Imaging Projects
In this blog, I will share the results of all of my imaging projects. The newest will be at the top and the oldest will be further down the stack. Going back in time here is interesting - some of my early stuff was pretty rough - but I did not see it that way at the time - I was thrilled to get anything back that looked like an image! Hopefully, you will see how my work has progressed with time!
NGC 6888 - A Reprocess of The Crescent Nebula ~11 hours in HOOrgb
NGC 6888 - The Crescent Nebula is a famous emission nebula located in the constellation of Cygnus. This is a reprocessing project using image data first captured in September 2022.
SInce. I have no new data to process due to the wildfire smoke, I decided to use some new tools and processes to see if i could pull more details out from the O3 shell that surrounds the nebula.
THe resulting image show much more O3 detail - including some interesting convection cells towards the bottom of the nebula
IC 1848 - The Soul Nebula - 6.8 hours in SHO (and a Change in Horses Mid-Stride!)
IC 1848, Better known as The Soul Nebula, is an emission nebula located 6,500 light-years away in the cancellation of Cassiopeia.
This image results from 6.8 hours of narrowband data collected with my Askar FRA400 Astrograph and my ZWO classic ASI1600MM-Pro camera on the nights of Oct 20 and 22 and Nov 23 of 2022.
The first two nights were collected using the IOPtron CEM26 mount, and the third night was collected using a brand new ZWO AM5 Harmonic mount. This was the first time using the AM5, and it did an exceptional job with tracking errors reduced by 400%!
NGC 281 - The Pacman Nebula - 8 hours in SHO (Fighting a Strange Artifact!)
NGC 281, better known as the “Pacman” Nebula, is located 9,500 light-years away in the constellation of Cassiopea.
This was the second time I shot this target. This image is the result of 8 hours of narrowband data rendered in the Hubble SHO palette.
This data was collected on my Astro-Physics 130mm f/8.35 APO refractor, and a ZWO ASI2600MM-Pro camera - all mounted on my IOptron CEM 60 Mount.
This image suffered from a strange circular artifact that took the form of nested rings in the corner of the image. Dealing with this caused me to make my background sky a bit darker than I would have preferred, but I think the image has a certain amount of drama and pop because of it!
Melotte 15 - The Heart of the Heart Nebula (IC 1805) - 5.5 hours of SHO
Melotte 15, better known as the “Heart of the Heart,” is an open cluster with emission and reflection nebulae that creates an interesting structure that can be found in the center of IC 1805 - the Heart Nebula.
This rich region is located about 7,100 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Cassiopea.
This is image is the result of 5.5 hours of narrowband data collected on my William Optics 132mm FLT platform using a ZWO ASI1600MM-Prop camera.
NGC 7635 - The Bubble Nebula w/M52 - 8.25 hours in SHO - Not Sure I Love it.
NGC 7635 - The Bubble Nebula with M52. 8.25 hours in SHO.
This image was shot on my William Optics 132mm FLT APO platform, using a ASI1600MM-Pro Camera and the IOptron CEM60 mount.
The original goal was to do a deeper integration of at least 15 hours - and while the weather would have supported this, I missed two clear nights due to illness.
This image has a very high color and contrast position - almost too high for me, but I disliked the lower contrast and saturation versions more - so this is it. I am not sure I love this image….
IC 1396A - The Elephant’s Trunk - 7.3 hrs in SHO (a Case of Virus Interuptus)
IC 1396A - The Elephants Trunk Nebula is located 2400 light-years away in the constellation of Cepheus. This is my fourth project involving this target - but the first where I used the newer generation ZWO ASI26MM-Pro camera and full narrowband data set at this image scale. My goal here was to collect about 15 hours on target. I only ended up getting 7.3 hours. My usual reason for missing my integration target is weather. Not this time. This time I was hit with a nasty virus and the worst cold of my life! I had to watch two precious clear nights slip away whilst I coughed and hacked away inside in misery….
NGC 6888 - The Crescent Nebula - 12.9 hours in HOOrgb
NGC 6888 - The Crescent Nebula is a famous emission nebula located in the constellation of Cygnus. This is my third time imaging this target, and this is clearly my best take on it yet! This image is the result of 12.9 hours of narrowband and broadband integration - all shot on my Astro-Physics 130mm EDT and a ZWO ASI2600MM-Pro camera, I shot this as a bi-color HOO image an dused RGB data stars in it. Extensive use of starless processing was used to get this result. See more details in the posting.
NGC 6979: Pickering’s Triangle ~ 12 hours in SHO
Pickering’s Triangle is a smaller and fainter section of the Cygnus Loop. While most portions of this supernova remnant have NGC catalog designations, Pickering's Triangle does not. It was discovered after the New General Catalog was published and thus missed out! Often NGC 6979 is used for this object but that is not technically correct. This image is the result of ~12 hours of narrowband exposure taken with my William Optics 132mm FLT APO Platform and rendered using the Hubble SHO palette.
SH2-114 -The Flying Dragon Nebula - a VERY Faint Challenge Target - 17.5 hours HSSrgb
SH2-114 - The Flying Dragon Nebula - is an extremely faint emission nebula found in Cygnus. This has proven to be a challenging target. Primarily shot as a Bi-Color Narrowband Ha/S2 image, I found it was very hard to see the nebula in a single 5-minute sub! I ended up going back to capture more data over 8 nights in total spanning two moonless cycles. I also collects RBG data so that I could replace the stars with natural color RGB stars. two moonless cycles of the moon to capture data over 8 nights. I ended up with a total of 17.5 hours - my longest integration to date! And still it was a challenge to process this image!
Messier 8, 20, and 21: A Rich Region in Sagittarius - 3.9 hours in HaRGB
This imaging project is a group photo taken in a rich portion of the constellation Sagittarius. It is the result of just 4 hours of LHaRGB integration. In this group, you can see Messier 8 (The Lagoon Nebula), Messier 20 (The Trifid Nebula), and Messier 21 ( Webb’s Cross). Also seen is the “Fist” shaped nebula on the upper left that is most strongly associated with IC 4685. This was taken with my Askar FRA400 widefield scope platform.
NGC6995/IC1340 - The Bat Nebula! - 13.9 hours in SHO
The Bat Nebula is actually a small portion of the Eastern Veil Nebula, designated as either NGC6995 or IC 1340. This is a close-up of a fragment of a supernova remnant located 2400 light-years away in the constellation of Cygnus. This is a 13.9-hour integration in narrowband using my William Optics 132mm FLT APO scope and the ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro camera. The deep integration produced some wonderful data of a region of the sky that is both subtle and complex at the same time. Look at it in full resolution to experience this amazing part of the sky!
Messier 57 - The Ring Nebula - 14.7 hours in LHaRGB - Capturing the Outer Ring!
Messier 57, the Ring Nebula has long been a visual favorite of mine. It is also a target that I have shot two times before with poor results due to its small size. This time I wanted to try to do the best job I could, given the limitations of my current gear. I also wanted to get a really long integration. Finally, I wanted to add Ha data in an attempt to capture the red outer gas rings that are not seen visually and often not seen in the typical amateur images. While I ran into problems on the way, did pretty well in meeting my goals. See the full post for the entire story!