Couple of Recent Images

I haven't "blogged" in quite some time. I've been very busy with getting everything working right in the observatory, now one year old. Recently I broke down and got PixInsight for image pre- & post-processing. All of these images have been in part or completely processed with PixInsight and Photoshop CS6. All images acquired with a 11" Celestron EdgeHD and QHY23M

 VdB 152     2 Panel Mosaic & Crop

Van den Bergh 152 aka The Wolf's Cave is a blue reflection nebula in the constellation of Cepheus. It is roughly 1400 light years away. The dust trailing the nebula is cataloged as Barnard 175. The small nebula(top right) is DeHt5.

11" Celestron EdgeHD w/Hyperstar (F/2)

QHY23M

2 panel mosaic:

Images acquired 9/12, 9/22 & 9/24/16

2-Ha-12x300sec

2-LUM-20x120sec

2-RGB-12x120sec/each

5h 44min

NGC7380 The Wizard Nebula

NGC7380 The Wizard Nebula is an open cluster in the constellation of Cepheus. It was discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1787. The surrounding nebula is in the 1959 Sharpless catalog as Sh2-142. It is approximately 8,000 light-years away. 

HST Palette

Ha-(green) 25x300sec (2h 5m)

OIII-(blue) 22x360sec((2h 12m)

SII-(red) 30x420sec(3h 30m)

R/G/B(for stars)- 18x120sec/each(1h 48m)

9h 35m total

11" Celestron EdgeHD w/Hyperstar(F/2)

QHY23M

Taken 8/26,8/30,9/4,9/5

M31 The Andromeda Galaxy

LUM-15x120sec/each panel

(6hrs.)

QHY23M & 11"Celestron Hyperstar(F/2)

RGB-17x1200sec,, 3 panel mosaic

(5hr. 40min)

QHY10 OSC & AstroTech AT65EDQ

3 panel mosaic (RGB color) added to 12 panel Luminance mosaic

Images acquired with APT(AstroPhotography Tool) and Nebulosity4. Pre-Processed with PixInsight. Post Processing with PS CS6 and PI

Located in the constellation of Andromeda(hence the name :) )this large spiral galaxy is 2.5 million light years away. It can be seen with the naked eye on moonless nights from even moderately light polluted skies. It has been recently estimated to contain nearly 1 trillion stars

IC 5146, the Cocoon Nebula

I started another mosaic project and fell short due to weather. I decided to give "panel#19" a go at processing with Pixinsight. Completely pre-processed with PI, 

Captured 8/4 & 8/8

L-R-G-B filtered image

10x120sec L (planned on 20, but clouds intervened)

12x120sec each RGB

QHY23M, cooled to -20C

11" Celestron EdgeHD w/Hyperstar

IC5146, aka the Cocoon Nebula is a reflection/emission nebula in the constellation of Cygnus the Swan. It is approximately 4000 light-years away