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Saturday, February 14, 2015

New photo, IC 410 in Auriga



We have had very few clear nights at this winter season. At night of February 12 I managed to get enough lights for this object to make a finalized color photo out of it.

IC 410, a "Cosmic Fertilization"

Image is in mapped colors from an emission of  the ionized elements. Golden areas 
are from emission of sulfur and hydrogen, bluish hues are from ionized oxygen.


A closeup




INFO

Emission nebula IC 410 and an open cluster, NGC 1893 inside it, are located in constellation Auriga about 12.000 light years from my home town Oulu, Finland. The cloud of glowing gas is over 100 light-years across, sculpted by stellar winds and radiation from embedded open star cluster NGC 1893.
"Cosmic tadpoles" are potentially sites of ongoing star formation, they are about 10 light-years long.
Emission from sulfur atoms is shown in red, hydrogen atoms in green, and oxygen in blue hues in this mapped color composite image.


IC 410 in visual colors

Natural color composition from the emission of ionized elements, R=80%Hydrogen+20%Sulfur, G=100%Oxygen and B=85%Oxygen+15%Hydrogen to compensate otherwise missing H-beta emission. This composition is very close to a visual spectrum.


Some older wide field photos of the area

12-panel mosaic of the constellation Auriga. IC 410 can be seen as a blueish area at upper middle.
Original blog post about this photo HERE

IC 410 at lower middle. Info about this photo HERE

Technical details

A CCDInspector analysis map of the optical quality

Celestron Edge HD 1100 has a wonderful optical quality. Collimation is now spot on and the scope seems to hold it very well.

Processing work flow

Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack2.
Deconvolution with a CCDStack2 Positive Constraint, 33 iterations, added at 50% weight
Color combine in PS CS3
Levels and curves in PS CS3.

Imaging optics
Celestron Edge HD 1100 @ f7 with 0,7 focal reducer for Edge HD 1100 telescope

Cameras and filters
Imaging camera Apogee Alta U16 and Apogee seven slot filter wheel
Guider camera, Lodestar x2
Astrodon filter, 5nm H-alpha
Astrodon filter, 3nm O-III
Astrodon filter, 3nm S-II

Exposure times
H-alpha, 12 x 1200s = 4h
O-III, 4 x 1200s = 1h 20 min.
S-II, 5x1200s = 1h 40 min.
Total 7h

A single un cropped, calibrated and stretched 20 min. H-alpha frame




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