Image revision - Veil Nebula (NGC 6960)

New image this time only from 6 subs x 300seconds, calibrated and processed in PixInsight.

Unknown comet / object in Veil Nebula - NGC6960 (near 52 Cygni)

!UPDATE!
It turns out that the "comet" might just be a strange reflection of the star..unfortunately :(
!UPDATE

So, much to my surprise, when starting to edit the images in PixInsight for a revision of the previous image of the Western Veil, i got myself a comet on camera :) Also made an animated gif. I think it's a comet due to the greenish colour..however i cannot so far identify it.

Veil Nebula (NGC 6960 - Western veil)

The image below consists only of 10 subframes x 300seconds but were taken at a site with very dark skies.
Imaging scope was GSO Ritchey Chretien 8 inch and main camera was QHY8L.
Also 10 darks/10flats/100bias were used.
Stacked with DSS and processed only in Photoshop.. can't wait to process it in PixInsight :)

WIKI:
"The Veil Nebula is a cloud of heated and ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus.
The analysis of the emissions from the nebula indicate the presence of oxygen, sulfur, and hydrogen. This is also one of the largest, brightest features in the x-ray sky.
The nebula was discovered on 1784 September 5 by William Herschel.

There are three main visual components:

The Western Veil (also known as Caldwell 34), consisting of NGC 6960 (the "Witch's Broom", "Finger of God",[5] or "Filamentary Nebula"[5]) near the foreground star 52 Cygni;
The Eastern Veil (also known as Caldwell 33), whose brightest area is NGC 6992, trailing off farther south into NGC 6995 and IC 1340; and
Pickering's Triangle (or Pickering's Triangular Wisp), brightest at the north central edge of the loop, but visible in photographs continuing toward the central area of the loop."

M101 - revision PI

M27 Dumbbell nebula - revision image edited with PixInsight

M81 and M82 with RC 8inch

12 x 300 seconds
8 flats
10 darks
100 bias

M101 Pinwheel - 05.07.2014

This is the second attempt with the GSO RC8" and the QHY8L, this time on M101.
There are 18 lights x 300s , 10 darkds, 20 flats and 100 bias.
Acquisition with EzCAP, guiding with PHD, all image registration/calibration and editing was done in PixInsight - great tool btw :)
The first image was also been streched again in PS, so the processing still continues until i reach a final image that i will be happy with.

M27 with 8" RC

Hello again,

Below is a set of 10 subexposures of 240seconds of the Dumbbell Nebula, taken with my newest addition, the GSO Ritchey-Chretien 8inch scope and the QHY8L.
Darks and flats were used, stacked with DSS, and very quick PS editing (just levels, curves and some denoise).
I am thinking of getting the PixInsight software since the trial is over and it is 10 times as good as Photoshop..

Good night and clear skies,
Andrei

First Newtonian telescope C6-NGT

Hi all,

It's been some time since my last post.
I thought i'd post some images of my first scope which is a 6inch Newtonian and also the QHY8L CCD camera in the case.

M13 Hercules globular cluster

WIKI: "Messier 13 (M13), also designated NGC 6205 and sometimes called the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules or the Hercules Globular Cluster, is a globular cluster of about 300,000 stars in the constellation of Hercules.
M13 was discovered by Edmond Halley in 1714, and catalogued by Charles Messier on June 1, 1764."


Taken also om 26 Apr 2014 with same equipment as below posts.
17 subs x 45 sec , darks and bias, no flats.

M81, M82 and M51 images processed in PixInsight 1.8

Hello everybody,

Below are the same 2 images of M81/M82 and M51, this time processed in PixInsight 1.8.
The images are also on Astrobin and plate-solved at the following URLs:
M51 image
and
M81/M82 image

More to follow...

M51 Whirlpool Galaxy

Hello again,

Here is another image taken last night of the Whirlpool Galaxy M51.
There are 14x600s subexposures with same equipment as in the previous post.

More to follow :)

M81 and M82

Good evening, Here is a cropped image from last night of M81 and M82.
12 x 300s subexposures ( with QHY8L and 6inch newtonian / PHD and DBK21 for guiding)
(10 darks, 20 flats, 100 bias stacked with DSS and barely edited in PS)

More to follow...

Rosette Nebula

Hello everybody,

Coming back with what i think is the best proper image so far (except for the "hidden" amp glow on lower right) of Rosette Nebula (also classified as Caldwell 49).
The images were taken last night with an QHY8L with an IR/UV filter, on a clear sky with low wind and medium pollution. Guiding went pretty smooth with the DBK21 and PHD Guiding software.
Exposure time was 240 seconds and i managed to get 20 exposures. Also 20 darks, 20 flats and 20 bias were used in calibration/stacking with DeepSkyStacker.

WIKI: "The Rosette Nebula (also known as Caldwell 49) is a large, circular H II region located near one end of a giant molecular cloud in the Monoceros region of the Milky Way Galaxy. The open cluster NGC 2244 (Caldwell 50) is closely associated with the nebulosity, the stars of the cluster having been formed from the nebula's matter.

The complex has the following NGC designations:

NGC 2237 – Part of the nebulous region (Also used to denote whole nebula) NGC 2238 – Part of the nebulous region NGC 2239 – Part of the nebulous region (Discovered by John Herschel) NGC 2244 – The open cluster within the nebula (Discovered by John Flamsteed in 1690) NGC 2246 – Part of the nebulous region

The cluster and nebula lie at a distance of some 5,200 light-years from Earth (although estimates of the distance vary considerably, down to 4,900 light-years.[3]) and measure roughly 130 light years in diameter. The radiation from the young stars excite the atoms in the nebula, causing them to emit radiation themselves producing the emission nebula we see. The mass of the nebula is estimated to be around 10,000 solar masses.

It is believed that stellar winds from a group of O and B stars are exerting pressure on interstellar clouds to cause compression, followed by star formation in the nebula. This star formation is currently still ongoing.

A survey of the nebula with the Chandra X-ray Observatory in 2001 has revealed the presence of very hot, young stars at the core of the Rosette Nebula."

So, can't wait to comeback with more images !

Clear skies,
Andrei

Saturn 29.03.2014

Saturn taken with C6-NGT and DBK21.

Supernova in M82

"On January 21st a group of astronomy students spotted Supernova 2014J in M82, the famous nearby irregular galaxy in Ursa Major. It peaked at V magnitude 10.5 during the first week of February, and as of March 5th it was still visible in amateur scopes about magnitude 12."

I took the image below on the 16th of February, with no darks or bias and guiding was pretty poor due to some wind.
Also M81 can be seen but not enough detail unfortunately.

"Spectra showed it to be a Type Ia supernova — an exploded white dwarf — with debris originally expanding at up to 20,000 kilometers per second.

M82 is a near neighbor as galaxies go, at a distance of 11 or 12 million light-years. It's a favorite for amateur astronomers and researchers alike with its thick dust bands, sprays of hydrogen gas, and bright center undergoing massive star formation. The supernova is not in the central star-forming region but off to one side, 58 arcseconds to the west-southwest."

Clear skies,
Andrei