gorann

My final backyard image for the season is this five-panel mosaic of Integrated Flux Nebulosity (IFN) in Camelopardalis one hour west of the Fish Hook Nebula (Mandel-Wilson 5). The structures have no names or designations as far as I know so I decided to call them The Predator-Prey Nebula. The prey is that frightened looking central structure and the predator is the staghorn beetle like stucture coming up from lower right. Apart from being just about visible on Aladin Sky Atlas (DSS red data) I have not seen any images of these very faint but gigant structures (about 60 moons would fit into this 6° wide image) in the outskirts of our galaxy, primarily lit up buy the collective radiation from the galaxy. Caught during three nights 10 - 16 April with two RASA 8 and ASI2600MC (gain 100). 254 x 5 minutes, so about 21 hours. Stacked and put together in PI. Processed in PS and PI. The image has been downsampled from 10670 x 7931 pixels. RA center: 5h 40' 34" DEC center: +65° 46' 26"

I just realized that I had a little bit (less that 3 hours) of IC342 data from 19th April that I could make an effort to process properly. I just posted it on the SGL - Deep Sky Imaging forum and it now struck me I could also submit it to the competition. So here I am first complaining about the unfairness of the rules for us that have lost the astro darkness, and then submitting an image. A bit embarrasing 🥴. This is what I wrote in my post: This spring was wide field IFN season for me with my RASAs and I only aimed my good old 14" SCT at a galaxy twice. For IC342 I really only thought I could use the data to add to my wide field RASA image from the night before in order to bring out a bit more detail in the galaxy. Yesterday I had a proper go at processing this data and I was surprised how much details were in there although I did not even have 3 hours. The atmosphere must have been quite steady during that period since this is at 3550 mm focal length. It is also at f/10 so more integration time would have been nice but 14" aperture seems to help as well as my Bortle 2-3 sky. Imaged on the 19 th of April with the Meade 14" LX200R and ASI071MC (gain 200). I intended to use my new QHY268M but even the latest version of AstroImager on my Mac laptop refused to recognize it and I could not figure out how to get the rudimentary imaging program provided by QHY to work (not even QHY recommend their program). My Windows laptops, where Astroimager works fine with the QHY268M, were fully occupied with the RASAs, so I had to switch to the ASI071MC. Therefore I did not get started until after midnight. So I only got 33 x 5 min (2.75 hours). This is what Wiki writes about it: IC 342 (also known as Caldwell 5) is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Camelopardalis, located relatively close to the Milky Way. Despite its size and actual brightness, its location in dusty areas near the galactic equator makes it difficult to observe, leading to the nickname "The Hidden Galaxy", though it can readily be detected even with binoculars. If the galaxy were not obscured, it would be visible by naked eye. The dust makes it difficult to determine its precise distance; modern estimates range from about 7 Mly to about 11 Mly. Cheers, Göran

This spring was wide field IFN season for me with my RASAs and I only aimed my good old 14" SCT at a galaxy twice. For IC342 I really only thought I could use the data to add to my wide field RASA image from the night before in order to bring out a bit more detail in the galaxy. Yesterday I had a proper go at processing this data and I was surprised how much details were in there although I did not even have 3 hours. The atmosphere must have been quite steady during that period since this is at 3550 mm focal length. It is also at f/10 so more integration time would have been nice but 14" aperture seems to help as well as my Bortle 2-3 sky. Imaged on the 19 th of April with the Meade 14" LX200R and ASI071MC (gain 200). I intended to use my new QHY268M but even the latest version of AstroImager on my Mac laptop refused to recognize it and I could not figure out how to get the rudimentary imaging program provided by QHY to work (not even QHY recommend their program). My Windows laptops, where Astroimager works fine with the QHY268M, were fully occupied with the RASAs, so I had to switch to the ASI071MC. Therefore I did not get started until after midnight and nights are short here. So I only got 33 x 5 min (2.75 hours). This is what Wiki writes about it: IC 342 (also known as Caldwell 5) is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Camelopardalis, located relatively close to the Milky Way. Despite its size and actual brightness, its location in dusty areas near the galactic equator makes it difficult to observe, leading to the nickname "The Hidden Galaxy", though it can readily be detected even with binoculars. If the galaxy were not obscured, it would be visible by naked eye. The dust makes it difficult to determine its precise distance; modern estimates range from about 7 Mly to about 11 Mly. Cheers, Göran

Thanks for looking and for the kind words!

A bino viewer for a real big head!

Martin, on principle I have to point out that the time frame gives an unfair advantage to the southerners. Astrodarkness just disappeared up here at 60°N and on June 30th you can read a newspaper outside at midnight. Not a personal problem since I have aimed at IFN rather than galaxies this spring. What do you think @wimvb, being a prime Swedish galaxy hunter?

That is explained by 14 bit vs 16 bit. The 383 and the 2600 are 16 bit while the 533 is 14 bit so you would need more subs to get to the same depth.

This is most likely my last data for the season. Two quite nice blue reflection nebulae not far from the Soul Nebula in Camelopardalis. VdB 15 at the bottom left and VdB 14 just above it. The moon is on its way up in all its glory so I gave up on IFN and aimed at some brighter good old reflection and Ha nebulosity. Next time it will be dark enough to bother about astrophotography up here at 60°N is in late August, but summer has other treats! Caught on the night 19-20 April between 11 pm and 2 am with two RASA8, each armed with an ASI2600MC at gain 100. 74 x 5 min, so 6.2 hours (3 hours were all of the darkness available). Processed in PI and PS.

Maybe I am swearing in church and this comment is not immediately helpful for the OP but there is the new generation of cooled CMOS. Here is a dark from my ASI2600MC (5 minutes at gain 100), and a stretched frame grab of it from PI. I can forget darks or dithering or bad pixel/column processing or waiting for download😉 2021-04-06-1238_7-CapObj_0014.FIT

This is an area I found to contain quite a bit of weak nebulosity when surfing on Aladin Sky Atlas (DSS red data). There are a few images of the main galaxy (NGC1560) but I do not think this wider area has been imaged before, at least not at this depth. I assume most of the nebulosity can be classified as Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN) as it is very weak (lit up by the collective radiation of the Milky Way galaxy) and not clerly lit up by specific stars as in brighter reflection nebulae. The few images I found of NGC1560 shows a rather fuzzy galaxy (like in this image) which may explain why so few have aimed their telescopes at it. It is about 10 million ly away from us. The data was collected during one night with my two RASA 8, each with an ASI2600MC at gain 100. Totally 114 x 5min, so 9.5 hour which is enough to go quite deep at f/2.

Thanks Michael! My best investment in this hobby so far.

Thanks Richard! Yes, my thought too when I saw the image materialize - I only had a rather fussy Aladin Sky Atlas image (DSS red) to guide me so it is a bit of "shoot and hope for the best" with these images. If I shall do it, it will be for next year. Tonight is last night until August. Coming weather, moon and loss of astro darkness make tonight the finale.

This was taken two nights ago with two RASA 8 & ASI2600MC aiming at the same frame - it helps with two fast scopes when nights are getting short up here at 60°N. Then last night I fired up the Meade 14" to get a bit more detail in the galaxy. So 400 and 3550 mm focal lengths data mixed, with the long FL data drastically downsampled of course. The bright yellow star to the right is beta-Camelopardalis, 870 ly away from us, so just in the neighborhood compared to IC342. This is what Wiki writes about the galaxy: IC 342 (also known as Caldwell 5) is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Camelopardalis, located relatively close to the Milky Way. Despite its size and actual brightness, its location in dusty areas near the galactic equator makes it difficult to observe, leading to the nickname "The Hidden Galaxy", though it can readily be detected even with binoculars. If the galaxy were not obscured, it would be visible by naked eye. The dust makes it difficult to determine its precise distance; modern estimates range from about 7 Mly to about 11 Mly. There seems to be a fair bit of rather unstructured Integrated Flux Nebulosity (IFN) in the image although the nebulosity close to beta-Camelopardalis looks more like reflection nebulosity. So imaged 18-19 April with two RASA 8 and ASI2600MC, one sitting on my iOptron CEM70 and one on my Mesu200, together collecting 77 x 5 min at gain 100. The supplementary data on IC342 was taken with my Meade 14" LX200R (ACF) and ASI071MC on the EQ8, 33 x 5 min. So totally 9.2 hours.

Up here at 60°N I have two more nights with 2-3 hours of astro darkness, so it is semifinal tonight and I have all my three obsies ready. On the starting line are two RASA 8 and one Meade 14" SCT. I usually never run more than two obsies in a night so I may be looking for trouble.......

As far as I know these structures have not been the target for an image before, maybe becasue they are very faint. I found them surfing on Aladin Sky Atlas (DSS red data) and they have no name but are categorized as molecular cloud (so dark nebulosity) and have the designation [DB2002b] G143.36+24.25 in the Simbad database. This is a two panel mosaic taken during one night (14-15 April) with two RASA8 and ASI2600MC (gain 100). 97 x 5 min, so 8.1 hours. Will be one of the last for the season since astro darkness is only about two hours now.

That is really very nice Wim, especially for such a short night!

Thanks Paul, I think it is built into us by evolution seing shapes in the unknown.

Thanks a lot!

Thanks a lot Tristan! Yes the RASA-ASI2600MC combo is amazingly good at picking up faint colour signals.

This has now become a three-panel mosaic of Integrated Flux Nebulosity (IFN) a bit outside the area defined by Mandel-Wilson as MW5 (Fish Hook Nebula). I found it surfing on Aladin Sky Atlas (DSS data) but it is very weak there, not revealing much colour or structure. The IFN is very faint so one needs a dark site to image it and a light bucket like the RASA8 and a good low noise camera. Then the data still have to be stretched a lot so stars suffer a bit (with fuzzy halos) but I still find them acceptable. I captured it during two nights with two RASA8. I have not found any other images of these structures. At least my fantacy gets carried away when I look at the image. I just had a suggeston when I posted it on SGL to call the lower right nebula The Stag Beetle Nebula, so I immedeately adopted that. In the three-panel mosaic it can now been seen to chase a scared prey expelling vapour from his nose. So the whole thing could be The Predator-Prey nebula. I also think I can see an elephant face centrally in the image. I captured it during two nights (10-14 April) with two RASA8, each taking one panel. Cameras: ASI2600MC (gain 100, no filter). Mounts: iOptron CEM70 and Mesu200. Totally 144 x 5 min, so 12 hours. Processed in PI and PS.

Yes, I keep it short. That long thing will sag and have all kinds of internal surfaces for reflection. I would start by taking out the reducer (do you need it?) or find one that can sink into the focuser. This is what my 14" Meade looks like.

In PI I use Image Integration -> Pixel Rejection -> Linear Fit Clipping. Then there is not a trace of them!

Agree, a lovely M101!

Excellent! Nice to see them without the Hamburger photobomber. And the very best luck with your obsy - that is the way to go. I could not live without one (or now three).

Thanks a lot Paul! Why did I not think about that - I would just have had to look at what is hanging on my wall here, below a crayfish (but there is already a lobster claw nebula) - I used to collect beetles.......