Category: Supernova remnant

SH 2-240 Spaghetti nebula IC 405 Flaming star nebula

February 16, 2023
H II nebulaSupernova remnant
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The Spaghetti nebula (upper left corner) is a supernova remnant. This means, roughly 40’000 years ago, there was a massive star in the middle of the spherical conglomerate of filaments. The star ended its life in a spectacular explosion and turned into a new form – a pulsar. I knew from the beginning, that I would be chasing the ghost. Cosmic Spaghetti are a very dim nebula and to capture them one needs a wide-angle telescope, fast optics, narrow band filter, and a lot of patience. I didn’t use a telescope, but a lens Samyang 135 mm f 2.0 slowed down to f 2.8, combined with a brand new dual-narrow band Antlia filter, optimized for high-speed optics, and in total, I collected the photons for nearly 10 hours.

The much brighter nebula in the bottom right corner is called Flaming Star Nebula, cataloged under IC 405. Compared to the Spaghetti Nebula, which represents the death of the star, the Flaming Star Nebula represents the vital part of the life of the star AE Aurigae. This star radiates so strongly, that it excites surrounding hydrogen gas. Therefore it is called an emission nebula.

Visually not far away, the comet C/2022 E3 ZTF was passing around Mars, but I was not distracted by that, because I was concentrating to capture as many pictures of the Spaghetti as possible. Besides, I already captured this comet recently.

TelescopeSamyang 135 mm f2.0 @ f2.8
Aperture48 mm
Focal length135 mm
MountiOptron Skyguider Pro
AutoguidingZWO 178MM, QHY Mini Guide Scope 30/130 mm
CameraZWO ASI 6200 MC @-10 °C
FiltersAntlia Dualband High speed
Exposure113x300s, gain 100
Date2023-02-12

Vela Supernova Remnant

June 1, 2022
Supernova remnant
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Supernova Remnant in the southern constellation Vela is the closest remnant to Earth. It is “only” 800 light years away from us and it has a diameter of 100 light years. This is the reason why this deep space object didn’t fit in the field of view of my portable 250 mm focal length RedCat.

The initial plan was to make a panorama of two pictures, but the pictures are not perfectly aligned. At least I have one more reason to come back to Namibia ,’-)

TelescopeWilliam Optics RedCat 51/250 f4.9
Aperture51 mm
Focal length250 mm
MountiOptron Skyguider Pro
AutoguidingZWO 178MM, QHY Mini Guide Scope 30/130 mm
CameraZWO ASI071 MC Pro @-10 °C
FiltersAntlia Dual Band 5 nm
Exposure36x300s, gain 95
Date2022-06-01

IC443 Jellyfish nebula

February 6, 2022
Supernova remnant
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Jellyfish Nebula is a supernova remnant in the constellation Gemini. A very long time ago a supermassive star exploded and emitted a lot of material into space. It is not clear when exactly it happened, but the latest research dates the explosion between a few thousand years and 30’000 years. The shape definitely resembles a jellyfish, having the head at the top and tentacles at the bottom and overall it looks like it floats in the space. It’s interesting how many nebulae have names related to an animal. For example the Seagull Nebula, the Elephant Trunk Nebula, the Eagle Nebula, the Lobster Nebula, the Horsehead Nebula, etc.

TelescopeNewton 254/1000 mm
Aperture254 mm
Focal length750 mm
MountGemini G53f
AutoguidingZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
CameraZWO 071 Pro @-10°C
CorrectorNexus coma corrector
FiltersOptolong l-eXtreme
Exposure48x300s, Gain 95, bin 1x1,
Date2022-02-06

Cygnus

July 10, 2021
AsterismDark NebulaH II nebulaMilky WayReflection nebulaSupernova remnant
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I went to Crete without a detailed plan on which deep space objects to capture. The primary target was Rho Ophiuchi, which I captured really well. Then I started to think about the next objects. Obviously, if you are in a dark place, you can point your camera nearly anywhere. However, there are some regions full of stars and deep space objects. For example constellation Cygnus, which is sometimes called the Northern Cross. It is located visually on the plane of the Milky Way galactic disk, therefore there are many deep space objects.

Let’s have a look at a wide-field picture captured by a 24 mm lens attached to Canon EOS 6Da:

Let’s zoom a bit by changing the lens to a 50 mm focal length. Here the constellation is perfectly centered:

Let’s zoom further to the central star Sadr by change of the lens to 180 mm focal length:

Let’s keep the focal length 180 mm and let’s have a look at the left star Deneb and very famous North America nebula:

Again, let’s keep the focal length 180 mm and change to perspective to the bottom (eastern) star Aljanah, where the beautiful supernova remnant the Veil nebula is located:

In total, the camera collected 15.5 hours of light and I am happy with the result.

M1 Crab nebula

January 7, 2017
Supernova remnant
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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

October 31, 2016
Supernova remnant
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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

September 1, 2016
Supernova remnant
1 Comment

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

NGC6960 Veil nebula

November 9, 2015
Supernova remnant
3 Comments

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

September 9, 2015
Supernova remnant
2 Comments

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

NGC6960 Veil nebula

August 23, 2015
Supernova remnant
3 Comments

Veil nebula is a supernova remnant – hot and ionized gas and dust floating in the universe, as a remainder of a mighty star, which once shined (roughly before 5 – 8 thousand of years), locate in constellation Cygnus (swan). This nebula is relatively close to Earth – only 1470 light years, therefore the visual angle is huge – approximately 3 degrees, which is six times the diameter of the Moon.

The picture is composed by bi-color technique. Two narrow band pictures were taken (Ha and OIII). H alpha was used for red channel and OIII for green and blue. Since I used quite long focal length (1000 mm) the whole DSO didn’t fit in the field of view of the camera. Next time I will try to use shorter one.

NGC6960_Veil_2015-08-23-30C-600s-7HaOIII-FL1000

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M1 Crab nebula

February 10, 2015
Supernova remnant
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Crab nebula is the first discovered supernova remnant in history. It’s approximately 6500 light years from Earth and has diameter 11 light years. Letter M1 stands for first position in the catalogue of deep space objects, created by Charles Messier. This guy started to work as an assistant for French Navy astronomer Joseph Nicolas Delisle. He had lovely job – comet hunting. Almost every evening, just observing the skies would be my dream job. During year 1757 his supervisor calculated the return of Halley’s Comet. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, monsieur Delisle was wrong and poor Messier was observing wrong part of the sky at wrong time. However he saw something, the object which was not moving, compared to comets. He discovered Crab nebula. Later on, he pointed this telescope to other directions and created probably the most popular catalogue of amateur astronomers and astrophotographers living on northern hemisphere, containing more than 100 objects.

I am not particularly proud of the image I am showing here. Triangular stars, not fully sharp. I can do better than this. So M1, you will meet my telescope in the future again.

M01-2015-02-10-N-30C-480s-17L-7RGB-pixi

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