Hydrogen Alpha Milky Way Astrophotography

by Jeff Ball

Hydrogen Alpha imaging maximizes the strengths of astronomical CCD imaging.  The imaging chip used in the SBIG  ST10 CCD camera has great sensitivity to the Hydrogen Alpha line of the electromagnetic spectrum at 656.3nm.  Matching this chip with the Custom Scientific Hydrogen Alpha filter allows one to image a very narrow line of the visual spectrum.  This combination of the narrow band Hydrogen Alpha filter with the ST10 camera provides an image that is relatively immune to sky brightness from artificial light sources such as mercury vapor street lights.  By using these tools, one can image from moderately light polluted areas.  The resultant image is one with a wide dynamic range that has not been compromised by a reduction in contrast due to light pollution that can brighten the image background.  The images below are the products of combining the narrow band filter with the cooled SBIG CCD camera.  I hope you enjoy the images. 

For more information on the electromagnetic spectrum and the hydrogen alpha emission line, please see NASA at the link below:
 http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/introduction/emspectrum.html

Northern Cygnus with Canon 350D	North America Region
North America and Pelican Nebulae Mosaic	Rosette in Hydrogen Alpha with TV101	Rho Ophiuchus and Antares Nebulae with Canon 350D and 135mm lens	Orion Nebulae in grayscale (film)
Pacman Nebula (NGC 281)	Crescent Nebula in Cygnus	IC1396 in Cepheus with TV101 and ST10	Hydrogen Alpha Horsehead/Flame nebula
Cirrus Nebula in Hydrogen Alpha light	Network nebula in Halpha Alpha Light	IC1805	M42 in HAlpha with TV101/ST10