Cygnus X1, black hole excitement!

[ollypenrice]

For a good few years I've had the pleasurable company of Paul Kummer and Elaine Seddon around this time but that nasty little thing in the air has put paid to that for 2020. However, Paul is full of good ideas for targets and suggested going after the visual bubble created, it is thought, by the first observationally recognized black hole, Cygnus X1. The bubble is thought to have been generated by one of the polar jets perpendicular the the black hole's accretion disk. It's most prominent in OIII - but that doesn't make it prominent! Also I have a lousy OIII filter in this rig which makes life difficult. So... when it comes to processing, the Spanish Inquisitors themselves would have turned pale had they seen me at work with this data in Photoshop. Iron bars, hammers and angle grinders a go-go. Thuggery. Shameful! But you can see the loop part of the bubble. 

The Tulip Nebula is thrown in for good measure.😁

Twin TEC140 rig co-owned by Tom O'Donoghue and Mr and Mrs Gnomus. Idea by Paul Kummer. L 12x15mins, OIII 25x15 mins, Ha 20x15 mins, R and G 6x10 mins, B 7x10 mins. Sky: transparency fantastic, seeing awful.

Cyg X1:

Olly

 

[pietervdv]

👍 Very nice Olly. Always interesting to go after these unusual faint fuzzies... 

Pieter 

[Hallingskies]

That's a lovely rendition as usual, but I am a bit surprised at your observations of the ease (or lack of!) picking up the X1 bubble.  It showed up, faintly but distinctly, in my own less distinguished effort under a Bortle 5-6 sky from less-than-sunny Kent, UK.  I would agree that it is more prominent in OIII but it did show in my Ha data as well.

You've really made it stand out, though.  Is that using your wizard wheeze of blending in equalised data (a trick I am grateful you shared with us)? 

[DaveS]

That's very nice Olly.

Nad a look on my own NB rendition but it looks like I cropped just below the shock wave. Ah well.

[ollypenrice]

50 minutes ago, Hallingskies said:

That's a lovely rendition as usual, but I am a bit surprised at your observations of the ease (or lack of!) picking up the X1 bubble.  It showed up, faintly but distinctly, in my own less distinguished effort under a Bortle 5-6 sky from less-than-sunny Kent, UK.  I would agree that it is more prominent in OIII but it did show in my Ha data as well.

You've really made it stand out, though.  Is that using your wizard wheeze of blending in equalised data (a trick I am grateful you shared with us)? 

I did use that trick, yes. Plus a jackboot or two!

Olly

[Allinthehead]

Amazing to be able to capture something like this with amateur equipment. Great idea and execution.

[ollypenrice]

23 hours ago, DaveS said:

That's very nice Olly.

Nad a look on my own NB rendition but it looks like I cropped just below the shock wave. Ah well.

Dave, I didn't pay enough attention to this comment and have just responded to your own post on this target without making the connection. I do apologize but I'm dog tired at the moment after a run of long nights and lots of IT faffing about by day with our robotic sheds. I really think another look at your data would be worth the effort. Sorry not to have been more attentive.

Olly

[DaveS]

Thanks Olly. Yes, I've taken on board your advice and will be having another look at the data.

[Tom OD]

Pretty cool Olly. I dont think I have seen that bow shock before. Wonder if I can help and shoot some data at 530mm in O3. I have a decent O3 filter. Not 3nm but its ok.

Tom

[x6gas]

Super image Olly and the bluntest tools can produce delicate results in the right hands which you have proved here.

I've delayed responding as I wanted to check my own data.  The subs I have at 860mm don't show the shock wave as it's just out of the frame but it is visible pretty clearly in the version I took with my FSQ85 and I didn't remember having to work too hard to drag it out... but going back to the original stack, it's pretty faint and gets a bit lost in the OIII signal that is pretty widespread across the field of view.  Here's a crudely stretched, and very noisy crop:

I wonder if you got a similar result?  If not, and if you did your trick of holding down the background noise when stretching the data, could that have suppressed this feature?

As I say, lovely image...

Ian

[ollypenrice]

11 minutes ago, x6gas said:

Super image Olly and the bluntest tools can produce delicate results in the right hands which you have proved here.

I've delayed responding as I wanted to check my own data.  The subs I have at 860mm don't show the shock wave as it's just out of the frame but it is visible pretty clearly in the version I took with my FSQ85 and I didn't remember having to work too hard to drag it out... but going back to the original stack, it's pretty faint and gets a bit lost in the OIII signal that is pretty widespread across the field of view.  Here's a crudely stretched, and very noisy crop:

I wonder if you got a similar result?  If not, and if you did your trick of holding down the background noise when stretching the data, could that have suppressed this feature?

As I say, lovely image...

Ian

My data was quite like this but already it was below the limited LRGB threshold I achieved, so I had to process it rather brutally. I was also fighting OIII haloes from my dismal OIII filter! Your data gives a nice clean arc from the loop. Mine was not so clean, largely because the filter wasn't holding down the stars. There is an old English saying: A poor workman blames his tools. That might be me!!!

Thanks for your input.

Olly

Edited July 27, 2020 by ollypenrice

[andrew s]

1 hour ago, ollypenrice said:

 There is an old English saying: A poor workman blames his tools. That might be me!!!

Thanks for your input.

Olly

It's ok your French now 🤪.

Regards Andrew 

[ollypenrice]

11 hours ago, andrew s said:

It's ok your French now 🤪.

Regards Andrew 

Oh yes! I'll have to ask Madame if there's a French equivalent. I first heard the English version, I remember, from my primary school teacher, the formidable Mrs Cook, whom I adored.

Olly

[x6gas]

On 27/07/2020 at 18:59, ollypenrice said:

There is an old English saying: A poor workman blames his tools. That might be me!!!

Thanks for your input.

Olly

You Olly? Quand les poules auront des dents!  I was suggesting the complete opposite.