alan4908

I haven’t come across many images of this on SGL, probably because due to it’s small apparent size.  Anyway, I think the area is interesting and it includes a lost nebula !

Located in Taurus, Hind’s variable nebula (NGC1555) is about 4 light years across and 400 light years distant. It was discovered in 1852 by John Russell Hind. After discovery and over a period of several years, the objected slowly faded from view and eventually disappeared.  In the early 20^th Century, it became visible again leading astronomers to categorise it as a variable nebula.

The object is a variable reflection nebula and is illuminated by the bright golden variable star T Tauri which can been seen at the centre of the image below. The very young star was born in the nebula and is pre-main sequence. The nebula changes in brightness as the clouds move around the star with the result is that the star and nebula do not appear to brighten at the same time.  

Another object, in the vicinity of Hind’s variable nebula, is known as Struve’s Lost Nebula. This was reported by Otto Wilhelm Struve in 1868 and verified by Heinrich d’Arrest. It was subsequently given a separate catalogue number (NGC1554) by Dreyer. It subsequently disappeared and is absent on photographic surveys.  It has been speculated that the nebula may have been a transient portion of the reflection nebula complex which extends around this region of space.  

The LRGB image below was taken with my Esprit 150 and represents 12 hours integration time.

Alan

LIGHTS: L:27, R:17, G:17, B:12 x 600s.

18 hours ago, simmo39 said:

V nice, rich colour!

Thanks ! 

I emphasized the blue quite a bit since I liked the blue haze effect 

Alan

LDN 673 is a located about 600 light years away in Aqulia and is a dark cloud complex.  The clouds have temperatures between 10 and 100K which allows hydrogen atoms to form molecular hydrogen, a common ingredient for star formation.  Evidence of star formation is seen from the presence of the Herbig Haro object HH32. These objects form when high speed jets of partially ionised gas ejected by stars collide with nearby gas and dust.

The clouds tend to make the stars behind the object look reddish, whilst the densest regions completely blocks starlight. By contrast, the blue starlight from the nearer stars interacts with the dust and gas to create a bluish haze.

The LRGB image represents about 13 hours integration time and was taken by my Esprit 150.

Alan

LIGHTS: L:27, R:19, G:21, B:13 x 600s.
 

NGC 266 is a large barred spiral galaxy in Pisces which is visually close to the 8th magnitude red/orange K star BD+31 122.  It has an estimated diameter of 190 000 light years and is about 200m light years distant.  Two spiral arms are seen to connect to the central bar and can be followed through a complete rotation.  The galaxy is at the edge of a massive cloud of neutral hydrogen (HI) which stretches to another galaxy, NGC 262. Since NGC 262 has much lower amounts of HI than NGC 266, it is speculated that this HI cloud originates from NGC 266. 

The background image also reveals many galaxies and quasars, some of which are identified in the annotated version. Perhaps the most notable object is the spiral galaxy PGC212604, which is estimated to be 1.1 billion light years distant. If you look closely, you can also see a faint streak coming from the bottom of the galaxy, which is believed to be a blue companion galaxy. 
The LRGB image was taken by my Esprit 150 and represents about 15 hours integration time.

Alan

NGC 266

NGC 266 (annotated)

LIGHTS: L:38, R:14, G:20, B:17 x 600s.

13 hours ago, assouptro said:

I agree with others it would be better to hold back on the noise reduction, it ends up giving a false “plastic” feel to what is otherwise a fantastic image 

Having said that, I haven’t seen many if any  images that show the outer shells like that! 
well done! 
 

Thanks for sharing 

Bryan

Thanks for the comment Bryan !

Alan

4 hours ago, AstroMuni said:

Wow! Its an amazing image. And when you zoom in to the nebula and increase the local contrast, it begins to resemble a rose more than a ring.

Thanks ! - yes,  I agree those outer regions make it look a bit like a rose when you boost the contrast....

28 minutes ago, MartinB said:

Those outer regions are a real challenge so well done indeed.  Inevitably you end up with the ultra faint regions being quite noisy, I don't think it matters if you allow a bit of that noise to come through

  Thanks Martin - I presume the deep narrow band nature of the capture is a result of relatively dark skies at my site and 30min subs.  On the noise front, you are correct, ultra noisily outer regions, however, given that this is a gas, I personally think the level of noise level looks OK but I understand your point.  

Alan

15 hours ago, peter shah said:

A little too much noise reduction for me but you have managed to show the OIII and secondary shell beautifully, you even have a hint of the third shell which is no easy task....Nicely done

Thanks for the comment Peter. 

Alan

Another attempt at M57, this time with RGB stars and narrowband data to better capture the outer halos. I’ve also included an annotated version which identifies four background galaxies and two quasars.  

The image below represents a total integration time of 24 hours and was taken with my Esprit 150.

Alan

LIGHTS: L:40, R:14, G:17, B:18 x 600s; H:10, O:9 x 1800s all at -20C.

On 18/07/2022 at 14:54, Mark at Beaufort said:

Wonderful image Alan including the fainter galaxies. I looked at my Interstellarum atlas and also the The Sky website to get further info on this Lenticular galaxy. Really well done getting this detailed image.

Thanks Mark. 

23 hours ago, KyleStoke said:

Great Alan, nice to see a rarer object 

Thanks for the comment 

Located in the Virgo cluster, the barred lenticular galaxy NGC 5701 is about 70 million light years away with an inclination of 15 degrees, so that it appears face on with the plane of the ring. Notable features are a lens shaped yellowish inner region embedded in an area of lower luminosity which connects to the blue spiral arms.  

A smaller more distant galaxy (PGC214310) can be seen through the rings while other background galaxies (PGC214311 and PCG1282083) are also visible.   Even further out are five quasers which are estimated to be about 10 billion light years away, their positions are marked in the annotated version of the image.

I could only find one other image on SGL of this galaxy, making this a neglected target.  I’d encourage other contributions but note that it is a challenging target. Whilst the central bar is quite bright, the ring structure is very faint so you’ll need lots of long exposures and dark skies. It is also quite small, so you’ll also need a relatively low arc seconds per pixel set up.

The image was taken with my Esprit 150 and represents about 13 hours integration time.

Alan

NGC 5701

NGC 5701 (annotated)

LIGHTS: L:39; R:14; G:16; B:11 x 600s all at -20C.

Thanks for the comment - to me, it looks more like a floating eye 

Alan

IC1454 (aka Abell 81) is a planetary nebula located in Cepheus, close to the celestial North Pole. At about 14000 light years distant, it represents a challenging imaging target, mainly due to its small size of 34 arc seconds. The central star is also relatively dim at 18.8 magnitude.

The LRGB image below is my attempt and represents 10.5 hours integration time. It was taken with my Esprit 150.

Alan

LIGHTS: L:22, R:12, G:14, B:15 x 600s all at -20C.

Well , you don't often come across deep sky images of variable stars, so here's one  

The LRGB image below is centered on the eclipsing binary star V0455 Cyg and has an Ha blend into the lum and red channels.  I've also included an annotated version that shows the position of another variable star 1386 Cyg that was also in the field of view. 

The image was  taken with my Esprit 150 and represents just under 15 hours integration time. 

Alan

LIGHTS: L:17, R: 11, G:10, B:11 x 600s; H: 11 x 1800s all at -20C. 

A somewhat neglected image target, NGC 3359 is a barred spiral galaxy about 50 million light years distant located in Ursa Major. The central bar is relatively young at an estimated 0.5 billion years. The galaxy is very colourful with the bluish spiral arms incorporating young energetic blue stars and vast regions of intense star formation which appear as pinkish glows.

The LRGB image below was taken with my Esprit 150 and represents an integration time of about 16 hours.

Alan

LIGHTS: L:39, R:17, G:20, B:18 x 600s all at -20C.

IC443 is a supernova remnant about 5000 light years distant in the Gemini constellation. The event, 3000 to 30000 years ago, ionised hydrogen atoms in nearby molecular clouds creating lattice like filaments of luminosity.  The orange glow on the right edge, centre of the image is from the red giant star Propus, which is just outside the field of view.

The image is a LRGB composition with a Ha blend into the red and lum channels. It was taken with my Esprit 150 and represents just under 16 hours integration time.  

Alan

LIGHTS: L:17, R:14, G:11, B:8 x600s; Ha:15 x1800s all at -20C.

14 hours ago, maw lod qan said:

Amazing! 

And thanks for the information too!

Thanks for the comment ! 

Alan

M5 is located in Serpens about 25,000 light years distant and is one of 160 clusters that orbit the Milky Way core in a spherical halo.  It is estimated that the cluster contains in excess of 100,000 stars which are bound together by their mutual gravitational attraction.  The majority of the stars where formed more than 12 billion years ago making it one of the oldest globular clusters in the Milky Way. The older stars are yellow/red stars giants, whilst the younger blue stars are believed to have been formed from stellar interactions of the densely packed older stars. The concentration of blue stars increases towards the centre where interactions are stronger. Interestingly, it also contains at least 105 low mass periodic variable stars.

The LRGB image below represents just over 14 hours integration time and was taken with my Esprit 150.

Alan

LIGHTS: L:30, R:25, G:15, B:16 x 600s.

On 23/03/2022 at 20:26, Sterrenland said:

Stunning image...the colours are amazing. Exactly why I'd love a bigger scope!

Thanks ! -  on the bigger scope front , I do really like my Esprit 150 

On 23/03/2022 at 22:19, Catanonia said:

Really nice to see a close up of this rather than the usual wide fields.

Stunning work

Thanks ! 

On 24/03/2022 at 10:10, juno16 said:

Absolutely beautiful!

Coloration is spot on to my liking. AE Auriga Is perfect and the blue reflection nebulae is very prominent.

Excellent capture and processing!

Thanks - it look me a few attempts at trying to get the blue reflection nebula to something that I liked. 

Alan

6 hours ago, juno16 said:

Very nice!

Your 21 hours paid off nicely. Very effective work with the color channels.

Thanks for the comment - it was a bit of a challenge with the colour channels, so I thought of a bit of experimentation was in order. 

IC 417 (aka spider nebula) is located in the constellation of Auriga about 10k light years away. It’s an emission nebula that is energised by hot blue stars.

The image below shows the head of the spider. To enhance details, I blended in some Ha in the red and lum channels. To avoid a red colour dominance I also significantly boosted the blue channel. This highlighted some details, in particular, the ghoul at the bottom of the spiders head. 

The image below represents about 21 hours integration time and was taken with my Esprit 150.

Alan

LIGHTS: L:36, R:18, G:12,B:16 x 600s; Ha: 14 x 1800s.

The wandering blue star AE Auriga is the power house of the Flaming Star Nebula (IC405). Ultraviolet radiation emitted by the star causes nearby hydrogen gas to emit red visible light, closer to the star, dust reflects starlight creating a blue reflection nebula.  2m years ago the star was within the Orion Nebula but gravitational interactions with nearby stars resulted in the star being ejected and so it now wanders the skies. 

For the image capture, I decided on a LRGB approach with a Ha blend into the red channel to improve the visibility of the surrounding hydrogen gas.  

The image below was taken with my Esprit 150 and represents 11 hours integration time.

Alan

LIGHTS: L:5, R:11, G:10, B:7 x 600s; Ha:11 x 1800s.

17 hours ago, powerlord said:

wow. very nice

Thanks ! 

16 hours ago, ONIKKINEN said:

Love it 👍.

Rich backgtound too. Holberg IX actually has some nice detail and there seems to be a faint background galaxy everywhere i look in the image.

Thanks  - I too liked how the background came out this time. 

14 hours ago, DougM43 said:

Wow,, that’s an awesome image. 😍

Thanks 

Alan

A second attempt at M81 with my Esprit 150, this version incorporates some Ha that I recently acquired. 

The LRGB image below has an Ha blend into the red channel and represents just over 17 hours integration time. 

Alan

LIGHTS: L:26, R:15:, G: 18, B:15 x 600s; Ha:10 x 1800s all at -20C. 

It looks like the new product part is the motor drive system for a Feathertouch focuser. Two options now exist - a Handy Stepper Motor (which I have) or the newer Posidrive Motor System - see https://starlightinstruments.com/store/image/data/Brochure/StarlightInstruments-FocuserBossII.pdf

Alan

Here's five from 2021 - all acquired with my Esprit 150 and a SX Trius 814.

Alan

NGC4449

NGC3628

NGC3184

CDE173

Pickering