Horizontal Heavens Observatory "...From  A Galaxy Far, Far Away"
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This page was last updated on 06/22/16.

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NEBULA - *click image for larger display

(Below) IC5068 - ST-10XME, TMB80/480 w/.8x reducer for 384mm at f/4.8, H-alpha (12)20min, 11/4/2007.  This is my first complete run after adding a 3rd ring to the TMB in order to fix flexure issues.  Guiding was very nearly flawless and I managed to collect 4 hours of data, pausing only to focus as the temperature dropped.

 

(Below) NGC7822 + Cederblad 214 - ST-10XME, NP-127 w/.8x reducer for 528mm at f/4.2, H-alpha Two-image mosaic taken Sept--Oct. 2007.

(Below Left) Cederblad 214,  just south of NGC7822 in the constellation Cepheus (North is left) - NP-127 w/.8x reducer for 528mm at f/4.2, (8)20min Ha, 9/19/2007.  This Televue proprietary focal reducer (#RNP-4054 .8x) for the classic NP-127 works perfectly with NO coma or distortions AND it basically covers the focal length of my old NP-101 (528mm vs 540mm) that I sold it to buy the NP-127 PLUS the normal focal length of the NP-127(660mm)!  Got to love it, two scopes in one!

(Below Right) NGC7822 (North is up) - NP-127 w/.8xFR ST-10XME, at f/4.2, A single 20min Ha Plus single 11min H-alpha 12/22/2006.  The 11min sub-frame came about because of being clouded out and trying to salvage photons.  Not much data here, but I wanted to post this due to its relationship to Ced214 above.  

 

 (Below Left) IC1274, IC1275,   - NP-127w/ST-10XME, (4)5min R, (12)5minGB, 8/12/2007.

(Below Right) M20 Trifid Nebula - NP-127w/ST-10XME, (3)5min RGBs, 8/6/2007.  I managed to squeeze this in just before clouds rolled back in and only got 15min of each RGB.  First time in three months that the sky cleared to get anything.

 

(Below Left) M16 Eagle Nebula - NP-127w/ST-10XME, Ha+RRGB, Ha (15)6min, RGBs (5)5min, 4/25/2007.  I seem to always have a hard time with doing LRGBs including H-alpha.  This image reaches pretty deep but came out a bit too saturated but hey, it is early in the season for this target.  (Below Right) M16 Eagle Nebula - NP-127w/ST-10XME, in H-alpha (15)6min. 4/25/2007.

 

(Below Left) NGC2244 Rosette Nebula -  NP-127w/ST-10XME, H-alpha (4)20min, 2/17/2007.  (Below Right) IC434 Horsehead Nebula - NP-127w/ST-10XME, 5 hours of H-alpha (15)20min, 2/5-6/2007.(Right) 2.6hr exposure

   

(Below Left) M78 - NP-127w/ST-10XME, (4)15m each RGB, 12/13/2006. (Below Right) IC410 - NP-127w/ST-10XME, Best 4hr of 8hours(20min sub-exposures) H-alpha, 12/12/2006.

     

(Below) vdB142 in NP-127w/ST-10XME (Left) Ha+RRGB, 22+ hours total exposure,  (Center)12.8hours RGB, 8min sub-frames, (Right) H-alpha (28)20min 9.33hours total exposure, 11/20-21/2006.   

      

(Below) IC2177 Gum Nebula - showing the head of the Seagull - NP-127w/ST-10XME H-alpha (10)15min, 11/16/2006.

  

(Below Left) NGC6992 Network Nebula / Eastern Veil - NP-127w/ST-10XME mapped color SII (18)10m, Ha (17)10m, OIII (16)10m, 8.5 hours total exposure. 11/7-8/2006. (Below Right) IC5146 Cocoon Nebula - NP-127 First Light w/ST-10XME, (5)10min RGBs, 10/28/2006.

 

(Below Left) NGC281 PacMan Nebula - ST-10XME on LX200R at 1850mm, 0.76arc.sec., SII (50)10m, Ha (18)10m, OIII (36)10m, TOTAL Exposure 17.33 hours, 9/13,9/14,9/18,9/19/2006.  (Below Right) SII (16)10m,Ha (15)10m, OIII (15)10m, 9/13-14/2006.  

      

(Below Left) NGC7635 Bubble and M52 Open Cluster - ST-10XME, NP101, f/5.4, (10)5min RGBs, 8/26/2006.  (Below Right) M1 Crab Nebula - ST-10XME on 10" LX200R w/6.7FR at f/7.5, RGBs (3)10min, 8/24/2006.

      

(Below Left) M76 Little Dumbbell Nebula - ST-10XME on 10" LX200R w/6.7FR at f/7.5, RGBs (17)6min, 8/11/2006. 

(Below Right) NGC6559 Close up of Barnard 303- ST-10XME on 10" LX200R w/6.7FR at f/7.5, (18) 10min Ha, 8/8&11/2006.  Barnard's Description of #303: Very black; lune shaped, convex to E; diameter about 1'; 3' SE of CD -24 13962 (magnitude 7.8)
*Source - http://www.dvaa.org/AData/Barnard.html

  
   

M76-1240x824.jpg *Clicking this link gives a monitor-sized image that does not show the JPEG artifact that shows up by clicking the image that IE resizes to fit the window.

(Below) M8 Lagoon Nebula - ST-10XME on LX200R w/6.7FR, (Left =Full 2174x1452) SII (8)8m,Ha (14)4m, OIII (7)8m, 

     

(Below Left) RGB (8)60sec, (Right) H-alpha (7)4min, 7/24/2006.

      

(Below Left) M27 Dumbbell Nebula - This was a quick RGB snapshot at 2x2 binning, NO dark frame subtraction (hot pixel tool only). RGBs (4)3min each, 7/18/2006.  I spent 3 hours collimating the scope after this shot.  This looks better than it should because of a lot of processing.  (Below Right) NGC7635 Bubble Nebula - ST-10XME LX200R w/6.7FR, LRGB (11) 3min, 7/21/2006.

  

(Below) LBN274 / NGC6914 in Cygnus - This a Ha image of the dark nebula surrounding Lynd's bright reflection nebula 274.  The reflection nebula is not visible in Ha but lies on the bottom of the imaged dark nebula 1/3 from the left.  ST-10XME, NP101, f/5.4, 

NOTE: Left Image Ha (22)8min, Right Image (16)8min, 6/10/2006.  I will continue to add data to this as the sky allows.  I was really surprised at how much more resolution one got going from 2 hours to 3 hours of photons <VBG>

      

(Below Left) IC2177 Seagull Nebula - IC2177 is the seagull's head at top FOV.  PLN225-2.1 is the planetary nebula in the upper right corner.  NGC2335 is a open cluster on the top of the left "wing."  NGC2343 is the open cluster just lower left of center.  I was pleasantly surprised at how many interesting objects are in this FOV.  ST-10XME, TMB80/480 w/.8X, Ha (10)6min, 3/14/2006.

(Below Right) IC1805 (center) and IC1795 (upper right) Heart Nebula Wide Field - ST-10XME, TMB80/480 w/.8X, Ha (15)6min, 3/11/2006.

      

(Below Left) IC443 Jellyfish Nebula - ST-10XME, TMB80/480 w/.8X, Ha, SII, OXYIII, 3.75: 3.0: 3.0hr (6m-subframes), 2/4 & 2/11/2006.   (Below Right) IC443 Nebula - ST-10XME, TV 60IS, Ha+R,GB,  Ha(26)6min, RGB(5)4min, 1/7/2006.  

*Note: Each IC443 image was shot with a different telescope, left image with a TMB 80/480 w/.8XFR and the right image with a TV 60IS yet the FOV of both telescopes are nearly identical.

  

(Below Left) M78 Reflection Nebula - ST-10XME, TMB 80/480 w/.8XFR, Total Exp. 10.5hr., LRGB, Lum(67)4min, (19)6min each RGBs, 12/30/2005 and 1/7/2006.   (Below Right) NGC2175 Nebula - ST-10XME, TMB80/480 w/.8X, Ha+RRGB, Ha(10)8m, RGB(8)5m sub-frames, 12/22/2005.

  

(Below) NGC1499 -ST-10XME, TMB 80/480 w/.8XFR, Ha+RGB, Ha(10)6m, RGB(6)5m, 2/3/2006.

  

(Below left & Center) NGC2238 Rosette Nebula - ST-10XME, TMB 80/480 w/.8XFR, Ha+RGB, (32)6min Ha, (8)5min RGBs, 12/28/2005.  (Below Right) NGC2238 Rosette Nebula - ST-10XME, NP101, f/5.4, Ha (24)8min, 12/22/2005.

     

(Below) NGC2264 Cone Nebula - ST-10XME, NP101, f/5.4, left Ha+RGB, center HaGB, Ha(12)8min, R(9)6min, G(9)6min, B(9)6min, 12/21/2005.

       

(Below) IC410 Nebula - ST-10XME, NP101, f/5.4, Ha+RGB, Ha(10)8min, R(6)6min, G(6)6min, B(7)6min, 12/10/2005.  This is first-light for my NP101 piggy-backed on 10"LX200.

   

(Below) IC405 Flaming Star Nebula - ST-10XME, 80ED, f/7.5, H-alpha (19)6m, R(19)5min, G(18)5min, B(18)5min 6 1/2 hours total time. 11/20/2005.  

  

(Below Left) IC1795 Nebula - ST-10XME, 80ED f7.5, HaGB Ha(3.5hr), G(1.25hr), B(1.25hr), 11/22/2005.  (Below Left) Just the 3.5hr of Ha.

   

(Below Left) IC1396 Nebula - ST-10XME, 80ED f7.5, Ha+RRGB, Lum(Ha+R), Ha 9(10min), R 8(5min), G 7(5min), B, 7(5min), 11/6/2005.  (Below Right) NGC7635 - Bubble Nebula - LX200 w/6.3FR, ST-10XME w/AO-7, R-34m,G-34m,B-26m, 10/1/2005.

  

(Below Left) NGC281 PacMan Nebula - ST-10XME, 80ED w/6.3FR, Ha+RRGB, (9)10min Ha, (12)5min R, (11)5min G, (11)5min B, 10/22/2005.  (Below Right) 90min H-alpha.

  

(Below Left) NGC7000 North American Nebula - ST-10XME, 80ED w/6.3FR, (4)5min Ha, (3)3min G, (3)3min B, 10/15/2005.

(Below Right) NGC1499 - California Nebula in Perseus - ST-10XME, 80ED w/6.3FR at f-5.7, (2) 5min H-alpha, (1)3min G&B, 10/14/2005.  Measuring the FOV, I discovered that 6.3FR was actually delivering .76 FR for f-5.7 speed with this setup.  I have a 9mm extension tube I might try adding to speed things up further.

  

(Below Left) M27 - Dumbbell Nebula - LX200 10" at f/10, (30)90sec, 800ISO, (61)1min, 1600ISO, 5-20/2005. 

   

(Below Left) M45 - Pleiades - Canon 70-200mm f2.8L at 200m& f6.3, (35) 3min, ISO1600, 10/15/2004.

(Below Right) NGC2244- Open Cluster & Rosette Nebula - Full Frame, Canon 70-200mm @200mm f/6.3, (25)4min.800ISO, (18)4min.1600ISO, 11/5/2004.

   

(Below Left) NGC2244- Open Cluster & Rosette Nebula - Full Frame, (42) 3min, (11) 4min, (7) 5min,1600 ISO, 80ED w/6.3FR, manually guided on 10"LX200 at 200X magnification   This is 3.4 hours of light!  All processing in ImagesPlus.  2/17/2004.

  • Dark Frame Subtraction using min/max reject average for all images.
  • 3 min images stacked in groups of 10-11 using min/max reject then the four  3 min sub-stacks were combined w/AdaptADD(2.0).
  • Each of 4 and 5 min sub-stacks combined w/Adaptive Add.  Resulting stacks of 3, 4, 5 min were combined using "average combine."
  • Background, Contrast, & Stretching tool resulted in red having a higher "black" and lower "white" threshold than blue and green.
  • Green & Blue sharpened and Gaussian Blur 5X5 smoothing to Red channel. 
  • Meade 6.3FR seems to do well with 80ED with only slight elongation in corners.

(Below Right) NGC2244- Open Cluster & Rosette Nebula - Reprocessed, same image but w/median filter applied to duplicate and combined with original on top set to 50% transparency.

    

       

(Above Left) M45 - Pleiades - (18) 4min, ISO1600,  80mm ED-APO 

    

(Above left & Right) M20-Trifid - LX200 w/6.3FR, (25) 30sec, 1600 ISO.    On Right 80ED w/6.3FR, (26) 1min, 1600 ISO.  8/13/2004.

      

(Above Left) NGC7000 - North American Nebula - 80ED w/6.3FR, (55) 30sec, 1600 ISO.  8/13/2004. (above Right) M16 - Eagle Nebula - 10" LX200 f/3, (16) 3min, 6nm Ha.

(Above Left) M57 - Ring Nebula -  10" LX200 f/10, 23m each LRGB, 6/24/2005.