First Light: 41 hours on NGC 1999 and HH1/HH2 in Orion

[SkyViking]

Hi All,

I am delighted to finally present here the 'first light' image from my new observatory (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=148066).
This particular target has been high on my wish list ever since seeing Marco's excellent rendition of the area (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=115464) way back in 2013.
I initially chose this target as it was well placed for testing the workings of the new obs during late last year. Due to various teething issues with the gear I ended up with a substantial amount of integration time from the test runs. Once the weather finally improved I decided to simply continue gathering data on this one and make it my first official image from the new obs :)
Even though the seeing was mediocre at best, I was pleasantly surprised with the resolution in the bright centre and the level of detail in the faint clouds. This target really does benefit from a narrow field of view but at the same time also requires a significant amount of exposure to show the faint background structures.

Link to medium resolution image (http://www.rolfolsenastrophotography.com/Astrophotography/Nebulae/i-5cmLNNJ/A)
Link to full resolution image (http://www.rolfolsenastrophotography.com/Astrophotography/Nebulae/i-5cmLNNJ/O)

About the image:
Just south of Orion's Sword, some 1,500 light-years away, lies NGC 1999; a beautiful and intriguing little reflection nebula, mostly overshadowed by its bright and famous neighbour the great Orion Nebula. This rarely imaged patch of sky is however very colourful and dramatic, especially with long exposure time which brings out faint nebulousity filling the entire area.

The bright reflection nebula itself can be seen at the center of this image, lit up by the variable star V380 Orionis. The surrounding clouds of gas and dust show some very complicated structures and fills the field of view with a soft glow from edge to edge. At the heart of NGC 1999 is a very dark patch which was previously thought to be a dense dark nebula known as a Bok globule, blocking the light from behind it. But observations with several optical and radio telescopes have recently established that it is in fact an empty cavity in the surrounding nebula, possibly cleared out by intense radiation from nearby stars.

Throughout the field several small bright patches can be seen, glowing intensely pink and orange. These are the feeble lights from new stars being born in the cloud. Some of these are Herbig-Haro objects; the result of plasma jets ejected from young protostars which collide with the surrounding gas and dust and cause the glowing emission. This area is also famous in astronomical history because the first Herbig-Haro objects, HH1 and HH2, were discovered immediately adjacent to it, and both are visible in this image just below the centre.

Image details:
Date: 19 nights, Nov 2016 - Feb 2017
Exposure: LHaRGB: 1175:692:215:205:195 mins, total 41 hours 22 mins @ -25C
Telescope: Homebuilt 12.5" f/4 Serrurier Truss Newtonian
Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider
Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2
Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand


I hope you enjoy the result. Comments and critique welcome as always.

Regards,
Rolf

[spiezzy]

Bloody Awesome Image Rolf well done
cheers Pete :eyepop::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[ChrisM]

Very impressive indeed. Love the detail.

Chris

[SimmoW]

Wow, just wow Rolf!

What length subs did you use? This pic is almost 3d

[SkyViking]

Thanks very much Pete :)


Thank you Chris, my narrow FOV helped with the details in the core but also meant it took a while to get the detail in the deep background :)


Thanks a lot Simon, I use 5min subs for all my images. I agree it has a nice 3D look, and also the structure in the nebula reminds me a lot of the nearby Fox Fur nebula in Monoceros.

[willik]

Top image lots of detail it looks great
Martin

[strongmanmike]

Well, check that out :eyepop: an amazing eclectic, busy, even strangely ugly mess...that is somehow quite beautiful. A great first light Rolf, 40hrs to you must seem like 2hrs does to me :lol:

Between you and Steve Mohr, what with your autonomous little bubbles shooting the sky like robots, we are gunna see some purlers an a regular basis now, if we can just convince Steve to post'em on IIS that is :)

Mike

[RickS]

Colourful and dramatic indeed, Rolf! A stunning image and a great start for the new obsy.

[andyc]

Wow, that's quite something! Pretty, unusual features, and a lot of first lights :eyepop: Congratulations on the new observatory!

[Andy01]

A crackerjack Image Rolf - looks amazing! :thumbsup:
My laptop appears to make it look a bit over-smooth, but it's probably just the lappy screen res though.
From personal experience this DSO needs bucketloads of data and you've truly created a benchmark image of it here!
Bravo :)
:bowdown:

[SkyViking]

Thank you Martin! :)


Thanks Mike, yes a 'mess' is probably the most fitting description. This nebula is really complex, and was quite tricky to process too.
I'm currently processing the next image now and have a handful in the pipeline :)


Thanks very much Rick, it took a while to get there but worth the effort for sure. I still need to sort a few more things with the obs, but it is already a major improvement over my old setup.


Thank you Andy, yes this nebula is rather unusual. :)


Thanks Andy, the seeing was not very good at all unfortunately and I also didn't apply much sharpening as the signal is relatively faint except for the bright core. Might work some more on this one though. :thumbsup:

[Paul Haese]

This is a better resolution than the one I did of this last year and has prompted me to put it on my narrow field list.

I like the detail level and the colour. Composition is also great.

[alpal]

Hi Rolf,
glad to see the new observatory is going well.
That's a great first light picture.
It would be good to see just the Ha channel too?

cheers
Allan

[JA]

Great Stuff Rolf.

I looked through your other images as well -really wonderful :thumbsup:

Best
JA

[gregbradley]

Fabulous work Rolf.

Greg.

[SkyViking]

Thanks Paul, as for the composition I just centered NGC1999 but later realised there is a nice little yellow patch just barely visible near the top center. I could probably have shifted NGC1999 down and included that as well, but by then I was too far into the data gathering :)


Thank you Allan, yes I might post that too when I'm done with the current image I'm working on :thumbsup:


Thanks very much JA.


Thank you Greg!

[DJT]

wow:eyepop:

An impressive first light. The framing really draws you right into the centre and whatever is going on there.

Awesome!