Vela SNR in 3nm HA, NII and OIII

[avandonk]

Managed to get some HA data of the Vela SNR. The system is now totally free of noticeable flexure.

So this is what we have in raw NB data.

HA 8x32 minutes, NII 10x32 minutes and OIII 9x32 minutes.

This is just HA and NII with HA to red channel and NII to green. 8MB

http://d1355990.i49.quadrahosting.com.au/2013_01/VSNR_HA_NII.jpg


This is HA to red, NII to green and OIII to blue. 8MB

http://d1355990.i49.quadrahosting.com.au/2013_01/VSNR_HA_NII_OIII.jpg


I have tried to process all NB wavelengths the same and have not adjusted levels so what you see is close to the relative intensities of each emission line.

The much larger older Gum nebula behind the Vela SNR emit more HA than NII. You can see this as red background at the bottom and top left in the HA NII image. See the diagram from APOD below which shows our Sun's neighbourhood.

The gas cloud structure of the Vela SNR is quite fractal in nature and looks a bit like a what a much older version of the Crab Nebula M1 would look like.

Bert

[Larryp]

Beautiful, Bert! So much detail:thumbsup:

[avandonk]

You are quite correct Larry, the detail is beautiful and stunning. The real advantage of a fast very high quality optic used with superb narrow band filters and the most sensitive camera on the planet is plainly obvious in these images. All this of course is useless unless the mount is even better than the resolution of the optics in tracking of the object being imaged.

This was not an accident. I calculated in my head what I would need to do quite some time ago. I first gathered all the evidence or real knowledge by reading all I could. I have a slight advantage as I am supposedly knowledgable in things optical. I knew flexure would be a problem. My old mates in the instrument workshop at CSIRO used to say 'anything that can be built is always adjustable!'

Bert

[Ric]

Amazing images Bert, thanks for posting these images and others of the Vela SNR

It has always been an area of fascination and intricate detail for me.

Cheers

[strongmanmike]

Looking good Bert, looks like you really have that trio of engineering masterpieces singing in harmony now!

Mike

[RobF]

Fascinating and amazing stuff Bert.

May I enquire - where did that map of our galactic neighbourhood come from? Love being able to visualise structures in our vicinity better.

[Ross G]

A great shot Bert.

Your hard work and persistence has paid off.

Now looking forward to some amazing photos from you.

Ross.

[avandonk]

Thanks Mike it has been a bit of a battle. It was very ambitious of me to even think all these components would actually work together. In retrospect it was my own lack of full understanding of what was happening that held me back. Perseverance sometimes does pay off.

Below are some pictures of the Orion dovetails that I am using as stabilizing bars for the dovetail that holds the optical train. The weight of RH200 and image train was twisting the dovetail slightly differently which produced out of round stars over long exposures. I could actually measure this movement with my dial indicator. I had thought of getting Luke to make a far thicker dovetail and longer dovetail plate. Since this solution works I will not bother. The slots in the dovetails allow easy adjustment for balancing the mount.

When a dovetail plate that is 100mm wide and 12.5mm thick and held by a near full length dovetail plate is flexing like a torsion bar and causing differential movement between optic and camera we must finally be close to eliminating all flexure.

These NB images prove we are there?



Bert

[avandonk]

I first saw this image here Rob

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap020217.html

Bert

[avandonk]

Thanks Ric and Ross.


Here are the same images at x1.5 ie 6000x6000 pixels. All data was stacked upsized which with dithering gets the same resolution as if the camera sensor had 6 micron pixels. Zoom in and look at the tiny round stars! We are finally recording data that shows the true resolution of the RH200. My best estimate is that it is bit better than an FSQ106!

Both are about 20MB.


http://d1355990.i49.quadrahosting.com.au/2013_01/VSNR_HA_NII_L.jpg (http://d1355990.i49.quadrahosting.com.au/2013_01/VSNR_HA_NII_L.jpg)

http://d1355990.i49.quadrahosting.com.au/2013_01/VSNR_HA_NII_OIII_L.jpg (http://d1355990.i49.quadrahosting.com.au/2013_01/VSNR_HA_NII_OIII_L.jpg)

Bert