MarsG76

Even with the gradient, I think it looks awesome... great detail.

That looks great, one of the objects I wish I could image from my location.

Hello Astronomers,

I managed to get some time to process another of my images exposed in January/February.

This was the last image when my USB port on my Astro40D failed. This happened while imaging this scene but it happened toward the end of the imaging plan so I got almost the subs that I wanted. The total exposure time was 16 hours and 16 minutes in ISO1600 for all of the subs, RGB, (OSC through the UV/IR Cut filter), HAlpha and OIII.

Imaged through my 8" SCT at f6.3, 1280mm FL on the CGEM mount.

Clear Skies,

MG

The Canon 350D is capable of some great imaging results.... if it's mot astro or full spectrum modded, I recommend you mod it as when I modded my 40D, it opened up a universe of capabilities, and my 40D is not that much more recent than the 350D...

All of my deep sky images are imaged through my Canon 40D...

47 minutes ago, Thalestris24 said:

Alas, the LP here is so bad even 3nm Ha still gives me unwanted gradients 😞 

Louise

 

WOW!!!

On 10/04/2018 at 08:14, Thalestris24 said:

If I'm brutally honest to myself, I think I've probably wasted my money  Although I'll probably get the odd clear night or two over the course of a year, it's not enough to be able to justify the expense of several imaging setups. Especially not when you add in the increasing light pollution. I think I must be a masochist. Hey ho.

Louise

The light pollution reason is where imaging comes to play... especially the narrowband side of it....

Yeah, clouds are always showing up at the worst time.. most solar activity in months or moon less nights.

Hello Astronomers,

This is a center crop of Sh2-308, AKA The Dolphin Head Nebula in the constellation "Canis Major".

I was told that it is a waste of time to image this object with a DSLR. Apparently you need a cooled mono camera to get anything but I figured that my DSLR is cooled somewhat, modded and I have nothing to lose to try.... and IMHO the result is better than I was expecting it to be.

This was imaged through Baader 7.5nm HAlpha & OIII narrowband filters using my full spectrum modded and cooled Canon 40D DSLR and the Bosma 80mm refractor at 500mm focal length. This photo consists of 46x1200s of HII, 35x1200s and 2x600s of OIII and 36x60s, 32x150s and 21x210s of RGB subs @ ISO1600 for a total exposure time of 30.5 hours.

This object is very weak in HAlpha signal but very strong in OIII. The benefit of a color camera is that I captured two spectra lines in one exposure, I had OIII signal in the green channel while simultaneously captured HBeta in the blue channel in the stack. I assembled this image as HAlpha as Red, OIII as green and HBeta as blue.

The weak HAlpha signal outlined some parts of the bubble (the front of the dolphins head) so even if the HAlpha was weak, it was not a waste of time as it added detail to the image. 

One thing that is different with capturing this image than my usual imaging procedure was that during my last imaging project, my USB port on my DSLR failed, meaning that I couldn't dither my subs, which would make a bit of a difference. 

Thank for looking,

Clear Skies,

MG

Great work on what is obviously a very dim object....

1 hour ago, geoflewis said:

Yes, it’s useful, but clearly it is not as sensitive as a dedicated SQM-L meter. I exchanged emails with the developer a couple of years ago and he advised that the iPhone 6 camera is not reliable beyond about 21.5, so there is a need to take any readings lower than with caution. On several occasions I’ve got a reading of ‘Invalid’, which means the sky was too dark for the app to interpret. The readings I get are broadly consistent with LP maps for the area where I live, so with those reservations I consider it a useful app, sufficient for my needs.

To me that looks like a very good review of this app.. considering the cost of only $2.99 and as you say that it's consistent with your area, only failing when it's too dark... tells me that it'll be accurate enough for 9/10 locations and those times when it displays "Invalid", you know that you're in a very dark spot.... 

Great colors.... 

Very nice result of the Claw.. 

20 minutes ago, geoflewis said:

Yes, otherwise I couldn’t use the app. It’s a black screen with red writing like this...

You take a dark frame first then point the camera at the zenith to take a sky exposure.

Looks like a useful app.. thanks for the tip.

Awesome choice of a telescope.. I had some of the best views through my 8SE.

The GPS module is helpful if you travel with your scope, it'll speed up your setup time with you not needing to constantly search for the GPS coords... that said, it can take time for the GPS to lock on to the satellites so it all might even out. eitherway, not a critical accessory.

The other thing I recommend for you scope is a 2" diagonal and a couple of wide field 2" eyepieces like the 31mm Nagler and 17mm Ethos from televue for deep sky views and a 7mm eyepiece for planetary observation.Filters also are very helpful in observation.... I recommend a 2" Astronomic or Lumicon UHC filter for the 2" eyepieces for your deep-sky views and a neodymium and (not as critical) contrast boost filters for planetary observation. These filters will really reveal some of the finer details... especially during the most transparent sky nights.

The above mentioned accessories are what I use 90% of the time for my observation.

WOW, absolutely fantastic....

On 23/04/2020 at 17:07, tooth_dr said:

Superb, what a close up!  An unusual part of the sky for us up north. 

Thanks, Native focal length of the 8" SCT is probably the limit of what my CGEM can guide at without too much atmospheric blur while still delivering round stars.

I like to target the southern sky objects since they seem to be mostly neglected by other astroimagers.

This nebula has a few interesting features which I plan to target for close ups in the future.

Clear skies,

Mariusz

Slightly reprocessed and added the RGB data to the Narrowband signal.

Hello Astronomers,

I hope everyone is keeping safe in this weird time we have found our selves.... I guess social isolation is something that us astronomy geeks are used to, goes with the territory.

I have been imaging a little bit between  the full moon and cloudy nights... I have acquired some data of three objects since January that I'm only starting to process very slowly as time permits. It is easier start to to collect photons than sit down to process the data. 

The attached is a close up of IC2944 around the Bok Globules area, AKA The Running Chicken Nebula... imaged in SHO hubble palette.

This is the latest image exposed...This nebula is a deep southern sky object, located about half way between the Southern Cross and The Carina Nebula.

Since I have a permanent setup in a small hut, I found myself starting the exposures during multiple night as I arrived home from work, tired and only wanted to go to sleep. If I didn't have the gear already setup there is no way I could (or would have the will to) spend so many nights on exposing subs, but as in my current situation, it is easy to just start the exposures and go to sleep... deleting the failed subs the following morning/day, and continuing during the following clear night for as long as I wanted....

The exposure time of this was about 60 hours in total, 55 subs each of 900 second HAlpha, 1200 second OIII and 1800 second SII subs, at ISO 1600 using my cooled Canon 40D astromodded DSLR. Overkill.. maybe... but can't hurt.

The tracking was on a CGEM mount, through a C8 SCT at native F10 (2032mm focal length) autoguided on PHD2 using a OAG.

Clear Skies,

MG

Awesome image....

Pity that we can't image from earth with enough detail to have a hint of the remnants of the mission.

Excellent result.... you definitely put a lot of effort into this masterpiece, well done.... we're aware of the challenges that plague us when we're imaging the heavens.

Excellent galaxies, love'em

Those images are superb.... I dare say this is the best amateur photo I have seen of the M82.... only better one was a hubble image.... well done.

Looking great.. very smooth....

Great looking image, plenty of detail and great colors... the only critique I have is that perhaps the black levels are clipped at bit although it could be the monitor with which I'm looking at it. I find that the darkest black level 14-18 in photoshop looks ideal.

Looks good