Barnard's Loop SH2-276 and M78, NGC2068

Barnard's Loop SH2-276 and M78, NGC2068.

This lies in the eastern limb of Orion at a distance of about 1,600 light years.

I took this image on two separate evenings with no moon light , stars were visible down to magnitude 5 .

I was using a 200mm f/4 lens attached to an Atik 383L mono CCD camera, piggybacked on my ten inch reflector mounted on a Vixen Atlux mount. I was also using PHD auto guiding and a set of Astronomik RGB and Narrowband filters.

I captured five minute sub frames with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of noise and vignetting in the final image. The total exposure time was 100 minutes using a H Alpha filter, 15 minutes using an O111 filter, 20 minutes using a H Beta filter, 15 minutes using a S11 filter and 10 minutes using a blue filter.

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Barnard's Loop and M78

M42, The Orion Nebula.

This image of M42 was taken on two separate evenings under bright moonlight. On the first evening the sky was reasonable clear  with stars visable down magnitude 4.5 however on the second the sky was effected by fog.

I was using a Pentacon 200mm lens piggybacked on my ten inch reflector mounted on a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding was used with astronomik narrowband filters and RGB filters attached to the camera lens. The camera was an Atik 383L mono CCD camera Set on x1 bin mode.

I captured five minute sub frames with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of vignetting and noise in the final image.

The total exposure time was  140 minutes using a H Alpha filter , 20 minutes using an O111 filter , 30 minutes using a S11 filter and 15 minutes using a blue filter.

M42, The Orion Nebula .

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Orion's lower limb . 

This image of the lower limb is a mosaic, two images stitched together using Paint Shop Pro software.

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This image mosaic is a composition of data using a Pentacon 200mm f/4 lens with added data using an 80mm f/6.3 refractor and a 4 inch f/6.3 refractor.

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Nebulae in Orion's lower limb.

This image was taken on two separate nights under bright gibbous moon light ,stars were only visible down to about magnitude 4.

I was using a 200mm F/4 Pentacon lens piggybacked on my ten inch reflector mounted on a Vixen Atlux mount with PHD auto guiding. The camera was a Atik 383L mono CCD combined with Astronomik RGB and narrowband filters attached to the camera lens.

I captured five minute sub frames with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of noise and vignetting in the final image. The total exposure time was four hours and 45 minutes using a H Alpha filter, 20 minutes using a blue filter, 30 minutes using an O111 filter and 30 minutes using an S11 filter. A total exposure time of six hours and five minutes. 

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Barnard's loop

This image of Orion contains  lots of nebulousity, Barnard's loop. M42 the Orion nebula, The Horeshead Nebula,  The Flame Nebula ,M78 and the Rosette Nebula .

I piggybacked an Atik 383L mono CCD camera with a 35mm camera lens on my ten inch reflector mounted on a Vixen Atlux mount. I captured 60 second sub frames with matching dark frames to reduce the effect of noise in the final image  .

I also attached filters to the lens .

The total exposure time was 90 minutes using a H-Alpha filter, 120 minutes using a S11 filter, 30 minutes using an O111 filter, 25 minutes using a H-Beta filter and 35 minute using a blue filter .

The equipment

Orion nebulosity with Barnard's loop

VDB152 . or Barnard 175.

This cloud of nebulosity lies in the constellation of Cepheus the King. The sky conditions were very clear with no moonlight, stars were visible down to about magnitude 4.7. I was using my ten inch f/4.8 reflector, a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding, a set of Astronomik narrowband and RGB filters and an Atik 383L mono CCD camera. I captured five minute sub frames, dark frames, flat field frames and dark flat frames with the camera set on X2 bin mode.

This increases the sensitivity of the camera, therefore reducing the total amount of exposure time.

The exposure time was 80 minutes using a blue filter, 30 minutes using an O111 filter and 150 minutes using a H-alpha filter .

A total exposure time of four hours and twenty minutes.

Barnard 175

IC 1396, The Elephant Trunk nebula.

This patch of nebulosity lies in the western part of the constellation of Cepheus at a distance of about 2,500 light years.

I took this image under clear sky conditions with no moonlight, stars were visible down to about magnitude 4.6 . 

I was using my ten inch f/4.8 reflector, a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding, a set of Astronomik narrowband filters and an Atik 383L mono CCD camera. 

I captured five minute sub-frames with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of noise and vignetting in the final image.

The exposure time was 120 minutes using a H-alpha filter, 40 minutes using an O111 filter, 40 minutes using a S11 filter, 25 minutes using a H Beta filter and 20 minutes using a blue filter .

A total exposure time of four hours and five minutes .

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New and old data combined, using two telescopes a ten inch F/4.8 reflector and a four inch f/6.3 refractor.

NGC7023. The Iris Nebula.

This patch of nebulosity lies in the western part of the constellation of Cepheus. The conditions on that evening were very clear and cold with no moonlight, stars were visible down to magnitude 5.

I was using my 10 inch f/4.8 reflector, a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding, an Atik 383L mono CCD camera and a set of Astronomik filters. The filters were H Alpha for red, O111 for green and a blue filter.

I captured five minute sub frames with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of vignetting in the final image.

The total exposure time was 90 minutes using a blue filter, 30 minutes using an O111 filter and 120 minutes using a H Alpha filter. 

The Iris nebula

This image contains data from two telescopes , an 80mm f/6.3 refractor and a ten inch f/4.8 reflector. NGC 7023, vdb141

Vdb 141. The Hanging Ghost Nebula

This patch of nebulosity lies about one degree east of the Iris nebula, NGC 7023 in the constellation of Cephus.

The sky conditions were not very good on the first evening with very high cirrus clouds, however on the second evening it was very clear. There was no moonlight only light pollution to contend with. Stars were visible down to about magnitude 4.5.

I was using my ten inch F/4.8 reflector, a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding, a set of Astronomik narrowband filters, a blue filter and an Atik 383L mono CCD camera.

I captured five minute sub frames with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of noise and vignetting in the final image.

The total exposure time was three hours using a H Alpha filter, 30 minutes using an O111 filter and 35 minutes using a blue filter.

The location of Cygnus X-1.

 The location of Cygnus X-1.

The Tulip nebula

Sh2 - 101, The Tulip nebula. This patch of nebulosity lies in the constellation of Cygnus the Swan at a distance of about 6,000 light years. There is believed to be a black hole to the west of it. The sky conditions were very poor  with high cirrus reflecting the moon light, stars were only visible down to about magnitude 3.5.

I was using my ten inch F4/8 reflector, a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding, a set of Astronomik narrowband filters, S11, O111, HA, a blue filter and my Atik 383L mono CCD camera .

I captured five minute sub frames with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of noise and vignetting in the final image . The total exposure time was 90 minutes using a H Alpha filter , 30 minutes using an O111 filter , 25 minutes using a S11 filter and ten minute using a blue filter.

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