IC1848 Soul Nebula Stero Pair

Below are stereo pairs of my recent Soul Nebula image.

The first image is the parallel version. Just stare at the middle of the two images and another image should appear in 3D.

The second image is the cross version. Just stare at the center of the image while crossing your eyes and another image should appear in 3D.

Parallel Vision Image Pair


©2008 Richard Murray

Cross Vision Image Pair


©2008 Richard Murray

These were created using J-P Metsavainio's Stero Pair Action for Photoshop which can be found here: Stero Pair Action

NGC1491 Emission Nebula in Perseus

©2008 Richard Murray
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Notes: This is an emission nebula in the constellation Perseus. The nebulas glow is caused by hot gas plasma that is excited by embedded energetic young stars including the central star, BD+50 886 (mag 11.2) which is responsible for the brightest area with it's own blister nebula and glowing columns of gas.

The color palette used for this image was: OIII Red, SII Green, Ha Blue. This gives the image some unusual colors but helps to show how dynamic and active this region really is.

Imaging with narrowband is sometimes like looking at an object from an aliens perspecive whose eyes don't perceive colors the way we do but whose vision may in some ways be superior to our own.

Date(s): 10-8, and 10-12-08
Object: NGC 1491 Emission Nebula in Perseus
Telescope: Megrez 80mm APO, WO 0.8 FR/FF
Mount: LX90
Camera: Atik 16hr
Guiding: Lx90 8" SCT, DSI Pro, Phd Guiding
Filters: Ha 6nm, OIII 15nm, SII 14nm
Exposure: 9 hrs total, Ha 10x30 mins, OIII 6x20 mins, SII 6x20 mins, Binning 1x1
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CS2, PixInsight
Location: Burke Ave. Observatory, Three Rivers, Michigan

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IC1848 Soul Nebula

An Angel in the Soul


©2008 Richard Murray

Full Soul


©2008 Richard Murray
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Minimal Stars Soul


©2008 Richard Murray
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Notes: This is my second narrowband project which is the Soul Nebula right next door to the Heart Nebula. The weather wasn't as cooperative this time but I did manage to get most of the image exposures I needed. I got a full six hours of Ha but only managed half that for the OIII and SII filters. Still, it turned out pretty well.

Be sure to click on the image for a full size view and also at the bottom, the Read More link will take you to a great article in Universe today about this colorful nebula.

Date(s): 10-3, and 10-4-08
Object: IC1848 Soul Nebula in Cassiopeia
Telescope: Megrez 80mm APO, WO 0.8 FR/FF
Mount: LX90
Camera: Atik 16hr
Guiding: Lx90 8" SCT, DSI Pro, Phd Guiding
Filters: Ha 6nm, OIII 15nm, SII 14nm
Exposure: 11 hrs 20 mins Ha 12x30 mins, OIII 10x20 mins, SII 6x20 mins, Binning 1x1
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CS2, PixInsight, Hubble Palette: SII=Red,Ha=Green,OIII=Blue
Location: Burke Ave. Observatory, Three Rivers, Michigan

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IC1805 Heart Nebula in Narrowband

Second version with less stars.


©2008 Richard Murray
Click on image for 80% size.

Zoomed in to image center.


©2008 Richard Murray



©2008 Richard Murray
Full Size Image


Notes: This was an imaging run that took three nights to complete with 6 hours per filter and 30 minute subs for a total of 18 hours imaging. I've never imaged that long on one object before but I think the effort was worth it. I used the Hubble Palatte with SII as Red, Ha as Green and OIII as blue.

Be sure to click on the image for a full size view.

Date(s): 9-21, 9-22 and 9-25-08
Object: IC1805 Heart Nebula in Cassiopeia
Telescope: Megrez 80mm APO, WO 0.8 FR/FF
Mount: LX90
Camera: Atik 16hr
Guiding: Lx90 8" SCT, DSI Pro, Phd Guiding
Filters: Ha, OIII, SII
Exposure: 18 Hours Ha 12x30 mins, OIII 12x30 mins, SII 12x30 mins, All Bin 1x1
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CS2
Location: Burke Ave. Observatory, Three Rivers, Michigan

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CTB-1 Supernova Remnant in Narrowband

©2008 Richard Murray
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Notes: This is a supernova remnant sometimes referred to as Abell 85 located near the star Caph in the constellation Cassiopeia.

This reminds me of Simeis 147 I made an attempt at imaging a while back which is also an extremely faint remnant: here

I decided to image this using narrowband (Ha mapped to red, OIII to green, and SII to blue) filters to try to get as much detail as possible during the short amount of time I had.

CTB-1 is rarely imaged by amatuer astronomers and currently I could find only two examples on the internet. The second link refers to Dean Rowe's image which he took just recently in HaRGB and was my inspiration to give this challenging object a try:

Image of Bottom Half of CTB-1

Dean Rowe's Image

To me this object looks like a cell wall which has just burst open with its contents flowing out towards the upper left.

Coordinates: RA 23:59:13 DEC +62:26:12

Be sure to click on the image for a full size view.

Date: 8/31/08
Object: CTB-1 Supernova Remnant
Telescope: Megrez 80mm APO, WO 0.8 FR/FF
Mount: LX90
Camera: Atik 16hr
Guiding: Lx90 8" SCT, DSI Pro, Phd Guiding
Filters: Ha, OIII, SII
Exposure: 200 Minutes Ha 1x10,2x20,3x30 min subs, OIII 1x20 min sub, SII 2x20 min subs
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CS2
Location: Burke Ave. Observatory, Three Rivers, Michigan

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NGC4565 Edge On Galaxy

©2008 Richard Murray
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©2008 Richard Murray
Full Size Image


Notes: This is a good specimen of an edge on galaxy located in the Coma Berenices constellation which is not too far from the grandaddy of all galaxy clusters, Abell 1656. The galaxy in the upper left is NGC4562.

Although I didn't get quite the resolution I'd hoped for (considering the number of images I took) I think it's a well balanced image overall.

Be sure to click on the image for a full size view.

Date: 4/27/08
Object: NGC4565 Edge On Galazy
Telescope: Megrez 80mm APO, WO 0.8 FR/FF
Mount: LX90
Camera: Atik 16hr
Guiding: Lx90 8" SCT, DSI Pro, Phd Guiding
Filters: IR RGB
Exposure: IR 21x5min 1x1 bin, R 10x4min G 10x4min B 13x4min all 2x2 bin
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CS2, PixInsight
Location: Burke Ave. Observatory, Three Rivers, Michigan

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M45 The Seven Sisters Open Cluster

©2008 Richard Murray
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Notes: This is the Pleiades Open Cluster nicknamed the Seven Sisters which is a reflection nebula that gets its light from the surrounding stars.

I had just completed a long imaging session of the Crescent Nebula and decided to just take a test shot of M45 to see how many of the main stars I could fit in my field of view. So I just took one short 5 minute shot using a blue filter and this is the result. It turned out pretty good for just one short exposure and no stacking.


Date: 8/8/08
Object: M45 Pleiades Open Cluster
Telescope: Megrez 80mm APO 0.8 Focal Reducer
Mount: LX90
Camera: Atik 16hr
Filters: Blue Filter
Exposure: Blue 1 x 5min binning 2 x 2
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CS2
Location: Burke Ave. Observatory, Three Rivers, Michigan

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NGC7380 With Star Colors

©2008 Richard Murray
Full Size Image


Notes: This is a reprocessed image from 7/5/08 with star color added from RsGB images taken on 7/9/08. For the nebula the Ha and OIII images were mapped to the RGB channels as Ha for red, OIII as green and OIII as blue.

To me it's quite an improvement in the image. Look at the old image below.

Date: 7/9/08
Object: NGC7380
Telescope: Megrez 80mm APO with 0.8 Focal Reducer
Mount: LX90
Camera: Atik 16hr
Filters: Red and Blue
Exposure: Red-25 min (5 min subs), Blue-25 min (5 min subs) bining 2x2
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CS2
Location: Burke Ave. Observatory, Three Rivers, Michigan

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NGC7380 Open Cluster with Nebula

©2008 Richard Murray
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Notes: This is open cluster NGC7380 with emission nebula SH2-142 taken from my home observatory. This is a narrowband image taken with an Ha and an OIII filter with Ha as Red, OIII as blue and a synthetic green channel created from the Ha and OIII data using Steve Cannistra's Bicolor Technique.

A drawback of narrowband imaging is that you don't get any color information in the stars. So weather permitting, I may take some RGB images just to give the stars back some of their color.

Date: 7/5/08
Object: NGC7380
Telescope: Megrez 80mm APO
Mount: LX90
Camera: Atik 16hr
Filters: Ha6nm and OIII14nm
Exposure: Ha-100 min (10 min subs), OIII-50 min (10 min subs bin2x2)
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CS2
Location: Burke Ave. Observatory, Three Rivers, Michigan

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M81-M82 Companion Galaxies LRsGB

©2008 Richard Murray
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Notes: After about four months off without processing any images (I was taking them, just not processing them) I'm back with an image of M82(on top) and M81 (below).

This was taken at my home observatory and is an LRsGB with a synthetic green channel and Ha blended into the red channel. The Ha (hydrogen alpha filter) helped to bring out some of the active star forming regions (the red areas) particularly in M82 which is being severely distorted due to the huge gravitational pull of it's companion galaxy.

These two galaxies will eventually merge which is what will also happen to our own Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy.


Date: 4/2/08(Images taken on three separate nights concluding on 4/2/08)
Object: M81-M82 Companion Galaxies
Telescope: Megrez 80mm APO
Mount: LX90
Camera: Atik 16hr
Filters: Luminance, Red, Blue, Ha14nm, Ha6nm
Exposure: Luminance-115 min (5 min subs), Red and Blue-20 min (4 min subs bin2x2), Ha 6nm 45min total, Ha 14nm 50min total
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CS2, Maxim DL
Location: Burke Ave. Observatory, Three Rivers, Michigan

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M104 Sombrero Galaxy LRsGB Image

©2008 Richard Murray
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Notes: This is a reprocessed image of M104 taken on 1/20/08. This time I used wavelet filters in a program called Registax and a few other processing tricks to bring out much more detail in the galaxy core and surrounding area. This is the color version which is an LRsGB image (sG = synthetic green).A lot of processsing work but well worth it.


Date: 1-20-08
Object: M104 Sombrero Galaxy
Telescope: RCOS 10" - FL 1510mm @ F/6 (GRAS-15)
Mount: Paramount ME
Camera: SBIG ST-8XME NABG
Filters: Luminance, Red, Blue
Exposure: Luminance-20 min (5 min subs), Red-10 min (3.3 min subs)bin2x2, Blue-10 min (3.3 min subs)bin2x2
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CS2, PixInsight, Registax
Location: Moorook, South Australia

Forum Threads Regarding This Image:

Cloudy Nights
IceInSpace
MelbMeadeScopes
CCD-NewAstro

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M104 Sombrero Galaxy

©2007 Richard Murray
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Notes: This is a luminance image taken with a robotic telescope in southern Australia. The color image will follow soon. The second image is a crop of the full size image.

Each time I image this I get just a little more detail in the galaxy's dark lanes. Be sure and take a look at the full size image.

Imaging Details:

Date: 1-20-08
Object: M104 Sombrero Galaxy
Telescope: RCOS 10" - FL 1510mm @ F/6 (GRAS-15)
Mount: Paramount ME
Camera: SBIG ST-8XME NABG
Filter: Luminance
Exposure: Luminance-20 min (5 min subs)
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CS2, PixInsight
Location: Moorook, South Australia

M81 Spiral Galaxy

©2007 Richard Murray

Full Size Image

Notes: Ok, here is the color version of the image posted several days ago. This is an LRsGB image with the sG meaning 'synthetic green' as no green filter was actually used during imaging.

Imaging Details:

Date: 1-11-08
Object: M81 Spiral Galaxy
Telescope: Takahashi TOA 150 (GRAS3)
Mount: Paramount ME
Camera: SBIG ST-10 XME ABG
Filter: Clear
Exposure: Luminance-25 min [5 min subs], Red-9 min (3 min subs),
Blue-9 min. (3 min subs)
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CS2, PixInsight
Location: GRAS Observatory, Mayhill, NM

M81 Bode's Spiral Galaxy

©2007 Richard Murray

Full Size Image

Notes: With Michigan's clouds still not going away I used one of the GRAS robotic telescopes in New Mexico to image this beautiful galaxy which is part of our local group. You can see M81's faint satellite galaxy off to center left.

I also took some color images which I'll upload later when processing is done.

Imaging Details:

Date: 1-11-08
Object: M81 Spiral Galaxy
Telescope: Takahashi TOA 150 (GRAS3)
Mount: Paramount ME
Camera: SBIG ST-10 XME ABG
Filter: Clear
Exposure: 25 min [5 min subs]
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CS2, PixInsight
Location: GRAS Observatory, Mayhill, NM