Chris Curtis Web Site

Sunday 31 July 2011

Eastern Veil Nebula (mosaic)

Filed under: Photography and Art,Science — Chris Curtis @ 13:44
Easter Veil (mosaic), originally uploaded by ThinkingCamera.

This is a two-frame mosaic of the Eastern Veil Nebula in Cygnus. (Caldwell 33 which includes NGC 6992, NGC 6995 and IC 1340)
This is a supernova remnant – all that is left of a bright star which exploded about 10,000 years ago.
I took a total of 100 x 30 second exposures last night and used Maxim and Pixinsight software to combine and process them. (Camera was an Atik 320e, using a Baader Neodymium filter on a CPC 800 telescope at f2 with Hyperstar).
It was a lovely summer’s night: warm and still. The sky looked slightly hazy or misty to the eye, but the telescope seemed to look right through this.
I love this object. Although born from quite unimaginable violence and power, it is delicate and beautiful.

Sunday 10 July 2011

Cocoon Nebula

Filed under: Photography and Art,Science — Chris Curtis @ 12:05
Cocoon Nebula, originally uploaded by ThinkingCamera.

Caldwell 19, IC 5146 or Shapless 2-125 in Cygnus. This is a small star cluster surrounded by gas which is lit and excited by the central star, formed only 100,000 years ago. The nebula is surrounded by more gas which is not visible, but hides the distant stars.
The object is about 4,000 light years away
50 x 30sec exposures. Atik 320e OSC Camera. CPC800 telelscope with Hyperstar. Baader Neodymium filter. Taken in deep twilight

This is the first time for ages that I have been out with the telescope and the air was remarkably transparent after heavy showers for several days. This time of year, it is never quite dark here at 51.5 degrees North, and the moon was low, but still in the sky.  On the other hand, it is very pleasant to be able to do astronomy without being cold and there is something magical about summer nights where the stars are scattered like dust. When high cloud came in around 1am ending the astronomy, the sky was exceptionally beautiful, with the stars really like luminous jewels peeking through the veil.

36 db ops | served in 0.566 seconds | Powered by WordPress