Submissions: 2013 August

[SkyViking]

The Swan: Hi-res Optical/Infrared Comparison
http://www.rolfolsenastrophotography.com
Copyright: Rolf Wahl Olsen

Click to view full size image

Click to view full size image

Here is another entry in my series of optical/infrared comparisons. I gathered the data for these images back in April, but have not had time to process them until now.

Link to large optical image
Link to large infrared image
I can recommend opening both links in separate tabs and switching between them to really appreciate the differences!

Optical image:
This image shows the bright nebula Messier 17, also known as the Swan Nebula or the Omega Nebula.
This nebula is located about 6000 light years away in the constellation of Sagittarius. It was discovered by Swiss astronomer Philippe Loys de Chéseaux in 1745 and later catalogued by Charles Messier in 1764.
The central part of the nebula is lit up by a cluster of extremely bright young O and B type stars. It is one of the brightest and most massive star forming regions in our galaxy and appears very similar in spatial structure to the famous Orion Nebula, but the Swan is viewed more edge-on from our vantage point. The nebula is also very bright visually, actually much more so than its famous neighbour the Eagle Nebula - which traditionally is the more photographed of the two.

Infrared image:
Traditional images of emission nebulae taken in visible light primarily display the striking magenta colour from glowing Hydrogen gas, as well as large dark obscuring clouds of dust. The infrared part of the spectrum penetrates these clouds better and reveals complex details and thousands of young stars that are otherwise completely invisible. These stars shine primarily in the infrared and appear as golden red in this image. Only a minority of these are visible in traditional optical images.
To create this image I used a special infrared filter. Effectively the band observed is 700-1100nm since the silicon CCD chip is not responsive to wavelengths longer than that, and this band is called NIR (Near Infrared). One issue arising from this technique is that the NIR band does not have a colour as such, since it lies outside the visible light spectrum.
To create a colour image from the NIR data I have developed a colour stacking technique which has produced promising results so far.
I use the NIR filter together with G and B filters to create a colour composite. The resulting images are assigned to the different channels as NIR->Luminance, NIR->Red, G->Green and B->Blue.
Substituting the R channel with NIR nicely brings out the contrast between the nebula itself and all the young obscured stars that shine primarily in infrared. This colour image is then overlaid with the NIR frame used as luminousity. The result is a predominantly blue nebula, but with the areas that are bright in NIR showing as distinctly golden red which highlights the features that are visible in the NIR band and at the same time produces a visually very pleasing image.

Image details:
Date: 7th, 10th and 11th April 2013
Exposure (Optical): LRGB 105:146:107:107m, total 7hrs 45mins @ -30C
Exposure (Infrared): NIR(Luminance) 240m, NIR(red) 240m, G(green) 107m, B(blue) 107m, total 7hrs 34mins @ -30C
Telescope: 10" Serrurier Truss Newtonian f/5
Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider
Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2
Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand

These images are part of my series of optical/infrared comparisons of famous nebulae.
Below are links to the other images in the series:

• HD video tour of the Carina Nebula, comparing IR/optical
• Image of the Carina Nebula in Infrared
• Image of the Lagoon Nebula in Infrared
• Image of the Orion Nebula in Infrared

[SkyViking]

Hidden Treasures of the Infrared Sky
http://www.rolfolsenastrophotography.com
Copyright: Rolf Wahl Olsen

This poster features images from my series of optical/infrared comparisons of famous nebulae:

Here is a link to a large 4MB version

[Maria Rosa Vila]

Summer Milky Way shinning over the Bardenas Reales desert, in Navarra (Spain)
Copyright: Maria Rosa Vila

Click to view full size image

[francescodib]

Elephant's Trunk Nebula Narrowband bicolor to RGB
Copyright: Francesco di Biase (Italy)


Elephant's Trunk nebula in narrowband bicolor to RGB di Francescodb, su Flickr

[Steed]

Perseid meteor shower 2013 from China
http://www.flickr.com/photos/steedjoy/9509466625/



Just after midnight on August 12, I captured more than 20 meteors, including a brilliant fireball, in about one and a half hours. They are all Perseid meteors, and each of them seems to be shooting toward the same point.

[Sandgirl]

Trifid & Lagoon
Copyrights: Jason Matter

IC5067 (Pelican Nebula)
Copyrights: César Blanco González
Larger image can be found here: http://www.cieloprofundo.com/cesar/foto ... O_2000.jpg

Planet Starfest
Copyrights: Charlie Szabototh

LBN 468
Copyrights: Onofre Rodrigo Chiner

Globular cluster NGC 288 and spiral galaxy NGC 253
Copyrights: Damian Peach
Larger version: http://www.damianpeach.com/deepsky/ngc2 ... 8_12dp.jpg

[f.lorand]

NGC457 Hunting Owl
http://www.pleiades.hu/en/galeria-kozmosz.php
Copyright: Lóránd Fényes

Although NGC457 is not a bright nebula only a minimal-style cluster but I think this is the wonder of our sky too.
8" newton (home made)
SkyWatcher EQ-6
Canon EOS600D
27 x 4min ISO 1600
Hungary, NW of Budapest
08.10.2013

Full resolution: http://www.pleiades.hu/en/galeria/kozmo ... mal/60.jpg

Click to view full size image 1 or image 2

(I uploaded smaller pictures)

[Sandgirl]

NGC 7023
Copyrights: Alfonso Albendea Ruiz

Mosaic of the sun in H-alpha
Copyrights: Olivier Hardy
Full size: http://soleilhalpha.free.fr/soleil/2013 ... TU_100.jpg

Rosette in Hubble Palette
Copyrights: Fred Herrmann

[francescodib]

M8 Lagoon Nebula
Copyrights: Francesco di Biase (Italy)


M8 Lagoon Nebula Ha OIII SII RGB di Francescodb, su Flickr

[Sandgirl]

Pulsar Explores Our Galaxy's Supermassive Black Hole - artist impression
Credit: MPIfR/Ralph Eatough
Article and larger image: http://www3.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de/public/pr ... 13-en.html

IC-1396
Copyrights: Andre van Zegveld
Larger version: http://www.abrelosojos.nl/gallery/nebul ... 6-full.jpg

LDN 935,V2493 Cygni (HBC 722), V1057 Cygni (Cygnus)
Copyrights: Antonio Sánchez

Sundogs
Copyrights: Jerad Plesuk

Dwarf Galaxy Caught Ramming into a Large Spiral (composite)
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Huntingdon Inst. for X-ray Astronomy/G.Garmire, Optical: ESO/VLT
An article can be found here: http://www.chandra.si.edu/photo/2013/ngc1232/

[ViliMax]

NGC 2467 (Sh2-311, LBN 1067) - Open Cluster associated with Emission Nebula in Puppis

http://www.irida-observatory.org

Copyright: [url=mailto://info@irida-observatory.org]Velimir Popov, Emil Ivanov[/url]

In the new moon period from 3-th to 17-th of May 2013 me and my friend Emil Ivanov were in the astrophotography expedition to Namibia - Tivoli Astrofarm (Kalahari Desert). The results are 42 high resolution CCD images with more than 120 Southern Sky Objects included and also thousands of DSLR frames for time-lapse and wide-field images. We start with postprocessing but lots of work is forthcoming

NGC 2467 is located in an area of special interest in the third quadrant of the Milky Way known as "Puppis Window", which is characterized by low interstellar extinction, and therefore important to detect spiral tracers at large distances (15 kpc arm problem) and the tidal structures associated to "Argo" and "Canis Majoris" streams. The region is also interesting because it contains a number of young open clusters and nebular entities. The most conspicuous structure in NGC 2467 is the HII region Sh2-311, excited by the peculiar O6Vnne type star HD 64315. Haffner (1957) identified the clusters 18 (18a, 18b, 18c) and 19. Haffner 18abc (Haf18) actually is an elongated open cluster with an O7V type star as the massive component, and Haffner 19 (Haf19) is a compact cluster showing a Stroemgrem sphere ionized by a B0V type star.

Click to view full size image

Annotated image:

Click to view full size image

Mousehover image

Click to view full size image 1 or image 2

Higher resolution, and more images and information is avaliable here ...


Thank you for looking ...

http://www.irida-observatory.org

Copyright: [url=mailto://info@irida-observatory.org]Velimir Popov, Emil Ivanov[/url]

[Sandgirl]

The Sun & Large Filament
Copyrights: John Chumack

[zema88]

Sh2-101 Tulip Nebula
Copyright: Paolo Demaria & Salvatore Spinoso

Good morning,
this picture shows the magnificent field of the Tulip nebula in the Swan.
The first one in acquired simply with a modified DSLR (Canon 450D) and a 200/1000 Newtonian:


(Paolo Demaria. Full resolution and technical specifications:
http://www.astrobin.com/51428/B/)


while the second one adds some H-alpha integration obtain 1000km far away from the location of the first image:


(Salvatore Spinoso & Paolo Demaria. Full resolution and technical specifications:
http://www.astrobin.com/51438/C/)

Thanks for looking!

[starsurfer]

LDN 935,V2493 Cygni (HBC 722), V1057 Cygni (Cygnus)
Copyrights: Antonio Fesan

LRGB LDN 935,V2493 Cygni (HBC 722), V1057 Cygni (Cygnus)_small.JPG

You have the name identified incorrectly, it is actually Antonio Sánchez

[ToniMancera]

Nebula & Star Cluster - NGC 7129 and NGC 7142
http://www.astrobin.com/52206/B/
Copyright: Toni Mancera

Click to view full size image

Full size image http://www.astrobin.com/uploads/5f4b3bb ... 7e11e1.jpg

NGC 7129 is a reflection nebula located 3,300 light years away in the constellation Cepheus. A young open cluster is responsible for illuminating the surrounding nebula.
A recent survey indicates the cluster contains more than 130 stars less than 1 million years old.
NGC 7129 is located just half a degree from nearby cluster NGC 7142
Other cluster called NGC 7133 under the nebula and a lot of galaxi can found like the PGC94261, PGC168098, PGC168082....


Tha is the annotated versión

Click to view full size image

Full size annotated imagehttp://cdn.astrobin.com/images/5594c31f ... 7c9870.jpg

[ToniMancera]

Stephan's Quintet
http://www.astrobin.com/users/ToniMancera/
Copyright: Toni Mancera

Click to view full size image

Full size image http://cdn.astrobin.com/images/95ca881b ... a860f1.jpg

[Paramount]

Veil Nebula in HST palate
This was taken wover three nights with a prototype imaging system colaboration between Tele Vue and FLI. Toatl exposure time is just under 9 hours in 10 minute sub frames with 5nm narrow band filters
Full size image http://m7.i.pbase.com/o9/29/869929/1/15 ... HSTmax.jpg

http://www.imagingtheheavens.co.uk/user ... 000(2).jpg
[attachment=0]veilhst1000(2).jpg[/attachment]

Gordon Haynes
http://www.imagingtheheavens.co.uk

[rwright4930]

North American and Pelican
12 hours of narrow band data assembled using the Hubble Palette. I like this rendition because I think it better shows the true structure of this object. The North American and Pelican shapes are actually formed by holes and gaps in the dust, allowing you to see the glowing gas behind them.
QSI 683 w/Astrodon 3nm Ha, SII, and OIII filters. Paramount MX, Canon 200mm L series lens @f/4.
http://www.eveningshow.com
Copyright: Richard S. Wright Jr.
http://www.eveningshow.com/rawImages/NGC7000sm.jpg
[attachment=0]naneb.jpg[/attachment]

Full size image: http://www.eveningshow.com/rawImages/NGC7000FS.jpg

[astroligu]

new star in Delphinus : Nova Delphinus 2013

Koichi Itagaki (Yamagata, Japan) reports the discovery of an apparent nova of magnitude 6.8 in Delphinus: http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/unconf/ ... 46041.html

Click to view full size image

hires
http://www.astrobin.com/52224/

regards
Rolando Ligustri

[mrschmitz]

The beginning of the 2013 Delta Auariids shows a few meteors in this lucky shot of the Milky Way, just off highway 44 in rural Iowa.
Copyright: Cory Schmitz

Canon 5D Mark II
Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 lens
30sec ISO4000

Flickr link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/schmitzcory/9398905436/


M11, the Wild Duck Cluster
Copyright: Cory Schmitz

Image details:
10x240s ISO800 sub frames, 40 minutes total exposure time
40dark / 30flat / 107bias for calibration
Data acquired on 2013-08-04

Equipment:
Vixen ED80sf 80mm APO refractor
Celestron AdvancedVX mount
Orion SSAG autoguider + 50mm guide scope
Canon T2i 550D DSLR (Baader IR modded)
Orion Field Flattener

Software:
Image acquisition with BackyardEOS
Guiding with PHD
Calibration/alignment/integration and post-processing with PixInsight

Flickr link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/schmitzcory/9474343392/

[Sandgirl]

Startrails in France
Copyrights: Peter van Leuteren

Tulip Nebula
Copyrights: Leonardo Orazi

RCW 49
Copyrights: Paula Benaglia

[Dennisvandelft]

32 hours of ic1396, the elephant trunk. Combined work of Andre van Zegveld and me, Dennis van Delft. Even under a sky which is highly polluted with light and bad seeing in Holland and Belgium it is possible to do some good imaging.

http://perfectprice.nl/data/storage/att ... f4e0a7.jpg

[ToniMancera]

DWB111 - The Propeller Nebula in Cygnus
http://www.astrobin.com/users/ToniMancera/
Copyright: Toni Mancera

Click to view full size image

Full size image http://www.astrobin.com/uploads/cf451fd ... 11dcb2.jpg

The Propeller Nebula seems to have been missed in many catalogs. While seeming relatively bright in widefield images, the fine detail is deceptively hard to bring out.
DWB111, or the "Propeller Nebula" is listed in the DWB catalog, a somewhat lesser-known document developed by H. R. Dickel, H. Wendker and J. H. Bieritz cataloging 193 distinct objects as part of their study of H-alpha emission nebula in the Cygnus X region of the sky. This nebula is also listed as Simeis 57 and MRSL 479.

[behyar]

Interesting Sunset behind the Palomar 200 Dome

http://www.deepskyobjects.com/
Copyright: Behyar Bakhshandeh

July 2nd, 2013

Click to view full size image

Click to view full size image

[zema88]

[quote="Guest"]Sh2-101 Tulip Nebula
Copyright: Paolo Demaria & Salvatore Spinoso

Sorry, I forgot to login when I posted these images.
For any information, my e-mail address is demaria.paolo@yahoo.it