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William Optics GT81
William Optics Flat 6AIII
ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
ZWO ASI Air Pro
Skywatcher HEQ 5 Pro
Optolong L-eXtreme filter
97 x 180s lights, 40 darks, 50 flats and 50 flat darks at gain 101 and -10C.
Stacked and processed in PixInsight with final touches in PS and LR.
Recent clear and frosty nights have given me some decent data collection on this target. This is the Christmas Tree Cluster and the Cone Nebula (NGC2264) located in the constellation of Monoceros. The red Christmas tree shape is clear, adorned with its blue tinged open star cluster masquerading as the baubles. The Cone Nebula (inverted in this view) can be seen at the top of the image. Deep within the clouds of gas and dust are the ingredients for producing new stars, which burn a fiercely hot bright blue. The red hue in the image is a result of gas clouds glowing as they are hit by ultra-violet light emanating from the newborn stars. The region is about 30 lightyears across and sits 2600 lightyears from Earth, not far in the sky from the Orion constellation.
William Optics GT81
William Optics Flat 6AIII
ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
ZWO ASI Air Pro
Skywatcher HEQ 5 Pro
Optolong L-eXtreme filter
161 x 180s lights, 40 darks, 50 flats and 50 flat darks at gain 101 and -10C.
Stacked and processed in PixInsight with final touches in LR.
The Orion Nebula, possibly the most photographed deep sky object in the night sky; it is also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976, a diffuse nebula situated in the Milky Way, located south of Orion's Belt in the constellation of Orion. It is one of the brightest nebulae and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky. M42 is located at a distance of 1350 light years and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. The M42 nebula is estimated to be 24 light years across and it has a mass of about 2000 times that of the Sun.
William Optics GT81
William Optics Flat 6AIII
ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
ZWO ASI Air Pro
Skywatcher HEQ 5 Pro
Optolong L-eXtreme filter
100 x 180s lights, 40 darks, 50 flats, 50 flat darks at gain 101 and cooled to -10C.
Stacked in PixInsight and processed in PixInsight, PS and LR.
The Flaming Star - IC405 (right) and Tadpoles - IC410 (left) nebulae in the constellation Auriga, 1500 and 12400 light years away respectively.
William Optics GT81
William Optics Flat 6AIII
ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
ZWO ASI Air Pro
Skywatcher HEQ 5 Pro
Optolong L-eXtreme filter
108 x 180s lights, 40 darks, 50 flats, 50 flat darks at gain 100 and cooled to -10C.
Stacked in PixInsight and processed in PixInsight, PS and LR.
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 lies about 1000 light years from Earth.
William Optics GT81
William Optics Flat 6AIII
ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
Optolong L-eXtreme filter
ASI Air Pro
Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro
186 x 180s lights, 40 darks, 50 flats, 50 flat darks, -10 degC, gain 100.
Stacked in PixInsight, processed in PixInsight, PS and LR
IC1396, a large region of ionised gas containing the Elephant's Trunk Nebula (top centre - a concentration of interstellar gas and dust) and the Garnet Star (large red star bottom left), located in the constellation Cepheus about 2400 light years away from Earth. The Garnet Star is 1000 times larger and 100000 times brighter than the Sun!
ZWO ASI 2600MC Pro, gain 100, cooled to -10degC
William Optics GT81 with Flat 6AIII
Optolong L-eXtreme filter
ASIAir Pro guided
HEQ5 Pro mount
123 x 180s lights
40 darks
50 flats
50 flat darks
Stacked and processed in PixInsight and finished in PS and LR
Bortle 4 skies
Explore 15 September 2024
Another astro image - the clouds cleared last night, despite the forecast saying it would be overcast, so I stayed up all night and grabbed 6 hours or data collection on Andromeda. It's not finished as I need to collect further data to refine the image further and collect some data in the hydrogen (red) spectrum to show the nebulae within the spirals. So it's a work in process but still my best to date on this celestial object.
The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is a barred spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million light-years from Earth and the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way. The galaxy's name stems from the area of Earth's sky in which it appears, the constellation of Andromeda.
The mass of the Andromeda Galaxy is of the same order of magnitude as that of the Milky Way, at 1 trillion solar masses and it has a diameter of about 220,000 light years.
The number of stars contained in the Andromeda Galaxy is estimated at one trillion, or roughly twice the number estimated for the Milky Way.
The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies are expected to collide in around 4.5 billion years, merging to form a giant elliptical galaxy or a large lenticular galaxy.
Also visible in this shot are two satellite dwarf galaxies, M32 and M110 (the two other fuzzy star formations to the left and just below Andromeda).
ZWO ASI 2600MC Pro, gain 100, cooled to -10degC
William Optics GT81 with Flat 6AIII
Optolong L-Pro filter
ASIAir Pro guided
HEQ5 Pro mount
98 x 180s lights
40 darks
50 flats
50 dark flats
Stacked and processed in Pixinsight, then PS and LR for final touches
It's been a while again since I have done astrophotography - the summer months rule it out due to the short nights and the weather this year has been almost entirely dominated by cloud. However, at the tail of last week we had a couple of clear nights so I had a go at a target I have not imaged for 3 years (that flew!).
This is the North America Nebula (AKA NGC 7000, AKA Caldwell 20) on the left, which gets its name on account of its similar shape to North America with its prominent 'Gulf of Mexico'. To the right of the frame is the Pelican nebula (IC5070), getting its name due its pelican-like appearance. They sit approximately 1600 light years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus and span a combined distance of approximately 100 light years across the sky. The numbers are hard to fathom but, in short, the light that entered my camera left the target 1600 years ago - at this time the Romans ruled Great Britain! To traverse this area of space from one side of the image to the other you would have to travel at the speed of light for 100 years! For comparison, light from our sun, which is 93 million miles away, reaches us in 8 minutes... It is nonsensical to discuss these solar objects in terms of 'miles' from Earth as a mile is just too small a measure of distance for it to be meaningful, hence light years are used.
The whole area is a mass of dust and gas which becomes excited by the energy from the neighbouring stars, the light emitted from those gases as they move from an excited to stable state is what generates the image.
This 'image' was generated over 2 nights from my garden in Aberaeron and is a stacked output of 192 x 3 minute exposures, taken with a cooled camera attached to a telescope that was mounted on a star tracker that rotates at the same speed as the Earth - this locks the subject in the camera's field of view allowing many images to be taken without the subject 'moving'.
Equipment:
William Optics GT81 scope, Flat 6AIII field flattener, ZWO ASI2600MC Pro camera, Optolong L-eXtreme filter, Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro (guided), ASIAir pro.
Frames
192 light, 180 sec, gain 100, -10C
40 dark, 50 flat, 50 dark flat
Software and processing
Stacked and processed in PixInsight with final touches in Lightroom
The Elephant's Trunk Nebula is a concentration of interstellar gas and dust within the much larger ionized gas region IC 1396 located in the constellation Cepheus about 2,400 light years away from Earth. The piece of the nebula shown here is the dark, dense globule IC 1396A; it is commonly called the Elephant's Trunk nebula because of its appearance at visible light wavelengths, where there is a dark patch with a bright, sinuous rim. The bright rim is the surface of the dense cloud that is being illuminated and ionized by a very bright, massive star (HD 206267) that is just to the east of IC 1396A. (In the Spitzer Space Telescope view shown, the massive star is just to the left of the edge of the image.) The entire IC 1396 region is ionized by the massive star, except for dense globules that can protect themselves from the star's harsh ultraviolet rays.
The Elephant's Trunk Nebula is now thought to be a site of star formation, containing several very young (less than 100,000 yr) stars that were discovered in infrared images in 2003. Two older (but still young, a couple of million years, by the standards of stars, which live for billions of years) stars are present in a small, circular cavity in the head of the globule. Winds from these young stars may have emptied the cavity.
The combined action of the light from the massive star ionizing and compressing the rim of the cloud, and the wind from the young stars shifting gas from the center outward lead to very high compression in the Elephant's Trunk Nebula. This pressure has triggered the current generation of protostars.
Taken over 7 nights in Bortle 6 conditions
288 x 300 Second exposures totalling 24 hours of integration time.
30 flats
30 darks
Mount - EQ6R Pro
Camera - ZWO 2600MC cooled to -10c
Filter - Optolong L Ultimate
Telescope - WO GT81V with 0.8 Reducer
ZWO ASIAIR, ZWO Auto Focuser, ZWO Mini Guide scope and Mono Camera
Processed in Pixinsight
The Elephant's Trunk Nebula is a concentration of interstellar gas and dust within the much larger ionized gas region IC 1396 located in the constellation Cepheus about 2,400 light years away from Earth. The piece of the nebula shown here is the dark, dense globule IC 1396A; it is commonly called the Elephant's Trunk nebula because of its appearance at visible light wavelengths, where there is a dark patch with a bright, sinuous rim. The bright rim is the surface of the dense cloud that is being illuminated and ionized by a very bright, massive star (HD 206267) that is just to the east of IC 1396A. (In the Spitzer Space Telescope view shown, the massive star is just to the left of the edge of the image.) The entire IC 1396 region is ionized by the massive star, except for dense globules that can protect themselves from the star's harsh ultraviolet rays.
The Elephant's Trunk Nebula is now thought to be a site of star formation, containing several very young (less than 100,000 yr) stars that were discovered in infrared images in 2003. Two older (but still young, a couple of million years, by the standards of stars, which live for billions of years) stars are present in a small, circular cavity in the head of the globule. Winds from these young stars may have emptied the cavity.
The combined action of the light from the massive star ionizing and compressing the rim of the cloud, and the wind from the young stars shifting gas from the center outward lead to very high compression in the Elephant's Trunk Nebula. This pressure has triggered the current generation of protostars.
Taken over 7 nights in Bortle 6 conditions
288 x 300 Second exposures totalling 24 hours of integration time.
30 flats
30 darks
Mount - EQ6R Pro
Camera - ZWO 2600MC cooled to -10c
Filter - Optolong L Ultimate
Telescope - WO GT81V with 0.8 Reducer
ZWO ASIAIR, ZWO Auto Focuser, ZWO Mini Guide scope and Mono Camera
Processed in Pixinsight
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, a supernova remnant, many portions of which have acquired their own individual names and catalogue identifiers. The source supernova was a star 20 times more massive than the Sun which exploded between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago. At the time of the explosion, the supernova would have appeared brighter than Venus in the sky, and visible in the daytime. The remnants have since expanded to cover an area of the sky roughly 3 degrees in diameter (about 6 times the diameter, and 36 times the area, of the full Moon). While previous distance estimates have ranged from 1200 to 5800 light-years, a recent determination of 2400 light-years is based on direct astrometric measurements. (The distance estimates affect also the estimates of size and age.)
Mount - EQ6R Pro
Scope - William Optics GT81 with 0.8 Reducer
Camera - ZWO ASI 2600MC Pro cooled to -10c
Filter - Optolong L Ultimate
Guiding - ZWO 30 mm Mini Scope and & 120MM Mono Camera
Computer - ZWO ASIAIR Pro
Processing Software - Pixingsight
112 x 600 Second Lights (total integration 18.6 hours over 4 nights)
Calibration frames - 50 darks, 50 flats
NGC 2403 (also known as Caldwell 7) is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Camelopardalis.
Some 10 million light-years distant and about 50,000 light-years across, the spiral galaxy also seems to have more than its fair share of giant star forming regions.
~~~~~
Telescope: Celestron C11-A XLT Schmidt Cassegrain OTA
Mount: SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro
Controller: ZWO ASIAIR Pro
Main Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro at -10C
Filter: ZWO UV/IR cut filter
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI174MM Mini guidecam
Guide via: ZWO OAG
Stacked from:
Lights 25 at 180 seconds, gain 101, temp -10C
Darks 30 at 180 seconds, gain 101, temp -10C
Flat 30 at 430ms, gain 101, temp -10C
Dark Flat 30 at 430ms gain 101 temp -10C
Bortle 4 sky.
Integrated the saved frames in Astro Pixel Processor.
Processed in PixInsight
Added captions in Photoshop CS4
Messier 99 (M99), also known as the Coma Pinwheel or Virgo Cluster Pinwheel, is an unbarred spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices. The galaxy is a member of the Virgo Cluster. It is about 56 million light years from Earth. Its designation in the New General Catalogue is NGC 4254.
The Coma Pinwheel has a linear diameter of 85,000 light years. It is one of the brighter spiral galaxies in the Virgo Cluster and appears almost face-on.
Even though the Virgo Cluster Pinwheel is almost the same size as the Milky Way it has an estimated mass of 50 billion solar masses, which is only 5 percent of our galaxy’s mass.
~~~~~
Telescope: Celestron C11-A XLT Schmidt Cassegrain OTA
Mount: SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro
Controller: ZWO ASIAIR Pro
Main Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro at -10C
Filter: Optolong L-Pro filter
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI174MM Mini guidecam
Guide via: ZWO OAG
Stacked from:
Lights 48 at 120 seconds, gain 101, temp -10C
Darks 30 at 120 seconds, gain 101, temp -10C
Flat 30 at 230 ms, gain 101, temp -10C
Dark Flat 30 at 230 ms gain 101 temp -10C
Bortle 4 sky.
Integrated the saved frames in Astro Pixel Processor.
Processed in PixInsight
Added captions in Photoshop CS4
M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy, is 31 million lightyears from Earth in the constellation Canes Venatici. It has a beautiful face-on appearance, as seen from Earth, enabling observers to make out its distinct spiral structure and luminous galactic core.
The spiral arms are packed with stars, gas and dust and make for the perfect conditions for new stars to be born, as that gas and dust coalesces, compresses and collapses to ignite star-birth.
In images of the Whirlpool Galaxy, hot young stars can be seen glowing bright blue along the arms, while older, yellower stars are seen glowing closer to the centre.
~~~~~
Telescope: Celestron C11-A XLT Schmidt Cassegrain OTA
Mount: SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro
Controller: ZWO ASIAIR Plus
Main Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro at -10C
Filter: ZWO UV/IR Cut filter
Focal reducer: TS Optics 0.63x
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI174MM Mini guidecam
Guide via: ZWO OAG
Stacked from:
Lights 40 at 60 seconds, gain 101, temp -10C
Darks 30 at 60 seconds, gain 101, temp -10C
Flats 30 at 40 ms, gain 101, temp -10C
Dark Flats 30 at 40ms gain 101 temp -10C
Bortle 4 sky.
Integrated the saved frames in Astro Pixel Processor.
Processed in PixInsight
Labels added in Photoshop CS4
Details:
Gain 125
Lights: 25x60s RGB. No darks.
Setup:
William Optics Redcat51
ASI533MCPro
SkyWatcher EQ5Pro Goto
ASIAirPro
DSS + Pixinsight + DeNoiseAI + Luminar
Annotated version: nova.astrometry.net/user_images/9607599#annotated
The Jellyfish Nebula (IC 443, Sharpless 248) is a supernova remnant located in the constellation Gemini. It lies approximately 5000 light years from Earth and can be found between the stars Mu and Eta Geminorum, at the foot of one of the celestial Twins.
The Jellyfish Nebula is a remnant of a supernova that occurred in the Milky Way between 3000 and 30000 years ago. The supernova event produced the nebula and a neutron star. The presence of the neutron star and the nebula’s location in a star forming region indicate that the remnant was created by a Type II supernova, one triggered by a rapid collapse and violent explosion of a star with a mass at least 8 times that of the Sun. The neutron star is moving away from the site at about 800000 km/h.
Photographed in my back yard.
William Optics GT81
William Optics Flat 6AIII
ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
ZWO ASI Air Pro
ZWO EAF
Skywatcher HEQ 5 Pro
Optolong L-eXtreme filter
I'm not sure what the file structure was as I deleted them leaving only the final stacked image which I didn't process for some months,
Stacked in DSS and processed in PixInsight, PS and LR
The Heart Nebula
The Heart Nebula (IC 1805), lies some 7500 light years away from Earth and is located in the Perseus Arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was discovered by William Herschel on 3 November 1787. It is an emission nebula showing glowing ionized hydrogen gas and darker dust lanes.
The brightest part of the nebula (a knot at its western edge) is separately classified as NGC 896, because it was the first part of the nebula to be discovered. The nebula's intense red output and its morphology are driven by the radiation emanating from a small group of stars near the nebula's center. This open cluster of stars, known as Collinder 26 or Melotte 15, contains a few bright stars nearly 50 times the mass of our Sun, and many more dim stars that are only a fraction of our Sun's mass.
William Optics GT81
William Optics Flat 6AIII
ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
ZWO ASI Air Pro
Skywatcher HEQ 5 Pro
Optolong L-eXtreme filter
ZWO EAF
70 lights of 180sec at gain 100 and -10degC, 40 darks, 40 flats and 40 dark flats
Bortle 4 skies
Stacked and processing in PixInsight with final processing in Lightroom and Photoshop
It's been a year since I have done astrophotography but the last 2 days of cold and crisp weather has provided a perfect opportunity to get out and image again. This image of the Rosette Nebula (also known as Caldwell 49) was taken from the garden in Aberaeron over two successive nights. The nebula is a H II region located near one end of a giant molecular cloud in the Monoceros region of the Milky Way galaxy. The open star cluster NGC 2244 (Caldwell 50) at its centre is closely associated with the nebulosity, the stars of the cluster having been formed from the nebula's matter. The cluster and nebula lie at a distance of 5000 light-years from Earth and measure roughly 130 light years in diameter (to put this in context, light from the sun takes just 0.000015561 light years, or 8 minutes, to reach Earth!) The radiation from the young stars excites the atoms in the nebula, causing them to emit radiation themselves producing the emission nebula we see. The mass of the nebula is estimated to be around 10000 solar masses.
This image comprises 88 x 3 minute images stacked and processed to generate a final image.
William Optics GT81
William Optics Flat 6AIII
ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
ZWO ASI Air Pro
Skywatcher HEQ 5 Pro
Optolong L-eXtreme filter
ZWO EAF
88 x 180s lights, 40 darks, 50 flats, 50 dark flats at gain 100 and cooled to -10C.
Stacked in PixInsight and processed in PixInsight, PS and LR.
This is a re-edit of the image I posted a few days ago but this time I have managed to pull some of the blue oxygen emission data out from the centre of the cloud.
It's been a year since I have done astrophotography but the last 2 days of cold and crisp weather has provided a perfect opportunity to get out and image again. This image of the Rosette Nebula (also known as Caldwell 49) was taken from the garden in Aberaeron over two successive nights. The nebula is a H II region located near one end of a giant molecular cloud in the Monoceros region of the Milky Way galaxy. The open star cluster NGC 2244 (Caldwell 50) at its centre is closely associated with the nebulosity, the stars of the cluster having been formed from the nebula's matter. The cluster and nebula lie at a distance of 5000 light-years from Earth and measure roughly 130 light years in diameter (to put this in context, light from the sun takes just 0.000015561 light years, or 8 minutes, to reach Earth!) The radiation from the young stars excites the atoms in the nebula, causing them to emit radiation themselves producing the emission nebula we see. The mass of the nebula is estimated to be around 10000 solar masses.
This image comprises 88 x 3 minute images stacked and processed to generate a final image.
William Optics GT81
William Optics Flat 6AIII
ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
ZWO ASI Air Pro
Skywatcher HEQ 5 Pro
Optolong L-eXtreme filter
ZWO EAF
88 x 180s lights, 40 darks, 50 flats, 50 dark flats at gain 100 and cooled to -10C.
Stacked in DSS and processed in Pixinsight, PS and LR
Explore 08 March 2024
Finally, a decent Pleiades picture.
Details:
Gain 125
Lights: 60x180s, 10x300s, 1x600s + Darks
Equipment:
William Optics Redcat51
ASI533MCPro
SkyWatcher EQ5Pro Goto
ASIAirPro
Pixinsight + Topaz DeNoiseAI + Luminar
Annotated version: nova.astrometry.net/user_images/9311147#annotated