Horsehead and Flame nebula, 2 famous emission nebula in Orion at mag 5 sky and good transparency (0 degree C);
15 x 300 sec at ISO200 in white light and 12 x 300 sec UHC filtered at ISO800 with the D60 and the 105mm TMB refractor with corrector at f/5; master dark subtracted; levels, curves, color adjustment, size reduced to 40%, cropped, all in Photoshop; noise reduction by Neatimage; |
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Orion's sword with M42 and NGC 1977 at mag 5 sky and good transparency (0 degree C);
12 x 300 sec with the D60 and the 105mm TMB refractor with corrector at f/5 and ISO200; master dark subtracted; levels, curves, color adjustment, all in Photoshop; noise reduction by Neatimage; Top: full view with size reduced to 50%, Bottom: center with size reduced to 70% |
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2 days before transit of Saturn in front of M1 I tried imaging on this uneven pair 2 x 300 sec with the D60 and the 105mm TMB refractor with corrector at f/5 and ISO200; Image with labels: here (130 kB) levels and color balance adjusted in Photoshop, image reduced to 50% size and cropped. |
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NGC2239, the well known Rosette nebula in Monoceros at mag 5 sky and high transparency;
6 x 300 sec at ISO400 in raw mode and 2 x 600 sec H-alpha filtered exposures at ISO800 with the D60 and the 4" TMB refractor at f/5; Image calibration in ImagesPlus; red exposure added, noise reduction by Neatimage; levels, curves, color balance, size reduced to 40%; all in Photoshop; |
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Northeast of the Rosette Nebula you find a rich starfield including NGC2264 the Christmas Tree Cluster and the Cone Nebula with other nebulosities - at mag 5 sky and high transparency;
12 x 300 sec at ISO400 and 3 x 600 sec H-alpha filtered exposures at ISO800 with the D60 and the 4" TMB refractor at f/5; Images median aligned in ImagesPlus; red exposure added, noise reduction by Neatimage; levels, curves, color balance, all in Photoshop; Top: wide view at 38% size showing the big dark dust clouds around the emision nebulas; near the bottom there is the cometlike shaped Hubble's Variable Nebula NGC2261 Bottom: center view at 70% size |
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The California Nebula NGC 1499 in Perseus - at mag 5 sky and good transparency;
20 x 300 sec at ISO400 with the D60 and the 4" TMB refractor at f/5; Images calibrated and aligned in ImagesPlus; adaptive LR deconvolution; noise reduction by Neatimage; levels, curves, color balance in Photoshop; |
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The Trapezium in the center of the Orion Nebula - at mag 5 sky and good seeing;
3 x 30 sec at ISO200 with the D60 and the C11 at f/5 combined with 3 x 30 sec with the C11 at f/10; adaptive LR deconvolution in IP; noise reduction by Neatimage; levels, curves, unsharp mask, saturation increased in Photoshop; |
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Widefield image of the Horsehead area down to the Orion Nebula - at mag 5.5 sky;
10 x 5min at ISO200 with the D60 and the 180mm f/2.8 lens combined with previous images at 500 mm FL; Extended addition in IP; noise reduction by Neatimage; levels, curves, unsharp mask, saturation increased; size reduced to 60%; cropped, all in Photoshop; |
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Jupiter visits M44, the Beehive Cluster in Cancer - at mag 5 sky and average seeing;
6 x 5 min at ISO 200 with the D60 and the 105 mm TMB refractor at f/5; Image calibration and extended addition stacking in IP; levels, curves, unsharp mask, saturation increased; size reduced to 50%; cropped, all in Photoshop; Top: wide view at 50% size, Jupiter brightness decreased; Bottom: area around the mag 15 background galaxy UGC4526 at 200% size |
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The clusters M46 and M47 in Puppis - at mag 5 sky and average seeing;
8 x 5 min at ISO 200 with the D60 and the 105 mm TMB refractor at f/5; Image calibration and extended addition stacking in IP; levels, curves, light unsharp mask, saturation increased, all in Photoshop; Top: wide view of both clusters at 50% size; Bottom: center of M46 with the mag 10 planetary nebula NGC2438 at 125% size |
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The clusters M35 and companions in Gemini - at mag 5 sky and average seeing;
10 x 5 min at ISO 200 with the D60 and the 105 mm TMB refractor at f/5; Image calibration and extended addition stacking in IP; levels, curves, light unsharp mask, saturation increased, all in Photoshop; Top: wide view of M35 with NGC2158, IC2157 and NGC2129 to the right at 40% size; Bottom: M35 with NGC2158 at 70% size |
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A galaxy cluster in Leo - at mag 5 sky and average seeing;
10 x 5 min at ISO 200 with the D60 and the 105 mm TMB refractor at f/5; Image calibration and extended addition stacking in IP; levels, curves, unsharp mask, saturation increased, all in Photoshop; Top: wide view with M65, M66, NGC3628 and mag 11 NGC3593 to the right corner at 45% size; Bottom: closeup of M65, M66 and dusty NGC3628 at 75% size; mag 13.6 asteroid 273 Atropos at right; See asteroid Atropos animation: here (163 kB) |
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2 more galaxy groups in Leo - at mag 5.5 sky and average seeing;
10 x 5 min at ISO 200 with the D60 and the 105 mm TMB refractor at f/5; Image calibration, extended addition stacking and deconvolution in IP; levels, curves, unsharp mask, saturation increased, cropped, 70% size, all in Photoshop; M96 (left) and M95 (right), and near the top M105, NGC3384 and the blue mag 12.4 NGC3389; |
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A rich galaxy cluster in Virgo - at mag 5.5 sky and average seeing;
5 x 5 min at ISO 200 with the D60 and the 105 mm TMB refractor at f/5; Image calibration, extended addition stacking in IP; levels, curves, unsharp mask, saturation increased, cropped, 45% size, all in Photoshop; M84, M86 and NGC4438 brightest to the right, M87 to the left and many small companions; |
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M101, a face on spriral galaxy with low surface brightness in Ursa Major - at mag 5.5 sky and average seeing;
20 x 5 min at ISO 200 with the D60 and the 105 mm TMB refractor at f/5; Image calibration, extended addition stacking and deconvolution in IP; levels, curves, unsharp mask, saturation increased, cropped, all in Photoshop; noise reduction in Neatimage; Top: wide field with mag 11 NGC5474 near the bottom at 50% size; Bottom: center at 80% size |
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M51, the well known Whirlpool galaxy, an interacting pair in Canes Venatici - at good transparency;
3x10 min and 7 x 5 min at ISO 200 with the D60 and the C11 at f/5; Image calibration, extended addition stacking and deconvolution in IP; levels, curves, unsharp mask, saturation increased, cropped, all in Photoshop; noise reduction in Neatimage; Top: wide field at 45% size with large background galaxy IC4263 up to the right; Bottom: center at 75% size |
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M63, the Sunflower galaxy in Canes Venatici - like M51 in 37 million light years distance - at good transparency;
20 x 5 min at ISO 200 with the D60 and the C11 at f/5; Image calibration, extended addition stacking and deconvolution in IP; levels, curves, unsharp mask, saturation increased, cropped, size reduced to 75%, all in Photoshop; noise reduction in Neatimage; |
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M97, the Owl Nebula in Ursa Major - a mag 10 planetary nebula in 2600 light years distance - at transparent mag 5.5 sky;
20 x 5 min for M97 and 15 x 5 min for M108 at ISO 200 with the D60 and the C11 at f/5; Image calibration, extended addition stacking in IP; levels, curves, unsharp mask, saturation increased, all in Photoshop; noise reduction in Neatimage; Top: center with M97 at 70% size Bottom: wide field M97 with M108 - cropped mosaic of 2 images at 30% size; |
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A visit to M13 again, a bright globular cluster in Hercules - at good seeing;
10x5 min with the D60 and the C11 at f/5 and 8x5min at f/10 and ISO200; Image calibration, extended addition stacking and adaptive deconvolution in IP; levels, curves, unsharp mask, saturation increased, cropped, all in Photoshop; center of cluster inserted at f/10 to increase core resolution; Top: wide field at 40% size with background galaxy NGC6207 up to the left; Bottom: center at 70% size |
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During a warm (20C) summer night this season's first famous object: North America Nebula NGC7000 in Cygnus at mag 5 sky;
15x5 min with the 10D and the 4" TMB refractor at f/5 and ISO800, WB auto, and 5x10 min at with the UHC filter at ISO1600; The main nebula signal came from the filtered image; Image calibration, extended addition stacking in ImagesPlus; levels, curves, strong blurring for red and background, light unsharp mask, hue shifted from blue to red, saturation increased, size reduced to 40%, all in Photoshop; |
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A visit to the Ring nebula M57 again, a bright planetary nebula in Lyra - at 15C and good seeing;
20 x 2 min at ISO800 with the C11 at f/10 and with the 10D at ISO800; Image calibration, extended addition stacking and adaptive deconvolution in IP; levels, curves, unsharp mask, saturation and red channel increased, cropped, all in Photoshop; reprocressed in October Top: wide field at 50% size with background galaxy IC1296 up to the right; Bottom: Center image at 130% size |
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IC1318, an extended H-alpha region around gamma-Cygni imaged at mag 5.5 sky;
8x10 min UHC filtered with the 10D and the 180mm lens at f/2.8 and ISO800, WB sunny; The filter suppressed light pollution for this dim object; Image calibration, extended addition stacking in ImagesPlus; levels, curves, blurring for red and background, light unsharp mask, saturation increased, size reduced to 50%, cropped, all in Photoshop; North is left, NGC6888 up to the right; |
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M8 the Lagoon Nebula and M20, the Trifid Nebula, both H-alpha regions in Sagittarius imaged at mag 5.5 sky;
8x5 min UHC filtered with the 10D and the 4" TMB refractor at f/5 and ISO800; The filter effectively suppressed light pollution for this low object; Image calibration, extended addition stacking in ImagesPlus; levels, curves, light unsharp mask, saturation increased, not exact focus, so size reduced to 40%, cropped, all in Photoshop; |
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M17 the Swan or Omega Nebula a distinct H-alpha region in Sagittarius imaged at mag 5.5 sky;
4x5 min UHC filtered with the 10D and the 4" TMB refractor at f/5 and ISO800; The filter proved it effect - relatively low exposure time; Image calibration, extended addition stacking in ImagesPlus; levels, curves, light unsharp mask, saturation increased, size reduced to 70%, cropped, all in Photoshop; |
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M16 the Eagle Nebula a famous H-alpha region in Sagittarius imaged at mag 5.5 sky;
10x5 min UHC filtered with the 10D and the 4" TMB refractor at f/5 and ISO800; The "pillars of creation" visible in the center; Image calibration, extended addition stacking in ImagesPlus; levels, curves, light unsharp mask, saturation increased, size reduced to 70%, cropped, all in Photoshop; |
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After one year a revisit to the cluster M52 - and the Bubble Nebula (NGC7635) in Cassiopeia - at 10C and good transparency - mag 5.5 sky;
20 x 5 min with the 4" TMB refractor at f/5 and the UHC filter coupled to the 10D at ISO800; Image calibration, extended addition stacking in ImagesPlus; gradient removal, curves, light unsharp mask, color balance in Photoshop; Top: full field at 50% size with NGC7538 to the right and NGC7510 down the right corner; Bottom: center crop of M52 and Bubble at 70% size; |
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NGC6888, the Crescent Nebula in Cygnus is a shell of gas that is being energized by the strong stellar wind from the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136, the bright star at the center of the nebula - imaged at 10C and high transparency (mag 6 sky); 20 x 5 min with the C11 at f/6 and the UHC filter coupled to the 10D at ISO800; Image calibration, extended addition stacking in ImagesPlus; curves, light unsharp mask, color balance in Photoshop, size reduced to 50%; Distinct H-alpha (red) and O-III (pale blue) emission areas are obvious, check also the remarkable narrowband images from R. Crisp |
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NGC6543, the small Cat's eye Nebula in Draco at good seeing - mag 5.0 sky;
Top: 6 x 1 min with the C11 at f/10 coupled to the 10D at ISO200; curves, unsharp mask, red channel enhanced in Photoshop; size 200% Bottom: 6 x 5 min at ISO800 at 40% size with mag 14 background Seyfert galaxy NGC6552 to the left side and the mag 15.8 nebulosity IC4677 to the right of Cat's eye, check a real deep image of this area from Stan Moore |
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A 2-part mosaic of M31, the Andromeda galaxy - imaged at 0-10C and high transparency (mag 6 sky); total 40 x 5 min over several nights with the 4" TMB refractor at f/5 coupled to the 10D at ISO800; Image calibration, extended addition stacking in ImagesPlus; curves, light unsharp mask, color balance in Photoshop, size reduced to 25%/40%; Rob Gendler's layer mask techique was used to pronounce the dust lanes |
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First result from the ITT Austrian star party:
A 4 part mosaic on the Veil complex, a huge supernova remnant in Cygnus at good seeing - mag 6.0 sky, 0C;
Each part consists of 6 x 5 min with the 4" TMB refractor at f/5 coupled to the 10D at ISO1600; Image calibration, extended addition stacking in ImagesPlus; noise reduction by Neatimage; curves, color balance and stitching in Photoshop, the stitching together was difficult due to distortion in the outer areas . Top: 70% size crop of the eastern part NGC6992 Middle: 70% size crop of the western part NGC6960 Bottom: full mosaic of the Veil complex at 20 / 35% size |
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Again during the IIT star party a view to M33, the Pinwheel galaxy, - imaged at 0C and high transparency (mag 6 sky); total 10 x 5 min with the 4" TMB refractor at f/5 coupled to the 10D at ISO1600; Image calibration, extended addition stacking in ImagesPlus; curves, light unsharp mask, color balance in Photoshop, size reduced to 50%; image suffers from a soft focus. |
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IC1396, a faint H-alpha area in Cepheus - imaged at 0-5 C and high transparency; 15 x 5 min with UHC filter at ISO800 and 15 x 8 min at ISO1600 with the H-alpha filter, the 300mm lens at f/2.8 and the 10D; Image calibration, extended addition stacking in ImagesPlus; H-alpha stack mixed to Luminance channel of the UHC stack, levels, color balance in Photoshop, Noise reduction by Neatimage; Top: wide view at 50% size; Bottom: Detail of VdB142 at 80% size; Van den Berg 142 is a small 1 arc minute patch of reflection nebulae inside of the very large area of emission nebulosity IC 1396. It lies in a complex of emission and obscuring dark nebulae. |
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IC1805, the "Heart", a faint extended emission nebula in Cassiopeia - imaged at 0 C and high transparency before Moon rise; 40 x 5 min with IDAS LPS filter at ISO400 with the Canon 300mm lens at f/2.8 and the 10D; Image extended addition stacking and DDP in ImagesPlus; levels, color balance in Photoshop; size reduced to 50/36%; To the left a part of IC 1848 is visible. |
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M45, the "Seven Sisters", an open cluster with a complex blue reflection Nebula in Taurus - imaged at -2 C and high transparency; 15 x 5 min at ISO400 with the 4"TMB refractor at f/5 and the 10D; Image extended addition stacking and DDP in ImagesPlus; curves, color balance in Photoshop; cropped, size reduced to 70/45%; |
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M42, the Great Orion Nebula again - imaged at -4 C and high transparency over 2 nights; 16x5 min, 8x60 sec and 2x10 sec at ISO200 unfiltered, 10x5 min LPS filtered at ISO400, with the 4"TMB refractor at f/5 and the 10D; Image extended addition stacking (all frames together!) and DDP in ImagesPlus; curves, color balance in Photoshop; cropped, size reduced to 70/35%; noise reduction with Neatimage; Top: Full color image; the unfilterd images proved best to show the faint dusty areas. Bottom: A contrast boosted luminance image in B/W |
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