Nebulae

M42 at Prime Focus

M42 at Prime Focus Went back and tried again for M42, this time using a Meade 8" SCT as my 'camera lens'. This shot is an HDR composite made from 3 individual 'stacks' of shots (processed using DeepSkyStacker), then post processed in Photoshop CS4 and then Photomatix, to try to mitigate the very high dynamic range of M42 4 x 6 min @ ISO 800 w/ f6.3 focal reducer 21 x 3 min @ ISO 800 w/ f6.3 focal reducer 5 x 1 min @ ISO 800 w/ f6.3 focal reducer 8 x 20 sec @ ISO 800 w/ f6.3 focal reducer 11 x 10 sec @ ISO 800 w/ f6.3 focal reducer There was additional post processing applied using Irfanview and Photoshop CS4 to the final HDR output. I am still learning about the post processing tricks, having gotten a lot of help form some friends on various forums. I may update this image in the future if I get another version I like more, but this one is not too bad for a beginner like me :o)

M42 Complex

A wide shot of the Orion Nebula, but also including the Running Man Nebula, The Horsehead Nebula, and the Flame Nebula. The lens was borrowed from a friend. There are some artifacts on stars, especially the brightest blue ones that are still not fully explained but this is still one of my best Astrotrac images to date. Camera: Canon 40D (unmodified) Telescope: Canon 200 f/2.8 L II Lens Location: Crow Valley Campground, CO Mount: Astrotrac Software: PixInsight Total Exposure: 54 mins Light Frames: ISO 1600, 90 secs x 36 Dark Frames: ISO 1600, 90 secs x 15

The Rosette Nebula - Wide Field

I used my unmodified Canon 40D and my 70-200 f/4 L IS zoom with a 1.4x extender to shoot the Rosette Nebula at 280mm and f/5.6, which produced a very wide star rich image. The background noise still ended up being a bit problematic but overall not a bad first try for this object, and always great to 'borrow' time on such a fantastically tracking mount! Equipment: Canon 40D (unmodified) Software Bisque ME Mount (unguided) Canon 70-200 f/4 L IS with 1.4x Extender (280mm f/5.6) Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom 4.3 Photoshop CS2 Light Frames: 3 x 330 secs (5.5 mins) @ ISO 1600 1 x 300 secs (5 mins) @ ISO 1600 Dark Frames: 5 x 330 secs (5.5 mins) @ ISO 1600 2 x 300 secs (5 mins) @ ISO 1600 Details about The Rosette Nebula From Wikipedia: The Rosette Nebula (also known as Caldwell 49) is a large, circular H II region located near one end of a giant molecular cloud in the Monoceros region of the Milky Way Galaxy. The open cluster NGC 2244 (Caldwell 50) is closely associated with the nebulosity, the stars of the cluster having been formed from the nebula's matter. Additional information at the wikipedia link: http:/​/​en.​wikipedia.​org/​wiki/​Rosette_​Nebula

M42 - Reprocessed

I ran all of the frames from this original imaging session of M42 through PixInsight, and also reoriented the image into a more conventional orientation. This result has more balanced color plus lots more detail in both M42 and the Running Man Nebula above it (which is just barely visible in the original image.)

North America Nebula

So I had some tracking issues with a dying autoguider camera but managed 3 5 minute frames from local skies up at Sandstone Ranch. I hope to go back to this object later with more time and better tracking but this was my first serious collect using the Ha modified T2i, my homebuilt DSLR cooler, and my own tracking mount. Canon T2i 300sec X 3

M42 With Powernewt

A short stack of 60 second exposures taken with a newly acquired fast Newtonian reflector.

Western Veil Nebula - First Try

I was testing out a different coma corrector for my Powernewt OTA, and ended up with a small amount of data under light polluted skies. Even so the new iEQ45Pro and the CLS-CCD filter worked to give me some usable frames. Processed with PixInsight.

California Nebula in RGB

The excellent contrast provided by the dark skies was very evident from the very first night we arrived as I was able to capture a high contrast image of the California Nebula in natural color. Equipment: Canon T2i (550D) (astro modified by Gary Honis) iOptron iEQ45Pro Mount Canon 200mm f/2.8 L Lens @ f/4 QHY5L-II Guide Camera / Orion 8 x50 Guide Scope Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8.2 (Ripley) Lightroom 5.6 Light Frames: 9 x180 secs (27 minutes total) @ ISO 1600 Dark Frames: 8 x 180 secs @ ISO 1600 Details about The California Nebula From Wikipedia: The California Nebula (NGC 1499) is an emission nebula located in the constellation Perseus. It is so named because it appears to resemble the outline of the US State of California on long exposure photographs. It is almost 2.5° long on the sky and, because of its very low surface brightness, it is extremely difficult to observe visually. It can be observed with a Hβ filter (isolates the Hβ line at 486 nm) in a rich-field telescope under dark skies.[1] It lies at a distance of about 1,000 light years from Earth. Its fluorescence is due to excitation of the Hβ line in the nebula by the nearby prodigiously energetic O7 star, xi Persei (also known as Menkib) Full details can be found on Wikipedia here: http:/​/​en.​wikipedia.​org/​wiki/​California_​Nebula

Heart Nebula

This is a short stack of the Heart Nebula, taken with a Canon 200mm f/2.8 lens acting as my telescope. The spectrum modified DSLR really picks up the glowing hydrogen-alpha emissions well, even with a relatively short exposure time. Equipment: Canon T2i (550D) (astro modified by Gary Honis) iOptron iEQ45Pro Mount Canon 200 f/2.8 L Lens at f/4 QHY5L-II Guide Camera / Orion 8 x50 Guide Scope Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8.2 (Ripley) Lightroom 5.6 Light Frames: 5 x 240 secs (30 minutes total) @ ISO 1600 Dark Frames: 4 x 240 secs @ ISO 1600 Details about The Heart Nebula From Wikipedia: The Heart Nebula, IC 1805, Sh2-190, lies some 7500 light years away from Earth and is located in the Perseus Arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. This is an emission nebula showing glowing gas and darker dust lanes. The nebula is formed by plasma of ionized hydrogen and free electrons. Full Wikipedia article is found here: http:/​/​en.​wikipedia.​org/​wiki/​Heart_​Nebula

Barnard's Loop

Barnard's Loop was a very challengoing object to shoot and process. I think I could have really benefited from having a cooled camera on this target. Nevertheless, I did get some data, showing how the loop forms a faint outer ring around one side of the Orion Nebula complex, with M42, the Flame Nebula, the Running Man Nebula and the Horsehead Nebula just able to be recognized in the frame as well. Equipment: Canon T2i (550D) (astro modified by Gary Honis) iOptron iEQ45Pro Mount Canon 70-300 f/4-5.6 L IS Zoom lens at 70mm and f/4.5 QHY5L-II Guide Camera / Orion 8 x50 Guide Scope Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8.2 (Ripley) Lightroom 5.6 Light Frames: 1 x 420 secs (7 minutes total) @ ISO 800 7 x 600 secs (1 hour 10 minutes total) @ ISO 800 8 x 420 secs (56 minutes total) @ ISO 1600 Dark Frames: 4 x 420 secs @ ISO 1600 Flat Frames 10 x 1/80th sec @ ISO 1600 Details about Barnard's Loop (Sharpless Sh 2-276) From Wikipedia: Barnard's Loop (catalogue designation Sh 2-276) is an emission nebula in the constellation of Orion. It is part of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex which also contains the dark Horsehead and bright Orion nebulae. The loop takes the form of a large arc centred approximately on the Orion Nebula. The stars within the Orion Nebula are believed to be responsible for ionizing the loop. The loop extends over about 600 arcminutes as seen from Earth, covering much of Orion. It is well seen in long-exposure photographs, although observers under very dark skies may be able to see it with the naked eye. Recent estimates place it at a distance of either 159 pc (518 light years)[1] or 440 pc (1434 ly)[2] giving it dimensions of either about 100 or 300 ly across respectively. It is thought to have originated in a supernovaexplosion about 2 million years ago, which may have also created several known runaway stars, including AE Aurigae, Mu Columbae and 53 Arietis, which are believed to have been part of a multiple star system in which one component exploded as a supernova.[3] Full Wikipedia article found here: http:/​/​en.​wikipedia.​org/​wiki/​Barnard's_​Loop

Rosette Core

A close up view of the center area of the Rosette Nebula, shot from the shores of Abiquiu Lake in NM. Equipment: SBIG STF-8300c Software Bisque MyT Mount Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8 Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom 4.3 Photoshop CS2 Light Frames: 15 x 720 secs (3 hrs) Dark Frames: 4 x 720 secs (48 mins) Details about The Rosette Nebula From Wikipedia: The Rosette Nebula (also known as Caldwell 49) is a large, circular H II region located near one end of a giant molecular cloud in the Monoceros region of the Milky Way Galaxy. The open cluster NGC 2244 (Caldwell 50) is closely associated with the nebulosity, the stars of the cluster having been formed from the nebula's matter. Additional information at the wikipedia link: http:/​/​en.​wikipedia.​org/​wiki/​Rosette_​Nebula

Witchhead Nebula in B&W

The Witchhead Nebula is a very faint reflection Nebula, near the bright star Rigel in Orion. My existing camera needed to be binned 2x2 to pick up the faint detail, so this became a black and white version. The nebula is actual blue colored when captured in color. Equipment: Canon 550D (astro-modified, clear glass filter) Software Bisque MyT Mount Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8 Unguided Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Light Frames: 14 x 300 secs, binned 2x2 (1 hr 10 mins) 2 x 240 secs (8 mins) Total 1 hr 18 mins Dark Frames: 10 x 300 secs (50 mins) Additional Frames: Bias - 30 No Flats From Wikipedia: IC 2118 (also known as Witch Head Nebula due to its shape), is an extremely faint reflection nebula believed to be an ancient supernova remnant or gas cloud illuminated by nearby supergiant star Rigel in Orion. It lies in the Eridanus constellation, about 900 light-years from Earth. The nature of the dust particles, reflecting blue light better than red, is a factor in giving the Witch Head its blue color.

Flame, Horsehead, and NGC 2023

The Flame Nebula, the Horsehead Nebula, and the reflection Nebula NGC 2023 all make an appearance in this image, taken under darker skies at Abiquiu Lake, NM. Equipment: SBIG STF-8300c Software Bisque MyT Mount Stellarvue SVQ100 580mm f/5.8 Astrograph Refractor Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Light Frames: 13 x 720 secs (2 hrs 36 mins) Dark Frames: 6 x 720 secs (1 hr 12 mins) Other Frames: 30 Bias No Flats Object Details from Wikipedia: The Horsehead Nebula (also known as Barnard 33 ) is a dark nebula in the constellation Orion.[1] The nebula is located just to the south of the star Alnitak, which is farthest east on Orion's Belt, and is part of the much larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. The nebula was first recorded in 1888 by Scottish astronomer Williamina Fleming on photographic plate B2312 taken at the Harvard College Observatory. The Horsehead Nebula is approximately 1500 light years from Earth. It is one of the most identifiable nebulae because of the shape of its swirling cloud of dark dust and gases, which bears some resemblance to a horse's head when viewed from Earth. The Flame Nebula, designated as NGC 2024 and Sh2-277, is an emission nebula in the constellation Orion. It is about 900 to 1,500 light-years away. The bright star Alnitak (ζ Ori), the easternmost star in the Belt of Orion, shines energetic ultraviolet light into the Flame and this knocks electrons away from the great clouds of hydrogen gas that reside there. Much of the glow results when the electrons and ionized hydrogen recombine. Additional dark gas and dust lies in front of the bright part of the nebula and this is what causes the dark network that appears in the center of the glowing gas. The Flame Nebula is part of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, a star-forming region that includes the famous Horsehead Nebula. NGC 2023 (also known as LBN 954) is a reflection nebula located in the constellation of Orion (The Hunter).

North America Nebula - Wall Detail

This shot of the aptly named North America Nebula (also known as NGC7000) shows detail in the 'wall' section - a very active Hydrogen Alpha emission portion of the nebula that glows in a reddish-salmon color in this natural color image. Additionally, a portion of the dimmer Pelican nebula (the 'beak' section) is visible protruding into the upper right portion of this image. Equipment: Canon 550D (astro-modified, clear glass filter) Software Bisque MyT Mount Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8 Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Photoshop CC Light Frames: 14 x 360 secs 2 x 300 secs (1 hr 34 mins) Dark Frames: 15 x 360 secs (1 hr 30 mins) Other Frames: 30 Bias No Flats More details from Wikipedia: The North America Nebula (NGC 7000 or Caldwell 20) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, close to Deneb (the tail of the swan and its brightest star). The remarkable shape of the nebula resembles that of the continent of North America, complete with a prominent Gulf of Mexico. It is sometimes incorrectly called the "North American Nebula".[3]

Soul Nebula in Hydrogen Alpha Light

I was able to take a short stack of the Soul Nebula in Ha light for a 1st light image with my newly acquired ZWO ASI-1600MM-C camera. I was quite impressed at the level of detail I was able to capture under light polluted suburban skies with only 28 minutes of total integration. Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera (gain: 74, offset: 13) Software Bisque MyT Mount Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8 Astrodon 5nm Ha filter, 31mm Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Light Frames: 10 x 120 secs (20 mins) 2 x 240 secs ( 8 mins) Dark Frames: 10 x 120 secs (20 mins) 10 x 240 secs (40 mins) Bias Frames: 100 x 0.00032 secs Flat Frames: 10 x 25 secs Located about 6,500 light years away, the Soul Nebula spans about 100 light years. Additional info from excerpts about the Soul Nebula from Wikipedia: Westerhout 5 (Sharpless 2-199, LBN 667, Soul Nebula) is an emission nebula located in Cassiopeia. The object is more commonly called by the cluster designation IC 1848. This complex is the eastern neighbor of IC1805 (Heart Nebula) and the two are often mentioned together as the "Heart and Soul".

M8, The Lagoon Nebula, In Narrowband Bicolor

My first processed narrowband color image, made fom a smaller stack of data taken with just the Hydrogen-alpha (Ha) and Oxygen III (OIII) filters. The dark skies and narrow filters produced plenty of contrast. This false color image is a bicolor version with Ha mapped to red, and OIII mapped to green and blue, with a synthetic luminance layer made from an equal combo of both the Ha and OIII data added in. Majority of processing performed in Pixinsight, with additional tweaks made in both Photoshop and Lightroom. Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera @ -15C and Gain:139 Offset:21 Software Bisque MyT Mount Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8 Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Photoshop CC Light Frames: Ha: 9 x 240 secs (36 mins) OIII: 7 x 240 secs (28 mins) Dark Frames: 10 x 240 secs (40 mins) Details about The Lagoon Nebula From Wikipedia: The Lagoon Nebula (catalogued as Messier 8 or M8, NGC 6523, Sharpless 25, RCW 146, and Gum 72) is a giant interstellar cloud in the constellation Sagittarius. It is classified as an emission nebula and as an H II region. The Lagoon Nebula was discovered by Giovanni Hodierna before 1654[4] and is one of only two star-forming nebulae faintly visible to the eye from mid-northern latitudes. Seen with binoculars, it appears as a distinct oval cloudlike patch with a definite core. In the foreground is the open cluster NGC 6530.[5] Additional information at the wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagoon_Nebula

Rho-Ophiuchi Nebula Complex

One of the most beautiful areas of the night sky visible from the Northern Hemisphere, the Rho-Ophiuchi Nebula Complex shows off a myriad of colors in this natural light image captured through LRGB filters. There are also a number of globular clusters visible in the image, the most prominent example being M4, almost directly below the very bright star Antares, which is located in the bright golden area of the image. Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera @ -15C and Gain:74 Offset: 12 Software Bisque MyT Mount Canon 70-300 f/4-5.6 L IS at 135mm and f/5.6 (via step down ring) Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Photoshop CC Light Frames: Luminance: 44 x 90 secs (66 mins) Red: 10 x 150 secs (25 mins) Green: 11 x 150 secs (27.5 mins) Blue: 10 x 150 secs (25 mins) Dark Frames: 20 x 90 secs (30 mins) 20 x 150 secs (50 mins) Details about The Rho-Ophiuchi Cloud Complex From Wikipedia: The Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex is a dark nebula of gas and dust that is located 1° south of the star ρ Ophiuchi of the constellation Ophiuchus. At an estimated distance of 131 ± 3 parsecs,[2][4] this cloud is one of the closest star-forming regions to the Solar System.[5] Additional details can be found at this Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rho_Ophiuchi_cloud_complex

Eastern Veil Nebula

This a narrowband image of the Eastern Veil (also known as Caldwell 33), whose brightest area is NGC 6992, which is part of a much larger nebula complex known as the Veil Nebula, a supernova remnant. This image is created using data collected through Ha, OIII, and SII narrowband filters, to bring out complex details and enhance contrast. Since some of the wavelengths emitted are not detected by the human eye, and the object itself is too faint to detect visually, the colors are an artificial mix, created by arbitrarily assigned the different filtered wavelengths of light to visible colors of the spectrum. This 'mix' is just the one I found to be pleasing, and it also gives the charicteristic reddish colors for the Ha areas and the teal colors for the OIII regions. The color mix used is: Red: 76% Ha, 24% SII Green: 100% OIII Blue: 95% OIII, 5% Ha Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera @ -15C and Gain:139 Offset:21 Software Bisque MyT Mount Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8 Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Photoshop CC Light Frames: Ha: 8 x 360 secs (48 mins) OIII: 7 x 360 secs (42 mins) SII: 7 x 360 secs (42 mins) Dark Frames: 8 x 360 secs (48 mins) More details from Wikipedia: The Veil Nebula is a cloud of heated and ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus. It constitutes the visible portions of the Cygnus Loop (radio source W78, or Sharpless 103), a large but relatively faint supernova remnant. The source supernova exploded circa 3,000 BC to 6,000 BC, and the remnants have since expanded to cover an area roughly 3 degrees in diameter (about 6 times the diameter, or 36 times the area, of the full moon). The distance to the nebula is not precisely known, but Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) data supports a distance of about 1,470 light-years.[2]

Bubble Nebula, NGC 7635

A relatively close look at the Bubble Nebula, imaged in Ha and OIII, but using a palette mix that approximates an RGB image. I did not get nearly as much data as I would like, and the OIII signal ended up not being very prevalent as a result. But this is such a unique object it still turned out to be an interesting view. Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera @ -20C and Gain:139 Offset:21 Software Bisque MyT Mount Celestron EdgeHD 800 8" SCT, with Lepus 0.62x reducer, f/6.2 at 1260mm Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Photoshop CC Light Frames: Ha: 7 x 300 secs (35 mins) OIII: 6 x 420 secs (42 mins) Dark Frames: 20 x 300 secs (1 hr 40 mins) 20 x 420 secs (2 hrs 20 mins) The Bubble Nebula is created by the powerful stellar wind of a massive energetic star, that creates a bubble shaped gas shell that looks remarkably like a bubble. More Details From Wikipedia: NGC 7635, also known as the Bubble Nebula, Sharpless 162, or Caldwell 11, is a H II region[1] emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia. It lies close to the direction of the open cluster Messier 52. The "bubble" is created by the stellar wind from a massive hot, 8.7[1] magnitude young central star, SAO 20575 (BD+60°2522).[7] The nebula is near a giant molecular cloud which contains the expansion of the bubble nebula while itself being excited by the hot central star, causing it to glow.[7] It was discovered in 1787 by William Herschel.[5] The star BD+60°2522 is thought to have a mass of about 44 M☉.

IC 410, The Tadpoles Nebula

This was shot under local light polluted skies, and there were some high clouds that reduced contrast as well. But shooting in narrowband, I was still able to get some signal. I would like to try this object again in the future potentially under darker skies when I can also get more subframes. The Tadpoles Nebula is named for the 2 little squiggles that look like tadpoles, shown in to the right of center in my image. This dusty star forming region lies approximately 12,000 light years away, and is part of a larger region that also includes the Flaming Star Nebula. Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera @ -15C and Gain:139 Offset:21 Software Bisque MyT Mount Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8 Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Photoshop CC Light Frames: Ha: 5 x 300 secs (25 mins) OIII: 4 x 300 secs (20 mins) Dark Frames: 20 x 300 secs (1 hr 40 mins)