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Supernova

The Eastern Veil Nebula (NGC6995)

Unveiling the Cosmic Lace: the wonderful East Veil Nebula

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Unveiling the Cosmic Lace: the wonderful East Veil Nebula

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Unveiling the Veil: the East Veil Nebula imaged from my backyard

Ten thousand years ago a supernova exploded and today we can still see the remnant of this catastrophic event in Cygnus constellation.

The Veil Nebula is part of this supernova remnant, called the Cygnus Loop. Scientist estimate that a star 20 times more massive of the Sun turned into supernova about 10,000 year ago.

I imaged the East Veil (NGC 6995) on August 13 from my backyard in Richmond Hill (ON), with my ES ED80CF apochromatic refractor, the ZWO ASI533MC PRO camera, the Celestron AVX mount, and a narrowband filter (the Optolong L-eXtreme).

The bright Moon and wildfire smoke did not help, but I was able to gather enough signal. I acquired the images with NINA and processed them with PixInsight.

If you move the slider, you can switch between the image with the stars and the starless version of the nebula.

Setup

Date: 2024-08-13
Location: My backyard in Richmond Hill, ON
Scope: Explore Scientific ED80 CF
Camera: ZWO ASI533MC PRO (cooled at -10 °C)
Filters: Optolong L-eXtreme 2″
Mount: Celestron AVX
Guiding camera: ZWO ASI224MC, IR-Cut filter, PHD2
Guide Scope: Orion Deluxe Mini 50mm Guide Scope
Software: NINA, PixInsight, BlurXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, GIMP
Total integration time: 36 minutes (12×180 secs.)
Calibration frames: 20 dark, 10 flat, 100 bias
The Eastern Veil Nebula (NGC6995)The Eastern Veil Nebula (NGC6995) - Starless Version
M101 with SN 2023ixf with label (2023-05-22)

Breaking News: a new brilliant supernova exploded in the Pinwheel Galaxy!

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Breaking News: a new brilliant supernova exploded in the Pinwheel Galaxy!

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Hold on to your telescopes, stargazers! A rare and beautiful astronomical event is now in the headlines: a new bright supernova is visible in the galaxy M101! It was discovered by the experienced supernova hunter Koichi Itagaki, from Yamagata, Japan, on Friday, May 19, 2023.
This type II supernova, named SN 2023ixf, is located in the galaxy Messier 101 (the Pinwheel Galaxy), in Ursa Major.

Picture this: The Pinwheel Galaxy, situated approximately 21 million light years away, has treated us to a sight that actually transpired eons ago when a colossal star erupted, sending shockwaves throughout the cosmos!

Interestingly enough, just three days prior to this extraordinary celestial event, I captured images of the Pinwheel Galaxy on May 16. Little did I know that I was on the cusp of witnessing one of the most energetic events in the universe!

SN 2023ixf burst forth with such luminosity that it outshone the very heart of its galactic host. With an estimated magnitude of 11 and its advantageous positioning in our skies during this time of the year, this astonishing spectacle presents an accessible target for those equipped with modest telescopes.

Despite less-than-ideal weather conditions, including hazy and smoky skies that posed a challenge to guiding, I managed to obtain a series of images of both the galaxy and the supernova on May 22. On May 24, utilizing my C8 SCT, I once again captured images of the galaxy and the supernova, and I plan to continue observing and documenting their evolution in the upcoming weeks.

The supernova SN 2023ixf is expected to remain visible in the Pinwheel Galaxy for the next few months before gradually fading away. 

Setup

Date: 2023-05-22
Location: my driveway in Richmond Hill (ON)
Scope: Explore Scientific ED80 CF
Camera: ZWO ASI533MC PRO (cooled at -10 °C)
Filters: none
Mount: Celestron AVX
Guiding camera: ZWO ASI224MC, IR Cut filter, PHD2
Guide Scope: Orion Deluxe Mini 50mm Guide Scope
Software: ASIAIR Plus, PixInsight, BlurXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, GIMP
Total integration time: 30 minutes (15×120 seconds).
Calibration frames: 10 dark, 20 flat, 100 bias
Size: 1.35 x 1.35 deg
Radius: 0.956 deg
Pixel scale: 4.06 arcsec/pixel
M101 just 3 days before the supernova SN 2023ixf appeared (2023-05-16)
M101 just 3 days before the supernova SN 2023ixf appeared (2023-05-16)

Note: Scroll the slider to switch between the images of the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101) and the supernova SN 2023ixf with and without labels.

Scroll the slider to switch between the images of M101 with SN 2023ixf and its version with the labelScroll the slider to switch between the images of M101 with SN 2023ixf and its version with the label
The Galaxy M101 and the supernova SN 2023ixf captured with my C8 SCT (2023-05-24). 20x10 seconds exposure time
The Galaxy M101 and the supernova SN 2023ixf captured with my C8 SCT (2023-05-24). 20×10 seconds exposure time
Eastern Veil Nebula (NGC 6992)

I imaged a beautiful supernova remnant

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I imaged a beautiful supernova remnant

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What an amazing night under the stars!
On the night of June 2, 2022 the sky was clear and I sailed through supernova remnants and globular clusters, until 3:30 AM!
 
My main target for the night was the Eastern Veil Nebula in Cygnus (NGC 6992), which is part of the Cygnus Loop, a supernova remnant. The supernova was a star 10-20 times more massive than our Sun, which exploded between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago. At the time of explosion, the supernova would have appeared brighter than Venus in the sky, and visible in daytime!
To capture this image I used the Optolong L-Extreme filter. This fantastic narrowband filter isolates the H-Alpha and Oxygen III emission lines while reducing the light pollution and increasing the contrast.
 
Date: 2022-06-02 – 2022-06-03
Location: Richmond Hill (ON)
Scope: Explore Scientific 80ED CF APO refractor
Mount: Celestron AVX
Camera: ZWO ASI533MC PRO
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Filter: Optolong L-Extreme
Guide Scope: Orion 50mm mini + ZWO ASI224MC + PHD2
Software: NINA, PixInsight, GIMP
Total integration time: 15 minutes (5x180sec.), dark, flat, bias
Eastern Veil Nebula (NGC 6992)
NGC4647, supernova 2022hrs and more galaxies (annotated)

My first supernova!

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My first supernova!

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On April 16, 2022 the Japanese astronomer Koichi Itagaki dicovered a supernova that exploded in the spiral galaxy NGC 4647 in Virgo.

My estimates at the time of writing (May 4th) is around magnitude +12.5, so well within the capacity of a backyard telescope.
I decided to plan an imaging session for this target as soon as I had a clear night. I had my chance on April 29, two weeks after the discovery. The galaxy would have been far enough from the light pollution sources on the eastern sky in my area around 10pm.

I told myself that I never imaged a supernova so far, so I decided to give a try … and I succeeded!

First, I started checking the weather forecast for my location with my favorite apps for Android (Clear Outside, Good To Stargaze and Astrospheric) and I found that I had good chances to enjoy two clear nights in a row on April 28 and 29 (with approximately 30 minutes of imaging time available each night, before the target galaxy disappears behind the buildings).

The imaging day for me was on the 29th. To be ready for the event, I set up an advanced imaging session with my astrophotography companion, NINA, which included several automated actions such as cooling the camera to -10°C, slewing and center the telescope to the target, perform an autofocus routine, start guiding, dithering every other frame and even notifying the imaging events in real-time via email during the imaging session, with a plugin named Ground Station. Note that in order to use the advanced sequencer you will need to install NINA latest version (Version 2.0 RC002 at the time of writing).

Before starting my imaging session, I carefully polar aligned my mount with a NINA plugin named “Three Point Polar Alignment”, which led me to an accuracy of about 1 arcminute (I retrieved this information from my PHD2 logs).

Last (but not least) I am also automatically tracking all my astrophotography imaging session with NINA and a plugin named GroundStation and Lightbucket. You can see my imaging sessions here.

Setup

Scope: Celestron 8 SCT
Focal Reducer / Corrector: Celestron 0.63x Focal Reducer / Corrector (203mm aperture and 1279mm focal length)
Mount: Celestron AVX mount
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI533 MC PRO (cooled at -10°C)
Filters: Optolong L-Pro (light pollution filter)
Guiding camera: ZWO ASI224 MC with a IR Cut filter, PHD2
Guide Scope: Orion Deluxe Mini 50mm Guide Scope.
Software: NINA, PixInsight, Topaz Denoise AI. I also used PixInsight to annotate the image.
Total Integration Time: just 18 minutes (6x180s, dark, flat, bias)

NGC 4647 is a spiral galaxy with a +11.3 magnitude, and a distance of 63 million light yers. Supernova 2022hrs precise coordinates are RA 12h 43m 34.3s, Dec +11° 34’ 36”.

NGC 4647 is very close in the sky to the brighter and larger galaxy Messier 60 (their apparent separation is approximately 3 arcminutes).

This area is part of the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. In my image I can easily count at least 7 of them: PGC1394064, M60 (the brightest one), NGC4647 (the galaxy containing the supernova S2022hrs), NGC4637, NGC4638, M59 (on the bottom of the image, also very bright) and finally IC3672 (bottom right). Think of billions and billions of stars!

Note: Scroll the slider to switch between the images with and without annotation.

NGC 4647 with the supernova S2022hrs (2022-04-29)NGC 4647 with the supernova S2022hrs (2022-04-29)