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Saturday, March 26, 2016

A new photo, Sharpless 124, an emission nebula in constellation Cygnus



I shot the lights for this target at January 6. 2016 The data wasn't very good due to weak transparency and a poor seeing at the time. I got this processed just now and the result is much better, than I thought it might be.

There are very few photos and scientific information out of this rarely imaged target. It locates in constellation Cygnus at estimated distance of 8400 light years. Total exposure time for my photo is only seven hours. I will continue with this target at next Autumn, hopefully with better atmospheric conditions.

Sharpless 124, Sh2-124
Ra 21 38 17  Dec +50 19 48

The photo is in mapped colors from the light emitted by an ionized elements, 
red=sulfur, green=hydrogen and blue=oxygen.


Sharpless 124 in visual colors

Natural color composition from the emission of ionized elements, R=80%Hydrogen+20%Sulfur, G=100%Oxygen and B=85%Oxygen+15%Hydrogen to compensate otherwise missing H-beta emission. This composition is very close to a visual spectrum.


Sharpless 124, in H-alpha emission only


Technical details

Processing work flow

Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack2.
Deconvolution with a CCDStack2 Positive Constraint, 21 iterations, added at 25% weight
Color combine in PS CS3
Levels and curves in PS CS3.

Imaging optics
Celestron Edge HD 1100 @ f7 with 0,7 focal reducer for Edge HD 1100 telescope

Mount
10-micron 1000

Cameras and filters
Imaging camera Apogee Alta U16 and Apogee seven slot filter wheel
Guider camera, Lodestar x2 and SXV-AOL

Astrodon filter, 5nm H-alpha
Astrodon filter, 3nm O-III
Astrodon filter, 3nm S-II

Exposure times
H-alpha, 15 x 1200s =5h
O-III, 3 x 1200s binned = 2h
S-II,  3 x 1200s binned = 2h
Total 7h

A single uncropped, calibrated and stretched 20 min. H-alpha frame as it comes from the camera

H-alpha data was binned 2x2




Thursday, March 24, 2016

A new image, the Lower's nebula



We now have had few clear nights after having a solid cloud cover for over two months. Transparency and seeing were poor at most of the time though. I managed to collect some data for two imaging projects. The Lower's Nebula was the first one. This is a dim and rarely imaged emission nebula in constellation Orion. There are not too many photos out of this one and it was difficult to collect information about it. Total exposure time is only 5h, I will continue this project at spring season 2017.


Lower's Nebula

The photo is in mapped colors from the light emitted by an ionized elements, 
red=sulfur, green=hydrogen and blue=oxygen.


INFO

The Sh2-261 (Sharpless 261), also known as the Lower's Nebula, is a faint region of doubly ionized hydrogen. Its apparent dimension is about 50 arcminutes in East-West direction and 30 arcminutes in North-South. So, it has an apparent size about twice the full Moon diameter. Of course the real size of the nebula is much larger! But we have no information about the distance of this hydrogen cloud, so we are not able to determine how large it is. (Source, www.skyfactory.org)

Technical details

Processing work flow

Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack2.
Deconvolution with a CCDStack2 Positive Constraint, 21 iterations, added at 25% weight
Color combine in PS CS3
Levels and curves in PS CS3.

Imaging optics
Celestron Edge HD 1100 @ f7 with 0,7 focal reducer for Edge HD 1100 telescope

Mount
10-micron 1000

Cameras and filters
Imaging camera Apogee Alta U16 and Apogee seven slot filter wheel
Guider camera, Lodestar x2 and SXV-AOL

Astrodon filter, 5nm H-alpha
Astrodon filter, 3nm O-III
Astrodon filter, 3nm S-II

Exposure times
H-alpha, 9 x 1200s =3h
O-III, 3 x 1200s binned = 1h
S-II,  3 x 1200s binned = 1h
Total 5h

A single uncropped, calibrated and stretched 20 min. H-alpha frame as it comes from the camera






Wednesday, March 16, 2016

4D video of the Veil Nebula SNR


The weather up here 65N has been cloudy for months. I played with my older images and made couple of  experimental 3D animations out of them. Here is the first one, the Veil Nebula SNR in Cygnus. This is actually a 4D animation since it shows the time too... I made this just for fun, this is not an accurate model of reality but close enough for me.


4D video of the Veil Nebula supernova remnant 



Click to start and stop the movie

Watch in Youtube, HD 1080p: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWt9BqAtyKI

Original 2D image of the Veil Nebula can be seen here:
http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2013/12/veil-nebula-unveiled.html





Monday, March 14, 2016

Astro Anarchy gets published, exhibition in Mikkeli Center of Photography



10.3.-8.4.2016
Sali: J-P. Metsävainio
Studio I: Christelle Mas
Studio II: Johannes Wilenius
Studio III: Aira Lång

An ongoing exhibition in Mikkeli, http://www.en.mikkelinvalokuvakeskus.fi/

I have about twenty large aluminium prints at display.

A closeup of NGC 1499, the California Nebula, 100 x 100 cm aluminium print


Some of my astronomical shots. Image credits, Johannes Wilenius