Ain, NGC 1555, Sh2-239, et al (Anthony Quintile)

Ain, NGC 1555, Sh2-239, et al

I was inspired by this image by @Adam Block to capture this helix of dust with two prominent star-forming regions in Taurus. The proximity of Ain makes it a challenging shot, but also adds a ton of depth to the field I think. I have seen a lot of higher focal length framing of Sh2-239 or NGC 1555, and wider field shots of the Hyades that include this part of the sky, but only a few others that frame these particular dust clouds, which made me excited to shoot a somewhat unique image.

Please spend a bit of time to check it out at the higher resolution options here on Astrobin. I think it holds up well also when zoomed in a bit. Thanks!

This is my second mosaic, two panels. I used Adam's Horizons tutorials ( https://www.adamblockstudios.com/categories/mosaics ) on John Murphy's Photometric Mosaic tool (https://www.astroprocessing.com/index.html#top ) , which is better than whatever it was I did on my last mosaic here (can't remember exactly?): https://www.astrobin.com/dwo5vu/B/

This image was hard won over the past ~two and a half months. I took every opportunity to get data in between clouds and storms, and was relieved when I saw two consecutive clear nights with steady seeing to get enough data on my second mosaic panel to finish up after the recent blizzard here in Northern Arizona.

B

Description: Slightly adjusted black point with HT. Minor mosaic artifact touched up with Clone Stamp.

Uploaded: ...

C

Title: Smaller JPG file for full-resolution viewing

Description: JPG to make full-resolution image viewable on smartphone browser. This mosaic is approximately 100MB uploaded as a PNG, and none of the web browsers on my phone seem to be able to render it at full size.

I think the JPG looks identical, at least on a web browser, at full resolution.

The PNG definitely looks better than the JPG at the medium-resolution rendering.

Uploaded: ...

D

Description: Curves luminance adjust to increase contrast

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E

Description: Curves luminance adjust to increase contrast, smaller JPG file for full-resolution viewing. (See revision C for explanation.)

Uploaded: ...

F

Title: My first Amateur Astronomy Image of the Day / AAPOD2!

Description: My first Amateur Astronomy Image of the Day / AAPOD2!

https://www.aapod2.com/blog/ngc1555

Uploaded: ...

G

Title: NGC 1555 Crop

Description: Because of the large file size of the mosaic, I haven't been happy the long download times and lack of visibility of detail in this image in it's "in between" resolution rendering here on Astrobin.

I am posting a couple of crops to show some of the detail. This one is the NGC 1555 area.

Uploaded: ...

H

Title: Sh2-239 Crop

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	9273059
PixInsight job	KGSLIGO4SSPVFGNZZ63DD93GVP1VYWU0
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	04h26m29s.29
RA (top/left)	04h33m41s.98
RA (top/right)	04h20m41s.47
RA (bottom/right)	04h19m16s.36
RA (bottom/left)	04h32m12s.12

Dec (center)	+18°46′32″.3
Dec (top/left)	+18°50′46″.1
Dec (top/right)	+19°48′05″.5
Dec (bottom/right)	+18°41′08″.7
Dec (bottom/left)	+17°44′09″.8

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