Gerr

Wow, fireworks night and a treat in the skies from my back garden. Been waiting some time for this. Very happy to capture this wonderful display!!

Canon 6D Samyang 14mm

f2.8 ISO1600 10secs

The Aurora from my garden:

From the beach:

On 31/10/2023 at 21:56, JonHigh said:

That truly is impressive. I have tried taking the Squid but never see it! I must be doing something wrong. May I ask what your setting were?

Zwo 294 at unity gain (cooled to -5 deg). 300 sec lights.  I acquired 9hrs worth for stacking and included darks (10 x 300secs), flats (12) and dark flats (12). Stacked in Siril, Ha and OIII script extraction. Saved as Tiffs and developed further in Photoshop. Channels replacement (Ha and OIII) and colour balance helped to produce and bring out the blue!!!

On 01/11/2023 at 08:51, ollypenrice said:

Your OIII is way better than mine, which had 11 hours at an exceptionally dark site. I was using a mono CCD (Atik 11000) and Baader OIII filter. This was a decade ago and I think we can say that the technology has improved!

Great stuff.

Olly

Thanks Olly,

OIII extraction with Siri provided a good start but still faint outline that was challenging to bring out in Photoshop! I noticed my star field overlay was inaccurate and I had to re-do the image again (included below). Glad no one noticed!!! 😂.👍

The Giant Squid Nebula (Ou4) and Flying Bat Nebula (Sh2-129) is one of those targets where I thought it was not possible to do from my back garden in Wales!

I'm in a Bortle 4/5 location and the moon was 30% and 50% illuminated over the two nights of opportunity I had this whole month!

The target, by Cepheus, was conveniently quite far from the bright light in the sky and I had an L-eXtreme filter to boot!!

I manhandled the SW Evostar ED80 out of the shed and stuck it on a HEQ5 mount with a ZWO ASI294 MC Pro camera with 'that filter'.

Using APT, PHD guiding (Zwo120mm mini) and Cartes du Ciel (to put in the RA and Dec co-ordinates) the telescope slewed to the target and image acquisition began!!

Over the two nights I managed 9hrs of reasonable data (and lost 6hrs for various reasons).

This data (along with calibration frames) was put through Siril  to extract the H alpha and OIII images.

Photoshop (and Starnet) was then used to bring it all together. This task was really challenging due to the faint OIII data.

Nonetheless the result I eventually arrived at rather pleased me!

Yes, this target was possible from Wales!!

CC's welcome.

The Flying Bat and Squid Nebula:

The cloud canopy that seems to permanently obscure the stars where I live on Anglesey  parted very briefly last week to allow me to test my new Sigma 50mm f1.4 Art lens - Canon fit.

This I matched with my Canon 6D and mounted on SW Star Tracker I managed 12 lights (f2.5 ISO3200 30secs) on the Cygnus region. I also managed another 6 lights with an Astronomik 12nm filter (f2.5 ISO1600 180secs).

Some Darks were also taken and then Sequator used to stack them.

In Photoshop CC the RGB and Ha images were combined to help achieve the final result.

First time I've managed to blend and produce this type of image (I don't think it will be the last either) :).

CC's welcome.

Cygnus Region HaRGB:

Bravo. An utterly marvellous mosaic.  

Brief window of opportunity presented itself last night for me to capture the whole veil nebula with my sky watcher star adventurer 2i and Canon f4  70-200mm zoom lens at 159mm.

I managed 46 useable lights out of 80 and also got 10 dark frames with my Canon 6D Astro modded camera. set at ISO1600, f5 and 60second exposures.

I reckon I got some dust in there too!!!

Hope you like.

CC's welcome.

Veil Nebula and Mothra Star Cluster:

Amazing images and I also like the little satellites in the timelapse video. Superb quality.!!

At this focal length I was able to capture the Cygnus Wall, Pelican, Sadr and Crescent nebula.

Again I was using a Star Adventurer, Canon 6D (modded) and Canon 70-200mm f4 zoom lens.

The previous attempt at 200mm focal length was a test for the lens (and set-up) so this time I wanted to see the performance at 145mm.

Last nights clouds were a big problem resulting in many subs being unusable!

I managed 20 lights (out of 120) at ISO1600 of 60sec exposure using an aperture of f5. Darks (10) were also taken.

Stacked in Sequator and processed in Lightroom and Photoshop CS.

Lightroom denoise was used as only 20 images.

Despite the lack of integration time the result, I think, is pretty good. 

CC's welcome.

Sadr Region Widefield 145mm:

Thanks for the positive comments. They encourage me to keep trying  and making the best of equipment I already have. So easy to spend £££’s in this hobby!! I may have another image to  put up tomorrow (this time with Canon Lens at about 135mm zoom) so as to include more of the sky - similar to the Samyang!!!  Clouds are a problem tonight though, so we’ll see??🤞

I was experimenting the previous night with a Canon 6D and 70-200mm f4 Canon Zoom Lens.

I wanted to see if this zoom lens was any good for 'astro' as it seems that the Samyang 135mm holds a monopoly in this area??

Anyway, I mounted the camera and zoom lens on the star adventurer and aimed it at the Sadr region - hoping to catch some nebula as I wasn't concerned too much on positional accuracy (impending clouds etc).

I extended the lens to 200mm with aperture of f5 and Camera ISO 1600. I managed 60 shots of 60secs duration that looked okay for processing (I added 15 darks too - no flats).

Image was stacked in Sequator and processed in Photoshop CS.

I was quite happy with how it turned out. There is some star distortion / coma in the corners (esp. bottom right) if you magnify but not too noticeable.

I know stepping down the aperture can reduce coma which is where a star adventurer comes in handy.  As long as I use this lens with a star adventurer I don't think I'd need bother with a Samyang 135mm.

Does anyone else have thoughts about this??

'Sadr Cygnus Region' Image:

I've just got back from a holiday in Cyprus where I enjoyed two weeks of great weather and cloudless skies. The first week was crescent moon and Milky Way opportunities abounded so the camera and star tracker came out and I had some fun grabbing a couple of shots.

The first image is a Milky Way panorama over the Troodos Mountains where I did tracked images of the sky (ISO640, f4 at 40sesonds) with a Canon 6D (astro modded) and Rokinon 24mm lens.

The second image was taken at Aphrodites rock with a 50mm lens (ISO640, f2.8 at 30 secs) also tracked shots.

Images were stitched in PTGui and processed in Photoshop CC.  No calibration frames.

Just happy to see the night sky again!!

Hope u like.

Milky Way Panorama over the Troodos Mountains

Aphrodites Rock

Having a turn at Lunar Imaging with the Zwo ASI462MC and IR Cut filter (should of used IR pass filter probably).

The crescent moon is a composite of 4 images taken with the 462MC and SW200P.

The close-ups of Mare Nectaris, Lacus Somniorum and Janssen Crater (I think) were taken with a Televue x2.5 in combo with aforementioned equipment.

Theoretical best imaging for my camera is f14.5 (rule of thumb 5x pixel size camera = 5x2.9= 14.5). I managed f 12.5 with the Televue  and SW200P (f5).

I managed 4000 frames for each image through Firecapture at fps 70 - 100. Processed in Avistack where quality analysis resulted in 1000 frames being stacked for every image.

Post processing and sharpening done in Registax. Composite of crescent Moon done in Photoshop (PTGui didn't like the moon files??).

Hope these images are pretty fair for an 8" Newtonian and Zwo ASI462MC and that my processing is okay??

CC's welcome.

1 hour ago, The Admiral said:

Is that M31 on the left close to the trees?

Super image, MW arcs are one thing, but capture them with the right scenery and it all pops.

Ian

Hi,

Yes, that white smudge is Andromeda! Having nice foreground always helps. I have followed quite a few YouTubers who are masters at this and tried to emulate them!!

Thank you for your kind comments. I will never tire of trying to get these shots (opportunity being so rare)!!

I took this image  just over a week ago at about 1am hoping for the core to pop up over one of my favourite local beaches; Penrhos Beach, Holyhead, Penrhos Coastal Park, Anglesey.

The Skerries Lighthouse can be seen as the yellow light in the middle of the picture with the Beach House on the left (with 'little' Andromeda above it!). I myself am to the right where I can lend the scene a sense of scale.

You can see the light pollution of the nearby Anglesey towns (Cemaes and Llanfachraeth) as well but this did not effect the image too much!!

I used a Canon 6d (astro modded) and Rokinon 24mm lens on a star tracker.

Eight shots in portrait orientation for the Foreground (ISO800 180secs f5.6) and the same number for the Sky (ISO640 90secs f4). 

Pre-edited in Lightroom - panorama stitched in PTGui and finished in Photoshop CC.

Hope you like, CC's welcome.

Thanks, would love to have more opportunities but night time now so short! Took long enough to get this one with our UK weather and then the processing after!! 

Thank you. The xtra’s include a meteor or two and the Rho Ophiuchi complex too.!!

I was up here on 12th May (01:30hrs) waiting for the Arc and galactic core to appear before the Moon did! Been waiting some time to get me a panorama of our galaxy in ‘rainbow’ fashion. The coastguard lookout post was quite a decent and elevated focal point for the foreground and would of been rude not to get myself in the picture too!!!

Taken with a Canon 6D (modded), Startracker and Rokinon 24mm lens.

Foreground 3x images at ISO 800 f5.6, landscape orientation at 150secs. Plus 1x image of a selfie (ISO 1600, 30secs).

Sky 7x images tracked at ISO 640 f4, portrait orientation at 120secs.

No calibration images or stacking of images due to limited time.

Processed in Lightroom, PTGui and Photoshop.

Hope u like. CC’s welcome.

Been waiting for some time to capture the galactic centre rising above the horizon and got a rare opportunity last Thursday. There was heavy rain a few hours before I went out and this resulted in mist and heavy dew on the landscape. This gave me some issues with lens condensation (no heater strap) but the mist was quite nice on the landscape. The shot was taken from Rhoscolyn Coast Guard station as it is a decent site for dark skies towards the Llyn Peninsula where the core was going to rise. Unfortunately I had the RAF base at Valley glowing with all its lights on to deal with!! However I liked the green air glow that this light pollution produced.

Both sky and foreground were shot at ISO640 with aperture stepped down to f4 for sky and f6 for foreground. Sky exposures were limited to 120secs on a Startracker with the foreground taking 150secs (a couple of 30 and 60 second shots were also taken to reduce the light pollution). I used a Canon 6D (astromodded) and Rokinon 24mm f1.8lens.

The image was processed using Lightroom, PTGui and Photoshop CS.

A brief interlude from the rubbish weather about two weeks ago allowed me to have a go at the Cigar Galaxy M82.

I hoped and managed to get some good integration time using a UV filter for RGB and then a L-eXtreme filter for the Ha red stuff (which I knew was at the centre of this galaxy).

I produced two images, HaRGB and RGB versions, to see the difference between them. Well - only one of them gets the Cigar!!! You can choose your preferred one if you wish.

I managed 70 lights with the L eXtreme filter at 300secs (5.8hrs) and with the UV filter I managed 153 lights each of 120secs duration (5.1hrs).

Equipment used was my Zwo ASI 294MC Pro and SW200P reflector on HEQ5 mount.

Images are cropped.

The RGB Image:

The HaRGB Image:

I grabbed the data on this on Dec 17th with my SW200P and ASI 294MC Pro mounted on the HEQ5.

Moon was 39% illuminated so I used the L-eXtreme filter in the imaging train.

I managed 32 lights at 360secs with camera cooled to -10 at unity gain.

Stacked in DSS and processed in Photoshop CS.

The L-eXtreme helped in isolating the narrow band data which allowed me to attempt an SHO rendition.

The result:

CC's welcome.

Reprocessed image:

7 hours ago, Rallemikken said:

Very nice! This is why  I'm considering a dedicated astrocamera myself. I'm nearing the end of my third season with a DSLR, and has to admit I've never catched details like this. The span and variations in colors are incredible. And they are genuine; this is shot with a color camera. No 'creative' editing in postprocessing, other than getting the most out of what already is there. The noise (if there was some) is evened out. Image is clean. Maybe I'd put a feathered mask over the most detailed sections, and give them a careful high-pass filter. Makes wonders, without adding noise if done correct. Other than that, perfect!

Yes for certain a cooled OSC dedicated camera takes you to the next level. Weather, dark skies (I’m Bortle 6) with no Moon help. Post processing is a ‘dark art’ in itself - easy to ruin good data here. You develop your own workflow over time that suits your set-up and data acquired. Always there are tweaks to this!! Many You Tube videos out there (Delta Astrophotography I really like). It’s a constantly evolving process and I am always learning!

Thanks,

Gerr.

I wanted to have a last chance at getting the Orion nebula before this Hunter left our skies. Opportunity presented itself two weeks ago and I just got around to processing it now.

I acquired 33 x 120secs of lights (66 mins) along with 20 x 30 secs to blend Orion's centre in.

The Zwo Asi 294mc pro (with Astronomik LP filter), HEQ5 mount and SW ED80 were utilised for this.

Stacked in DSS and processed in Photoshop CS.

M42 (and the Running Man):

CC's welcome.