A few objects in Pegasus

[Martin Meredith]

Here's a few objects mainly in Pegasus from the other night under SQM 18 skies. All are 15s subs live stacked with LodestarLive.

NGC 7331 + the Fleas. 

Nearby, Stephan's Quintet. I love seeing the fainter tails emerge, showing the various interactions in the group. I was particularly trying to tease out the faint two-part tail rising like a wisp of smoke vertically from the centre of the group. 

Here's another one revisited from last year, the S-shaped multi-armed NGC 7479 showing a line of knots on the lower arm.

Then switching to RGB filters, here's M15, the Great Pegasus Cluster (4 x 15s in each filter) At this focal length I couldn't see Pease 1, a PN within M15. Has anyone captured this using near real-time?

Finally, leaving Pegasus, the irresistible M27 in H-alpha, O-III and S-II (4 x 15s in each filter). 

Thanks for looking

Martin

[PhotoGav]

Great stuff - speed imaging!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very nice indeed

[laudropb]

Very nice images. You did well to get Stephens trio.

[orion25]

Beautiful! It's difficult to pick a fave...hmmmmmm...I just can't do it. I love 'em all

Excellent work as always, Martin

Reggie

[RobertI]

Great detail in all the captures, the RGB capture of M15 is particularly good. This multi-spectral approach seems to be yielding great results for you!

Rob

[aparker]

Love those Pegasus galaxies.  I've looked at all of them recently, but I can clearly see the difference you are getting with darker skies - I just never get to quite that level of contrast with my murky orange Boston skies.  As an interesting tribute to the value of dark skies, I was looking at 7331 visually the other weekend under dark New Hampshire skies using a 100mm refractor and it showed up very nicely - it's actually a pretty bright object, as galaxies go.  No way you'd see a hint of it visually here in Boston...

[Martin Meredith]

Thanks everyone for your kind words! 

Rob, I've now memorised the filter positions and more importantly the direction to turn the wheel… so no more fiddling with a red torch to check the number. Makes a big difference! I think RGB is going to be very helpful for open clusters particularly. I've still to compare the colour rendition to my Lodestar-C but once Cassiopeia is in the right place I'm planning to do a few comparisons. 

Alex, yes, I'm lucky to have darkish skies though not always as dark as I'd like (those shots were at SQM 18 but some nights I can get to SQM 20.5 or so). I've also made quite a bit of effort to flock the scope over the last few months and that has made a difference, I think. I won't say gradients are a thing of the past but I've noticed far fewer of them, and that really helps when improving contrast. 

Martin

[RobertI]

Rob, I've now memorised the filter positions and more importantly the direction to turn the wheel… so no more fiddling with a red torch to check the number. Makes a big difference! I think RGB is going to be very helpful for open clusters particularly. I've still to compare the colour rendition to my Lodestar-C but once Cassiopeia is in the right place I'm planning to do a few comparisons. 

I'll be interested to see the results of your comparison Martin. I am keen to 'go colour' soon but I set up my scope outside and I sit inside to observe, so I think I would need a motorised filter wheel....they seem pretty expensive, but perhaps cheaper than a Lodestar X2C?? 

Rob

[r3i]

A nice set of images. I'd never heard of Pease 1 before and it piqued my interest so I spent about an hour comparing an image that I took of M15 last year with online images that identify where the nebula is (my image was taken with a QHY8L rather than video).  I finally found a smudge that *might* be it. 

[RobertI]

A nice set of images. I'd never heard of Pease 1 before and it piqued my interest so I spent about an hour comparing an image that I took of M15 last year with online images that identify where the nebula is (my image was taken with a QHY8L rather than video).  I finally found a smudge that *might* be it. 

I tried to find the Pease 1 on Martin's image and I definitely found a smudge in the right area after following some star hopping instructions I found, but I think it was the PN plus a couple of stars rather than the PN itself.  A very interesting exercise though.

[r3i]

I tried to find the Pease 1 on Martin's image and I definitely found a smudge in the right area after following some star hopping instructions I found, but I think it was the PN plus a couple of stars rather than the PN itself.  A very interesting exercise though.

Yes, certainly an intruiging object.  I also zoomed into Martin's myself and think I saw what you mean but couldn't decide one way or the other for sure.

[Dave In Vermont]

Great work! Keep going - please!

Nice -

Dave

[Martin Meredith]

Thanks Dave, Mike and Rob. I also took a look at a finder chart for Pease 1 but it is just too small at this FL for me. Must be a few photons in there somewhere though...

Rob, I'll get the Lodestar C out as soon as the clouds disperse. It is the less sensitive model so that will need taking into account. The RGB filters really ought to result in better balanced (or more easily manipulated) colour than the Bayer gridded OSC cam. If I were to buy a setup today, I think I'd go for the mono Lodestar and the filterwheel+filters rather than the colour Lodestar. The filter setup will outlast the camera and is anyway far more flexible, and is about the same as the cost of the colour camera, perhaps even with the narrowband filters thrown in. Motorised isn't as cheap though… For me, I'm keen enough to preserve some aspects of the eyepiece experience that I don't plan to sit inside anytime soon, but ask me again in 10 years 

Taking my own thread off topic for a second, I checked out how images look in the different SGL themes and was surprised that it makes quite a difference. I normally use a white background but switching to the SGL black background theme I can see more gradients in my images, and for some of my previous very brief subs I can see more read noise. Some of the comments make more sense now! What themes do people here use?

Martin

[RobertI]

Thanks Dave, Mike and Rob. I also took a look at a finder chart for Pease 1 but it is just too small at this FL for me. Must be a few photons in there somewhere though...

Rob, I'll get the Lodestar C out as soon as the clouds disperse. It is the less sensitive model so that will need taking into account. The RGB filters really ought to result in better balanced (or more easily manipulated) colour than the Bayer gridded OSC cam. If I were to buy a setup today, I think I'd go for the mono Lodestar and the filterwheel+filters rather than the colour Lodestar. The filter setup will outlast the camera and is anyway far more flexible, and is about the same as the cost of the colour camera, perhaps even with the narrowband filters thrown in. Motorised isn't as cheap though… For me, I'm keen enough to preserve some aspects of the eyepiece experience that I don't plan to sit inside anytime soon, but ask me again in 10 years 

Taking my own thread off topic for a second, I checked out how images look in the different SGL themes and was surprised that it makes quite a difference. I normally use a white background but switching to the SGL black background theme I can see more gradients in my images, and for some of my previous very brief subs I can see more read noise. Some of the comments make more sense now! What themes do people here use?

Martin

Thanks for the advice on colour camera v filterwheel - that really helps.

Regarding the background I use the default white text on black background - haven't tried the others but might now!

[JamesF]

A nice collection there

I think the background can make quite a difference when viewing images.

James

[Astrojedi]

Love the dynamic range in the NGC7331... hard to achieve in live viewing as you are stretching a small amount of data quite a lot. Light polluted skies don't help either.