Astrophoto: Hubble in the Bubble

By Nancy Atkinson - October 22, 2013 07:30 PM UTC | Observing

Here's a beautiful look at the Bubble Nebula, taken by astrophotographer Terry Hancock using what's known as the "Hubble Palette," -- imaging in very narrow wavelengths of light using various filters. This allows very subtle details to be revealed, things that the human eye cannot see. Terry has been working on this one for a while -- since mid-August -- but the results are spectacular!

Terry took images from his "

DownUnder Observatory

" in Fremont, Michigan. He explains the image and techniques he used:

This last capture over 10 nights took me since mid-August 2013 to complete due to very high moisture in our West Michigan Skies right through this shoot. So, the data is therefore noisy and not the best but it is time to call it done for this year and move on! Due to poor conditions I had to use the H-Alpha data I had from my RGB+HA version using the QHY11 and combine with only one night capture using the QHY9 with it's 3nm H-Alpha filter.

Using narrow band filters and post processed using the Hubble Palette technique the SII filter is assigned to Red, SII is assigned to Green and OIII is assigned to blue channel.

Total exposure time was 26 hours -- persistence pays off! Thanks to Terry for sharing his gorgeous image!

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Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com