ARP 273 - Rose Galaxy

Arp 273, a.k.a. The Rose Galaxy is a pair of interacting galaxies located approximately 300 million light-years away in Andromeda. The galaxy on the top goes by UGC 1810 and is reportedly 5-times more massive than UGC 1813, the smaller galaxy. Both galaxies have a yellow core and blue heavily distorted arms. UGC 1813 has new star formation in the core whereas star formation in UGC 1810 is concentrated in the outer arms. The extraordinary interactions between these two galaxies is suspected to be the cause of the recent star birth, in fact it is believed that UGC 1813 passed through UGC 1810.

The bigger, the better for this object! The image seems to be widefield but I cropped it quite a bit already which indicates the Edge800 is near the lower size limit. I was happy with how the detail came out and a big part of that was BlurXTereminator (BTX). Everyone has been saying this is a "Gamechanger" and for the first time I agree. Unlike other sharpening programs that do sharpen well, the problem is they sharpen everything including noise so you have to do a lot of masking and creative blending, BTX sharpens the object but not the noise. Lastly, I really like the background as it is rich in colorful Milky Way stars and small galaxies.

ARP 273 - Rose Galaxy
Dates: 11-2, 11-3
Camera: ZWO ASI294MC-Pro
Telescope: Celestron EdgeHD 800
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 2032mm (native), 1400mm
F/10 (native), F/7
Focal Reducer: Celestron 0.7 Reducer Lens
Mount: Orion Atlas Pro
Filter Adaptor: ZWO Filter Drawer
Filter: Baader UV-IR
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Orion ST80
Exposure: Baader UV-IR 238 x 90
Gain: 30
Offset 0
Temp: -10 C
Processing: Asiair app, PixInsight, Photoshop, StarXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator, Topaz DeNoiseAI.

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LBN 762 - Drunken Dragon Nebula (2022)

LBN 762 also known as the Drunken Dragon Nebula is a bright reflection nebula in the constellation Aries. It was identified in 1950 by B. Lynds and was later determined to be part of a much larger molecular cloud by Magnani, Blitz and Mundy who cataloged it as MBM13. This region has a lot of gas and dust and is believed to be one of the closest stellar nurseries at approximately 1000 light-years. This is one of those times where you really have to have an imagination to see the 'Dragon' but it is probably better imagined as the 'Dragon Head', at any rate the nebula is quite stunning and rich in dust.

Some of my favorite the dust structures are the isolated vertical linear strands on the lower portion - they look like they are raining downward. In addition to the nebula there are a number of galaxies showing spiral structure throughout the FOV.

LBN762 - Drunken Dragon Nebula (2022)
Dates: 10-27, 10-29, 11-1, 11-2
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 L, R, G, B
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure: L 181 x 120, R 39 x 120, G 25 x 120, B 40 x 120
Gain: 139
Offset 20
Sensor Temp: -10 C
Processing: NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, Topaz DeNoiseAI, StarXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator.

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NGC 7331 & NGC 7331 Galaxy Group (2022)

The showcase galaxy in this image is NGC 7331 or Caldwell 30. It is a large unbarred spiral galaxy approximately 40 million light-years away in the constellation Pegasus. Four other galaxies, NGC 7335, 7336, 7337, and 7340 along with NGC 7331 make up what is known as the NGC 7331 Galaxy Group, however, these other galaxies are not interacting with NGC 7331 as they are much more distant at 300-350 million LY away. Its size is similar to the Milky Way but it is not considered to be a true twin since it is unbarred unlike the Milky Way. Also interesting is that the central bulge rotates in the opposite direction as the rest of the disk.

I have imaged this in the past with my smaller AT115 refractor and this is a much better version as I was able to get more detail. There are much better versions of this out there and I was hoping this would be better but given my equipment and conditions this is it. It turned out to be a processing marathon mainly due to the stars. It is well known the SCT stars, all things being equal, are not as good as refractor stars and if something is not quite right the issue is magnified. A couple of nights the seeing and transparency were subpar and focusing was fair at best. I believe the collimation is good but I am not convinced my corrector plate is perfectly aligned with the primary mirror as my stars have never been really good. In addition, I cropped this down about two-thirds so the stars were highly bloated and misshapen. I did my normal star reduction but did not want to do any more since it removes stars altogether.

I tried fixing them using various methods PI and PS that I found on the web but none of them worked so this led to me inventing a new method. In a nutshell I did the following:

1) used the 'Select Bright Stars' from the Astronomy Tools PS Plugin and then expanded the pixels to 2 and feathered it by 2 (these were round).

2) copied the stars as a layer to a starless version (made in PixInsight).

3) merged this new version with the original version and then carefully erased the 'bad' stars which were replaced by the new 'good' stars.

-This method is very tedious and time-consuming and is probably considered cheating but it worked.

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NGC 7331 & NGC 7331 Galaxy Group (2022)
Dates: 10-27, 10-29, 11-1
Camera: ZWO ASI294MC-Pro
Telescope: Celestron EdgeHD 800
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 2032mm (native), 1400mm
F/10 (native), F/7
Focal Reducer: Celestron 0.7 Reducer Lens
Mount: Orion Atlas Pro
Filter Adaptor: ZWO Filter Drawer
Filter: Baader UV-IR
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Orion ST80
Exposure: Baader UV-IR 292 x 90
Gain: 139
Offset 0
Temp: -10 C
Processing: Asiair app, PixInsight, Photoshop, StarXTerminator, Topaz DeNoiseAI, NoiseXTerminator.

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LBN644 - Dusty Region in Pisces

The dusty nebula, LBN644, is near another dusty nebula I did last year, in fact, Göran Nilsson did an excellent job capturing both nebulae in the same FOV with his wider field dual RASA set up. This object is located in the constellation Pisces and is part of a larger structure known as the MBM 3 molecular cloud. Information is sparse for this object however I did find a distance estimate of 807 to 858 light-years from Jim Thommes website (http://www.jthommes.com/Astro/LBN639.htm). Several galaxies which are over 500 million light-years away are visible in this image as well as some quasars. This is sort of a debut as Goran's widefield shot is the only other image of LBN644 currently on Astrobin.

I really love capturing these types of dark nebulae but the Bortle 5.5 skies of southern Connecticut are not ideal for this. One thing you can do to lessen the effect is take a lot of exposure which is what I did here. The stars came out really sharp and colorful which I am happy with. There is a lot of other 'stuff' in this field such as galaxies and what looks like a planetary nebula almost in the center of the image. You have to look closely to see some of these - not that I am advocating you to pixel peep.

Dates: 10-14, 10-15, 10-18, 10-19, 10-20, 10-21

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LBN644 - Dusty Region in Pisces (2022)
Dates: 10-14, 10-15, 10-18, 10-19, 10-20, 10-21
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 L, R, G, B
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure:
Plane1 - L 348 x 90, R 105 x 90, G 77 x 90, B 78 x 90
Gain: 139
Offset 20
Sensor Temp: -10 C
Processing: NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, Topaz DeNoiseAI, StarXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator.

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LBN 437 portion of SH2-126

LBN 437 is a nebula complex located approximately 1200 light-years away in the constellation Lacerta. I call it a complex because it consists of two different types of nebulae, one being a molecular cloud of dust and the second being hydrogen gas. The molecular cloud is actually LBN 437 and the hydrogen gas is part of a much larger emission nebula (approximately 7 degrees) designated as SH2-126.

My FOV was only a couple of hours per night so I imaged every opportunity I had in October which worked out to 14 nights.

I have looked at several versions that other people have taken of this nebula and noticed there is quite a variation in how they look, much more than in other objects. I believe the reason for this is because they are completely different types of nebulae and require different methods for enhancing them which often interfere with each other. Try to bring out the Ha and the masks of the molecular dust and visa versa. Because of this it wound up being one of the most difficult objects I have had to process. I did a bit of star reduction but kept it at a minimum because I really like the star field.

LBN 437 portion of SH2-126 (2022)

Dates: 10-8, 10-9, 10-11, 10-14, 10-15, 10-16, 10-18, 10-19, 10-20, 10-21, 10-27, 10-27, 10-29, 11-1
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: ZWO Ha, R, G, B
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure:
Plane1 - Ha 99 x 300, R 75 x 90, G 74 x 90, B 64 x 90
Gain: 139
Offset 20
Sensor Temp: -10 C
Processing: NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, Topaz DeNoiseAI, StarXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator.

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Sh2-157 Lobster Claw Region - Includes NGC 7538, NGC 7635, M52, and Sh2-155 to name a few!

The Lobster Claw (Sh2-152), Cave (Sh2-152), Northern Lagoon (NGC 7538), Bubble (7635), and M52 all in the same field of view. How cool is that! This region of space on the border of Cassiopeia and Cepheus is loaded with gas dust and stars. I have listed the popular deep sky objects but many more small bright emission nebulae and dark nebulae are found in this image. I have imaged some of these such as M52, the Bubble Nebula, and the Cave Nebula individually before but this is the first for the Lobster Claw and Northern Lagoon. The Lobster Claw is a bright emission nebula located about ~11,000 light-years away in Cassiopeia where as the Bubble and Cave are closer at ~7100 and ~2400 ly away respectively.

All in all, I am quite pleased with the result and it took forever to process as I did a few new processing techniques which I will start incorporating into my routine, hopefully it will speed up. Although the processed image here was made from 15.9 hrs. of total exposure with the NBZ filter, I actually captured ~37 hours (449 x 300s) of data. You might think I am depressed about trashing ~20 hrs., but I began capturing this when the moon was out and was prepared to make an image with just that data. However, after I finished the first ~20 hrs. with the moon out, the clear weather returned when the moon went away so I started collecting again and the raw exposures looked noticeably better. The average ADU (brightness) was much lower without the moon. When I used the subframe selector in PI it was clear that frames without the moon were much superior. For example, the maximum number of stars detected was 2000 when the moon was out, meanwhile without the moon 5000 - 9000 stars were detected. One of the reasons for collecting so much data is so you can select the best that is possible so by that standard, not using the inferior data was a success.

So the new processing stuff was thanks to Mike Cranfield and Jerryyyyy, Bill Blanshan, Russell Croman. First I used Generalised Hyperbolic Stretch (GHS) which is a PixInsight script by Mike Cranfield which among other things can bring out faint detail much better than other methods I have used before. I also used Bill Blashan's Star Reduction and Color Masks Processes for PI. Lastly, I used NoiseXTerminator from Russall Cromin. I have been using Topaz Denoise but this seems to give a better reduction across the entire image. Topaz still works wonders though so I may use it as a secondary reduction in Photoshop.

  

Sh2-157 Lobster Claw Region - Includes NGC 7538, NGC 7635, M52, and Sh2-155!

Dates: 10-9-22, 10-10-22, 10-11-22, 10-12-22, 10-15-22, 10-16-22, 10-17-22, 10-19-22, 10-20-22, 10-21-22
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC-Pro
Telescope: Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM Lens
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 200mm
f/4 with stepdown rings
Focal Reducer: None
Mount: Orion Atlas Pro
Filter Wheel/Drawer: ZWO EOS Filter Drawer
Filter: IDAS Nebula Booster NBZ Filter
Focuser: None
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to a ZWO Mini 30/120mm Guidescope
Exposure: 191 x 300
Gain: 100
Sensor Temp: -10 C
Processing: ASIAIR Pro, PixInsight, Photoshop, StarXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, GHS.
Power: BINZET AC to DC 12V 10A 120W Power Supply

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Sh2-94 - Part of a Large Supernova Remnant (2022)

Sh2-94 - Part of a Large Supernova Remnant (2022) Sharpless 94 (Sh2-94) is a part of a very faint supernova remnant (SNR) which includes Sh2-91 and SH2-96. This nebula has quite a bit of oxygen as well as hydrogen which are producing the ropy red and blue strands. I have already imaged Sh2-91 as a mosaic and planned to do Sh2-94 as another mosaic but the second panel did not come out well (the moon was out most of the time and is now out of my reach). Too bad as I imaged it over several nights but that is the breaks - so this is only the first panel. The red and blue strands are all filaments of the SNR with a diameter of about 230 light-years (70 parsecs) and an age approximately 30,000 years. It is located in Cygnus very close to the Veil Nebula but further away at 2500 light-years (Ly) as opposed to 1500 Ly for the Veil and it is four times older.

I like how this came out even though it is framed kind of weird due to my failed attempt at a mosaic. I will plan to do this whole thing next year when it becomes visible again and I have time to properly plan the mosaic. I used some new methods of color masks thanks to Bill Blanshan (and thanks to Cuiv the Lazy Geek for making the video). Bill's color masks worked incredibly well at making the red and blue nebulosity so I could then make adjustments to them. In addition, I have been using StarXTerminator by Russell Croman for quite a while but I just purchased his NoiseXTerminator and was most pleased with that as well. I did my standard reduction and probably could have done more, however, the starfield was very rich and colorful so I did not go further.

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Sh2-94 - Part of a Large Supernova Remnant (2022)

Dates: 9-13, 9-14, 9-15, 9-17, 9-22, 9-23, 9-24
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 Ha, OIII, R, G, B
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure:
Plane1 - Ha 67 x 300, OIII 59 x 300, R 46 x 60, G 37 x 60, B 36 x 60
Gain: 139
Offset 20
Sensor Temp: -10 C
Processing: NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, Topaz DeNoiseAI, StarXTerminator.

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Quick M31 from a Public Observing Session!

I decided to collect some data on M31 while doing a public observing session for Boothe Memorial Astronomical Society the other night. I had my portable setup which consists of the ASIAIR, Atlas Mount, ASI2600MC, and Canon 200mm Lens and was bouncing around to various objects when I stopped here for a bit. Boothe Park is located in Stratford which is not known for astronomical imaging given its Bortle 7 skies but I imaged anyway. I think it came out pretty well using what had. I collected 40 minutes using the UV-IR filter and 30 minutes using the NBZ filter in an effort to get some Ha but probably would have been better just collecting more regular data. 

M31, M32, and M110
Dates: 10-21-22
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC-Pro
Telescope: Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM Lens
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 200mm
f/4 with stepdown rings
Focal Reducer: None
Mount: Orion Atlas Pro
Filter Wheel/Drawer: ZWO EOS Filter Drawer
Filter: Baader UV-IR, IDAS Nebula Booster NBZ Filter
Focuser: None
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to a ZWO Mini 30/120mm Guidescope
Exposure: UV-IR 27 x 90s, NBZ 20 x 90s
Gain: 100
Sensor Temp: -10 C
Processing: ASIAIR Pro, PixInsight, Photoshop, StarXTerminator.
Power: BINZET AC to DC 12V 10A 120W Power Supply

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The Cosmic Question Mark? - NGC 7822 & SH2-170

Located approximately 3300 light-years (ly) away in the constellation of Cepheus is a large emission nebula known as NGC 7822. The object also goes by SH2-171 and is less commonly referred to as Cederblad 214 (Ced 214). The nebular complex is 65- light-years across and consists of many smaller bright nebulae, dark nebula, and a young star cluster designated as Berkeley 59. The dark 'pillars' in the center of the nebula are filled with cold dust and gas. Interaction between these regions and the bright areas of gas and dust are responsible for creating the Berkeley 59 cluster - the small grouping of stars in the blue-white region of the central portion of the NGC7822. Powerful winds and radiation from the star cluster further sculpt these pillars much like the more famous 'Pillars of Creation' in the Eagle Nebula.

SH2-170 or the Little Rosette Nebula makes up the small period underneath the main portion of the question mark. This nebula only appears small because it is much further away at 7500 light-years. I imaged this last year with my much larger focal length Celestron EdgeHD 800 (https://www.astrobin.com/fcjeyt/?nc=collection&nce=712). For comparison, SH2-170 is about 45 light-years across compared to NGC 7822 at 65 light-years across.

Overall I am pretty happy with the outcome especially with 30.5 hours of total exposure. I wish that faint nebulosity at and below SH2-170 came out better but I did what I could. I imaged over numerous nights and had to trash a lot of subpar exposures so really there was more than 40 hours. The Canon 200mm Lens - ZWO ASI2600MC makes for a really good widefield setup if you already have the camera lens or prefer camera lens setups, however, a true small focal length astrograph would be better in my opinion. I am planning to do one more project with the Canon 200mm Lens/ZWO ASI2600MC on the Orion Atlas Pro mount before reattaching the Edge to the mount.

Dates: 9-13-22, 9-14-22, 9-15-22, 9-17-22, 9-20-22, 9-23-22, 9-24-22, 9-27-22, 9-28-22

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The Cosmic Question Mark? - NGC 7822 & SH2-170 
Dates: 9-13-22, 9-14-22, 9-15-22, 9-17-22, 9-20-22, 9-23-22, 9-24-22, 9-27-22, 9-28-22
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC-Pro
Telescope: Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM Lens
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 200mm
f/4 with stepdown rings
Focal Reducer: None
Mount: Orion Atlas Pro
Filter Wheel/Drawer: ZWO EOS Filter Drawer
Filter: IDAS Nebula Booster NBZ Filter
Focuser: None
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to a ZWO Mini 30/120mm Guidescope
Exposure: 366 x 300
Gain: 100
Sensor Temp: 0 C
Processing: ASIAIR Pro, PixInsight, Photoshop, StarXTerminator.
Power: BINZET AC to DC 12V 10A 120W Power Supply

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Sh2-91 - Part of a Large Supernova Remnant

Sharpless 91 (Sh2-91) is a portion of the large supernova remnant (SNR), SNR 065.2+05.7. Along with Sh2-94 and Sh2-96 they are all filaments of the SNR with a diameter of about 230 light-years (70 parsecs) and an age approximately 30,000 years. It is located in Cygnus very close to the Veil Nebula but further away at 2500 light-years (Ly) as opposed to 1500 Ly for the Veil and it is four times older. Also located in this image is the small Planetary Nebula Min 1-92 (Minkowski's Footprint). In my image it looks like a tiny blue elongated star roughly in the center left of the large blue star and just below the nebula (there is a white star next to it so they almost look like they could be a double star system). I really like the blue and red intertwining filamentary structure. I also like the colorful starfield that this nebula resides in, however, it is a double edge sword as those same stars really had to be reduced in order to bring out the nebula.

So this image represents my first attempt at doing a mosaic and it was by accident (?). What happened is I thought I had my camera oriented 90 degrees from and I did not realize it until after I started - this object is much dimmer than the Veil. After I got started I decided to go with the mosaic as even if I had the camera oriented differently I still would not have captured the whole thing. The mosaic is 3-planes oriented vertically and it was really easy to set up a plan for the other two planes in N.I.N.A. as all I had to do was adjust the right ascension. I did the mosaic processing in PixInsight following YouTube instructions from Windy City Astrophotgraphy (Nick). It worked well or so I thought when I first looked, however, when I removed the stars the merging was quite apparent. The good news is it was not so bad and I was able to do a little processing gymnastics to fix it. There is another program, Microsoft Image Composite Editor, that has been getting good reports so the next time I do a mosaic I might try it instead.

Dates: 8-1-22, 8-2, 8-3, 8-5, 8-6, 8-8, 8-12, 8-14, 8-18, 8-20, 8-23, 8-26, 8-27, 8-29, 8-31, 9-1, 9-2, 9-9

Exposure: 

Plane1 - Ha 51 x 300, OIII 61 x 300, R 55 x 60, G 51 x 60, B 50 x 60

Plane2 - Ha 53 x 300, OIII 46 x 300, R 39 x 60, G 41 x 60, B 40 x 60

Plane3 - Ha 49 x 300, OIII 68 x 300, R 32 x 60, G 37 x 60, B 37 x 60

Sh2-91 - Part of a Large Supernova Remnant (2022)
Dates: 8-1-22, 8-2, 8-3, 8-5, 8-6, 8-8, 8-12, 8-14, 8-18, 8-20, 8-23, 8-26, 8-27, 8-29, 8-31, 9-1, 9-2, 9-9
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 Ha, OIII, R, G, B
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure: 

Plane1 - Ha 51 x 300, OIII 61 x 300, R 55 x 60, G 51 x 60, B 50 x 60

Plane2 - Ha 53 x 300, OIII 46 x 300, R 39 x 60, G 41 x 60, B 40 x 60

Plane3 - Ha 49 x 300, OIII 68 x 300, R 32 x 60, G 37 x 60, B 37 x 60

Gain: 139
Offset 20
Sensor Temp: 0 C
Processing: NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, Topaz DeNoiseAI, StarXTerminator.

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HB3 - Supernova Remnant Next to the Heart Nebula!

The framing is not a mistake, it is centered on HB3 (a.k.a. G132.7+1.3). HB3 is a Supernova Remnant (SNR) first cataloged by a radio astronomer and imaged optically in February of 2022 by a research group (article from the Royal Astronomical Society, https://arxiv.org/abs/2202.07749v1). I first found out about this object from Göran Nilsson who produces incredible images using his dual RASA rig from Värmland, Sweden (https://www.astrobin.com/96arhu/B/). According to the authors of the article, the SNR formed in a wind bubble cavity created by the progenitor star. The estimated mass of this Wolf-Rayet star is 34 solar masses.

As can be seen on the image the blue OIII structures from SNR are visible, however, they were quite difficult to bring out even with the over 20 hours of data. A starless version is most certainly needed in order to bring it out and fortunately many good star removal programs are available these days. Even so, it was still very difficult to process, in fact after one day of processing, I did not like what was produced and started over. In addition to the Heart Nebula, several other dark nebulae are scattered throughout the image including some on the right side. I cropped it only a small amount as I wanted to show the rest of the field including Segin, the bright blue star in Cassiopeia. I was hoping it would be more strongly visible but then again none of the SNR was visible in any of the 5-minute exposures.

If you do go after this object be prepared to get a lot of data and even then it is a bit iffy. On the positive side even if you don't get HB3, you will still get a decent image of the Heart Nebula. I have several images of the Heart Nebula that I have taken over the years so I did not mind not having it be the center of attention.

HB3 - Supernova Remnant Next to the Heart Nebula!
Dates: 8-23-22, 8-26-22, 8-29-22, 8-31-22, 9-1-22, 9-2-22 
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC-Pro
Telescope: Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM Lens
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 200mm
f/4 with stepdown rings
Focal Reducer: None
Mount: Orion Atlas Pro
Filter Wheel/Drawer: ZWO EOS Filter Drawer
Filter: IDAS Nebula Booster NBZ Filter
Focuser: None
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to a ZWO Mini 30/120mm Guidescope
Exposure: 250 x 300
Gain: 100
Sensor Temp: 0 C
Processing: ASIAIR Pro, PixInsight, Photoshop, StarXTerminator.
Power: BINZET AC to DC 12V 10A 120W Power Supply

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WR 134 (HOO)

WR 134 is a star located in Cygnus approximately 6,000 light-years away. It is a special type known as a Wolf-Rayet star, which releases intense radiation and strong solar winds carrying its outer layers. The star (HD 191765) is the bright yellow star sitting between the two bright blue stars in the center of the nebula. The blue arc was produced when the radiation and particles from the outer layers collided with the ambient nebula already in the region. The blue oxygen rich region is strongest in the upper left portion where it forms the arc, it is visible surrounding the star forming a bubble.

I really love this region and will most likely be back with different equipment. Most objects have an optimal focal length (magnification + field of view) with what looks good, however, this object in particular looks good at many different focal lengths from 400mm to 1400mm which is what I used with the 0.7 focal reducer. I processed this emphasizing HOO, but again, there are many fantastic different versions out there.

As usual I would have loved to get more time on it especially since it was with a OSC camera, in fact I was out there many nights wading through supposedly clear nights, however, I am happy with the image. This is one object I would definitely put on anyone's to-do list who has an OIII filter since it can be imaged well with any telescope but you may need to block out some time as it is dim.

WR 134 (HOO)
Dates: 8-1, 8-2, 8-3, 8-6, 8-20
Camera: ZWO ASI294MC-Pro
Telescope: Celestron EdgeHD 800
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 2032mm (native), 1400mm
F/10 (native), F/7
Focal Reducer: Celestron 0.7 Reducer Lens
Mount: Orion Atlas Pro
Filter Adaptor: ZWO Filter Drawer
Filter: IDAS NBZ, Baader UV-IR
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Orion ST80
Exposure: Baader UV-IR 66 x 90, NBZ 184 x 180
Gain: 139
Offset 0
Temp: 0 C
Processing: Asiair app, PixInsight, Photoshop, StarXTerminator, Topaz DeNoiseAI.

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North America & Pelican Nebulae (IDAS NBZ Filter Test)

This is the North America Nebula (NGC 7000) and the Pelican Nebula (IC 5070) in the same frame. If you saw my previous post, I did this object with the Baader Neodymium (Moon & Skyglow) Filter and this image was done with the IDAS Nebula Booster NBZ Filter. As I stated last time, the filters are quite different in what they are designed for and the light they filter. The Baader Skyglow is a broadband filter which allows for most light to pass through but certain wavelengths commonly associated with streetlights are blocked. The IDAS NBZ is a dual narrowband filter that only allows for certain wavelengths (~500nm & 656nm) which correspond to Oxygen III (495.9nm & 500.7nm) and Hydrogen Alpha (656.3nm).



As expected, this version looks quite different from the Baader image. The overall color from the image using the NBZ filter is heavier in red which is due to its high abundance of hydrogen and the lighter colors scattered throughout are due to the oxygen. In addition to showing more of the nebulosity, the finer detail is much more apparent. This image shows fine strands and puffy clouds which are not always visible in the other image.

To process this image I separated the stacked image into red, green, and blue channels. The reason for this is because I wanted to create hydrogen (Ha) and oxygen (OIII) images out of the RGB. Since the hydrogen wavelength is in the red spectrum, the red band was used for Ha. The OIII wavelength is a little tricky as it mostly resides in the green-blue spectrum so I made the oxygen from a blend of 70% green and 30% blue - this combination is used because the oxygen band is mostly in the green band. I then combined the Ha in the red band and OIII in the green and blue bands making it an HOO image. The advantage is it gets rid of some unwanted noise and brings out a bit more detail.

North America & Pelican Nebulae (IDAS Nebula Booster NBZ Filter Test)

Dates: 8-18-22
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC-Pro
Telescope: Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM Lens
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 200mm
f/4 with stepdown rings
Focal Reducer: None
Mount: iOptron SkyGuider Pro
Filter Wheel/Drawer: ZWO EOS Filter Drawer
Filter: IDAS Nebula Booster NBZ Filter
Focuser: None
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to a ZWO Mini 30/120mm Guidescope
Exposure: 49 x 180
Gain: 100
Sensor Temp: 0 C
Processing: ASIAIR Pro, PixInsight, Photoshop, StarXTerminator.
Power: BINZET AC to DC 12V 10A 120W Power Supply

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North America & Pelican Nebulae (Baader Neodymium Filter Test)

I have not imaged both the North America Nebula (NGC 7000) and the Pelican Nebula (IC 5070) in the same before so I figured this would be an excellent object to do some more testing. I wanted to compare the Baader Neodymium (Moon & Skyglow) Filter with the IDAS NBZ Filter so there will be another image using the NBZ once the weather permits and I image it. The filters are quite different in what they are designed for and light they filter out so it is not a comparison which is better but more about what each filter can do.

I am very impressed with this Skyglow Filter especially since it was done when the moon was up. There were some gradients but nothing the flats could not handle. There is very good dynamic range across the both nebulae, more than was expected. I like how the outer sharp dense red portions grade into the white inner regions. The Wall, 'outer red portion of Mexico' is very distinctive as are some of the other red tendrils on the North America and edge of the Pelican.  On the center right side of there is a small white cloud which is actually a reflection nebula, IC 5076, that I never new was there.

Another interesting thing about this image is that it is only 1.5 hours of exposure (45 x 120s). I did not go to longer exposures since it was a broadband image and the moon was out but despite that it came out rather well, much better than I was expecting. I used Bill Blanshan's star reduction - my new favorite star reduction method to reduce the heavily star-packed region as this sits in the Milky Way plane.

Lastly, I did not create flats for this image at first and wound up with the heavy gradients. You can see where the step-down rings exacerbate the gradient issue (Fig. 2). There are ways to fix this in post processing using heavy careful curve adjustments and/or synthetic flats which is what I did for the previous M16-M17 image. However, I decided to make a set of flats even though I imaged other objects with other filters in between - it worked as the gradients were removed or lessoned (Fig. 3). I show this because I see a lot of posts saying that it is useless to do flats after moving the imaging train. The original function of a flat field is to get rid of the uneven gradients from the background. They do have another benefit in that they can remove dust bunnies and other artifacts. The 'dust bunny' removal may not happen if you do what I did and take the flats weeks later but the gradients were certainly reduced. This made processing much much easier which is the whole point of flats. Long and short of it, if you forget or are unable to take flats at the optimal time, go ahead and try at a later date - the worst that can happen is it does not work...

Fig. 2 - No Flats

Fig. 3 - Using Flats created days after

North America & Pelican Nebulae (Baader Neodymium Filter Test)

Dates: 8-12-22
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC-Pro
Telescope: Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM Lens
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 200mm
f/4 with stepdown rings
Focal Reducer: None
Mount: iOptron SkyGuider Pro
Filter Wheel/Drawer: ZWO EOS Filter Drawer
Filter: Baader Neodymium (Moon & Skyglow) Filter
Focuser: None
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to a ZWO Mini 30/120mm Guidescope
Exposure: 45 x 120
Gain: 100
Sensor Temp: 0 C
Processing: ASIAIR Pro, PixInsight, Photoshop, StarXTerminator.
Power: BINZET AC to DC 12V 10A 120W Power Supply

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M16-M17 Region (Plate-Solve Test with ASIAIR & SkyGuider)

The most famous objects in this image are M16 (Eagle Nebula) and M17 (Omega Nebula) but several other objects are also in the field. Some of the other noteworthy objects visible are LBN 71 along with NGC 6604 and SH2-54 in the upper right portion. The left side has a lot of other nebular regions, some named, some unnamed. Numerous Sharpless objects, star clusters, and dark nebulae are scattered throughout this image.

The bad news is the stars were not as sharp as the focus was slightly off - my fault being in a hurry. The good news is Bill's Star reduction reduced the star problem quite a bit. The image is not great and I really did not spend a lot of time processing it since I did not have a lot of time on it, the light pollution was horrible in this direction, and the image was not the major focus of this project. The light pollution was so bad I could not make out any stars due to the light glow from Stamford and NYC. I was happy that I was getting something.

So how was I able to even find this given the sky conditions? Using the ASIAIR for Plate-solving. Plate-Solving is standard procedure for using go to mounts, it is less commonly used with tracking mounts such as the iOptron SkyGuider Pro which I was using. It actually worked quite well especially since Jacek Witkowski lent an extra set of hands (Thanks). I could have chosen an easier object that was actually visible to do this test with but I was at the offsite cemetery again and wanted to do something that is not visible very long from my yard.

M16-M17 Region (Plate-Solve Test with the Portable Setup)!
Dates: 8-13
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC-Pro
Telescope: Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM Lens
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 200mm
f/4 with stepdown rings
Focal Reducer: None
Mount: iOptron SkyGuider Pro
Filter Wheel/Drawer: ZWO EOS Filter Drawer
Filter: IDAS NBZ
Focuser: None
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to a ZWO Mini 30/120mm Guidescope
Exposure: 51 x 120
Gain: 100
Sensor Temp: 0 C
Processing: NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, StarXTerminator.
Power: Maxoak K2 Laptop Power Bank

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M27 - Dumbbell Nebula (2022)

Messier 27 (a.k.a. M27) is a planetary nebula located 1200 light-years away in the constellation of Vulpecula and is approximately 5 light-years across. Its odd structure leads to interesting names such as the Apple Core Nebula or more commonly the Dumbbell Nebula. The structure of this object results from the expulsion of gas from a dying star and then having the remaining progenitor white dwarf star ionize the gas so it shines. This particular PN has a strong oxygen (OIII) component as evidenced by the blue-green regions. The red is due to hydrogen (Ha). The formation of the interesting shape is hard to picture because of our orientation, however, what is known is there is a bi-polar influence which is why it does not appear as a sphere like the nearby Ring Nebula.

I imaged this over seven nights at the end of July without any difficulties. Processing turned out quite fun as it is the first image where I processed it completely on my new processing computer. The speed of this new system is quite impressive. For example, it only took 1hr 10min to stack 372 exposures using WBPP where it would have taken approximately 6 hrs using the laptop. I made a video of the new system if you are interested (Link - https://youtu.be/SyyDdTT47WM).

This version was a big improvement over my previous attempts. For one thing I used my AT115 vs. the Orion ED80. It is still a small telescope so I had to crop it quite a bit but I captured more data than before. Another thing I did was use Bill Blanshan's new star reduction methods for PixInsight in processing. The methods worked surprisingly well as the stars were reduced with only a small amount of artifacts on large stars and I was able to fix those without too much effort.

 

M27 - Dumbbell Nebula (2022) 

Dates: 7-19-22, 7-20, 7-21, 7-22, 7-25, 7-26, 7-30
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 Ha, OIII, R, G, B
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure: Ha 85 x 300, OIII 85 x 300, R 74 x 60, G 71 x 60, B 57 x 60
Gain: 139
Offset 20
Sensor Temp: 0 C
Processing: NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, Topaz DeNoiseAI, StarXTerminator.

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NGC 6888 - Crescent Nebula (2022)

NGC 6888 or the Crescent Nebula (a.k.a. Caldwell 27 or Sh2-105) is an emission nebula located in Cygnus approximately 5,000 light-years away. Its formation is the result from stellar wind from Wolf-Rayet Star, WR136 (HD192163), colliding with slower-moving earlier ejected particles from the star when it became a red giant. The turbulent swirling ionized gas is quite impressive and measures approximately 25 light-years across. The red color is due to the high concentration of hydrogen gas while the blue-green is indicative of oxygen gas.

This object is probably one of the top ten most imaged objects and I have imaged this three other times myself. However, they were captured with different equipment. This is my most detailed version yet which makes sense since it was with my largest focal length scope. I am very happy with the result and am once again surprised at how much Ha and OIII came through using the IDAS NBZ filter. I love the blue-green outer nebulosity and if you look closely you can see it is dispersed throughout the object. Also interesting is the dark globule known as "The Bullet" in the center near the bright star HD192163. When I first imaged this years ago I thought it was a piece of dirt on the sensor.

After imaging this I broke down this rig as I was having intermittent technical difficulties between the ASIAIR Pro and EAF. The ASIAIR would not read the EAF when starting up. Thinking it was the cables I went through four sets before determining that was not it. I contacted ZWO and have to say they were quite responsive in particular, TJ Connelly. Long and short, I ended up sending both items to New Jersey and they had to replace the EAF motor - very happy with the service.

NGC 6888 - Crescent Nebula 
Dates: 6-29, 6-30
Camera: ZWO ASI294MC-Pro
Telescope: Celestron EdgeHD 800
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 2032mm (native), 1400mm
F/10 (native), F/7
Focal Reducer: Celestron 0.7 Reducer Lens
Mount: Orion Atlas Pro
Filter Adaptor: ZWO Filter Drawer
Filter: IDAS NBZ (2-inch)
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Orion ST80
Exposure: Lum 175 x 180
Gain: 139
Offset 0
Temp: 0 C
Processing: Asiair app, PixInsight, Photoshop, StarXTerminator, Topaz DeNoiseAI.

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The Lagoon & Trifid (M8 & M20) Region Using the Portable Setup!

I have not imaged this M8, the Lagoon Nebula, or M20, the Trifid Nebula much not because I don't like them but because I can't see them from my yard and they are too low and the trees are too high. To get them I traveled to my closest wide open field, St. John's Cemetery 👻, even better only a mile from my house. It is a relatively new cemetery that 80 years ago was a private airstrip. The town still maintains the grassy field (not the cemetery part) since the FAA uses this as an emergency landing location. The Lagoon, the large red-white cloud in the center, is approximately 5,000 light-years away and about 110 by 50 ly in size. The nebula contains some dark, collapsing clouds of protostellar material known as Bok globules. In addition, four Herbig-Haro (HH) objects (bright spots of nebulosity associated with newborn stars) have been detected in its confines. The Trifid Nebula, the smaller blue-red cloud, is about 4,100 ly away and consists of an open-star cluster, an emission nebula in red, and a reflection nebula in blue. Numerous other objects of interest are located in this image including another Messier object, M21, a star cluster adjacent to the Trifid Nebula.

There is a lot of detail visible in this image which is surprising since it was taken with a 200mm camera lens rather than a telescope. I wanted to test out the portability of my portable setup in an actual situation rather than just setting up at my house which I have been doing. The object itself was unplanned, meaning I did not know I would image this until I got there, however, the only other object I was thinking about was the nearby Eagle and Omega complex. It was visible for approximately 2.500 hours at this location but I was only to get about 1.5 hours - not a lot but enough to get a decent image. The portable setup works really well and the only issue I had was trying to find the Lagoon as the iOptron SkyGuider Pro is not go-to so I had to locate the object the old fashion way. The main thing I tested this night which I have not before was powering it in the field. For my other mounts and setups I use a Deep Cycle Marine battery to power the scopes, camera, dew heaters, computer, and etc. For this setup, the SkyGuider has its own power, there is no computer as the ASIAIR is controlled by a tablet. To power the camera and ASIAIR I used Maxoak K2 Laptop Power Bank ($129 Amazon) which still had plenty of power after I was done as did the SkyGuider - both of these would have worked for the entire night.

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The Lagoon & Trifid (M8 & M20) Region Using the Portable Setup!
Dates: 7-3
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC-Pro
Telescope: Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM Lens
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 200mm
f/4 with stepdown rings
Focal Reducer: None
Mount: iOptron SkyGuider Pro
Filter Wheel/Drawer: ZWO EOS Filter Drawer
Filter: IDAS NBZ
Focuser: None
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to a ZWO Mini 30/120mm Guidescope
Exposure: 41 x 120
Gain: 100
Sensor Temp: 0 C
Processing: NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, StarXTerminator.
Power: Maxoak K2 Laptop Power Bank

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Simeiz 57 - Propeller Nebula (DWB 111/119)

The Propeller Nebula is located in the region of Cygnus streaming with gas, in particular hydrogen as evidenced from the image. Many popular objects are located within this rich gaseous region and the Propeller often gets included as part of a wide field image. The exact distance is not known, however, the Cygnus Complex is approximately 4,6oo light-years away. The object is a hydrogen gas emission nebula that happens to resemble a giant propeller, hence the name.

The most common designation is DWB 111, however, this is only part of the object and named after H. R. Dickel, H. Wendker, and J. H. Bieritz, who were studying and cataloging HII regions in the Cygnus X Complex in the 1960s. DWB 119 was the other half of the object. The earlier Simeiz Catalog was created in the 1950s by the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory at Simeiz in Ukraine (Russia annexed Crimea in 2014). This object was number 57 in that catalog so the designation for the whole object is Simeiz 57 (a.k.a. Simeis 57) .

So you may have noticed I captured it over a month ago and only now publishing it, this is due to a variety of factors including a lot of software and hardware glitches. One of my issues was that my laptop computer was seriously underpowered and some programs such as Topaz Denoise (new update) would no longer work. I now have a zippy desktop for processing and everything works and is much faster. This image is the first one where I used the new computer (partially). The data was collected using the IDAS NBZ filter which collects only hydrogen alpha (Ha) and oxygen III (OIII). I separated the Ha into the red channel and the OIII was a combo between green and blue where green was a higher percentage. The image is a close approximation of an monochrome HOO combo yet taken with a color camera (or that is the idea). This is a dimmer object than it appears so I am happy with the outcome.

Simeiz 57 - Propeller Nebula (DWB 111/119)
Dates: 6-17, 6-19, 6-28
Camera: ZWO ASI294MC-Pro
Telescope: Celestron EdgeHD 800
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 2032mm (native), 1400mm
F/10 (native), F/7
Focal Reducer: Celestron 0.7 Reducer Lens
Mount: Orion Atlas Pro
Filter Adaptor: ZWO Filter Drawer
Filter: IDAS NBZ (2-inch)
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Orion ST80
Exposure: Lum 163 x 180
Gain: 139
Offset 0
Temp: 0 C
Processing: Asiair app, PixInsight, Photoshop, StarXTerminator, Topaz DeNoiseAI.

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Astro Images from Co-NM Vacation

General Pics from the Deck
Some random quick shots of the night sky from my sister-in-laws deck. They have a great view of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. They are at 35 degrees north latitude so that means Polaris (aka the North Star) is 35 degrees above the horizon. The Big Dipper is overhead. Also visible are the constellations Cygnus, Lyra, and Cassiopeia. These were taken with the Opteka Fisheye Lens which does a good job capturing photons although the stars aren't so good near the edges.

Canon T3i/600D Modified

Opteka 6.5mm f/3.5 Fisheye

ISO 1600

f/5.6

Filter Astronomik OWB

Exposure 30s

Couple Moon Shots
Couple moon shots from Wednesday night in Santa Fe. The clouds gave provided a very cool background. Two of the images were taken with the 50mm Lens and the really close up pic was with the 200mm Lens.

Canon T3i/600D Modified

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 (Nifty Fifty)

ISO 400

f/7.1

Filter Astronomik OWB

Exposure 1s

Canon T3i/600D Modified

Canon EF 200mm f/2.8 USM II

ISO 400

f/10

Filter Astronomik OWB

Exposure 0.5s

Dusty Area Around The Shark Nebula (LDN 1235)

The main focus of this project was LDN 1235 commonly known as the Shark Nebula. It is a dark reflection nebula approximately 15 light-years across and made up of interstellar dust located about 650 LY away in Cepheus. In addition to the LDN 1235, there is a lot of other "stuff" in this image as well. One of my favorite objects was VDB152 which is a blue reflection nebula at the end of a snake-like dark nebula which extends from the middle of the Shark to the upper left corner. I also like the stars in this region as they are quite colorful but overly large.

This was a last minute decision to image this as we had an unexpected clear night last month and I wanted to test my portable mount. I am quite happy with the result, especially considering it is only 3.5 hours. I was concerned about doing a dark nebula as I knew I would have only one night on it. For bright nebulae 3.5 hours is enough for a decent image if your system is fast enough but for dark nebulae in a somewhat light-polluted area it is iffy. I decided to give it a shot and am glad I did. The SkyGuider Pro is not a goto mount so trying to frame it was a little trying especially since nothing shows up in any of the subframes except the stars.

Shark Nebula - LDN 1235
Dates: 6-4
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC-Pro
Telescope: Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM Lens
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 200mm
f/4 with stepdown rings
Focal Reducer: None
Mount: iOptron SkyGuider Pro
Filter Wheel/Drawer: ZWO EOS Filter Drawer
Filter: Baader UV/IR
Focuser: None
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to a ZWO Mini 30/120mm Guidescope
Exposure: 104 x 120
Gain: 100
Offset 20
Sensor Temp: 0 C
Processing: NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, StarXTerminator.

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The Valentine Rose Nebula - Sh2-174, Better Call Glenn & Joe

Sh2-174 or the Valentine Rose Nebula (PK 120+18.1) was originally thought to have been a planetary nebula with ionized hydrogen and oxygen but one of the issues was that no white dwarf progenitor star had been found. Finally a white dwarf was discovered in the central portion of the blue region. It is the small blue star south of the very large white star in the top of the blue region. Most PNs have the progenitor star in the center but this one was offset so it was suggested that the strong tidal nature of the area blew the gases away from the star. However, a 2008 doctoral student discovered the star is much older than the nebula and could not have caused it. So the new hypothesis is that the white dwarf is merely passing through the ionized hydrogen cloud. The nebula is located about 950 light-years away in the constellation of Cepheus.

This image of SH2-174 was a collaboration project between myself, Glenn Clouder and Joe Navara. Together we have just under 72 hours of total integration time on this target. Joe did the initial preprocessing and although all of us produced an image, Glenn's was clearly the best so we went with his version. Kudos to Glenn!

Other images consist mainly of Ha and OIII so we decided to be a little different and collected SII in addition. Joe and I did a traditional SHO combination whereas Glenn went with a HSO combination. This object is very dim so you will need lots of exposure. I decided to use my EdgeHD800 with Hyperstar in order to collect my portion of Ha. For the SII and OIII I used my AT115 refractor with a 0.8x FR. Joe collected all his data with a Williams Optics WP81 refractor with a 0.8x FR while Glenn went with a OOUK CT10 Newtonian reflector.

Check out the video of our collaboration:
https://youtu.be/mnuHcGJL5lw

Imaging Details:
Kurt
EdgeHD800 w/hyperstar Ha 108 x 300s (9h)
AT115 Refractor w/0.8FR OIII 100 x 300s (8.3h)
AT115 Refractor w/0.8FR SII 36 x 300s (3h)

Joe
WO Z81 w/.8FR Ha 40 x 600s (6.7h)
WO Z81 w/.8FR OII 48 x 600s (8h)
WO Z81 w/.8FR SII 70 x 600s (11.7h)

Glenn
OOUK CT10
Ha 57 X 600s (9.5h)
Oiii 36 X 600s (6h)
Sii 58 X 600s (9.7h)

Cape Cod (2022)

Cape Cod Picture 1

This noisy little image may be all I get but at least it shows what is not possible from my house.  The image was from a recent trip to Cape Cod for my wife's reunion (Harvard '91). It was on a beach off Surf Drive in Falmouth, MA.  The Skies were surprisingly dark and the Milky Way was as good as it was out west.  This was a 60 second exposure using my my trusty rusty Canon 600D with an Opteka 6.5mm Fisheye Lens at f/5.6 and ISO of 1600.  

Cape Cod Picture 2

This second noisy little image caps what I was able to capture the night on a beach. The image was from a recent trip to Cape Cod for my wife's reunion (Harvard '91). It was on a beach off Surf Drive in Falmouth, MA. There is a lot going on here, for example, the Lagoon Nebula (M8) sits in the upper center and just north of that is the Trifid Nebula (M20). The lower left is the constellation Sagittarius, nicknamed the Teapot. Numerous star clusters are scattered throughout and the dark dust lane bisects the bright Milk Way in two. This image was produced by stacking eight 15 second exposures with a 50mm Canon Lens at f/4 and ISO of 1600.

I would have had another and potentially better image but alas in my hurried haste I goofed up. I collected nine 6o second exposures. When you capture longer exposures you to account for Earth's rotation with a tracking mount which I had. However, the first thing you should do is polar align which is what forgot to do so the stars were tailing.

If you are wondering when you would need a tracker, there is a "rule of 500" where you divide 500 by the focal length of the lens and that number is the maximum time that you take a single exposure before a star shows trails. For example, if your focal length (FL) of the lens is 6.5 mm, then divide 500 by 6.5 you get 77, therefore you can take a 77 sec exposure without trailing. If your lens had a FL of 50 mm, then 500 divided by 50 gives you 10. So anything longer will begin to show trails. So my 15 second exposures do show a tiny amount of streaking, at 60 seconds the streaking was quite bad.

 

Lots of Stars & Dust, Iris Nebula - NGC 7023 Region (2022)

NGC 7023 or the Iris Nebula is a favorite of mine and I wanted to redo this object as I just did this exactly one year ago with this very lens - the Canon EF 200mm f/2.8 II USM Lens. Last year's image was with the ZWO ASI294MC and was plagued with problems of my own doing and poor weather conditions. This time around I did it with my new portable setup and it performed really well. This image is infinitely better than my previous attempt, of course capturing photons from Bortle 5 skies has its own issues.

The portable rig consists of a ZWO ASI2600MC, Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM Lens, ZWO Filter Drawer for Canon Lenses, ADM dovetail and rings, ZWO ASI120 guide camera, ZWO Mini guidescope, iOptron Skyguider Pro, Williams Optics Base, and an iOptron Tripod.

The region is heavily laden with interstellar dust as can be seen in the image. The characteristic blue color from NGC 7023 comes from the dust grains reflecting light from the bright central star. Also interesting is that polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been detected within this nebula so it may be a good place to get some naphthalene (moth-balls). Located in the constellation Cepheus these molecular clouds are approximately 1,300 light-years away in a rich field of stars. Also in this widefield image is the Ghost Nebula, a.k.a. Sh2-136 (VdB 141), located in the upper middle region.

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Iris Nebula - NGC 7023
Dates: 5-28, 5-29
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC-Pro
Telescope: Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM Lens
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 200mm
f/4 with stepdown rings
Focal Reducer: None
Mount: iOptron SkyGuider Pro
Filter Wheel/Drawer: ZWO EOS Filter Drawer
Filter: Baader UV/IR
Focuser: None
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to a ZWO Mini 30/120mm Guidescope
Exposure: 156 x 120
Gain: 100
Offset 20
Sensor Temp: 0 C
Processing: NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, StarXTerminator.

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Polaris Region - SH2-178

SH2-178 was originally thought to be a hydrogen emission nebula like most Sharpless objects, however, it is now known to be associated with the giant molecular cloud known as the Polaris Flare. This region contains a huge amount of dust that resembles cirrus clouds which reflect the light of the Milky Way. These clouds of dust reside well above the plane of the Milky Way and are also known as Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN).

I don't know why but I really love these dark dusty areas and this region has been on my to do list for a long time so it is a milestone of sorts. I first attempted this over two years ago but had many problems. I then attempted it again last year with but again - problems. This year was the charm. Why was this so tough? IFNs in general are very faint and require very dark skies - my Bortle 5 (at best) skies are pushing the limit. Nothing was in any of the subframes which is always disconcerting. The other reason this is difficult is that guiding close Polaris is tough as a tiny fluctuation is magnified. Even though I was only collecting 90 second frames at 200 mm FL, guiding is necessary - at least for my equipment. So if you want a challenge and you like being frustrated, why look no further, this object is for you.

This image also represents my second light with the ZWO ASI2600MC. I had it attached to my Sirius Mount in the astronomy shed and was guiding this time. Although this camera will mainly be used with a portable rig I wanted to get more practice. This object was a great learning experience as I collected over 400 frames and attempted to stack them using PIs WBPP like I always do. Well after 14 hours it did everything but Image Integration before I got no space left. After doing some research and posting questions, I purchased a 1 TB external SSD which will be for stacking purposes only. I then stacked it again with WBPP and after 26 hours I got an image. This was still too long so I did some more research and did some adjustments in PI and learned a bit about swap directories. Also, I had the generated drizzle data selected even though I was not drizzling so that may have been adding to the time.

I did have to crop the image on the right side as my neighbor's tree got in the way. When I started this there were no leaves on the trees so I did not realize it was a problem as I could have adjusted it. In addition to the dust, the stars were well shaped and quite colorful. I am very happy how the ASI2600 handles stars, even bright ones. I left Polaris slightly yellow rather turn it blue since it is a yellow supergiant - Polaris is actually a triple star system.

Dates: 4-30, 5-17, 5-19, 5-21

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Polaris Region - SH2-178
Dates: 4-30, 5-17, 5-19, 5-21
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC-Pro
Telescope: Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM Lens
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 200mm
f/4 with stepdown rings
Focal Reducer: None
Mount: Orion Sirius
Filter Wheel/Drawer: ZWO EOS Filter Drawer
Filter: Baader UV/IR
Focuser: None
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to a ZWO Mini 30/120mm Guidescope
Exposure: 401 x 90
Gain: 139
Offset 20
Sensor Temp: -10 C
Processing: NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, Topaz DeNoiseAI, StarXTerminator.

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http://astroquest1.blogspot.com/
https://www.astrobin.com/users/kurtzepp/collections/
http://youtube.com/c/AstroQuest1