Noisy Headphones...

[PhotoGav]

The Headphones Nebula

This project has tested me beyond all imagination. With much help from folk on here, I finally managed to get the EdgeHD 8" collimated, back spaced and functioning as well as possible. The weather has done everything it can to scupper me - I had a small snowy flood in the observatory and the QSI doesn't seem to like very cold ambient temperatures. Processing of the data has been a huge challenge. I have a fair bit of data, but this target is extremely faint, so I just don't have enough data to combat the noise. The image reminds me slightly of an impressionist painting, but hey, they can be quite nice!

The target itself is an old planetary nebula some 1,600 light years away in the constellation of Lynx. It has the catalogue numbers of Jones-Emberson 1 and PK 164+31.1. It is only magnitude +14 or +15, sources vary, and given that it stretches across about 3 light years, it has a very low surface brightness. This thing is faint! The white dwarf star that remains after the explosion that created this nebula is clearly visible in the centre of the nebula and is extremely blue, almost turquoise, shining at just magnitude +17. Is this the ultimate fate of our own Sun? Something like this anyway and we certainly won't be around to witness it... by we I mean humanity!

 

Technical Details

Celestron EdgeHD 8" with 0.7x Reducer, QSI 683-WSG8, Astrodon 31mm filters, Mesu 200.

Ha = 18 x 1800s
OIII = 20 x 1800s
RGB = 24 x 300s each
TOTAL = 25 hours

I could have done with a load more data really given how faint the target is and how slow my SCT is, but the Sky Gods have decided otherwise. It doesn't look like there will be any good imaging nights before the Moon comes back, so that is it for this project for now. I have done my best with the data I collected and am happy to let this one go now. I can't face any more time trying to tweak this and desperately trying to stop it being noisy. Damn headphones...

Hope you like it and please do let me know what you think.

Clear skies!

[almcl]

Very nice image, Gav.  

As you say it's very faint - I know, I've been working at it too, but my results are not nearly as good.

A query if you don't mind? Did the blue in the centre of the nebula come from your RGB or was it from the OIII?

I ask because it's almost completely absent from my captures so far. 

[x6gas]

This is definitely on my list at some point too...

I think you've done extremely well all things considered.  A really nice image that I enjoyed looking at.

Star colour is very nice.  I get the same colour fringing on bright stars on my Edge - if anyone knows how to control that in processing then I'd be very interested...

[Space Hopper]

All the hard work was worth it Gav.

I think its a beautiful image. ?

[wxsatuser]

Think you have done very well with it .

[PhotoGav]

Thank you @almcl, @x6gas, @Tubby Bear & @wxsatuser, it’s always good to hear positive feedback.

6 hours ago, almcl said:

A query if you don't mind? Did the blue in the centre of the nebula come from your RGB or was it from the OIII?

By ‘blue in the centre’ do you mean the whole interior of the Nebula or the blue white dwarf? The blueish interior is mainly from the OIII data. The white dwarf is from the RGB data.

5 hours ago, x6gas said:

Star colour is very nice.  I get the same colour fringing on bright stars on my Edge - if anyone knows how to control that in processing then I'd be very interested...

Good question. To be honest the Edge is pretty terrible, I’ve fiddled a lot with collimation for this project and the blue data is significantly skewed compared to red and green. There appears to be nothing to do to correct it. Spherical aberration apparently!

[almcl]

13 minutes ago, PhotoGav said:

@almcl, @x6gas, @wxsatuserit’s

By ‘blue in the centre’ do you mean the whole interior of the Nebula or the blue white dwarf? The blueish interior is mainly from the OIII data. The white dwarf is from the RGB data.t

Sorry it wasn't clear,  I did mean the whole interior, very interested to hear it's OIII - been wondering whether to invest in an OIII filter! May just go for that now. Thanks!

 

[PhotoGav]

9 minutes ago, almcl said:

Sorry it wasn't clear,  I did mean the whole interior, very interested to hear it's OIII - been wondering whether to invest in an OIII filter! May just go for that now. Thanks!

 

If you are into narrowband, an OIII is essential. Get ready for faint signals and loooooong total exposure requirements!

[x6gas]

8 hours ago, PhotoGav said:

Good question. To be honest the Edge is pretty terrible, I’ve fiddled a lot with collimation for this project and the blue data is significantly skewed compared to red and green. There appears to be nothing to do to correct it. Spherical aberration apparently!

Yes it is a challenge, I agree.  I've been away from the hobby almost completely for a few years and I'm just getting reacquainted with my gear; as you'd expect I've been starting with the smaller scopes first.  Before my sabbatical I'd bought some astrodons and was very impressed with them when using my Tak but I don't think I ever used them with the Edge.  It will be interesting to see if they do anything to help...

...it'll be some time before I know.  I have a couple of summer targets that I'll use the Edge for but I will report back.

[martin_h]

I too have been imaging this one, 40 hours in total with images bin 2x2 and it still could do with more time! Like you say, its a dim one!

[tomato]

 Great result on what looks like an extremely challenging subject.

Apologies as this is a bit off topic,  but I am fascinated by the tiny distant galaxies captured on your image, namely the edge on galaxy directly above the nebula, and what looks like a barred spiral and another spiral below and slightly to the right. I took the liberty of uploading your image into Astrometry.net but no joy,  I don't have  PI but I believe it does a good job at identifying these tiny DSOs,  can  anybody help me out with this obscure request?

[PhotoGav]

1 hour ago, tomato said:

 Great result on what looks like an extremely challenging subject.

Apologies as this is a bit off topic,  but I am fascinated by the tiny distant galaxies captured on your image, namely the edge on galaxy directly above the nebula, and what looks like a barred spiral and another spiral below and slightly to the right. I took the liberty of uploading your image into Astrometry.net but no joy,  I don't have  PI but I believe it does a good job at identifying these tiny DSOs,  can  anybody help me out with this obscure request?

Thank you. Interesting observations and questions. I had noticed quite a few faint fuzzies in the field of view but hadn’t investigated them. Your post has spurred me into action. I’ve only found info about the two galaxies below the Nebula. They are, left: PGC 2439961, mag +17.72, no distance given, and right: PGC 2439677, mag +16.55, distance 1000 million light years!! Ouch! I can’t find any info on the single galaxy above the Nebula. 

[tomato]

Quote

2 minutes ago, PhotoGav said:

Thank you. Interesting observations and questions. I had noticed quite a few faint fuzzies in the field of view but hadn’t investigated them. Your post has spurred me into action. I’ve only found info about the two galaxies below the Nebula. They are, left: PGC 2439961, mag +17.72, no distance given, and right: PGC 2439677, mag +16.55, distance 1000 million light years!! Ouch! I can’t find any info on the single galaxy above the Nebula. 

 

Wow! That's brilliant, Gav thanks. Is there an open internet resource you use to find this stuff out, may I ask? I have plenty of these distant galaxies in my own images I'd like to research.

[PhotoGav]

I looked on Sky Safari Pro, my favourite app! I’ve just been looking in Stellarium, but the iPad version is not very good and I can’t even find the Nebula!!

[tomato]

Thanks, I'll look into that. I do find Stellarium on the iPad is a bit limited on the DSO catalogues.

[Barry-Wilson]

Great image and write-up Gav.  A hard target under any conditions and your UK capture is doubly impressive for it.  Top marks on an all round accomplished image.

Do you always aim to gather your blue around the meridian, at highest altitude?  This may help minimise the fringing if you do not already.

OIII is always noisy, and is one of the reasons I have settled on 1200s subs as a standard - more subs for the same integration.  Not meaning to spark off a 1800s vs 1200s debate here.

[PhotoGav]

Thank you Barry. Yes, I aim to collect Blue data around target culmination, which is pretty much at the zenith with this target. I think a load more data in RGB would be worth collecting, eventually. I am also hoping that I will soon be in receipt of the firmware fix for the banding problem with my QSI as I cornered the QSI tech guy at AstroFest yesterday! As for 1800s v 1200s ... there’s only one way to find out...!!!

[swag72]

Very nice Gav, and thanks for reminding me that I already have some Ha and OIII from last year and I will start adding to it again this year!!!!

[ollypenrice]

I think it's a great success! Fine image of fascinating target.

Olly

Edit: Maybe the background's a bit 'busy' but I wouldn't use regular NR on it. That would give it a blurred look. I'd try to flatten it in Curves/Layers and maybe bring down the background colour saturation - though this is guesswork.

[PhotoGav]

11 minutes ago, swag72 said:

Very nice Gav, and thanks for reminding me that I already have some Ha and OIII from last year and I will start adding to it again this year!!!!

Thank you and it’s my pleasure Sara! What do you have in the way of subs and with what kit? Just wondering whether a joint attempt might bring this one up a notch?!

[Barry-Wilson]

22 minutes ago, PhotoGav said:

Thank you Barry. Yes, I aim to collect Blue data around target culmination, which is pretty much at the zenith with this target. I think a load more data in RGB would be worth collecting, eventually. I am also hoping that I will soon be in receipt of the firmware fix for the banding problem with my QSI as I cornered the QSI tech guy at AstroFest yesterday! As for 1800s v 1200s ... there’s only one way to find out...!!!

Gav - I have the firmware fix files.  Will email you on your personal email.

Barry

[PhotoGav]

4 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

I think it's a great success! Fine image of fascinating target.

Olly

Thank you Olly. Always good to get the French correspondent’s thumbs up!

[PhotoGav]

Just now, Barry-Wilson said:

Gav - I have the firmware fix files.  Will email you on your personal email.

Barry

Thank you Barry.

[swag72]

24 minutes ago, PhotoGav said:

Thank you and it’s my pleasure Sara! What do you have in the way of subs and with what kit? Just wondering whether a joint attempt might bring this one up a notch?!

I haven't got much really - About 12x1800s in Ha and OIII and that's it! Taken with the TMB152 and the QSI 690 at 0.63"pp

[PhotoGav]

On 10/02/2019 at 17:44, swag72 said:

I haven't got much really - About 12x1800s in Ha and OIII and that's it! Taken with the TMB152 and the QSI 690 at 0.63"pp

OK, Sara, please could I have a go at using your data to combine with mine and see if it works...?! It would be interesting to collate as much data as possible taken of the Headphones Nebula at roughly the right pixel scale from all the good folk of SGL and see how much of a difference shed loads of data really makes. If you are happy for me to experiment with your data, I will have a play and if it is successful, I will then start a new thread asking for people to allow me access to their data. What else is there to do in the run up to Full Moon when it is also cloudy??!!

The small print - I'm quite happy for you to say 'no thank you' and I won't be offended!