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I am convinced that you've got it Steve and can understand your excitement! Cheers, Göran

Thanks a lot for this Martin and the judges! I am very happy and proud! Yes there were a lot of great images submitted by many. 117 hours of clear sky I apparently had is actually not even two weeks (assuming 10 hours of darkness on an average night), but I get the impression it would still be a lot in the UK. Cheers and thanks again! Göran

Realised it was a bit oversaturated, so a slightly softer version.

This is definitively the final image of the season due to lack of astrodarkeness. I recenttly posted an image of IC5068 and have now added a panel south of IC5068 (which in turn is just at the feet of the Pelican Nebula), so a two panel mosaic. These nebulae from Lynds' catalogues of bright and dark nebulae are surprisingly seldom imaged although several of them are well worth a close-up. Imaged with dual RASA8 and ASI2600MC with IDAS NBZ filter. All on a Mesu 200. 142 x 5 minutes, so about 11 hours. Processed in PI and PS (including Star Xterminator). Cheers, Göran

Thanks Mark! Go fo it! I have the same problem - proper astrodarkness is gone so tonight will most likely be my last imaging night.

Caught this wide-field image with the Samyang 135 piggybacking on my dual-RASA rig. Thought it was most striking in a starless version, giving me the impression of an enormous mass of interconnected glowing Ha-emission covered by dark nebulosity. Also, I have not got the sensor-distance perfect so pixel peepers would have had a field day on the starfield. Samyang 135 with ASI2600MC and IDAS NBZ dual-band filter. On Mesu 200. 15 x 10 min at gain 100. Processed in PI and PS. Made starless with Star Xterminator. Comments welcome as allways! Cheers, Göran

Thanks for all comments! They made me completely rework it. Adjusting the colour curves made the dark ring around the main nebula less apparent:

Thanks, but I am not sure how to make a proper comparison as I have dual-band OSC data, so no pure Ha data.

This is the less well known neighboring nebula just south of the Pelican Nebula. I thought I had taken my last image for the season since I have lost astrodarkness, but then a clear night appeared and it is still about 3 hours of nautical darkness, so I decided to give these rather bright objects a chance using the NBZ dual-band filter. The dual-RASA rig also allowed me to double the data collection. It could be that I get one more short night and I am thinking about adding a frame to the left or below this one for a two-panel mosaic. Any suggestions? Imaged with dual RASA8 and ASI2600MC with IDAS NBZ filter. All on a Mesu 200. 62 x 5 minutes, 5.2 hours. Processed in PI and PS (including Star Xterminator). Cheers. Göran

It could relate to how much Ha is let through in the background sky, and I turned it up quite a bit.

I was also thinking about this. I did not use DBE but Gradient Xterminator in PS. I decided to leave it as it is since it could be for real especially since I see a lot of structure (dark nebulosity) in the dark area around IC1396. I also found some images suggesting a darker area around the nebula, like this one: https://www.astrobin.com/g59ygw/ and it may be that my strong suppression of the star field (using Star Exterminator) brought out more of the underlying nebulosity and thereby the dark stuff. Also Aladin (DSS2) suggest that there may be a dark area around the nebula (attached image). Maybe someone knows more and have a comment?

Thanks a lot Tom, much appreciated!

Thanks a lot Paul and good luck with your new lens! CS Göran

Thanks! You will get there! CS Göran

It is an amazingly good camera. Only problem is that one batch suffered from oil behind the sensor leaking onto the front. I had tha happening to two of mine but It was quickly and apparently permanently fixed ny TS.

Thanks a lot Carole! Yes quite dark with an average SQM of 21.5 so Bortle 2-3

Thanks Adrian! This is what the Squid looks like after 6 hours with just the RASA8. I am sure the dark sky here helps a lot for such a faint thing. I really like the complex sky in your AB image.

Thanks! He, he🤣. Maybe that is a good reason to have a piggy back: getting that extra surprise the next morning. A new form of lucky / unlucky imaging!

This one was not planned. I thought my recently posted image of the Elephant's Trunk was the last one for the season, as I had almost forgotten that I was testing out sensor distances on my Samyang 135 with ASI2600MC piggybacking on my dual RASA8 rig, while aiming the RASAs at the Elephant's trunk (see the previously posted image). I had not realized that the squid was so nearby. If I had known I may have made an effort of framing this image better, but at least I did not accidentally decapitate the squid. To the 17 x 10 min of Samyang data I have added ca 50% RASA8 data to the Elephant's Trunk and 30% to the Squid. All with IDAS NBZ filters and ASI2600MC cameras. Totally probably around 10 hours of data. Comments most welcome! Cheers, Göran

Thanks Alan for the very kind words!

Thanks a lot Steve! I have to admit that I actually had a go at the Rosette a few moths ago😄

I am usually aiming at something rarely, or in best case never, imaged, which gives me a thrill (and sometimes a dissapointment). However, this was the last night of the season since astrodarkness is just about to disappear up here, and most nebulae are now behind my northern obsy wall. So I played it safe and aimed at something bright and striking, IC1396, and therefore often imaged. Fortunately my dual-RASA rig doubles the length of the night. However, processing it was interesting since I found it hard to find any thrustworthy reference image to glean at. This seems to be the nebula where everyone goes ad libitum and over the top when it comes to colours, whatever filters used. Well, here is my version of it. Ha and Oiii, with the quite broad bandwidths of the lovely IDAS NBZ filter. Facts: RASA8 with ASI2600MC (gain 100) and IDAS NBZ filter. Mesu 200 mount. 86 x 5 min, so about 7 hours. Processed in PI and PS (including a Star Xterminator step). Comments of course welcome! Cheers, Göran

Thanks Lee! Good to know. I assume with version #3 you mean #4. Maybe I should stick to #1 then (was done on my new 42" monitor at work, while the last three were done with a smaller older monitor at home in a rather bright room).

Sh2-160 in Cepheus This very rarely imaged object from the Sharpless catalogue is located about 2.5 degrees north of the Lobster Claw and Cave Nebulae. I can only find one other image of it on Astrobin. Quite strong in Ha but no Oiii to be found by the NBZ dual-band filter. Imaged over two nights (23-24 April) since nights are getting very short up here, so this willl be my second but last image for the season (I can say that since I have collected the data for a final one). So, dual RASA8 and ASI2600MC (gain 100) with IDAS NBZ dual-band filters (Ha+Oiii) on a Mesu 200 mount. 90 x 5 min, so 7.5 hours. Procesed in PI and PS . Cheers Göran

Had another look at it this morning which resulted in a new and hopefully better version with less magenta tone on the dust.