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
Messier 104 - The Sombrero Galaxy - 1.7 Hrs in LRGB - Too Little Time, Too Low in the Sky, Too Much Smoke…
Messier 104, also known as the Sombrero Galaxy, is a stunning sight in the night sky. Located in the constellation Virgo, this galaxy stands out due to its unique shape. With a bright central bulge surrounded by a flat disk of stars, it resembles a sombrero hat. It is estimated to be approximately 28 million light-years away from Earth and spans about 94,000 light-years across.
I have always wanted to shoot this target, but this project produced a result far below what I was shooting for as conditions were poor (smoke plumes), and integration ended up being a ridiculous 1.7 hours!
Surprisingly the resulting image is not that bad. It's not good, either.
It did better than expected because of its capable Camera. But at least I have a baseline for when I shoot this target again n the future!
Messier 27 - A Reprocess of My Dumbbell Nebula Data in SHO - (10.25 Hours)
This imaging project is not a recapture of data for M27 - the Dumbell Nebula. Rather it is an effort to reprocess old data using new tools and new processing methods to address some concerns I had about the original image - where I thought that the stars were bloated and unsharp, and that I thought I should be able to bring out more detail in the amazing outer gas shells that narrowband imaging shows for this target.
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.
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!
Messier 13 - The Great Hercule Cluster - 8.5 hours in LRGB - Super Sharp!
Messier 13 - the Great Hercules Cluster - is one of the finest examples of a Globular Cluster that can be found in our skies. It consists of a giant ball of 100,000-500,00 stars packed into an area 145 light-years across. M13 can be found between 22,000 and 25,000 light-years away in the constellation of Hercules.
This is a 5.6 8.5 hour integration in LRGB using my Astro-Physics 130mm scope the ZWO ASI2600MM-Pro camera. This is the fourth time I have shot this target and this one is clearly my best - displaying a remarkable sharpness in detail.
NGC 4565 - The Needle Galaxy - 11.5 hours in LRGB
NGC 4565, The “Needle Galaxy” is a classic example of an edge-on spiral galaxy. This is one of my favorite galaxies and I was very happy to finally have the chance to shoot this target! This was the result of 11.5 hours of LRGB data integration taken with the Williams Optics 132mm FLT APO scope, the CEM60 mount, and the ASI1600MM-Pro camera.
NGC 2359 - Thor’s Helmet in SHO ~only 2.5 hours!
NGC 2359 - Thor’s Helmet - is my first image of 2022. This image is the result of 2.5 hours of narrowband data - limited by weather and the fact that this target is very low in the sky for me and access is very limited each night due to trees on my property. I had hoped to gather more data but at this point, it is now too late in the year. So my challenge was to see what I could do with such limited data. detailed processing strategy and log provided!
SH2-170, The “Little Rosette” Nebula in SHO - 7 hours.
SH2-170, also known as the “Little Rosette Nebula,” is a rich H2 region located 7500 light-years away in the constellation of Cassiopeia. This was shot in narrowband with total integration of 7 hours.
This was shot with the AP130 platform using the ZWO ASI2600MM-Pro Camera.
IC 1396/1396A - The Elephant's Trunk Nebula
IC 1396, also known as The Elephant Trunk Nebula is rich region emission nebulae and dark dust regions. Located in the constellation Cepheus, the Lion Nebula is roughly 2400 light-years away.
This image was taken on the Askar FRA400 Platform with only 3 hours of exposure in narrowband - and was the first image where the FRA was used for portable operations on a trip to North Carolina.
Messier 27 - The Dumbbell Nebula in Narrowband - 10.25 Hours
Messier 27 is the well know and often photographed Dumbbell Nebula located about 1200 light-years away in the constellation Vulpecula. This is the third time that I have imaged this object - and this one stands out because it was taken in narrowband with over 10.25 hours of integration! It reveals details that I have rarely seen associated with M27.
This was shot with the AP130 platform using the ZWO ASI2600MM-Pro Camera.
NGC 7000 (The North American Nebula) with IC5070 (Pelican Nebula) in Narrowband- Total of 9.33 Hours
NGC 7000, also known as the North American Nebula and Caldwell 20, is a large H II emission nebula located in the constellation of Cygnus (The Swan). It measures roughly 2 degrees by 1.5 degrees in size, making the nebula about 10X larger than the area covered by the full moon.
Also included in this view is the Pelican Nebula IC 5070
This image is the result of 9.33 hours of integration in Narrowband and rendered in the Hubble Palette.
Extensive notes on image processing are included for the first time.
Messier 16 - The Eagle Nebula / Pillars of Creation in SHO
My third time shooting Messier 16 - The Eagle Nebula - this time with the ASI2600MM-Prop camera shooting in SHO. Difficult conditions required some new processing techniques.
Messier 63 - The Sunflower Galaxy in HaLRGB (First Light on My New ZWO ASI2600MM-Pro Camera!)
Messier 63, The Sunflower Galaxy in LRGB. First image using the new ZWO ASI2600mm-Pro Camera!
C49: The Rosette Nebula in SHO
Also known as the "Skull Nebula" and Caldwell 49, the Rosette Nebula is a large HII region of bright gas and filaments of dark dust, located in the constellation of Monoceros. The open cluster NGC 2244 (discovered by John Flamsteed in 1690) is associated with this region - the stars of which were formed within this molecular cloud. Located 5000 light years away, and measuring 65 light years in diameter,