Simeis 57 - Ha Edited to add Ha/OIII/OIII version

[steppenwolf]

Simeis 57 – The Propeller Nebula (DWB 111 + DWB 119, MRSL-479)

Introduction

I was inspired to capture this much ignored object by an extreme widefield mosaic image of part of Cygnus captured by Scott (SGL member). Although Scott’s image had captured some well known objects that I instantly recognised, the relatively tiny propeller shape bounced out at me and resolved the issue of my next choice of object. The nebula is part of the large molecular cloud, Cygnus X but a closer cloud called the Cygnus Rift lies in front of it hampering observations. The stars that ionize this region of the cloud have yet to be properly identified.

Observing

This is a very difficult object visually and perhaps a little surprisingly, a Hydrogen Beta filter is the weapon of choice to enhance the contrast with the northern ‘blade’ being the more prominent of the two. However, the Propeller responds well to imaging with Ha filtering.

Imaging

For this object I have decided to keep with just Ha filtering and produce a monochrome image as the sky conditions in the UK, as you may have noticed, have not been good recently and the short nights haven’t helped so I wanted to concentrate on one channel. I have some OIII data captured as well but it is very thin so I’m sticking to my original plan! Edit: For the fun of it, I have now added an Ha/OIII/OIII version to show how thin the OIII was (see below).

Image Stats

Mount: Mesu 200
Telescope: Sky-Watcher Esprit 150
Flattener: Sky-Watcher Esprit specific
Camera: QSI 683 WSG-8
Filter: Astrodon 3nm Ha
Subframes: 20 x 1200 sec bin 1x1 Ha
Integration: 6.7 hours
Control: CCD Commander
Capture: MaxIm DL
Calibration, Stacking and Deconvolution: PixInsight
Post-Processing: PhotoShop PS3

Edited to include Ha/OIII/OII version (28x 1200 sec 3nm OIII in poor conditions)

Location

I use Cartes du Ciel exclusively for locating objects that I want to image but this rather obscure object wasn’t listed in any of the catalogues in my version of the planetarium software so I had to resort to Google to find its coordinates. This proved to be a bit of a problem as common sources resulted in an image displaced vertically in the frame so I had to go through an interesting procedure to get the correct coordinates for the framing I wanted. To achieve this, I cropped the image from my first session in MaxIm DL until I got the correct framing then plate-solved the cropped image. I then got MaxIm DL to Go-To the plate-solved position and captured the location into CCD Commander for future use. However, I have subsequently found it in Cartes du Ciel using the Simbad online search engine but I am happy with my current framing and it proved an excellent exercise in image framing using the software tools available in MaxIm DL.

Catalogues

Despite this object’s interesting appearance, it only appears in some relatively obscure catalogues, the most famous of which being the Simeis catalogue. The Simeis catalogue is a list of 306 diffuse objects, compiled in 1955 by Ukrainian astronomers Vera Fedorovna Gaze and Grigory Abramovich Shajn at the Simeis observatory on the Crimean Peninsula. The two most famous objects in the catalogue are the Spaghetti Nebula (Simeis 147) and this one.

The DWB catalogue contains 193 Ha emission nebulae and was developed in 1969 by Hélène R. Dickel, H. J. Wendker and J. H. Bieritz as part of their research on the Cygnus X region in the heart of the constellation. DWB 111 refers to the lower arm to the south and DWB 119 refers to the upper arm to the north.

The MRSL catalogue contains 698 nebulae taken from various other catalogues and was created by Pavla Marsalkov in 1974.

[kirkster501]

Superb Steve.  A new one on me is this object.

[steppenwolf]

15 hours ago, kirkster501 said:

Superb Steve.  A new one on me is this object.

Thanks. It is a beautiful object and well worth seeking out if you can spend some time on it.

[ApophisAstros]

A new one to me, very nicely done,

Roger

[Scott]

That's really come up a treat Steve. The amount of interesting targets in the Cygnus region is incredible. If only we could get more Dark hrs on this constellation...

[steppenwolf]

23 hours ago, apophisOAS said:

A new one to me, very nicely done,

22 hours ago, Scott said:

The amount of interesting targets in the Cygnus region is incredible. If only we could get more Dark hrs on this constellation...

Thanks, Roger and Scott - there's just so much 'stuff' up there!!

[kirkster501]

The bicolour is even nicer.  You clearly invested a lot of [very] precious clear sky time into this and it shows.

[Gina]

Very interesting   I'm imaging the Cygnus area in widefield.  This is too small to show in my images.

[Scott]

5 hours ago, Gina said:

Very interesting   I'm imaging the Cygnus area in widefield.  This is too small to show in my images.

It's quite small when seen in the context of the constellation.

[Gina]

I think I have it in my images.  These are single Ha subs.  No sign of it in OIII but I think I can imagine it in SII.  First 2 screenshots are Ha ant the 3rd is SII.  I need longer exposures, I know.  I'm just getting started again with imaging after a break of a couple of years or so.

Edited July 13, 2019 by Gina

[tony210]

Great images Steve! I am beginning to wonder if H alpha monochrome is the way to go as so many of my opportunities are the odd night or moon limited and for colour images with a good amount of luminance I need at least 3 good nights- always think monochrome is beautiful in its own way -great result - Tony.

[steppenwolf]

4 hours ago, tony210 said:

Great images Steve! I am beginning to wonder if H alpha monochrome is the way to go as so many of my opportunities are the odd night or moon limited and for colour images with a good amount of luminance I need at least 3 good nights- always think monochrome is beautiful in its own way -great result - Tony.

Hi Tony, monochrome images may not have the general appeal that colour images have but I really like them and as you say, with the right filter you can capture the most important wavelength (Ha) under moonlit conditions thus greatly increasing your imaging opportunities. Some of the finest non-astro images that I have seen have been mono so why not astro?

On 13/07/2019 at 16:20, Gina said:

I think I have it in my images. 

Yes, you have, Gina 👍

[almcl]

Very nice image, Steve, thanks so much for posting.

It inspired me to have ago at the area in wide field Ha and as you say, there's a lot of stuff going on there.  Great fun!

[steppenwolf]

On 15/07/2019 at 21:55, almcl said:

It inspired me to have ago at the area in wide field Ha and as you say, there's a lot of stuff going on there.  Great fun!

Excellent, I hope you got some great results.

[almcl]

Thanks, Steve.

Going to need a couple more clear nights (at least) and a lot more processing, but it is an interesting area:

[Hallingskies]

Thank you for the informative write-up.  This is an object on my to-do list and your location guide was quite useful.  I find Carte Du Ciel a bit clunky and have been using a decade-old version of SkyMap Pro (v10 I think) with EQMOD instead.  The variable star FOX252 is in the SMP catalogue and is pretty much in the middle of the FOV for this object, so hopefully I won't have too much trouble finding it later on this month.

[Merlin66]

The latest upgrade of Cartes du Ceil (V4) is well worth persevering with.

The additional catalogs further increase CdC capabilities.

 

[steppenwolf]

2 hours ago, Hallingskies said:

I find Carte Du Ciel a bit clunky and have been using a decade-old version of SkyMap Pro (v10 I think) with EQMOD instead.

I tend to agree but it is reliable and not too resource hungry! I've been using it since 'Adam' was a lad ......

2 hours ago, Merlin66 said:

The latest upgrade of Cartes du Ceil (V4) is well worth persevering with.

The additional catalogs further increase CdC capabilities.

Yes I am using the latest version and it pretty does everything I need it to do although I guess if I was demonstrating this type of software to a new observer, I might be tempted to demo Stellarium as it has a beautiful display.

23 hours ago, almcl said:

Going to need a couple more clear nights (at least) and a lot more processing, but it is an interesting area:

Well, you got the Propeller and a whole lot more too!

[tomato]

Another brilliant image and post Steve, I do like these “off the beaten track” targets.

Are there any theories on what is generating the symmetrical shape in the gas/dust cloud? Is it in any way analogous to the gravitational dynamics that generate barred spiral galaxies, albeit on a much smaller scale?

[sloz1664]

I still like the monochrome image Steve.  Like Scot's widefield shot, black & white looks so atmospheric.

All excellent images btw.

Steve

[steppenwolf]

2 hours ago, tomato said:

Are there any theories on what is generating the symmetrical shape in the gas/dust cloud? Is it in any way analogous to the gravitational dynamics that generate barred spiral galaxies, albeit on a much smaller scale?

Unfortunately, very little is known about this object - even its distance from us in unknown at this time so I'm afraid I cannot answer your question but it would be fascinating to understand the dynamic at work here to sculpt this distinctive shape!

2 hours ago, sloz1664 said:

I still like the monochrome image Steve. 

Me too, I much prefer it!

[ollypenrice]

These are great images. I've never tried the Propeller, though I really ought to do so, especially since I'm reading a biography of Amelia Earhart at the moment. We can almost see her coming towards us from the great beyond...

Olly

[emyliano2000]

I love this target, I'm working on it at the moment. Captured all the Ha and some Sii so far.

[steppenwolf]

4 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

I've never tried the Propeller, though I really ought to do so, especially since I'm reading a biography of Amelia Earhart at the moment.

I think it would be well worth doing as there are some lovely star colours in this region that would respond well to your usual LRGB imagery as these are lost in a pure narrowband image. I know that I could add these by capturing some RGB data but NB is much more my 'thing'!

4 hours ago, emyliano2000 said:

I love this target, I'm working on it at the moment. Captured all the Ha and some Sii so far.

Nicely captured and your wider field of view shows just how much is going on in this cloud.

[emyliano2000]

5 hours ago, steppenwolf said:

Nicely captured and your wider field of view shows just how much is going on in this cloud.

Thanks. The final Ha stack will have a narrower field of view, probably quite similar to yours as I started this target with a SW130pds, 585mm focal lenght and a QHY183M but I collected some more Ha and some Sii with my AT106, 690mm focal lenght and the same camera.

With the first setup I had 0.85"/pixel, 1.3°x0.87° fov and with the new one, 0.72"/pixel, 1.1°x0.74° fov

Edited July 22, 2019 by emyliano2000