M33 Pinwhell Galaxy

©2007 Richard Murray

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Techno Stuff: 9/10/07 Camera: ATK-16hr, Imaging Scope: Megrez 80mm APO at F/6, mounted on LX90 8" SCT, IR 65 min total with 5 min subs, no binning, Red 25 min with 5 min subs, Blue 30 min with 6 min subs, Binning 2X2, Synthetic Green channel, Autoguided with Q-Guide and PHDGuide from LX90, No Darks, Processed with CCDStack, Photoshop CS2 and PixInsight

Notes: This is an LLRGB image using a synthetic green channel. It was taken under murky conditions with high altitude clouds forcing me to keep the exposure time down. The RGB color required a heavy saturation boost plus LLRGB layering in order to realize much color at all.

Sh2-104 Emission Nebula in Cygnus

©2007 Richard Murray

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Techno Stuff: 8/18/07 Camera: ATK-16hr, Imaging Scope: Megrez 80mm APO at F/6, mounted on LX90 8" SCT, Ha 6nm, 76 minutes total with two 30 min subs and one 16 min sub (interupted due to clouds), binning 1x1, Autoguided with DSI Pro and PHDGuide from LX90, No Darks, Processed with CCDStack, Photoshop CS2 and PixInsight

Notes: Seldom imaged by amateur astronomers, this is a very faint emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus. This is located due east of the popular Crescent Nebula. Sh-104 is viewed by professional astronomers as a good illustration of the "collect and collapse" model of star formation triggered by the rapid expansion of a Helium II region.

IC1805 Heart Nebula

©2007 Richard Murray

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Techno Stuff: 8/26/07 Camera: ATK-16hr, Imaging Scope: Megrez 80mm APO at F/6, mounted on LX90 8" SCT, Ha 6nm 140 minutes total with 20 min subs binning 1x1, Autoguided with Q-Guide and PHDGuide from LX90, No Darks, Processed with CCDStack and Photoshop CS2 and PixInsight

Notes: I tried to keep the amount of processing down on this one because the stacked image looked so good. This was taken on a clear calm night just after about 2 weeks of rain.

NGC7023 Iris Nebula LRGB

©2007 Richard Murray

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©2007 Richard Murray

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Techno Stuff: 5/18/07 for Luminance and RG and 8/11/07 for B, Camera: ATK-16hr, Imaging Scope: Megrez 80mm APO at F/6, mounted on LX90 8" SCT, Luminance IR 11 minutes total with 1 min subs and 80 minutes total with 5 minute subs binning 1x1, Red and Green 20 minutes with 5 minute subs binning 2x2, Blue 30 minutes with 6 min subs binning 2x2, Autoguided with DSI Pro and PHDGuide from LX90, Darks Applied Luminance Only, Processed with CCDStack, Photoshop CS2 and PixInsight.

Notes: I imaged the luminance, red and green frames in May but it took me until August to get some decent blue frames. The full size image is small because the blue frames had to be rotated almost 45 degrees to match up with the earlier images. But it all turned out ok in the end.

The second image is the same as the first but processed by combining the red and blue frame with a synthetic green frame along with the original luminance frame. Once this was processed in Photoshop, the top image was desaturated (color removed) and this was placed on top as another luminance frame to create what is called an LLRGB image.

VDB 152 Reflection Nebula in Cepheus

©2007 Richard Murray

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And here is the LRGB Color image of the same object.


©2007 Richard Murray

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Techno Stuff: 7/21/07 for Luminance and 7/22 for RGB, Camera: ATK-16hr, Imaging Scope: Megrez 80mm APO at F/6, mounted on LX90 8" SCT, Luminance IR 60 minutes total with 10 min subs binning 1x1, Red and Green 25 minutes with 5 minute subs, Blue 30 minutes with 6 min subs binning 2x2, Autoguided with ATK-2hs and Guidedog from LX90, Darks Applied Luminance Only, Processed with CCDStack and Photoshop CS2

Notes: The color image had to be cropped due to rotation of the RGB images which were taken on the following night. This was much easier to process in grayscale than in color. The color image took two separate processing attempts and I settled on the second try.

Emission Nebula in M31 Andromeda Galaxy

©2007 Richard Murray

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Techno Stuff: 7/29/07 ATK-16hr, Megrez 80mm APO at F/6, mounted on LX90 8" SCT, Halpha 6nm 160 minutes total with 20 min subs no binning, Autoguided with Atk-2hs and Guidedog from LX90, No Darks, Processed with CCDStack Photoshop CS2 PixInsight

Notes: Just as most emission nebula in the Milky way emit prodigious amounts of energy in the Halpha range, there is no reason why emisson nebula in the Andromeda Galaxy shouldn't as well. So I spent the night imaging M31 using an Halpha filter to see if I could find a few. And there they are, sprinkled throughout the sprial arms.

The one which I've highlighted is a dead ringer for NGC2359 Thor's Helmet. Imagine an alien amatuer astronomer imaging such a giant emission nebula as this! (I sure would like to know what kind of astronomy equipment he, she, it is using) :>))

M31 Andromeda Galaxy

©2007 Richard Murray

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Below is a softer processed version which doesn't burn out the galaxy core so much and brings out more of the outer arms. This was blended with the above image in Photoshop. Click on the image for a full size view.


©2007 Richard Murray

Techno Stuff: 7/22/07 ATK-16hr, Megrez 80mm APO at F/6, mounted on LX90 8" SCT, Luminance IR 30 minutes total with 6 min subs binning 1x1, Red and Green 15 minutes with 5 minute subs, Blue 18 minutes with 6 min subs binning 2x2, Autoguided with Q-Guide and PHDGuide from LX90, No Darks, Processed with CCDStack and Photoshop CS2

Notes: Let's just say this was a real adventure in color processing. I can't recall imaging an object that had this many colors pop out at once during processing. But that's part of the fun of doing what I do.

Looks like there is a very clear light bridge from M31 to it's captured satellite galaxy M32.

This image was taken on a very special night. Even though several neighbors had there porch lights on, the night was crystal clear with the milkyway in full view.

M106 and Friends LRGB

©2007 Richard Murray

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Techno Stuff: 6/8/07 ATK-16hr, Megrez 80mm APO at F/6, mounted on LX90 8" SCT, Luminance IR 80 minutes total with 8 min subs, binning 1x1, Red 20 minutes with 5 minute subs - Blue 30 minutes with 6 minute subs Binning 2x2, Synthetic Green, Autoguided with Atk-2HS and Guidedog from LX90, Darks Applied, CCDStack, Photoshop CS2, PixInsight

Notes: To get all the details of M106's core please look at the full size image. I did the best I could on the color. I started out with the whole thing looking yellowish green so I switched to Lab Color in Photoshop and the color processing went a lot smoother.

The large galaxy is M106 and the edge on smaller galaxy right next to it on the left is NGC4248. The two galaxies next to that are NGC4231 and NGC4232. There appears to be a faint light bridge between them so they may be interacting. The larger edge on galaxy at bottom right is NGC4217 and to the right of it is NGC4226. I'm pretty sure the faint galaxy just below M106 is UGC7356.

Sh2-171 Emission Nebula

©2007 Richard Murray

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Techno Stuff: 7/13/07 ATK-16hr, Megrez 80mm APO at F/6, mounted on LX90 8" SCT, Ha 6nm 140 minutes total with 20 min subs, binning 1x1, Autoguided with CCD Labs Q-Guide and PHDGuide from LX90, Darks Applied, CCDStack, Photoshop CS2, PixInsight

Notes: This is the second portion of Sh2-171, the first being the Calf Head Nebula. Not as much structure as the Calf Head but still an interesting nebula.

Sh2-171 Calf Head Nebula In Cepheus

©2007 Richard Murray

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Techno Stuff: 7/13/07 ATK-16hr, Megrez 80mm APO at F/6, mounted on LX90 8" SCT, Ha 6nm 40 minutes total with 20 min subs, binning 1x1, Autoguided with CCD Labs Q-Guide and PHDGuide from LX90, Darks Applied, CCDStack, Photoshop CS2, PixInsight

Notes: My original plan was to just try out my new Q-Guide autoguider (cmos webcam) and PHDGuide expecting a night of frustration while I worked the bugs out. Even if it was the unlucky mornning of Friday the 13th, after a few hiccups the darn thing started to work, so I went over to the constellation Cepheus and got this image. Notice the large Calf Head in the upper center (Keep looking, you'll see it. Hint - It's turned sideways with the nose pointing right).

This is part of a much larger nebula, much too large for my setup, but I managed to also image another portion near the bottom of the complex which I'll post next after the processing is done.

Thinking Blogger Award

I recently received the Thinking Blogger Award so I'm passing it on.

Here are my choices for the Thinking Blogger Award. (three more to follow)

1. rightbrain/leftbrain
Some great art here - whimsical and humorous by a very talented artist.

2. The Time Sink
Amazing photography of the natural world (just go to his Photo Blog link on the left).


Congratulations, you won a Thinking Blogger Award!

THE RULES ARE:

Should you choose to participate, please make sure you pass this list of rules to the blogs you are tagging. The participation rules are simple:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.

2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the memo

3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote (there is an alternative silver version if gold doesn't fit your blog).

Rick Astronomy Journal

M104 Sombrero Galaxy

©2007 Richard Murray

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Techno Stuff: 5/13/07 ATK-16hr, Megrez 80mm APO at F/6, mounted on LX90 8" SCT, IR 40 minutes total with 8 min subs binning 1x1, RGB 15 minutes total each with 5 min. subs binning 2x2, Autoguided with Atik-2HS and Guidedog from LX90, Darks Applied, CCDStack, Photoshop CS2.

Notes: The IR (Infared/UV blocking filter) frames turned out very well. However, the RGB (red, green, blue filtered) frames suffered from heavy light pollution gradients which CCDStack took care of surprisingly well allowing me to come up with a decent final image. I like doing LRGB processing and plan on doing more with fairly bright objects like M104.

M16 The Eagle Nebula

©2007 Richard Murray

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Techno Stuff: 6/26/07 ATK-16hr, Megrez 80mm APO at F/6, mounted on LX90 8" SCT, Ha 6nm, 80 minutes total with 20min subs, Binning 1x1, Autoguided with Atik-2HS and Guidedog from LX90, Darks Applied, CCDStack, Photoshop CS2, PixInsight, Image Analyzer

Notes: There was every reason in the world why this image should not have come to be. The night was murky and foggy, the object was at a low altitude (33 degrees), I forgot to plug in my dew strap so each exposure taken left the Megrez objective more and more fogged up. So frankly, I think I deserve a little applause for ending up with a halfway decent image. :>D

NGC6960 Veil Nebula West

©2007 Richard Murray

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Techno Stuff: 6/17/07 ATK-16hr, Megrez 80mm APO at F/6, mounted on LX90 8" SCT, Ha 6nm, 39 minutes total with 25min, 9min, 5min subs, Binning 1x1, Autoguided with Atik-2HS and Guidedog from LX90, No Darks, Registax3, Photoshop CS2, PixInsight, Silkypix

Notes: I battled the clouds all night to get this one saving what exposure time I had accumulated whenever the next batch of clouds started to roll in. I managed three exposures: 25 (lucky me), 9 and 5 minutes for a total of 39 minutes in all.