Nebulae
NGC7635 - Bubble Nebula in Cassiopeia LUM
Orientation: North is LEFT - Distance: ~11000 light years
Image Size: ~27x20 arc minutes - Image Scale: ~2.12
DATE: 09/11/2008
Conditions: Seeing Good to Very Good. Transparency Good to Very Good. Stable skies. Temp ~45 degrees F.
Processing:
MaximDL 4.x -Calibrate, Align, Sigma Reject Combine, Linear DDP Stretch, ,flatted background, Levels, mild unsharp.
Comment:
A cool and dark night helped a lot here. Though this nebula is still quite faint. I could barely see a wisp of the bubble after 4 minutes of exposure and couldn't make out any of the rest of the nebula. The bubble is part of a much larger cloud, which extends FAR beyond the field of view of this image.
Bias, and Darks were used. No flats. Star2000 self guided.
Total Exposures: 92 minutes, or ~1.5 hours
Lum 92 min Bin 1x1
NGC6853 - Dumbbell Nebula in Vulpecula LRGB and LUM
Orientation: North is LEFT - Distance: ~1250 light years
Image Size: ~27x20 arc minutes - Image Scale: ~2.12
DATE: 08/26/08 & 09/02/2008
Conditions: Seeing Good to Very Good. Transparency Good to Very Good. Stable skies. Temp ~50 degrees F.
DATE: 09/02/2008
DATE: 08/26/2008
Processing:
MaximDL 4.x -Calibrate, Align, Sigma Reject Combine, Linear DDP Stretch, ,unsharp mask, Levels,
Comment:
I really like the color in this image. It may be exaggerated someone through processing, but that was intentional to better show the various details/components in this nebula..
Bias, and Darks were used. No flats. Star2000 self guided.
Total Exposures: 352 minutes, or nearly 6 hours.
Lum 68 min Bin 1x1
Red 72 min Bin 1x1
Grn 100 min Bin 1x1
Blu 112 min Bin 1x1
NGC6888 - Crescent Nebula in Cygnus - Lum
Orientation: North is LEFT - Distance: 4700 light years
Image Size: ~27x20 arc minutes - Image Scale: ~2.12
DATE: 07/25/2008
Conditions: Seeing Good to Very Good. Transparency Good to Very Good. Stable skies. Temp ~65 degrees F.
Framing could have been better. Not perfectly centered. This sucker is extremely dim and after some 3 minutes of exposire, still barely a wisp is visible. I got some 95% of it though (cut off at the top a bit).
Processing:
MaximDL 4.x -Calibrate, Align, Sigma Reject Combine, Linear DDP Stretch, ,Levels, unsharp mask.
Comment:
Also known as the Crescent nebula. Interesting lace-like clouds.
Bias, and Darks were used. No flats. Star2000 self guided.
Total Exposures:
Lum 160 min Bin 1x1
M57 - The Ring Nebula in Lyra - Luminance
Orientation: NORTH is LEFT - Distance: ~2,300 light years
Image Size: ~27x20 arc minutes - Image Scale: ~2.12
DATE: 07/16/2008
Conditions: Seeing Good to Very Good. Transparency Good to Very Good. Stable skies. Temp ~65 degrees F.
Moon low to the south, quite bright, though it didn't seem to hurt the image.
Processing:
MaximDL 4.x -Align, Sigma Reject Combine, Linear DDP Stretch, ,Levels, unsharp mask. (no darks, bias, or flats )
Comment:
The Ring Nebula. The remnants of the death of a possibly sun-like star (likely of greater mass). The ejecta (the ring), and the hot (100,000-120,000 Kevin) white drawf star remains in the center. This star is visible in the image. It will eventually cool and become a black dwarf a few billion years from now. It is estimated that this star exploded some 6,000-8,000 years ago, by looking at the ring's expansion (approx 1 arcsec per century) and extrapolating backwards in time. Interestingly.. the remnants of this star (the white dwarf) is most likely to be similar in size to the 'rocky' inner terrestrial planets of our solar system, but with a much much higher density and temperature of course.
Star2000 self guided.
Total Exposures: 76 minutes
Lum 76 min Bin 1x1 120s x38