Chris Howard's Blog, page 21

And the Soul Nebula in color… I haven’t captured...

And the Soul Nebula in color… I haven’t captured any OIII or SII data in the last few months, but I do have the Sh2-199 data in all three bandpasses from last year. Using Ha from last week with O3 and S2 from last year for this one in SHO -> RGB.

From last night’s imaging run: Soul Nebula (Westerhout 5,...

From last night’s imaging run: Soul Nebula (Westerhout 5, Sharpless 2-199) in the Constellation Cassiopeia, 65 x 240 second stacked subs with the William Optics SpaceCat51 APO refractor, ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro monochrome camera, and the Antlia 3nm Ha Pro narrowband filter. The designation IC 1848, which is the catalog entry for the star cluster in the lower right region of the nebula, but it’s popularly used to refer to the entire nebula. The Soul is a massive star-forming region about 6500 lightyears away, with several open clusters, including CR 34, 632, and 634.

Orion Nebula (M42) in Hydrogen-alpha - More fun with the Antlia...

Orion Nebula (M42) in Hydrogen-alpha - More fun with the Antlia 3nm Ha filter on the William Optics SpaceCat 51 and ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro. Notes: 55 x 240-second stacked subs of M42 and surrounding clouds of dust and atomic hydrogen.

Here’s my first pass of 100 x 240-second sub-exposures in...

Here’s my first pass of 100 x 240-second sub-exposures in hydrogen-alpha with the Antlia 3nm Ha filter, ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro monochrome camera, and William Optics SpaceCat 51 Refractor (250mm FL @ f/4.9). NGC 1499, the California Nebula, is a large HII region and star-forming cloud in the Constellation Perseus. Its 100 lightyear length is roughly shaped like the State of California—I mean, you can see the San Joaquin Valley, the Sierras and where the land angles in for southern California and the L.A. Basin. So, the name fits the shape.  NGC 1499 is east of the Perseus Molecular Cloud, a large star-forming region surrounding the star clusters, IC 348 and NGC 1333, but also includes a bunch of hot O-type stars on their own. The HI supershell in Perseus, a broader backdrop of atomic hydrogen and helium, encompasses the molecular cloud as well as the California Nebula. Almost every nebula I have ever imaged is within our galaxy, the Milky Way, but what’s interesting with NGC 1499 is that our solar system and the California Nebula are both in the Orion Arm of the Milky Way, about 1200 lightyears apart. It’s just up the galactic street from us. We’re practically neighbors!

From Wednesday night’s astro imaging session: Rosette Nebula in...

From Wednesday night’s astro imaging session: Rosette Nebula in Ha - Narrowband imaging is all about the filters you use to block out every bit of light except one narrow section of the electromagnetic spectrum. The photons landing at your telescope’s front door with the correct wavelength (around 656nm for hydrogen-alpha) are allowed to pass. Everyone else is kicked out. And sometimes with narrowband imaging you just want to go…narrower. Over the last ten years of astronomy and astrophotography I have used 12 nanometer, 7nm, and 6nm filters. (These numbers represent the gap in the filter, allowing light of a specific range of wavelengths through). See my first test with the Antlia 3nm Narrowband H-alpha Pro Filter on Youtube: https://youtu.be/UpaMgs0-h7A 

Andromeda never gets old. Andromeda Galaxy, M31, Messier 31, is...

Andromeda never gets old. Andromeda Galaxy, M31, Messier 31, is probably the first target for northern hemisphere astrophotographers–M31 or M42 Orion Nebula. Both are intensely bright deep sky objects you can see without a telescope, given reasonably clear and dark skies. I have captured M31 more times than I can count. The galaxy stands out in the night sky and swings around every year, making it an easy target. Galaxies are also great visual spectrum targets for color cameras, DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, but that doesn’t mean you can’t pull some awesome data out of Andromeda in narrowband or infrared. I captured M31 in near-infrared (longpass 850nm) a couple years ago, and last night I captured our galactic neighbor in very narrow hydrogen-alpha (3nm Ha), and this stacked set of 42 sub-exposures highlights massive HII regions, mostly emission nebulae, along the outer spiral arms, with dense bands of dust and debris ringing the galactic core. This will make a great red channel in an RGB image.

Here’s my astro setup for the last couple nights, my...

Here’s my astro setup for the last couple nights, my wide-field narrowband rig, with the William Optics SpaceCat 51 APO refractor and the ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro monochrome camera, ZWO electronic filter wheel and autofocus. Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro equatorial mount. Controller: Raspberry Pi 4 4GB running KStars, Ekos, INDI.

Narrowband North America Nebula (NGC 7000) in the Constellation...

Narrowband North America Nebula (NGC 7000) in the Constellation Cygnus, with the “Cygnus Wall” across the lower third of the image. You’re looking at about 130 trillion miles of dense clouds of ionized hydrogen, with a bit of oxygen thrown in. NGC 7000 is around 1600 lightyears aways, and the “Cygnus Wall” is about 20 light years long. Imaging notes: William Optics GT81 Apochromatic refractor, Astronomik 6-nanometer hydrogen-alpha (Ha), Oxygen 3 (OIII), sulfur 2 (SII) filters, ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro monochrome camera, QHY 5iii178 guide camera, Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro Mount.

Our favorite Blue Heron, Roger, is back after a year or so...

Our favorite Blue Heron, Roger, is back after a year or so abroad. He’s in our backyard/wildlife refuge scouting around for rodents.

Trying out Corel Painter Essentials 8, and pretty impressed so...

Trying out Corel Painter Essentials 8, and pretty impressed so far, especially for a $49 app (I’ve seen it on sale for $29). Very smooth drawing. It has that natural and responsive Painter feel when drawing or painting with a tablet. It’s missing a few features from the full Corel Painter, but for stuff I draw and paint I can probably get everything I need with a couple pens and acrylic/oil brushes. This morning I’m sketching with the “Smooth Pen”, doing some quick idea scribbles, and then started on an Autumn Elf with maple leaves in her hair.