SBIG 8300M Archives

NGC6910 Gamma Cygni and nebulosity

HaRGB version of the beautiful Gamma Cygni and surrounding nebulosity region.

NGC 6910 is a Y-shaped cluster oriented northwest southeast. The two brightest stars are of magnitude 7.NGC 6910 is a small cluster, only 10′ in diameter

The southernmost star is SAO 49563 (or V2118 Cygni), a variable star of spectral type B1.5Ia. Gamma Cygni, not far off the galactic plane is subject to a great deal of interstellar extinction and reddening from interstellar dust. The dust selectively absorbs and scatters blue light (roughly 1/wavelength), so when you look at a star through dust it will appear redder than it really is (basically the same reason the sun is reddened at sunset). The intrinsic B-V color of a B1.5Ia super giant is -0.2. The observed color is 0.83, about the color of a K0 dwarf or a G5 giant, so the star appears yellowish to the eye. Notice the yellow stars in the cluster, caused by interstellar dust, and the bluish-white stars in the vincinity of NGC 6910.

Technical details
Sky-Watcher 80ED Pro Black Diamond
SBIG 8300M
HEQ5 Pro
QHY5
Skywatcher .85x Focal Reducer & Corrector
PixInsight, Main Sequence Software SequenceGeneratorPro
Accessories: Starlight Xpress Starlight Xpress FW 5*2”
Resolution: 1676×1266
Dates: June 13, 2015

Frames:
Baader 7nm Ha 2”: 10×300″ -5C bin 2×2
Baader Blue 2″: 10×120″ -5C bin 2×2
Baader Green 2″: 10×120″ -5C bin 2×2
Baader Red 2″: 10×120″ -5C bin 2×2

Integration: 1.8 hours
Darks: ~50
Flats: ~10
Bias: ~300
Avg. Moon age: 25.75 days
Avg. Moon phase: 15.29%
Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: 2.00
Temperature: 17.50

Annotated version :

M106 Spiral galaxy and neighbors

Messier 106 (also known as NGC 4258) is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781. M106 is at a distance of about 22 to 25 million light-years away from Earth. It is also a Seyfert II galaxy. Due to x-rays and unusual emission lines detected, it is suspected that part of the galaxy is falling into a supermassive black hole in the center. NGC 4217 is a possible companion galaxy of Messier 106.

Contains: NGC 4346, M 106, NGC 4258, NGC 4248, NGC 4220, NGC 4217

Characteristics
M106 has a water vapor megamaser (the equivalent of a laser operating in microwave instead of visible light and on a galactic scale) that is seen by the 22-GHz line of ortho-H2O that evidences dense and warm molecular gas.
These water vapors give M106 its characteristic purple color. Water masers are useful to observe nuclear accretion disks in active galaxies.
The water masers in M106 enabled the first case of a direct measurement of the distance to a galaxy and thereby providing an independent anchor for the cosmic distance ladder.M106 has a slightly warped, thin, almost edge-on Keplerian disc which is on a subparsec scale.

It is one of the largest and brightest nearby galaxies, similar in size and luminosity to the Andromeda Galaxy.
M106 has also played an important role in calibrating the cosmic distance ladder.
Before, Cepheid variables from other galaxies cannot be used to measure distances since they cover ranges of metallicities different from the Milky Way’s.
M106 contains Cepheid variables similar to both of the metallicities of the Milky Way and other galaxies’ Cepheids.
By measuring the distance of the Cepheids with metallicities similar to our galaxy, astronomers are able to recalibrate the other Cepheids with different metallicities, a key fundamental step in improving the distances to other galaxies in the universe.

Technical details
Sky-Watcher 80ED Pro Black Diamond
SBIG 8300M
HEQ5 Pro
Guiding : QHY5
Skywatcher .85x Focal Reducer & Corrector
Software: PixInsight, Main Sequence Software SequenceGeneratorPro
Accessories: Starlight Xpress Starlight Xpress FW 5*2”
Resolution: 1676×1266

Dates: June 13, 2015

Frames:
Baader Blue 2″: 15×240″ -5C bin 2×2
Baader Green 2″: 15×240″ -5C bin 2×2
Baader Red 2″: 15×240″ -5C bin 2×2

Integration: 3.0 hours
Darks: ~50
Flats: ~10
Bias: ~300
Avg. Moon age: 25.75 days
Avg. Moon phase: 15.29%
Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: 2.00
Temperature: 17.50
RA center: 184.451 degrees
DEC center: 47.451 degrees
Pixel scale: 4.272 arcsec/pixel
Orientation: 176.036 degrees
Field radius: 1.246 degrees

Annotated version :

NGC2237 Rosette Nebula in HA

A quick go on this spectacular nebula, as it is currently too low on the horizon for serious light gathering.
I hope next year’s weather will allow more data!

Target details
The Rosette Nebula (also known as Caldwell 49) is a large, circular H II region located near one end of a giant molecular cloud in the Monoceros region of the Milky Way Galaxy. The open cluster NGC 2244 (Caldwell 50) is closely associated with the nebulosity, the stars of the cluster having been formed from the nebula’s matter.
The complex has the following NGC designations:
NGC 2237 – Part of the nebulous region (Also used to denote whole nebula)
NGC 2238 – Part of the nebulous region
NGC 2239 – Part of the nebulous region (Discovered by John Herschel)
NGC 2244 – The open cluster within the nebula (Discovered by John Flamsteed in 1690)
NGC 2246 – Part of the nebulous region

The cluster and nebula lie at a distance of some 5,200 light-years from Earth (although estimates of the distance vary considerably, down to 4,900 light-years.) and measure roughly 130 light years in diameter. The radiation from the young stars excites the atoms in the nebula, causing them to emit radiation themselves producing the emission nebula we see. The mass of the nebula is estimated to be around 10,000 solar masses.
It is believed that stellar winds from a group of O and B stars are exerting pressure on interstellar clouds to cause compression, followed by star formation in the nebula. This star formation is currently still ongoing.
A survey of the nebula with the Chandra X-ray Observatory in 2001 has revealed the presence of very hot, young stars at the core of the Rosette Nebula. These stars have heated the surrounding gas to a temperature in the order of 6 million kelvins causing them to emit copious amounts of X-rays.

Gear used
Sky-Watcher 80ED Pro Black Diamond
SBIG 8300M
HEQ5 Pro
Guiding camera: QHY CCD QHY5 mono
Focal reducer: Skywatcher .85x Focal Reducer & Corrector
Filters: Baader 7nm Ha 2”
Starlight Xpress Starlight Xpress FW 5*2”

Processed in PixInsight

Resolution: 1743×1380
Dates: April 12, 2015
Frames: Baader 7nm Ha 2”: 10×600″ -5C bin 2×2
Integration: 1.7 hours
Darks: ~20
Flats: ~20
Bias: ~20
Avg. Moon age: 21.98 days
Avg. Moon phase: 51.77%
Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: 3.00
Temperature: 3.00
Locations: Amarynthos obs, Amarynthos, Evia, Greece

Mel15 On IC1805 Heart nebula in HA

Here is a quickie of The Heart nebula or IC1805! Material for mosaic probably but I am waiting on the flattener/reducer before I begin with the big projects 😀
Technical details :

Sky-Watcher 80ED Pro Black Diamond
SBIG 8300M
HEQ5 Pro
Guiding camera: QHY CCD QHY5 mono
Filters: Baader 7nm Ha 2”
Accessories: Starlight Xpress Starlight Xpress FW 5*2”

Resolution: 3352×2532
Dates: Oct. 22, 2014
Locations: Home obs
Frames: 30×900″
Integration: 7.5 hours
Avg. Moon age: 27.71 days
Avg. Moon phase: 3.69%

Darks: ~20
Flats: ~20
Bias: ~100

Mean FWHM: 1.60
Temperature: 11.00