M37 - Open Cluster in Auriga with FSQ85
M37 is one of the three Messier Open Clusters in the Constellation of Auriga - the other two being M36 and M38. It is about 4500 light years away and contains several red giant stars, visible in this image, making it the richest of the three Auriga Messier Open Clusters. M37 appears high overhead from my 53 degree norther location during the winter months making it an ideal target for visual observations and imaging. It makes a fine site in a telescope and appears as a fuzzy ball in a pair of binoculars.
Image Technical Data
Imaged from my backyard in Nottingham, UK on the 9th February 2018. I used my Takahashi FSQ85 refractor and Moravian G2-8300 cooled CCD camera with Astrodon RGB filters. All expsoures are binned 1x1.
Red > 12 x 120s ; Green > 12 x 120s ; Blue > 12 x 120s
M44 - Praesepe - with FSQ85
M44 or "Praesepe" as it is called, is a famous open cluster visible in the late winter/ springtime in the constellation of Cancer - The Crab. It is often nicknamed The Beehive cluster since it resembles a swarm of bees when viewed in a wide-field telescope or binoculars. Along with M45 it is one of the most immediately breathtaking sights in the deep sky. At about 510 light years it is one of the closer Open Cluster to the Earth and is about 12 light years across and contains about 1000 stars. Note the tiny, distant galaxy in the bottom of the cluster PGC24400.
Image Technical Data
Imaged over two evenings, the 22 and 23 February 2019 from my backyard in Nottingham, UK. Conditions were far from ideal with a high, hazy mist that made transparency poor and subsequent processing difficult.
Captured with Takahashi FSQ85 and Moravian G2-8300 CCD camera with Astrodon RGB filters. All data binned 1x1:
Red > 14 x 120s ; Green > 16 x 120s ; Blue > 14 x 120s
Mounted on MESU 200 telescope mount and guided with OAG
Kemble's Cascade with Samyang 135mm
Kemble's Cascade (Kemble 1) is a chance straight-line alignment of 17 or so stars between the 5th and 10th magnitudes in the far northern constellation of Camelopardalis. The stars are of different colours and look lovely in a widefield telescope or binoculars. At the end of line of stars is the open star cluster NGC 1502. This asterism is named after the Franciscan monk and amateur astronomer Lucian Kemble. The cascade itself is about three angular degrees in length.
Image Technical Data
Imaged from my backyard in Nottingham, UK on 14 September 2020. Part of an automated capture sequence and the exposures were taken between 02:00 > 04:00 in the morning. Needless to say I was in bed asleep at the time :) I processed the images afterwards. I used Samyang 135mm DSLR lens connected to my Moravian Instruments G2-8300 CCD camera with Astrodon RGB Gen 2 E series filters on my NEQ6 mount. All exposures binned 1x1. No separate luminance (i.e. just RGB)
Red > 12 x 300s ; Green > 12 x 300s ; Blue > 10 x 300s
Total integration time is just short of three hours. Processed in PixInsight and Photoshop and captured with Sequence Generator Pro.
I just cut out the cascade stars from the image above. Personally, I prefer it in the wider setting in the topmost image
The inverted colour version above may make it easier to see the "cascade" of stars and make it easier for you to find them in the main image.
I hope you like it!
The Veil Nebula - Samyang 135mm Lens
The Veil Nebula in Cygnus is the remnant of a supernova of a star about 20 times the mass of the sun that exploded about 20000 years ago. The nebula is a huge, very faint and diffuse object, about six moon widths in diameter and is located about 2500 light years away. Very few telescopes can capture the entire Veil Nebula complex due to the huge angular size that it presents on the sky and creating a multi-frame mosaic is a very time consuming process, especially in the UK where clear nights are such a rare and premium time. This makes DSLR lenses ideal and few are better or as cost effective as the Samyang 135mm that was used to capture this image.
Image Technical Details
The image was captured from my backyard in Nottingham in the UK on the nights of the 13th and 14th September 2020. I left the systems capturing data overnight on an automated basis capturing the Veil nebula and several other targets whilst I was asleep in bed :). I used a Samyang 135mm lens (Samyang = Rokinon in the US/Canada) connected to my Moravian Instruments G2-8300 CCD camera with Astrodon RGBHa (3nm) filters on my NQ6 mount. All exposures binned 1x1:
Red > 14 x 300s ; Green > 14 x 300s ; Blue > 14 x 300s ; Ha > 31 x 300s
Total Integration time of just over six hours. The total width of the image is about 8 degrees by 6 degrees with a resolution of 8.5 arcsec/pixel.
Above are the Ha images made with the Astrodon 3nm Ha filter in the 31mm version. You can see the exquisite detail this filter picks out.
The RGB image is made from 42 x 300s exposures. It carries the colour of the image but is boosted by the blending of the Ha data which adds the punch and vibrancy of the master image at the top of the page.
The Heart and Soul Nebulae Samyang 135mm
The Heart and Soul Nebulae are a well known and famous pairing of Nebulae in the late summer/autumn sky of the Northern Hemisphere. These nebulae are located far away - 7500 light years - in the Perseus arm of the galaxy, further out from the core of the galaxy than the Sun and are vast star forming regions rich in Hydrogen Alpha that gives the images the intense red glow.
All image data collected with a Samyang 135mm lens at F2.8 with a Moravian G2-8300 CCD camera. Below is the RGB image gathered with Astrodon RGB filters. All binned 1x1: Red 14 x 300s; Green 13 x 300s; Blue 14 x 300s. This gives an RGB integration time of 210 minutes or three and a half hours.
The picture looks nice but it does lack punch and vibrancy as it stands. It needs the addition of the Hydrogen Alpha data that will enhance the details.
Below is the Hydrogen Alpha channel that consists of 36 x 300s exposure with an Astrodon 3nm Ha filter with Samyang 135mm and G2-8300 CCD camera, collected with an Astrodon 31mm 3nm Ha filter. The amount of detail in this image is very evident. Below this is a starless version of the Ha image used to blend into the RGB image.
I finally created the blended HaRGB images by using layers of the Ha channel blended at different opacities as overlay and lighting layers in Photoshop. This gives the best of both worlds; the colour present in the RGB and the detail in the Ha image. The total integration time of the image is about six and a half hours.
Finally an annotated version of the image showing many Sharpless Catalog (Sh2) objects present.
The Heart and Soul Nebulae Samyang 135mm
The Heart and Soul Nebulae are a well known and famous pairing of Nebulae in the late summer/autumn sky of the Northern Hemisphere. These nebulae are located far away - 7500 light years - in the Perseus arm of the galaxy, further out from the core of the galaxy than the Sun and are vast star forming regions rich in Hydrogen Alpha that gives the images the intense red glow.
All image data collected with a Samyang 135mm lens at F2.8 with a Moravian G2-8300 CCD camera. Below is the RGB image gathered with Astrodon RGB filters. All binned 1x1: Red 14 x 300s; Green 13 x 300s; Blue 14 x 300s. This gives an RGB integration time of 210 minutes or three and a half hours.
The picture looks nice but it does lack punch and vibrancy as it stands. It needs the addition of the Hydrogen Alpha data that will enhance the details.
Below is the Hydrogen Alpha channel that consists of 36 x 300s exposure with an Astrodon 3nm Ha filter with Samyang 135mm and G2-8300 CCD camera, collected with an Astrodon 31mm 3nm Ha filter. The amount of detail in this image is very evident. Below this is a starless version of the Ha image used to blend into the RGB image.
I finally created the blended HaRGB images by using layers of the Ha channel blended at different opacities as overlay and lighting layers in Photoshop. This gives the best of both worlds; the colour present in the RGB and the detail in the Ha image. The total integration time of the image is about six and a half hours.
Finally an annotated version of the image showing many Sharpless Catalog (Sh2) objects present.
M96 Group in Leo - FSQ85
The M96 Group is a cluster of galaxies in the constellation of Leo. Not to be confused with the separate and arguably more famous Leo triplet. The M96 group contains three Messier galaxies (M95, M96 and M105) and many fainter galaxies in the background. The three main galaxies are about 35 million light years away and are easily visible in small telescopes.
Image Technical Data
Technical Information
Imaged from my backyard, March 2019, in Nottingham, UK. I used my FSQ85 refractor with 0.73 reducer and my Moravian instruments G2-8300 CCD camera and Astrodon LRGB filters. Mount is my MESU200 and guided with an Off-Axis guider. Image acquisition data:
Luminance 11 x 600s 1x1; Red 9 x 300s 2x2; Green 10 x 300s 2x2; Blue 10 x 300s 2x2
NGC 2403 - TEC140
NGC 2403 is a spiral galaxy located about eight million light years away in the constellation of Camelopardalis in the Northern hemisphere. It is an outlying member of the M81/M82 group. You will note that it bares a striking resemblance to M33 and contains huge HII star forming regions. NGC2403 is much smaller than our own galaxy, being only about 50000 light years in diameter as opposed to about 120000 light years for our own Milky Way galaxy. It is not known why a smaller galaxy like this should have such huge HII regions that dwarf those of our own, larger galaxy.
Image Technical Data
Imaged from my backyard, March 2019, in Nottingham, UK. I used my TEC 140 refractor with Atik 460 CCD camera and Astrodon LRGB filters. Image acquisition data, everything binned 1x1
Luminance 29 x 600s; Red 12 x 300s; Green 12 x 300s; Blue 12 x 300s
M15 The Globular Cluster in Pegasus
M15 is a magnificent Globular Cluster in the constellation of Pegasus, which after M13 and M92 is arguably the best one visible to Northern Hemisphere observers.
It is located about 34000 light years away and is about 125 light years in diameter with an age of 12 billion years, it is as old as the Milky Way itself.
Image Technical Data
Imaged with my TEC 140 refractor and Atik 460 CCD camera September 24th 2018. Mount is my MESU 200 guided with off-axis guiding.
Red 22 x 300s 1×1; Green 12 x 300s 1×1; Blue 19 x 300s 1×1
Total Integration of the data set is about four and a half hours. Note that I did not use a separate luminance channel and instead I binned each of the RGB channels 1x1. I remain to be convinced of the need to capture a separate luminance channel with either globular or open clusters.
Image processing is with PixInsight and data collected with Sequence Generator Pro.
NGC 7331 TEC 140 Refractor - The Deer Lick Group
NGC 7331 (Caldwell 30) is a spiral galaxy about 46 million light years away in the constellation of Pegasus. It is a vibrant and colorful galaxy, often referred to as the Milky Way's "twin" due to it being of a similar size and mass to our own galaxy. It is visible in amateur telescopes as a faint smudge if the sky is dark.
In the images below, the smaller galaxies to the left of the main galaxy are a chance line-of-sight alignment. These four galaxies are much more distant than NGC 7331 (about 320 million light years) and are nothing to do with the main galaxy. This collection of galaxies (NGC 7331 and the distant background galaxies are collectively referred to as the Deer Lick Group named after the Deer Lick gap in the mountains of North Carolina by astronomer Tomm Lorenzin who liked to observe from there.
Image Technical Data
Imaged over two nights on the 21st and 22nd September 2019 with my TEC 140 refractor from my backyard in Nottingham, UK. I used my Atik 460 CCD camera with Astrodon LRGB Generation 2 E-series 1.25" filters. I used my MESU 200 mount that was guided via OAG.
Luminance 24 x 600s 1×1; Red 12 x 300s 2×2; Green 12 x 300s 2×2; Blue 12 x 300s 2×2
Total Integration of the data set is seven hours. It would benefit from the addition of more data but I am quite content with it now as it is.
Image processing with PixInsight and data collected with Sequence Generator Pro.
In the second version I processed the data slightly differently with a bit more focus on the red spectrum of the galaxy in the absence of any Hydrogen Alpha data. However, I think this is slightly too much and I prefer the first image as more natural. However, I include it here as an interesting contrast in the different approaches that can be taken to astronomy image processing with the same data set with differing emphases that can be quite subjective.
