gorann

Yes, I knew there were Ha there but I was also surprised how much the little Samyang 135 could pick up in 3.5 hours using the NBZ filter (and Omegon veTEC571 C).

Thanks a lot, and yes I see what you mean. Clearly our brains are wired to see familiar things in unfamiliar environments.

These are some iconic but quite faint nebulae in Orion. The data caught with the IDAS NBZ filter (Ha+Oiii) reveals a sea of Ha emission in this area. I caught the big picture with my Samyang 135 the other night and added 50% data to NGC1788 from the RASA caught the same night. I then added Canon 300mm f/4 data as luminance to the Witch Head collected when I was down on Lizard Island way out on the Great Barrier Reef in 2019 - a place where the sky is as dark as it can get. I like it when I realize that I can dig into my hard drives and mix data. All photons collected with CMOS OSC. Totally about 15 hours processed with PI and PS and the XTerminator tools- Cheers, Göran

Thanks Olly! I am getting more and more curious about that Oiii signal connected to Sh2-181. Here is a starless crop and it reminds me of the Oiii shells of the Crescent. I wonder if there is a similar origin ( colliding stellar winds according to Wiki). Göran

Thanks Olly! I have now added one more panel to the left to include the planetary nebula WHDS1 (aka WeDe 1). Göran

Here is what the RASA 8 makes of the same nebula through an IDAS NBZ filter: Göran

Thanks Dave! Yes, Sh2-181 is quite likable👍

This is a RASA NBZ (Ha+Oiii) image (ASI2600MC) from the other night (about 6 hours) that I mixed with Ha data from my Esprit 100 (ASI1600MM) caught back in 2020 (another 6 hours). Sh2-183 is one of the ugliest nebulae I know, just looks like a really scary freak, but next to it is the smaller Sh2-181 which here my RASA rig managed to pick up some pretty nice Oiii signal from. I have not seen that in any other images of it before. But then these are very faint nebulae and there are not many good images of them. Comments welcome as always Cheers & CS, Göran

RASA any day! So much deeper and therefore you get more to show and more to find, including the occasional new finding. Will not happen with the Tak in a reasonable time. If you want refractor stars from a RASA just do BlurXT to get the shapes and then Unsharp Mask on the star layer to get the pinpoint look, although personally I am kind of soft on soft stars as they do not distract so much from the nice nebulosity you are looking for. Who are imaging to primarily image stars?

Sh2-264, aka The Angelfish Nebula, aka the Lambda Orionis Ring, is a molecular cloud and Ha region, which can be seen in the northern region of the Orion molecular cloud complex (OMCC). According to Wiki the OMCC is one of the best-known star formation regions and the closest sector of the Milky Way to our Solar System where high-mass stars are born. The nebula is named after its main star, λ Orionis, a blue giant responsible for the ionization of the surrounding material. When posting the image I realized that there are surprisingly few images on Astrobin focusing on this big structure and including all of it. This is a three panel mosaic with a lot of overlap taken with my Samyang 135. To this I have added RASA8 data to the highlights of the nebula. All through IDAS NBZ Ha+Oiii filters. Data collected over four years, with most of the Samyang data from last week. Totally 37+ hours processed in PI and PS with the XT tools of course. Cheers, Göran

Amazing project Olly! Very promising. If you need a widefield template maybe you could just use DSS2 in Aladin Sky Atlas: Cheers, Göran

The discovery of WHDS 1 (PK197-06.1) was published in 1983 by Weinberger, Hartl, Dengel and Sabbadin (https://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1983ApJ...265..249W). For some reason it is more often referred to as WeDe 1. It is an old evolved planetary nebula and large enough to be a rather good target for my RASA rig, When I was planning my framing in Telescopius I noticed that there were more structures nearby that I could include in the image by pushing the main object out of the center. Those Ha emitting structures are part of Lambda Orionis. This PN is quite faint and probably therefore very rarely imaged. Dual-RASA8 rig with ASI2600MC and IDAS NBZ (Ha+Oiii). 92 x 5 min, so 7.7 hours. Processed in PI and PS including the XT tools. Cheers, Göran

Ah, I see what you mean. It has happened to me a few times in an earlier StarXT version. I saw somewhere that Russ explained it as a rare consequence of how the program works by dividing the task up into small squares.

What you really will notice is that the Mesu makes virtually no noise. So you can look forward to silent nights.

Really great mosaic Olly! Amazing to see how much of it appears connected and interacting. What do you mean by "tile artifacts"? I do run into problems with StarXT, or maybe it is created by BlurXT trying to fix coma in the corner stars of my Samyang 135. After stretching I see these dark areas next to the stars. Here is a recent example (zoomed in): Cheers, Göran

I have both mounts but never tested their "breeze resistance" (they are on piers in obsies), but if there is a difference I would expect the Mesu to be the winner, as it can carry twice the payload (100 kg) of an EQ8 (50kg), so it is very stiff.

Barnard 35 is the dusty area surrounded by the bight arch registered in Lynds' catalogue as LBN 878. This bright nebula and all the other Ha emitting nebulosity and dark dust (molecular clouds) seen in this image are part of Sh2-264, aka the Lambda Orionis Ring. To me it looks like LBN 878 is heading towards the small planetary nebula NGC 2022 seen to the left of it. Caught with my dual RASA8 rig with ASI2600MC and NBZ filters (= Ha+Oiii). 112 x 5 min, so 9.3 hours. Processed in PI and PS including the XT tools. Cheers, Göran

I thought you were trying to introduce metric hours Olly. Would make life easier🤣

Thanks a lot Steve! I could easily tweak the curve and make the dark sky disappear! It is amazing to have that power over the universe😆

Thanks a lot Olly! Yes, it is getting more and more difficult keeping track what is in stock🤫

When I saw Olly's @ollypenrice excellent super-mosaic of the Orion and Monoceros area, I realized that I probably had the data to put together a panorama of the Monoceros area. So this is an un-planned mosaic of totally about 50 hours of Samyang 135 and RASA 8 data collected from 2021 to 2024. All through IDAS NBZ, so Ha+Oiii. Cheers, Göran

Nice to see it in RGB Olly! Your mosaic is excellent, and will provide a useful reference.

Thanks Paul! Yes, if all PNs looked like this one the name would be very fitting!

Thanks Steve! Yes, it is almost magical what these light buckets can suck in! It was fun to process and not very difficult. The signal was there and clear and not much else around.

But no match for a RASA if you give it 13 hours. Found in 1993 by G.H. Jacoby and G. van de Steene with the 2.1m Kitt Peak telescope it has been said to be the dimmest planetary nebula discovered in the 20th century. So a perfect challenge for a RASA. The hot blue progenitor star is clearly visible in the center of the PN if you zoom in. 152 x 5 min caught 3rd Feb with my dual RASA8 rig on a Mesu. ASI2600MC cameras and IDAS NBZ dual band (Ha+Oiii) filters. Processed in PI and PS includinbg the XT tools. Comments most welcome of course. Cheers, Göran