All datasets acquired with Moana from DSO (Dark Sky remote Observatory), near Fort Davis, TX, USA.
The data distributed here is under Creative Commons license, attribution: “Moana Project”. If you feel like it, feel free to tag BlackRig on Astrobin so I can see your results.
The potential of what can be achieved on Moana’s Data with is showcased on this collaborative Astrobin page. Some updates of the telescope are here.
The datasets are free, this page has no publicity, and I do not collect any user data. Feel free to support the project through the buy me a coffee link at the bottom right corner of this page. All community support is used to cover this site’s hosting & the data storage fee.
After 15 months of almost daily imaging, the MOANA project concluded in January 2024.
Currently I am focusing on building an imaging team around a CDK 14 equipped with a very large sensor. The scope is now fully operational and delivering incredible results! Join the team!
The Moana Project experience has been a success: the scope performed consistently, kept producing images night after night, the learnings operating remote were invaluable (allowing to move to the next bigger project knowing exactly where to step) and above all the following and feedback have been very positive and friendly. Below is a year round data library providing the community with quality raw images, to the limit of what a well build ATM Newtonian can offer under very dark skies, using accessible equipment. It is my hope that many will use the data below to train, learn, produce amazing images, and eventually use that experience to move to their next own projects, whatever they may be. As of now, the library below, totally free, is truly unique and covers well the Northern hemisphere.
To conclude the project, I summarized all the info & experience gathered on the Moana project in a small opensource book, in the hope it will help others. The chapters regarding the design and the built, are, I hope, clear and well written. The other chapters are more cursory notes, just conveying the information. If I ever have time, I may rewrite those chapters in a second version.
CDK 14 Data sample
- Crescent Nebula (first light)
Moana Data:
Imaging:
This section covers long exposure datasets in color and narrow band to illustrate the beauty of the night sky.
- Horse Head nebula of Orion in SHORGB.
- Virgo Cluster around M86 in RGB.
- Flaming Star Nebula in SHO.
- Sculptor Galaxy in color.
- Pelican nebula in SHO.
- Tadpole nebula in SHO.
- M2, globular cluster in RGB.
- M45, the Pleiades in RGB.
- IC 443 in RGB and SHO.
- Baby Eagle Nebula in RGB.
- NGC 7000, North America in SHO.
- NGC 6946, the Firework Galaxy in RGB.
- NGC 6960 in Cygnus: the Western Veil in RGB and SHO.
- NGC 6914 in Cygnus in RGB and SHO.
- SH2 101 the Tulip nebula in Cygnus, RGB and SHO.
- The Wizard nebula, RGB.
- M8, the lagoon nebula. LRGB and SHO, 2 panels mosaic.
- The wing of the bat (NGC 6995) in Cygnus in RGB and SHO, for mosaic.
- Trifid Nebula in LRGB.
- Cluster Galore: M5, M13 and M92 in RGB.
- M27, the Dumbbell nebula in SHO. 16 hours.
- NGC6995, the bat nebula in SHO.
- M57 the ring nebula in RGB and SHO.
- M101 with Super Nova 2023ixf in RGB.
- NGC 4565, the Needle galaxy in Coma Berenices.
- Pickering’s triangle, a detail of the veil nebula in Cygnus.
- Messier 104, the Sombrero Galaxy.
- Messier 97, the Owl nebula.
- Messier 94, beautiful spiral galaxy .
- Messier 105‘s group.
- M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy. Over 15 hours to go after the faint nebulosity, RGB and Ha.
- Details of the Rosette Nebula (going deep, 27 hours)
- M1 planetary nebula. 20 hours of color and narrow band high resolution data.
- Galaxy M77, RGB HA dataset.
- M33 Mosaic. RGB and Ha.
- Running Man of Orion. 10 hours of RGB data, bright nebula.
- Dark structure in the California Nebula, narrow band only, Ha and SII, with dark nebula.
- Thor’s Helmet, RGB and Narrow Band.
- M16 dataset: RGB, and narrow band.
- Helix nebula dataset, about 8 hours of integration, RGB and narrow band.
- Crescent Nebula, in RGB and narrow band. About 20 hours of integration.
- Cocoon Nebula, RGB and narrow band, in Cygnus.
- M78 in Orion, RGB dataset.
- M15 and Pease 1 in Pegasus, RGB dataset.
- Horse head nebula in Orion, Ha only.
- M74, a face on spiral galaxy, in RGB and Ha.
Photometry:
Datasets suitable for training, education and research in astrometry and photometry.
- Super Nova 2022wpy: dataset covering over two months of regular follow up observations for photometry.
- Super Nova 2022zut: an RGB dataset and photometry follow up.
- Wasp 36 b exoplanet transit. 98 frames of 1mn, a clean exoplanet transit dataset.
- Wasp-10 b exoplanet transit. Photometry set, 157 frames of 1mn, a clean exoplanet transit dataset.
- Wasp 107b exoplanet transit. Light curve only, as the data is a bit noisy.
- Main belt asteroid 349 Dembowska at opposition. Datasets for light curve and rotation period determination.
- Minor planet Haumea at opposition. Dataset for light curve of this very fast rotator. At magnitude 17.3, one of my dimmest object for light curve so far.
Comets:
- Comet 29P, imaging and photometry sets.
- Comet 2022 E3 ZTF, multiple datasets.
- Comet Nishimura.
Eclipses:
Total Solar Eclipse April 8, 2024
Other Solar eclipse datasets (annular and total).
Planets:
Various tests and endeavors not to be taken too seriously. Like doing planetary imaging with a scope optimized for deep sky, failures with interesting lessons, etc…
- Pluto (is a planet!). Single 2mn frame.
- Planetary dataset, moon and Jupiter in RGB.
Other:
About the data:
The files have been curated (PixInsight SubFrame Selector working in conjunction with this script, and visual QC) then stripped of private information (like observatory exact coordinates) with this script. The frames are otherwise raw from acquisition.
The image parameters are as follow:
Resolution: 0.591 arcsec/px
Field of view: 45′ x 35′
Focal distance: 1325 mm
Pixel size: 3.80 um
Aperture: 254mm -10 inches
F number: f/5.3
Guiding: Off Axis Guider with QHY 5L2M
The camera is currently an ASI 1600MM, soon to be replaced by a QHY268M. The mount is an AP1100 GTO.
For imagery I use mostly gain 90 and 5mn exposure for Narrow Band, between 1 and 5mn exposure for RBG. 5mn seems to be a good compromise between minimizing the amount of disk used each night, collecting enough light, but also be short enough to avoid too many satellite trails, cloud interference or a guiding mishap ruining the frame.
For photometry, given the wide variety of target brightness, anything goes (gain, exposure time and filter) to achieve the correct exposure.
In all cases gain and exposure shall be verified from the fits header, to ensure the use of the correct calibration masters.
The filters are Baader CMOS-Optimized RGB-R Bandpass Filter and Baader 6.5nm Narrowband Ha, OIII and SII. All 36mm round, unmounted.