Tag: MII G2 8300

M3 Globular cluster

Finally there was a nice weather and no Moon. Summer nights are short; therefore it’s not optimal for deep space objects, which require very long integration time. Therefore I pointed my telescope this evening to globular cluster M3.

This cluster is located in constellation Canes Venatici and it’s one of the largest known clusters, because it contains around 500 000 stars.

Technical details:

Telescope:Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture:254 mm
Focal length:1000 mm
MountGemini G53f
AutoguidingZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
Camera:Mii G2 8300
Corrector:Explore scientific CC
Filters:Baader LRGB
Exposure:16xL 180s bin 1x1, 8xRGB 120s bin 2x2
Date:2018-06-10

M14 Globular Cluster

Messier 14 is a globular cluster located in constellation Ophiuchus. The cluster has diameter 100 light-years, contains several hundred thousand stars and it is approximately 30 thousand light-years far from us.

The picture is a stack of 20 luminance frames, each 3 minutes long and 6 RGB frames per channel.

Technical details:

Telescope:Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture:254 mm
Focal length:1000 mm
MountGemini GF53f
AutoguidingZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
Camera:Moravian instruments G2 8300M @-30C
Corrector:Explore Scientific HR coma corrector
Filters:Baader LRGB
Exposure:20xL 180 s bin 1x1, 6RGB, 120s, bin 2x2
Date:2018-0610

NGC281 Pacman nebula

NGC281 is a HII region, which reminds a head of the main character in very popular game from nineties. It is located in constellation Cassiopeia and it 9500 light-year far from us. This nebula was discovered long time ago by Edward Emerson Barnard and it is possible to observe this nebula by reasonable sized telescope under dark skies. Well, I wouldn’t see probably anything, because I live in light polluted area, therefore I had to use narrow band filters, which block the light pollution.

The picture is composed out of 66 narrow band exposures, which means slightly more than one hour per channel. First one is bi-color composition of hydrogen and oxygen, the others are in Hubble palette (hydrogen in green, oxygen in blue and sulfur in red).

Technical details

Telescope:Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture:254 mm
Focal length:1000 mm
MountGemini G53f
AutoguidingTS 60 mm, ZWO 174 MM
Camera:Moravian instruments G2 8300M @-30C
Corrector:GPU coma corrector
Filters:Baader narrow band
Exposure:8x22xHa, 22xOIII, 22xSII 180 s, bin 1x1,
Date:2018-01-13

 


IC1848 Soul nebula

Soul nebula is a beautiful HII region, where new stars are being born. It’s located in the constellation Cassiopeia and it’s 7500 light-years from Earth. The nebula has a neighbor Heart Nebula (IC1805). One can say that in this constellation the heart and soul are close to each other.

As usual, I used narrow-band filters to capture this spectacular nebula. It didn’t fit into my field of view; this means I would need a shorter focal length.

Update 2023-05-07. I returned to this data and reprocessed it, using the latest post-processing know-how. I learned a lot in the last few years, and Pixinsight got very useful plugins. For example, Blur Exterminator sharpens the data, but it still looks realistic without any artifacts. However, the biggest difference is the white balance of the picture. I used the rainbow SHO technique published by
lukomatico.

Technical details

Telescope:Newton 150/600 mm
Aperture:150 mm
Focal length:438 mm
MountGemini G53f
AutoguidingTS 60 mm, ZWO 174 MM
Camera:Moravian instruments G2 8300M @-30C
Corrector:ASA 0.73 reducer
Filters:Baader narrow band
Exposure:8x77xHa, 77xOIII, 77xSII 180 s, bin 1×1,
Date:2017-11-23

IC5070 Pelican nebula

Pelican nebula is large cloud of hydrogen gas, where many stars are being born, located in constellation Cygnus (Swan). The nebula is approximately 2000 light-years away from Earth. If you use bit of an imagination, you will be able to see the pelican in the dark cloud surrounding the brighter center of the nebula – good luck with searching.

The picture was taken completely by narrow band filters. The first one is in “fake” Hubble palette and second one as a bi-color image (Ha in red channel, OIII in green and blue channel).

Technical details

Telescope:Newton 150/600 mm
Aperture:150 mm
Focal length:438 mm
MountGemini G53f
AutoguidingTS 60 mm, ZWO 174 MM
Camera:Moravian instruments G2 8300M @-30C
Corrector:ASA 0.73 reducer
Filters:Baader narrow band
Exposure:8x32xHa, 32xOIII, 32xSII 180 s, bin 1x1,
Date:2017-12-15


IC1396 Elephant trunk nebula

Elephant trunk nebula is visually one of the biggest deep space objects in the sky. It covers more than 6 times the diameter of the Moon. I had to use the telescope with the shortest focal length and use focal reducer ASA 0.73. Recently, I managed to improve the picture quality of this reducer by adjustment of the tilt. The nebula can be located in constellation Cepheus, but it cannot be spotted visually because it’s very dim.

I spent 4 nights capturing these photos. In total, there is nearly 19 hours of exposure time. Probably this is my longest integration time I have ever made. The first picture is in fake Hubble colors, second one in more or less visible spectrum colors.

 

Technical details

Telescope:Newton 150/600 mm
Aperture:150 mm
Focal length:438 mm
MountGemini G53f
AutoguidingOrion Mini Autoguider
Camera:Moravian instruments G2 8300M @-30C
Corrector:ASA 0.73 reducer
Filters:Baader narrow band
Exposure:8x125xHa, 125xOIII, 125xSII 180 s, bin 1x1,
Date:2017-10-17


M106 Galaxy

Galactic harvest continues. Here again, I focused my scope on previously photographed DSO. The galaxy is located in the constellation Canes Venatici (hunting dogs) not far from the famous Ursa Major (great bear) and is approximately 24 million light-years from us.

Telescope:Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture:254 mm
Focal length:1000 mm
Mount:Gemini GF53f
Autoguiding:Orion Mini, TS 50/160 mm
Camera:Moravian instruments G2 8300M @-30C
Corrector:GPU
Filters:Baader L, RGB
Exposure:27xL 300s bin 1×1, 15xRGB 200 s bin 2×2
Date:2017-03-30

M104 Sombrero galaxy

Spring is a season of the galaxies. Winter nebulae are gone and constellations Lion, Ursa Major, or Virgo offer stunning deep-space objects. The moon was hidden and the wetter was finally good, so I took to opportunity and pointed my telescope into the constellation Virgo and collected some light coming from the Sombrero galaxy, which has been on the way for 32 million years. This galaxy resembles a Mexican hut because it’s surrounded by a dust belt. This is my second attempt to capture M104. The first one, two years ago, was not that successful. Anyway, it’s better than last time, but I still cannot get to the quality of the Hubble Space Telescope. However, my equipment has a better price/performance ratio 🙂

Telescope:Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture:254 mm
Focal length:1000 mm
Mount:Gemini GF53f
Autoguiding:Orion Mini, TS 50/160 mm
Camera:Moravian instruments G2 8300M @-30C
Corrector:GPU
Filters:Baader L, RGB
Exposure:45xL 300s bin 1×1, 22xRGB 200 s bin 2×2
Date:2017-03-29

M1 Crab nebula

It all started here. The crab nebula is the first cataloged deep-space object. Charles Messier was searching for the comet (1758) but discovered his first deep-space object. The Crab nebula, also called Messier 1, is a supernova remnant like a Veil nebula, but it’s much further from the Solar system – 6500 light years.

My first picture was made with a pinched mirror, therefore I waited two years and captured it properly. Since I live in a light-polluted area, I chose narrow band filters to get better contrast and composed this picture out of hydrogen alpha (red channel) and OIII (green and blue channel) narrow band pictures.

And here is the picture in “false” colors – Hubble palette (SII – red, Ha – green and OIII – blue).

Telescope:Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture:254 mm
Focal length:1000 mm
Mount:Gemini GF53f
Autoguiding:Orion Mini, TS 50/160 mm
Camera:Moravian instruments G2 8300M @-30C
Corrector:GPU
Filters:Baader Ha, OIII
Exposure:16xHa, 10xOIII, 10xSII 300 s bin 1×1
Date:2017-01-07

NGC6992 Veil nebula

The most photographed deep-space object by me is the Veil nebula. I simply love this supernova remnant. The previous mosaic picture revealed that the eastern part is slightly brighter, therefore I pointed my telescope with a longer focal length and made this bi-color picture.

Telescope:Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture:254 mm
Focal length:1000 mm
Mount:Gemini GF53f
Autoguiding:Orion Mini, TS 50/160 mm
Camera:Moravian instruments G2 8300M @-30C
Corrector:GPU
Filters:Baader Ha, OIII
Exposure:21xHa, 19xOIII 300 s bin 1×1
Date:2016-10-31

NGC6960 NGC6992 Veil nebula mosaic

Here is another picture of my favorite Veil nebula. The first attempt here with a long focal length (1000 mm), the second attempt here with a shorter focal length (730 mm), and finally third here with the shortest focal length I have (430 mm). Still, I haven’t captured everything of the nebula last year and this year I focused my smallest telescope on the western part of the Veil nebula and created a mosaic.

The picture, as well as the previous ones, are bi-color images. I captured hydrogen alpha (Ha) and oxygen III (OIII) narrow band images and inserted the Ha image into the red channel and OIII into the green and blue channels.

Telescope:Newton 150/600 mm
Aperture:150 mm
Focal length:438 mm
Mount:Gemini G53f
Autoguiding:ZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
Camera:Moravian instruments G2 8300M @ -30C
Corrector:ASA 2″ reducer 0.73
Filters:Baader Ha 7 nm, OIII 8.5 nm SII 8nm
Exposure:30x Ha, 30x OIII, 600 s, bin 1×1
Date:2016-09-01

NGC 7635 Bubble Nebula

NGC 7635, known as Bubble Nebula is an HII region in the constellation Cassiopeia. Bubble shape structure is caused by the solar wind caused by a massive star.

Well, I must admit, the Hubble Space Telescope has a better resolution, but my telescope has a better price-performance ratio.

Telescope:Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture:254 mm
Focal length:730 mm
MountGemini G53f
AutoguidingZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
Camera:Moravian instruments G2 8300M @ -30C
Corrector:ASA 0.73 reducer
Filters:Baader Ha, OIII, SII
Exposure:39x Ha, 35x OIII, 32x SII, 300 s, bin 1×1

IC1805 Heart nebula

This nebula’s visual angle (visual size) is several times bigger than the visual angle/size of the full Moon; therefore I had to use the shortest focal length I have available. For DSOs like that, I have a small Newtonian telescope with an aperture of 150 mm and a focal length of 600 mm. The focal length was reduced by the ASA reducer to 438 mm.

Heart nebula is very dim DSO; therefore narrow band is a good option to get some contrast. I collected a lot of data for all 3 channels: Ha, OIII, and SII. The final picture was composed in the Hubble palette. This means OIII goes into blue, Ha into green, and SII into the red channel.

Telescope:Newton 150/600 mm
Aperture:150 mm
Focal length:438 mm
MountGemini G53f
AutoguidingZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
Camera:Moravian instruments G2 8300M @-30C
Corrector:ASA 2″ reducer 0.73
Filters:Baader Ha 7 nm, OIII 8.5 nm SII 8nm
Exposure:17xHa, 21xOIII, 25xSII 600 s bin 1×1,
Date:2015-11-09

NGC6960 Veil nebula

For the third time I am trying to capture the whole Veil nebula, but again, there is a part missing. This time I used the smallest telescope, I have at home – newton 150/600, reduced to focal length 438 mm, by ASA 0.73 reducer. This picture contains the first picture in the left top corner and the second picture in the right bottom corner. Anyway, there is still something missing, therefore next time I have to reduce the focal length even more or do a mosaic.

Telescope:Newton 150/600 mm
Aperture:150 mm
Focal length:438 mm
MountGemini G53f
AutoguidingZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
Camera:Moravian instruments G2 8300M @-30C
Corrector:ASA 2″ reducer 0.73
Filters:Baader Ha 7 nm, OIII 8.5 nm SII 8nm
Exposure:9xHa, 9xOIII, 600 s, bin 1×1
Date:2015-11-09

NGC6960 Veil nebula

The previous picture of the Veil nebula was done by using a focal length of 1000 mm. Since this nebula is huge, I wanted to capture also the other parts. This time I reduced the focal length to 730 mm, by ASA corrector/reducer.

Telescope:Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture:254 mm
Focal length:730 mm
MountSkywatcher EQ-6
AutoguidingOrion Mini Autoguider
Camera:Moravian instruments G2 8300M @ -30C
Corrector:ASA 2″ corrector/reducer
Filters:Baader Ha, OIII
Exposure:15x Ha, 15x OIII, 600 s, bin 1×1