M15 - A different Look! (2024)

Messier 15 is a glubular cluster located some 35,000 light-years away in the constellation of Pegasus (a.k.a. The Winged Horse). At an age of roughly 12 billion years, it is one of the oldest globular clusters known. The last time I imaged this was in 2018 so it was time for a revisit. This time around I went after some the integrated galactic dust (IFN) as well as the very faint hydrogen gas in this region of space. I was very happy to get some of the gas and dust especially since none of this was in any of the subframes. 

M15 - A different Look! (2024)
Dates: 10-23-24, 10-24, 10-26, 10-27, 10-28, 11-1, 11-2, 11-3, 11-5, 11-7, 11-9, 11-15, 11-16, 11-24, 12-1
Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
Telescope: Astro-Tech AT115EDT 115mm Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 805mm (644mm w/ FR)
f/7
Focal Reducer: 0.8x AstroTech Field Flatterner/Focal Reducer
Mount: Orion Sirius
Filter Wheel: ZWO
EFW 8 x 1.25"
Filter: Antlia Ha; ZWO R, G, B, UV
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure: Ha 248 x 300, UV 336 x 90, R 48 x 90, G 51 x 90, B 48 x 90 (  h  ')
Gain: 139
Offset 20
Sensor Temp: -10 C
Processing: NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, BlurXTerminator, StarXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, GraXpert, Bill Blanshan Stretching, Topaz Denoise.

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Sh2-103 - Cygus Loop (2024)

This is the second time I imaged Sh2-103, the first was in 2021, however, this was with a different setup (better). In this attempt, the 200mm camera lens was replaced with the Askar FRA300 and the ZWO ASI294MC was replaced with the ASI2600MC. These changes allowed for much better resolution and detail than the previous version.

The Cygnus Loop or the Filamentary Nebula refers to the visible structure of a supernova remnant located in Cygnus. The progenitor star was 20 times more massive than the Sun and exploded between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago. The nebula is quite large at 120 light-years in diameter (3 degrees) and approximately 2400 light-years across.

The Veil Nebula is so large that it consists of several different NGC numbers describing different parts but I like the way Howard Banich (September 2021 Sky & Telescope) separated it into five parts.

1 - The First Veil - NGC 6960 is also known as the Witch’s Broom. (bottom)

2 - The Second Veil - Fleming’s Triangle (formerly Pickering’s Triangle) also known as Simeis 3-188 was discovered by Williamina Fleming in 1904 at the Harvard College Observatory but credit was given to her director E. C. Pickering until recently. (bottom, just above NGC 6960)

3 - The Third Veil - Southern Blowout Region is very faint and located at the left edge of Fleming’s Triangle. (left side)

4 - The Fourth Veil - NGC 6974, NGC 6979, and Assorted Filaments are located just above Fleming’s Triangle and are also quite dim. (middle right)

5 - The Fifth Veil - NGC 6992, NGC 6995, IC 1340, and the Southeastern Knot - The portion is very bright and to me, resembles a claw. (top)

I started this project in October and finished in November 2024 for a total of 34.7 hours with the dual band NBZ filter and 1.3 hours of straight color for the star. The goal was to be sure to get enough data to get some of the dim Ha nebulosity surrounding the main portions without having to push the saturation and sacrifice the detail. In fact that was what I still struggled with - trying to get the right balance. I had to collect over numerous nights because of the not so great field of view, although it is improving with neighbors removing trees.

High Resolution:

https://www.astrobin.com/ugaytn/?nc=collection&nce=712

Dates:

10-5, 10-6, 10-7, 10-9, 10-20, 10-21, 10-22, 10-23, 10-24, 10-26, 10-27, 10-28, 11-2, 11-3, 11-5, 11-18

Sh2-103 - Cygus Loop (2024)
Dates: 10-5-24, 10-6, 10-7, 10-9, 10-20, 10-21, 10-22, 10-23, 10-24, 10-26, 10-27, 10-28, 11-2, 11-3, 11-5, 11-18
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
Telescope: Askar FRA300 Pro
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 300mm
F/5
Focal Reducer: None
Mount: ZWO AM3
Filter Adaptor: ZWO Filter Drawer
Filter: IDAS NBZ, Camera UV-IR
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to a ZWO Mini guidescope
Exposure: UV-IR 52 x 90, NBZ 417 x 300 (36h 3')
Gain: 100
Offset 0
Temp: -10 C
Processing: Asiair app, PixInsight, Photoshop, BlurXT, NoiseXT, StarX, Bill's Color Masks, Bill's Star Reduction, Bill's Stretching, Topaz Denoise, GraXpert

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IC 63 - Ghost of Cassiopeia

Located 550 light-years away in Cassiopeia IC 63 and the surrounding objects such as IC 59 and Sh2-185 are reflection and emission nebulae composed of gas and dust. Energy in the form of ultraviolet radiation from the nearby but not shown, blue-giant star Gamma Cassiopeiae (a.k.a. Navi), excites the hydrogen gas which inturn causes the red glow. The blue colored regions are from reflected light off the dust.

I like how IC 63 seems to be pointing upwards towards Gamma Cassiopeiae (not shown) wanting to be fed more energy so it can continue to glow. Even though I love stars and imaged it with Gamma Cass in the field of view, I cropped it out for a number of reasons. Also, I captured ~9 hrs of OIII but in hindsight probably would have been better off with more RGB data instead as the natural blue came out much more than the oxygen. IC 59 in the upper left had the most blue signal. I did blend the OIII in as the background was somewhat smoother with it added in. As usual I struggle with how much star reduction to do and I did more than I typically do, however, I am sure most people would be more aggressive.

Dates: 9-15-24, 9-19, 9-20, 9-22, 10-3, 10-5, 10-6, 10-7, 10-8, 10-9, 10-15, 10-20, 10-21, 10-22

Higher Quality:
https://www.astrobin.com/j3n02i/?nc=collection&nce=712

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IC 63 - Ghost of Cassiopeia
Dates: 9-15-24, 9-19, 9-20, 9-22, 10-3, 10-5, 10-6, 10-7, 10-8, 10-9, 10-15, 10-20, 10-21, 10-22
Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
Telescope: Astro-Tech AT115EDT 115mm Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 805mm (644mm w/ FR)
f/7
Focal Reducer: 0.8x AstroTech Field Flatterner/Focal Reducer
Mount: Orion Sirius
Filter Wheel: ZWO
EFW 8 x 1.25"
Filter: Antlia Ha, OIII; ZWO R, G, B
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure: Ha 157 x 300, OIII 109 x 300, R 41 x 90, G 43 x 90, B 41 x 90 (25h 20')
Gain: 139
Offset 20
Sensor Temp: 0 C
Processing: NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, BlurXTerminator, StarXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, GraXpert, Bill Blanshan Color Masks, Bill Blanshan Stretching, Topaz Denoise.

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VdB30 (2024)

VdB30 is a reflection nebula located somewhere between 1600 and 6900 light-years away in the constellation Camelopardalis. It surrounds a central bright blue supergiant star, Alpha Camelopardalis (Alpha Cam, HD 30614). Although the cloud of gas and dust that surrounds the star is very large, it has a low reflectivity making it hardly noticeable. Another interesting thing about Alpha Cam is it is considered a runaway star having a reported speed between 60 and 4200 km/second. Runaway stars have abnormally high speeds relative to the interstellar medium which were set into motion by a supernova explosion of a companion star.

I barely captured the reflection nebula and was not really expecting to catch much of it anyway so the question why I attempted to go after this object is the first place. The answer is that it was a filler. We had several clear nights last month and I was going after other targets which went behind trees after a few hours and wanted to keep imaging. VdB30 may be a reflection nebula but it sits in a region with a faint hydrogen emission nebula. This made the vdB30 a good choice because I could collect data on moonlight nights well. I really like how the Ha arcs around vdB30 and forms a boomerang appearance. I also collected OIII data, however, there was not much signal and the HOO version was very similar to the HaRGB version. I did use it as the background was a bit smoother and I did a small blend of RGB around Alpha Cam.


Dates: 9-3-24, 9-4, 9-5, 9-7, 9-8, 9-9, 9-10, 9-11, 9-12, 9-13, 9-14, 9-15, 10-5

Higher Quality:
https://www.astrobin.com/4qmcqe/?nc=collection&nce=712

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VdB30 (2024)

Dates: 9-3-24, 9-4, 9-5, 9-7, 9-8, 9-9, 9-10, 9-11, 9-12, 9-13, 9-14, 9-15, 10-5

Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
Telescope: Astro-Tech AT115EDT 115mm Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 805mm (644mm w/ FR)
f/7
Focal Reducer: 0.8x AstroTech Field Flatterner/Focal Reducer
Mount: Orion Sirius
Filter Wheel: ZWO
EFW 8 x 1.25"
Filter: Antlia Ha, OIII; ZWO R, G, B
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure: Ha 213 x 300, OIII 97 x 300, R 53 x 90, G 49 x 90, B 54 x 90 (29h 44')
Gain: 139
Offset 20
Sensor Temp: 0 C
Processing: NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, BlurXTerminator, StarXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, GraXpert, Bill Blanshan Color Masks, Bill Blanshan Stretching, Topaz Denoise.


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SNR G126.2+01.6 - It's Dim!

Supernova remnant SNR G126.2+01.6 is located in the constellation Cassiopeia not very far from other popular objects such as IC 63 - The Ghost of Cassiopeia. I am always looking for uncommon objects to investigate with my camera and saw that Goran Nilson (https://www.astrobin.com/mj605m/) had done a wonderful job on this with his dual RASA setup. There are only a handful of other images of SNR G126 on Astrobin (all of which are better than mine) for a very good reason - this object is faint, especially in OIII. If you do decide to go after this one, give yourself plenty of nights! Processing was really tough, especially trying to 'tease' out the oxygen. Fortunately, PixInsight and Photoshop make it possible. I thought the stars came out well so the only reduction I did was with BlurXTerminator.

Higher Quality:
https://www.astrobin.com/medzn4/?nc=collection&nce=712

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SNR G126.2+01.6

Dates: 9-8-24, 9-9, 9-10, 9-11, 9-12, 9-14, 9-15
Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
Telescope: Astro-Tech AT115EDT 115mm Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 805mm (644mm w/ FR)
f/7
Focal Reducer: 0.8x AstroTech Field Flatterner/Focal Reducer
Mount: Orion Sirius
Filter Wheel: ZWO
EFW 8 x 1.25"
Filter: Antlia Ha, OIII; ZWO R, G, B
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure: Ha 133 x 300, OIII 143 x 300, R 39 x 90, G 37 x 90, B 38 x 90 (25h 51')
Gain: 139
Offset 20
Sensor Temp: 0 C
Processing: NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, BlurXTerminator, StarXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, GraXpert, Bill Blanshan Color Masks, Bill Blanshan Stretching, Bill Blanshan Star Reduction.

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Comet C/2023 A3

This is my quickly acquired image of Comet 2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS taken on the evening of October 16th 2024 around 7pm. It was not visible with the naked eye from the St John's Cemetery but was with my camera. I hoped to get the ground in the image for perspective but I did not have time to wait so I just went to as much of the comet as possible. The tail was enormous at approximately 18 million miles (29 million km).

As reported by Adam Block, the thin part that points towards the horizon is due to previously released dust in its orbit. The comet orbits on a plane and we are seeing the plane edge-on.

Comet 2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS

Date: 10-16-24

Camera: Canon T3i/600D
Telescope: Canon EF 50mm f/2.8L Lens
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 50mm
f/2.8
Focal Reducer: none
Mount: iOptron SkyGuider Pro

Filter: Astronomik OMB Clip-in
Exposure: 40 x 5s
ISO: 800
Temp: 18 C
Processing: PixInsight, Photoshop

vdB 4 & NGC 225 (Sailboat Cluster)

Although there are several objects in this dust rich image, I decided to name it most prominent object first and that is the reflection nebula vdB 4 named after Dutch astronomer Sidney van den Bergh. It has a blue-white tint and is located 2,000 light-years away in Cassiopeia. In addition to being relatively bright, it shows a lot of sharp detail.

NGC 225, also known as the Sailboat Cluster, is an open cluster approximately 2,200 LY away and is approximately 100 to 150 million years old. The cluster is in the center of the image just below vdB 4 and made up of mostly blue stars although there is a fair number of yellow stars. The outline of the Sailboat is hard to see in my image as it is obscured a bit by the dust, however, the 'hull' is oriented about 30 degrees from horizontal and part of vdB 4 making the 'sail'.

Other goodies in this image are the dark nebula LDN 1291 to the left of vdB 4, LBN 1302 just below vdB 4, and the dusty stringers that appear to be raining down from the cluster. I did not crop this image as I also liked the colorful star field. I struggled with how much to enhance the stars vs. star reduction but in this version after doing initial reduction with BXT for both the RGB and Luminosity images, I did a 35% Luminosity blend with the RGB stars.

High Resolution:

https://www.astrobin.com/am39mj/?nc=collection&nce=712

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vdB 4 & NGC 225 (Sailboat Cluster) 
Dates: 9-2, 9-3, 9-4, 9-5
Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
Telescope: Astro-Tech AT115EDT 115mm Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 805mm (644mm w/ FR)
f/7
Focal Reducer: 0.8x AstroTech Field Flatterner/Focal Reducer
Mount: Orion Sirius
Filter Wheel: ZWO
EFW 8 x 1.25"
Filter: ZWO R, G, B; Camera L 
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure: L 294 x 90, R 84 x 90, G 79 x 90, B 83 x 90
Gain: 139
Offset 20
Sensor Temp: 0 C
Processing: NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, BlurXTerminator, StarXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, GraXpert, Bill Blanshan Color Masks, Bill Blanshan Stretching.

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