Astronomy Picture of the Day -- IC 2118: The Witch Head Nebula

NASA ^ | January 17, 2012 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, the name makes no sense to me either, should be called “Casper the Friendly Ghost Nebula” or somethin’.

[dragnet2]

It’s a side profile of a witches face. Tilt your head right and down to see the witch’s profile.

[bert]

Wow..... that is a great photo

[dragnet2]

Thanks bert. Everything went well that night.

[bigheadfred]

Here's one I shot

Now I have to know. Is the coloration due to you filtering or is it automatic (preset) CG enhancement or you recoloring on a separate program? Cause if that is the real me, I gotta get me one of these.

[bigheadfred]

She is screaming about something

marLENE

[dragnet2]

This explains it better than I.

Color in Astronomical Images

http://www.astropix.com/HTML/I_ASTROP/COLOR.HTM

BTW, in the Veil Nebula shot above, I did not add any color, and basically only performed curves and levels adjustments. I will not over process images, and what ya see there, is basically what the camera saw.

All I did was help bring out the data, which already existed in the raw image.

I believe the image above was a series of 30 images at about 1.5 minute exposures each, then I calibrated, aligned and stacked all the images into what you see.

[bigheadfred]

Thank you very much.

[KC Burke]

That is one incredible bit of photographic artistry and expertise. My compliments.

[dragnet2]

BTW, the only filtering I used in the optical train, were an LP filter, used to help reduce light wavelengths such as mercury vapor lights, which will destroy extreme low light astronomical images.

[dragnet2]

Thanks KC

[bigheadfred]

This might be a dumb question, but is your equipment stand alone? Or are you tethered to a power source and stuck in your backyard?

And is the filtering for direct filtering? Like to stop the light from the streetlight on the corner? Or just light pollution in general?

[dragnet2]

This might be a dumb question, but is your equipment stand alone? Or are you tethered to a power source and stuck in your backyard? And is the filtering for direct filtering? Like to stop the light from the streetlight on the corner? Or just light pollution in general?

Not a dumb questions at all. I plug into this below. The light pollution filter I use in the optical train helps eliminate street light emissions in the atmosphere and light pollution in general, including the street light on the road. It's also a cool place to hang out and drink beer.

This is the business end of my scope below.

Notice the twin junkyard plates used to mount the equatorial mount onto the steel pier..This was done for leveling purposes, see the gold colored leveling bolts? Note the camera at left center of the image?

Most of my mounting stuff was salvaged, fabricated, and obtained from junk yards. Works good and is very stable.

[Telepathic Intruder]

Holy crap, can I come over? I’ll bring the beer. What’s the aperture size on that, by the way?

[dragnet2]

It’s only a 10.

The scope itself is an oldy, about 11 years old now. It’s actually considered a classic. I’ve had to rebuild some of the motors, change out gears, etc. Nowadays there are much better, more imaging friendly instruments, but it’s kind of fun trying to keep it aligned and working. Only problem is imaging and processing the data takes time, and I wished I had more time to devote.

[TheOldLady]

ROFL! That’s great!

[Telepathic Intruder]

Not bad, nevertheless. I've heard the largest off-the-shelf (so to speak) scope is 20", made by Meade. I just wish I had the $30,000 lying around for it.

[dragnet2]

You and me both.

Some great stuff out there. Just takes money...And lots of it.