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Sunday, December 31, 2017

Happy new year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR
This post is about all of my astronomical photos from the year 2017

All my photos from the Spring and Autumn seasons of 2017 are taken with my imaging setup. Celestron Edge HD 1100 with 0.7 reducer at 10-micron mount. Apogee Alta U16 camera with Astrodon narrowband filters and an active optics unit, SXV AO LF, from Starlight Xpress.

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Year 2017 as an image poster
Please, click for a large image, 2400 x 3500 pixels, 6MB



Individual blog posts about images in the poster with the technical details. (Up left to lower right)

  1. A six panel mosaic of the Sharpless 119, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2017/12/sharpless-119-in-cygnus-project.html
  2. A detail of Sharpless 119, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2017/11/sharpless-119-in-cygnus-project.html
  3. WR 134, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2017/11/first-light-for-autumn-season-2017.html
  4. Sharpless 188, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2017/02/a-new-photo-sharpless-188-sh2-188-in.html
  5. IC 63, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2017/01/the-ghost-of-christmas-past-ic-63.html
  6. Sharpless 140, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2017/01/a-quick-one-sharpless-140-in-cepheus.html
  7. A detail of Sharpless 119, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2017/11/sharpless-119-sh2-119-in-cygnus.html
  8. A detail of Southern Cygnus, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2017/11/an-other-detail-from-southern-cygnus.html
  9. A 12 panel mosaic of the Central Cygnus, https://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2017/01/bright-nebulae-of-central-cygnus-eleven.html


Year 2017

Overall the year 2017 was very cloudy up here 65N. Due to very high latitude we have only six months of usable astronomical darkness. Light pollution is increasing year after year. My observatory locates at roof top of the building in very centre of the city of Oulu. I can shoot only narrowband data from my location due to intense light pollution. In pas years the old mercury and sodium lamps has been replaced with new LED-lamps. The light from old lamps, yellowish glow, has kind of narrow band width and my 3 nm filters easily filter it out. The new LED-based lightning system emits light at very wide spectrum and even photos taken with 3 nm filters shows some artefacts from light pollution. At the same time the total amount of light power has grown year after year. That means a very bright future to us children of night.



Monday, December 25, 2017

-Sharpless 119 in Cygnus, project finalized




I have published three photo posts about my Sharpless 119 (Sh2-119) imaging project so far.
The first one was this photo at November 8, IMAGE LINK
The second one was a two frame mosaic, IMAGE LINK
The third one was a two frame mosaic in visual colors, IMAGE LINK

We have had very few clear nights at this Autumn season. I have managed to use them all so I was able to have enough data to finalize this six panel mosaic image of Sharpless 119.



Sharpless 119 as a six panel mosaic
You really should click for a full size photo!

A very high resolution photo of Sharpless 119, original resolution is about 12.000 x 8000 pixels.
Image is in mapped colours, from the emission of ionized elements, R=Sulphur, G=Hydrogen and B=Oxygen. The photo covers about six square degrees of sky. (The full Moon spans about 0,5 degrees of sky.)




An experimental starless version
Please, click for a full size photo

In this starless version the shapes in gas and dust stands out nicely



A large resolution detail from the full resolution original




INFO

Sh2-119, Sharpless 119, is a large complex of emission nebulosity in Cygnus constellation, about 2 degrees east of the North American Nebula. It is located just around 68 Cygni, a quite bright star of magnitude 5. (The most bright star in the photo) This target is not very commonly photographed due to a close proximity of brighter and well known targets, like North America and Pelican Nebulae.



A wider field image of the area with the Canon 200mm f1.8 lens
Please, click for a full size image

Sharpless 119 can be seen at lower left corner. The white rectangle shows the location of  my new mosaic photo. Sh2-119 spans about three degrees of sky horizontally. (The full Moon spans about 0,5 degrees of sky.)
This photo was taken with the Canon EF 200mm f1.8 lens and the QHY9 astrocam, Baader narrowband filter set at 2012.




An older wide field shot of Sh2-119 with the Tokina AT 300mm f2.8 lens
Please, click for a full size image

More info about this photo HERE



Technical details

Processing work flow

Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack2.
Deconvolution with a CCDStack2 Positive Constraint, 33 iterations, added at 50% weight
Color combine in PS CS3
Levels and curves in PS CS3.

Imaging optics
Celestron Edge HD 1100 @ f10 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 x 2 and SXV-AOL

Astrodon filter, 5nm H-alpha

Exposure times

H-alpha, 60x 1200s, binned 2x2 = 20h
O-III and S-II channels are borrowed form my older wide field photos.




Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Sharpless 119 in Cygnus, visual spectrum version


Since beginning of September we have had three clear nights. This Autumn season has been the worst in twenty years.

I made a visual color version out of my two frame mosaics of Sharpless 119 (Sh2-119). You can find a mapped color version from HERE. My aim is to make a six panel mosaic of the whole area of the Sharpless 119. At the moment it's not possible due to weather up here.


Sharpless 119 as a two frame mosaic
Please, click for a full size photo

Image is in Natural color palette from the emission of ionized elements, R=Hydrogen + Sulphur, G=Oxygen and B=Oxygen + 10% Hydrogen to compensate the missing H-beta emission. A mapped color version can be seen HERE.


An experimental starless version
Please, click for a full size photo

In this starless version the shapes in gas and dust are much easier to see.


INFO

Sh2-119, Sharpless 119, is a large complex of emission nebulosity in Cygnus constellation, about 2 degrees east of the North American Nebula. It is located just around 68 Cygni, a quite bright star of magnitude 5. (The most bright star in the photo)



A wider field image of the area, Canon 200mm f1.8 lens
Please, click for a full size image

Sharpless 119 can be seen at lower left corner. The white rectangle shows the location of the new photo. It spans about a square degree of sky. (The full Moon spans about 0,5 degrees of sky.)
This photo was taken with the Canon EF 200mm f1.8 lens and the QHY9 astrocam, Baader narrowband filter set at 2012.



An other wide field shot, Tokina AT 300mm f2.8 lens
Please, click for a full size image

Area of the two frame mossaic is marked as a white rectangle. More info about this photo HERE


Technical details

Processing work flow

Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack2.
Deconvolution with a CCDStack2 Positive Constraint, 33 iterations, added at 50% weight
Color combine in PS CS3
Levels and curves in PS CS3.

Imaging optics
Celestron Edge HD 1100 @ f10 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 x 2 and SXV-AOL

Astrodon filter, 5nm H-alpha

Exposure times

H-alpha, 30x 1200s, binned 2x2 = 10h
O-III and S-II channels are borrowed form my older wide field photos.