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.

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

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.

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

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.

https://www.instagram.com/astroquest1/
http://astroquest1.blogspot.com/
https://www.astrobin.com/users/kurtzepp/collections/

http://youtube.com/c/AstroQuest1 

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.

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

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

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

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.

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