This image of Messier 17 was taken using narrowband filters in hydrogen alpha (red) and OIII (green and blue) wavelengths. It was captured from my back yard on a beautiful summer night.
This image is a composite of narrowband images taken in hydrogen alpha and OIII wavelengths. The target is a portion of the Veil Nebula in Cygnus, which is a supernova remnant. The hydrogen alpha data were used for the red channel, and the OIII data were used for the green and blue channels.
The Pelican Nebula (IC5070) is located roughly 2000 light years away in the constellation Cygnus. It is a vast area of hydrogen gas emissions with star forming regions. This image is taken at a narrow wavelength in the hydrogen alpha band.
The Crescent Nebula (NGC6888) is a large cosmic bubble roughly 25 light-years across. The star at the center of the bubble has been classified as a Wolf-Rayet star (WR 136). This massive star is burning nuclear fuel at a very high rate, while ejecting its outer layers in a strong stellar wind. This image is a combination of Hydrogen Alpha and Oxygen III wavelengths, which were combined into a color image. This gorgeous object is located at a distance of about 5000 light years, in the constellation Cygnus.
Scope: Astro Systeme Austria N8
Mount: Losmandy G-11
Camera: Starlight Xpress SXVF-H16 with FLI filter wheel and Optec filters
M27 is a good example of a gaseous emission nebula that is formed when a sun-like star runs out of nuclear fuel and begins to eject its outer layers into space. The visible glow is generated by the intense ultraviolet radiation that is being emitted from the central star. This image is a combination of Hydrogen Alpha emissions (red) and Oxygen III emissions (green and blue). This exquisite object is located about 1200 light-years away in the constellation Vulpecula.
Scope: Astro Systeme Austria N8
Mount: Losmandy G-11 / Gemini
Camera: Starlight Xpress SXVF-H16 with an FLI filter wheel and Optec Filters
These two objects are apparently the same size the the sky, but they are not the same at all. The object on the lower right (M97 - The Owl Nebula) is a star that is expelling gas shells at it slowly dies and becomes a white dwarf. It is only approximately 1500 light years distant from Earth. The object in the upper left of the frame is a nearly edge-on galaxy (M108) that is composed of several hundred billion stars and is approximately 45 million light years distant from Earth. These two objects can be captured in a single frame and make this area of Ursa Major a very nice place to point your telescope! This image is a combination of narrowband data (see M97 below) taken with an SBIG ST2000XM camera through Optec Ha and O3 filters, and some earlier data taken with an FLI CM-10 camera. The CM-10 camera has a chip that "blooms', which means that the brighter stars essentially "drip" data across the CCD. These brighter stars were corrected for using software. This image includes over 7 hours of luminance, red, green, blue, hydrogen alpha, and O3 data.
Astro Systeme Austria ASA N8 astrograph - Losmandy G-11/Gemini
This ghostly apparition in Ursa Major is a planetary nebula with an interesting series of expanding envelopes of gas that are being shed by the dying sun-like star at the center. It is aptly named "The Owl Nebula" because of the remarkable resemblance to an owls face that is created by the structures within. These shrouds of expanding gas are typically over 1000 times the size of our solar system. The gas bubble is has been forming for over 6000 years and is approximately 1500 light years distant from earth. The odd shapes inside this bubble have proven difficult for astronomers to explain and model using computers. I can just begin to make out a larger bubble of gas that is very faint which surrounds the more obvious structures in the image. Can you see it? This image is a narrowband version, composed of Hydrogen alpha and OIII emissions. The OIII data was used for both the green and blue channels, and Ha was used for red.
Scope: Astro Systeme Austria ASA N8 astrograph on a Losmandy G-11/Gemini mount
Camera: SBIG ST2000XM with FLI CFW-2-7 filter wheel and Optec narrowband filters
Ha:OIII:OIII for R:G:B - 6 x 20 minutes OIII and Ha - 4 hours total exposure time
