At last...got it! The Running Chicken Nebulae IC2944

My primary target last Saturday night. This was the main reason why I had to go to Caliraya Lake. This nebula was so low in the southern sky that an excellent image acquisition is next to impossible at least for me. However, it was the difficulty of shooting this object coupled with the unpredictability of Caliraya skies that actually piqued my interest in it.

By the way, I mistakenly assumed that the nebula would fit into my scope's field of view. However, it was too big. I should have used my 200mm lens. Anyway, aesthetics is definitely not the reason for selecting this nebula. It was more of a self-imposed challenge it if was possible to shoot it at Caliraya. Well, after the acquisition and processing I can say to myself..Yup, I got it!

It's not too late...yet. M78

It is already spring and it is late to shoot the winter objects so why was my scope pointing at Orion? Well, I thought that by shooting the relatively bright reflection nebula M78, my chance of success of getting at least one object that night was higher. Caliraya was not anymore conducive for astro imaging like before. The site was filled with cottages and of course, people. I missed the time back then when it was really dark, quiet, with only couple of carabaos silently grazing across the field. But last Saturday was a treat! We got an almost cloudless night sky. I never expected that it will be that clear. So, I was back in setting up my gears, fumbling with the camera and adapters, and messing up the polar alignment! M78 was not my intended target that night but the Running Chicken nebulae in Centaurus. Since it was not yet up in early evening, i opted for the setting M78 in the west.  Time was my not on my side as i felt that the nebulae was speeding up towards the western horizon faster that usual. It was time to quit M78 when light pollution engulfed Orion near the western horizon. I looked at he southern horizon and glanced at the battery indicator. Yup, there's still plenty of battery juice for the Running Chicken which was about to rise.

M101 and friends

Wow! After a very looooong hiatus from any astro activity, I couldn't be more thankful that I had an opportunity to go out and return to astro-imaging. Even though my gears are not suitable for galaxies and small objects, I tried to visit my old favorite Pinwheel Galaxy. No planning, no messy set-up, just shoot and go. It was a pleasure enough for me to go to a dark site, bring out my gears and shoot whatever there is. The cloudless night sky was worth the back-breaking ordeal of bringing up my gears to the hilltop. Polaris was difficult to find against the full grown trees and I had to find a good spot to do a good polar alignment. I tried shooting luminance frames of M78 while waiting for M101 to rise above the treetops. Past midnight, the pinwheel galaxy was already well placed and I got 60 minutes worth of luminance and 15 minutes each of color frames. It was a no surprise that I forgot how to process the frames after several years of no-astro activity. I had to refresh myself of the processing techniques and procedures. So, this image is more of an experiment in jolting my memory in astro-processing!

Another AAPOD! (my sixth time)

I was pleasantly surprised again to receive the wonderful news that my Simeis 147 image was selected as AAPOD for March 22. This is my sixth and hopefully not the last!
http://www.aapodx2.com/2016/20160321.html

Astro Season 2016!

I promised myself that I will be more active in posting my astro related activities this year. To start the season, I, together with hardcore astro buddies went to our favorite site in Buso-buso, Antipolo City to attempt some astro imaging. There was no particular object in mind that I liked to image. However, a few unfinished H-alpha images from last year needed color data so I reckoned that that's what I would do. Fist was IC59/63 followed by Simeis 147. I had to struggle with the positioning of my filter wheel as I could not frame objects as I would like them to be. Oh, and the trees have grown tall already! I had to reposition the whole astro imaging rig five times just to clear the obstructing branches and leaves. In spite of all of the challenges, the night was sweet as the skies were mostly clear. I just had to take an image of Comet Catalina in the northern sky before packing up.

Astro season quickly passed away! SH2-129

I was too busy travelling since the start of the year that I had no time to do serious imaging. My list of objects-to-image hardly gets read. The scope and camera were not removed from their cases, batteries were drained, and dust accumulated on the mount. Until last week. . . The sight of Polaris peeking through the clouds gave me enough enthusiasm to set up my gears and waited for Cepheus to rise up in the northern sky. Whew!.. I almost never remembered how to do the usual set-up after in hiatus for half-year. Eventually, things worked out and the sky cleared up long enough for me to accumulate a couple of hours worth of images in hydrogen-alpha. Can't wait for the next season to get the color data!

5th AAPOD! - Elephant's Trunk Nebula Widefield

This image was taken in Caliraya last year. I was with my family and friends and had a great time. Wish I can go back again and enjoy the night view. And fishing. . .

Thanks for the heavy traffic! (M31 Andromeda Galaxy)

Talk about being a hardcore. We almost gave up our astroimaging trip to Boso-boso last Saturday. We encountered heavy downpour on our way to the hills, causing us to turn-back and stop at a gasoline station to wait for the rain to subside. Rain stopped, and we were about to head home when I realized of the heavy traffic snarl waiting for us on the way back. Then, luck of all the luck, we started seeing the blue sky desperately peeking out from heavy clouds. I reckoned that we will just be stucked for hours in traffic if we go back home or we might as well try proceeding to the site and who knows, we might have few lucky breaks. The sky at the site was not good when we arrived. So, we decided to wait until 9 pm and then we can go home. But, indeed the sky started clearing up at around 7 pm so we hurriedly had our dinner and set-up the gears. My target, M31 galaxy was already past meridian but I imaged it anyway. The sky permitted me to take only a measly 60 minutes of luminance subs. The color subs would have to be taken next time (year). Next was Simeis 147. I managed to get only 90 minutes of H-alpha subs before the sky closed. On the way home, I kept thinking of what it could have been if there was no traffic going to the site. Well, for sure, I could have not imaged this wonderful galaxy!

AAPOD2 4th time!

When it rains, it pours! My Crescent Nebula image taken at home was chosen as AAPOD for November 16, 2014. This is my fourth AAPOD image. Hope that this will not be the last. Modesty aside, I take enormous pride when my images are recognized by an international amateur astronomy organization. It somehow takes away the tiredness and expenses associated with astro imaging. Thus, a nice self-reward is in order. Now, where is the best ice-blended mocha coffee . . .

http://www.aapodx2.com/2014/20141116.html

Amateur Astronomy Picture of the Day (AAPOD)

I was pleasantly surprised that my Veil Nebula Complex was chosen as the AAPOD on 03 August 2014!
http://aapodx2.com/2014/20140803.html

Veil Nebula complex in Cygnus

I hate clear nights! Last week was a string of clear early dawns. I had to get out of bed very early in the mornings to set-up my gears. And in the process, waking up the dog and getting his irritated stare. My lower legs became a landing strip for mosquitoes and no amount of shaking diminished their zeal. And for what? A couple of hours each night acquiring data for this image. Its not even photogenic! But every time I look at the Cygnus constellation, I find my eyes transfixed at the area where this object is. So, I had to do it. My astro friends will hate me if they found out that I prayed for cloudy nights for this week! Its a full moon anyway . .

Technical details: 2.5 hours of H-alpha @ 10 mins per sub, 1 hour of OIII data @ 10 mins. per sub, STF8300M camera & EF200 F2.8 lens. Additional 1 hour of color from 400D DSLR @ 3 mins per sub. Bicolor (clipping masks) processed using H-alpha and OIII data. Star colors overlayed using DSLR data.

NGC 6888 The Crescent Nebula Widefield

Last week for three early dawns, I forced myself out of bed to gather data for this image of NGC 6888, popularly known as the Crescent Nebula. I attempted to frame the image with emission nebulosity at the bottom to represent an open palm seemingly catching a falling object.  The intricate folds and filaments of the Crescent respond well to the H-alpha filter while the bluish shroud covering the nebula is highlighted by using an OIII narrowband filter.

Technical details: Exposures made with H-alpha filter of 90 minutes, OIII filter of 90 minutes using STF-8300M camera. Color exposures of 60 minutes using Canon 400D DSLR. Acquisition software: Nebulosity; Processed in IRIS; Post-processing in PS CS2. I had a challenging  time processing this image as it was my first time to deal with OIII combined with H-alpha data. All data taken at my place in Taguig City.

The Jellyfish Nebula Region

This “widefield” image shows a view as wide as 10 full moons covering parts of Gemini and Orion. It shows a variety of objects, the Jellyfish Nebula and its fainter neighbor SH2-249, the bright emission and reflection nebula-Monkey head (NGC2174); and the familiar M35 star cluster at lower right. The hydrogen-alpha subs were taken from my place in Taguig City and the color subs were from Antipolo. I used “lighten mode” to initially combine the h-alpha with color but the numerous stars overwhelmed the field, so I blended the “red channel” of the color to the h-alpha and recombine with the composite color then used the HaR as luminance. I experimented in using the Canon 200 lens at brutally full F2.8 for both h-alpha and color!

Simeis 147

Simeis 147 Supernova Remnant. This is what remains of a star that exploded about 30,000 years ago. It so ancient that the expanding debris has expanded so much making it one of the faintest object in the night sky. The image is approximately 7 "full moons" in apparent diameter. It is so huge that it will not fit in the FOV of most telescopes in one go so I tried the FL200mm lens. It was also the "first light" of my STF-8300M and first time to use 10-minute long subs. It was also the first time I headed out to an astro site without testing my equipments so as expected, multiple surprises (read problems) arose. Anyway, the intention is just to capture Simeis 147. Hoping in the near future I can do justice to this beautiful object.

Astroimages & Music

The seemingly endless cloudy nights have driven me to review my astroimages taken throughout the years and combine them in a video. It was a great stress reliever doing it and I found it immensely satisfying. I never get tired watching how each images appears on the screen, reliving the moments when I first took them. Hope I can add some more beautiful images in the years to come!

IC 4592 Blue Horsehead in Scorpious

Not having a modded camera, I was limited to shooting reflection nebula with my unmodded 400D DSLR. First was M78 and next was this obscure object in Scorpious. I knew this will be challenging as it was very faint. Caliraya skies might not be dark enough to acquire good data but that burning desire to revisit this object led me to image it again. The usual process went on - acquisition, processing & post-processing. I got a pleasant surprise during post-processing when I noticed that it had striking resemblance with the Witch Head Nebula I shot last year. Both were looking at a bright star. The witch head at Rigel, and now the Blue Horse head at Graffias or Beta Scorpii. But the similarity ended there. The Blue Horse head is extremely faint. So faint that I might be so foolish to shoot it with a stock DSLR. I was wondering why there were not many images of it on the web compared to its namesake-horsehead nebula in Orion. Now I know-it is not photogenic!

M78 in Orion

M78 in Orion. My modded 350D DSLR was having err99 message last Sunday so I have to use my trusty un-modded 400D to capture this bright reflection nebula in constellation Orion. The sky allowed only 50 minutes total exposure before clouds rolled in. Initially, I didn't recognize the reddish hue at lower left, thinking it might have been a severe color gradient due to light pollution. It took time for me to realize that it was actually part of the huge Barnard's Loop!

Flaming Star Nebula & Surrounding Region

I was looking for the very faint supernova remnant, Simeis147 when I chanced upon this object. I reckoned that the SNR was between the two bright stars in the Taurus-Auriga area so I slewed my camera towards that area. But, what appeared in the display was the familiar shape of the Flaming star nebula. Aware of the possibility of short time of clear sky, I continued to shoot several frames until clouds covered the area. I was glad that I made the welcome "mistake" and I was able to image this object! However, Simeis 147 is still in my short list of imaging projects.

M45 Stars and Dust

Along with the Witch Head Nebula, I got a 30 minute worth exposures of M45 sailing in constellation Taurus the Bull. Most images of M45 emphasizes the brilliance of the star cluster. However, in this image I opted to highlight the nebulous dust in the region. Previously thought as the birthplace of newly born stars, it was later understood that the star cluster has no relationship to the dusty nebula but rather simply passing through it.

I had no intention of capturing this object that night but since Orion was clouded out, I slew my camera lens to M45 which was clear at that time. I got a measly 30 minutes total exposure before it started to drizzle. It took me a week before I started processing this beautiful object. Hope its not yet too late to add more data next time we head out.. .

Witch Head Nebula and Rigel

This the second time I "caught" the witch. First was that she was unable to fit in the frame. Only her mid-face and protruding chin were shown in the image. But last Sunday, I figured that I could put her and Rigel in just one frame by using the 200 mm lens and the 350D. I made 20 subs of 5 minutes totaling 100 minutes all. Processing as usual was difficult as this was a faint target. Faint nebulosity together with the brilliance of the star Rigel - a processing nightmare. But here she is. . . looking at Rigel. Seemingly amazed at the how the supergiant illuminates the field!