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.
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
M33 With TEC140 Refractor
I have completed several images of the famous Triangulum Galaxy - M33, over the years. This is one of the most photographed objects in the sky and with good reason; it is a beautiful face on spiral galaxy that is the second closest major galaxy after Andromeda. It is bright and colourful and responds well to all types of imaging, whether with a DSLR or CCD, camera lens or telescope. It is probably the second "go to" target to photograph for astro photography beginners after the Andromeda galaxy.
The image below is a version captured with the TEC 140 refractor and Atik 460 CCD camera and is the total of about 12 hours of LRGBHa data captured from my backyard observatory in Nottingham, UK in 2018. You can see it fills the frame very nicely.
Image Technical Data
Image acquired spring 2018 and 2019 seasons over several capture sessions due to very wet and persistent cloudy weather) in my backyard in Nottingham, UK. It was acquired with TEC 140 refractor with Atik 460 CCD camera and Baader HaLRGB filters on my MESU 200 mount. Guiding was via off-axis guider.
A modest data set with everything binned 1x1 so as not to need so much luminance so a bit of an experiment! Did it work?
Luminance 10 x 300s 1×1; Red 9x 300s 1x1; Green 10x 300s 1×1; Blue 9x 300s 1x1; Ha 12 x 900s 1x1
Data processed with PixInsight and Photoshop and data collected with SGP Pro and guided with PHD2.
Here is another version of M33 with a wider field FSQ85 refractor:
https://thekirkshouse.com/m33-the-triangulum-galaxy/
M13 - The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules
M13 is arguably the greatest of the Northern hemisphere globular clusters and, after Omega Centauri, the greatest globular cluster in the sky.
It is a located about 26000 light years away and has a diameter of about 120 light years. It is one of about 250 globular clusters that surround the nucleus of our galaxy. Most galaxies have globular clusters in orbit around them and the reason why is still unclear. What is clear is that the clusters and the stars within them are extremely old, in the region of ten billion years old or twice the age of the sun.
M13 is visible with the naked eye on a dark night as a fuzzy star. A telescope reveals its starry nature and a scope over 8 inches will show many stars and is an amazing site to behold.
The above image is a composite of LRGB data with one hour of data in each of the RGB channels and two hours in the luminance, everything binned 1x1, giving a total of five hours imaging time. TEC 140 refractor and Atik 460 camera CCD camera with Baader LRGB filters. on MESU 200 mount. The data was collected in 2018 and processed in PixInsight. HDR tool makes a big impact in bringing out the detail in the core of the cluster.
TIP: In this picture look for the "Propeller". Can you see it? :)
M101 - The Pinwheel Galaxy with TEC140 and Atik460
M101 - The Pinwheel Galaxy - is a spectacular, face-on "Grand Design" spiral galaxy located about 20 million light years away. It is quite a hard object to observe visually unless your skies are dark due to the galaxy's very low surface brightness. In the image below you can see the many red HII (pronounced "H-two") star forming regions. The galaxy is not a part of the local group of galaxies and is receding away from us with the expansion of the universe.
The image was acquired in my back yard observatory in Nottingham, UK with my TEC140 refractor and Atik 460 CCD camera with LRGBHa Astrodon Filters between 2018 and 2020. I used off-axis guiding to keep the telescope precisely aligned and the whole imaging ensemble was atop my MESU200 mount. M101 is not easily captured from my observatory since it is sandwiched between the neighbour's house and my house meaning that I can only grab it when it is almost at the zenith, which is where I captured these images in the early springtimes. Consequently, it took several years to acquire the data needed to build the image.
The imaging data set is as follows:
Luminance > 20 x 900s binned 1×1 ; Red > 18 x 300s 2×2 ; Green > 18 x 300s 2×2 ; Blue > 18 x 300s 2×2 ; Ha > 24 x 300s 1x1
This gives a total integration time of about 11.5 hours. This is a large investment of time on a single object in the UK skies, where clear nights are a great rarity.
I used Sequence Generator Pro for image capture. I then used PixInsight for pre processing to get to the five LRGBHa master files. I then used PixInsight to create the HaRGB and Luminance master TIFF files. I then switched to Photoshop to do the blending of these two L and HaRGB with multiple layers of blending saturation and tweaking. As I have mentioned elsewhere, I find it easier and more intuitive to do this in Photoshop as opposed to LRGB combination tool and/or PixelMath in PixInsight since blending inside Photoshop gives immediate feedback off the effect when the sliders are tweaked. A personal preference and I am sure many folks are completely happy doing this task purely inside PixInsight.
Above is five hours of luminance only. It reveals much of the fine structure inside the galaxy's core and spiral arms. This data was then blended into the RGBHa composite.
M33 - The Triangulum Galaxy
This is about two hours each of LRGB (in each filter) with the Takahashi FSQ85 telescope and Atik 460 CCD camera with Baader LRGB filters. I did not use a Ha filter on this image. The data was collected on 29th November 2013 and it was the second light of the telescope (first light being The Double Cluster here). The telescope performs superbly and is very well colour balanced.
At a distance of about 2.8 - 3.0 million light years, M33 is the most distant object that can be viewed by the unaided eye and is visible in a dark sky setting as a very tenuous patch of light. Being a face-on galaxy, it has rather low surface brightness and it lacks a bright central core making it quite hard for beginners to find as they expect to see something much brighter and more colourful.
The two above images show an annotated and an inverted version of the galaxy.
Markarian's Chain
A famous string of galaxies in the constellation of Virgo, named after the astronomer Benjamin Markarian who first discovered their common motion. The chain contains several Messier catalogue objects and is visible in the late winter and spring in the Northern Hemisphere. The galaxies are located between 65-75 million light years away and are nice objects to observe with a telescope if you can do so from a dark sight.
This image was created from a data set acquired in Spring 2019 with my FSQ85 refractor.
Image is centred on "The Eyes" of NGC4435 and NGC4438 just below dead centre of the image. At the bottom is the monstrous supergiant elliptical galaxy M87, the most massive object in the local universe harbouring the famous black hole recently imaged with the event horizon telescope.
Below is an inverted version that help show the galaxies with more contrast.
Technical Information
The data set was acquired with my FSQ85 refractor with the 0.73 reducer and Moravian Instruments G2-8300 CCD camera with Astrodon LRGB filters.
Data set is as follows: Lum > 26 x 600s ; Red 14 x 300s ; Green > 14 x 300s ; Blue > 14 x 300s
Everything binned 1x1 on my MESU 200 mount and using off axis guiding. The data was acquired in two nights. The data is processed with PixInsight and Photoshop.
Below are two annotated versions; a simpler version showing the main Messier, NGC and IC catalogues and then, at the bottom, a version adding the hundreds of PGC (Primary Galaxy Catalogue) objects deep in the universe many of which are billions of light years away.
The Perseus Galaxy Cluster - Abell 426
The Perseus Galaxy Cluster (Abell 426) is one of the most massive known objects in The Universe. It is a supercluster of galaxies with thousands of individual members located between 230-280 million light years away. The galaxies are located within a vast cloud of enveloping gas, the gas being much more massive than the total mass of the galaxies themselves. This area is very important for physicists testing the theory of relativity.
It is clear from the red patches on the main Perseus galaxy itself (NGC 1275) slightly to left and bottom of this images centre (at the eight o'clock position) that something dramatic is happening inside this galaxy.
Technical Information
Imaged from my backyard observatory in Nottingham, UK with my TEC 140 refractor and Atik 460 CCD camera with Astrodon LRGB filters between October 2019 to January 2020. The image was created from 20 x 900s luminance exposures collected on the 27/28 Oct 2019. The red, green and blue channels were collected between October 2019 and January 2020 over multiple and frustrating imaging sessions due to a very wet winter in the UK with almost total cloud cover for weeks on end. As much data had to be thrown away as is presented here!
Lum > 20 x 900s; Red > 14 x 300s; Green 14 x 300s; Blue 14 x 300s. Everything binned 1x1.
This data set gives a total integration (exposure) time of 8 hours and 30 minutes.
Guiding was with OAG on my MESU 200 mount. Image data acquired with Sequence Generator Pro and developed in PixInsight and PhotoShop CC.
The chart above shows an annotated version of the primary picture. The principle galaxy NGC1275 is shown a third of the way from the left border and just below the centre line. If you then look carefully at the NGC 1275 galaxy in the main image clearly something very significant is taking place inside the galaxy, twisting and distorting it. This galaxy is called Perseus A and is one of the brightest sources of radio and X-rays in the sky.
Technical Data
Quasar 3C273 in Virgo
Not the most exciting of images but significant for what is actually shown here. Just looking at the photo on the above left, you'd be forgiven for thinking this was just an image of a star field, a boring one at that. However, this is a picture of the Quasar 3C273 in Virgo, one of the most distant objects possible for an amateur astronomer with instruments available to the average amateur to see. Light left this object two billion years ago!
3C273 is the 273rd object in the Third Cambridge University catalogue of radio objects. It was discovered as an extremely bright source of radio waves long before it was identified visually. It was the first ever quasar to be discovered in 1959.
It represents an extremely active core of a very distant galaxy, so distant that we only see the core and not the outer parts of the galaxy because of the vast distance. Matter is circling around a supermassive black hole and is energised to such an extent that it is visible across the universe. Our own galaxy would not be visible at such a distance suggesting how incredibly bright the quasar actually is. We also know, through daily variations in the light intensity that the source cannot be more than a light-day in diameter!
Image shows the above image of 3C273 with other galaxies in the PGC catalogue (Principle Galaxies Catalogue) in the same field of view. 3c273 is PGC41121.
Image taken with a TEC 140 refractor in April 2020 (during Coronavirus lockdown in the UK). Thirty minutes each in R,G,B.as two minute exposures binned 1x1.
Lunar Pictures from January 2020
A few pictures of the moon that I took with my Meade 14 ACF SCT scope with a ASI 174MM camera in January 2020. The pictures utilised no filters at all.
The Meade 14" is an astounding scope that I liked very much. However, with a heavy heart I subsequently went on to sell this telescope since I felt that in my Bortle 5skies it doesn't offer any significant advantage over and above the Celestron C925; the latter scope being very much more manageable that the huge (and very heavy) 14" Meade. At some point in the future I may regret this decision since the scope excelled on the few occasions I took it to truly dark skies. However, I could not let my heart rule my head and I decided to sell it.