Latest Work

A compendium of my latest work from the last ~6 months.

California Nebula Mosaic in Narrowband - Remix
Here is a 2 panel mosaic in narrowband, but combining Hα and SII emissions, without any OIII collected. This 2nd mix uses a more traditional palette, with a mix that is primarily set as Red - 100% SII, Green -70% Hα, and no Blue, with then a lot of tweaking in Photoshop and Lightroom. This new mix still gives a yellow cast to the combined emission regions with the areas predominated by each filter wavelength showing as red or green. This target could have used an even wider FOV as with this amount of integration there is lots of faint nebulosity that is outside the FOV. But I am ultimately happy with this second mosaic I have ever attempted. More info on this object from Wikipedia: The California Nebula (NGC 1499/Sh2-220) is an emission nebula located in the constellation Perseus. Its name comes from its resemblance to the outline of the US State of California in 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 Hα filter (isolates the Hα line at 656 nm) or 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, seen at center below it in the inset at right).[2] The California Nebula was discovered by E. E. Barnard in 1884. Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera @ -15C and Gain:200 Offset:50 Software Bisque MyT Mount Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8 Innovations Foresight ONAG Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Photoshop CC Innovations Foresight SkyGuard Light Frames: Hα: 112 x 300 secs (9 hrs 20 mins ) SII: 82 x 300 secs (6 hrs 50 mins) Red: 50 x 30 secs (25 mins) Green: 51 x 30 secs 25 mins 30 secs) Blue: 46 x 30 secs (24 mins 30 secs) 17 hrs 25 mins total Dark Frames: 10 x 30 secs each, RGB (15 mins total) 10 x 300 secs each, Hα, OIII(1 hr 40 mins total)
California Nebula Mosaic in Narrowband
Here is a 2 panel mosaic in narrowband, but combining Hα and SII emissions, without any OIII collected. This gives it a somewhat non-traditional palette, with a mix that is primarily set as Red - 100% Hα, Green - 100% SII, and Blue - 50% Hα, with then a lot of tweaking in Photoshop and Lightroom. This gives a yellow cast to the combined emission regions with the areas predominated by each filter wavelength showing as red or green. This target could have used an even wider FOV as with this amount of integration there is lots of faint nebulosity that is outside the FOV. But I am ultimately happy with this second mosaic I have ever attempted. More info on this object from Wikipedia: The California Nebula (NGC 1499/Sh2-220) is an emission nebula located in the constellation Perseus. Its name comes from its resemblance to the outline of the US State of California in 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 Hα filter (isolates the Hα line at 656 nm) or 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, seen at center below it in the inset at right).[2] The California Nebula was discovered by E. E. Barnard in 1884. Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera @ -15C and Gain:200 Offset:50 Software Bisque MyT Mount Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8 Innovations Foresight ONAG Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Photoshop CC Innovations Foresight SkyGuard Light Frames: Hα: 112 x 300 secs (9 hrs 20 mins ) SII: 82 x 300 secs (6 hrs 50 mins) Red: 50 x 30 secs (25 mins) Green: 51 x 30 secs 25 mins 30 secs) Blue: 46 x 30 secs (24 mins 30 secs) 17 hrs 25 mins total Dark Frames: 10 x 30 secs each, RGB (15 mins total) 10 x 300 secs each, Hα, OIII(1 hr 40 mins total)
Barnard 150 and the Fireworks Galaxy
A 3 panel mosaic showing both the Seahorse Nebula (B150), the dark nebula across the bottom portion of the frame, and the Fireworks Galaxy (NGC 6946), a galaxy with a multitude of active star forming regions, in the upper right of the frame. Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera @ -15C and Gain:139 Offset:21 (Unity Gain) Software Bisque MyT Mount Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8 Innovations Foresight ONAG Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Photoshop CC Innovations Foresight SkyGuard Light Frames: Red:159 x 240 secs (10 hrs 36 mins) Green:158 x 240 secs (10 hrs 32 mins) Blue: 136 x 240 secs (9 hrs 04 mins) 30 hrs 12 mins total Dark Frames: 10 x 240 secs (40 mins) Bias Frames 60 Flat Frames 10 each filter