FaB-Bo-Peep

Absolutely stunning!

These have got to be the best I've ever seen, simply stunning!

Wow, amazing! 🙂

Simply stunning! 🙂

Love the colours. 🙂

Thanks and you can indeed, I experimented with the exposure length at the beginning of the session and settled on 120 seconds so by far the majority were that, however I chucked everything into Deep Sky Stacker, (probably not the best idea but it appears to work), so there was a few 30 secs, 60 secs, 90 secs and even a single 180 secs thrown into the mix. Deep Sky Stacker ended up rejecting some of course but based on what I had thrown in the total exposure time would have been around 30 minutes. ISO was 1600.

It must be about 5 months since I last managed a telescope session , (the clouds have been relentless), but the other night I managed a quick session and thankfully all the equipment worked without a hitch. This is around 30 minutes of data of the Orion Nebula with the smaller Running Man Nebula just above it. I cannot get a good view of this from my back garden so moved into the front, unfortunately in doing so I left behind the old style streetlight that has plagued me over the years, (but my filter copes very well with), only to find myself trying to shoot in the direction of a newer LED streetlight, (which my filter does not cope so well with). I would normally sit in the warm controlling everything from my tablet but found myself standing beside my telescope, shielding it from the light, (it was very cold to be standing still, oh what a hobby!). I've undoubtedly overdone the colours in this one but I'm a firm believer that there is no right or wrong as 99% of it is down to artistic licence and I do like colourful images. Capturing the data is tricky but so is processing it and as I tend to muddle through with very limited knowledge, it's very hard to know when enough is enough in terms of tweaking. Anyway, given the short total exposure time and the fact that my filter is of limited use against LED lights, I'm still fairly pleased with the end result but would really like to try this again from a darker location. Imaging scope: Skywatcher 72ED. Imaging camera: Canon 7D. Guide scope, Skywatcher 50mm finder scope. Guide camera: ZWO ASI 120MC-S. Mount: Skywatcher AZ-GTI. Filter: Optolong LPRO. OVL Field Flattener. All controlled from an ASI AIR PRO. Images stacked in Deep Sky Stacker and processed in StarTools and Gimp.

New equipment and the chance to use it straight away, that's unheard of! Absolutely fantastic and a most promising first light. 🙂

Simply stunning!

That's a piece of art!

Thanks Peter, I am again amazed by what the 72ED and standard DSLR can achieve from my light polluted garden, (especially given my very limited processing skills).

Here we have a total of 78 minutes, (26 x 3 minute exposures), of the North American nebula. This is a tricky target for me but I'm happy with how it came out. Once again this is taken from my light polluted back garden. Imaging scope: Skywatcher 72ED. Imaging camera: Canon 7D. Guide scope, Skywatcher 50mm finder scope. Guide camera: ZWO ASI 120MC-S. Mount: Skywatcher AZ-GTI. Filter: Optolong LPRO. All controlled from an ASI AIR PRO.

Here we have a total of 51 minutes, (17 x 3 minute exposures), of the Eastern Veil nebula . I've tried this target previously but felt that the end result was not worth sharing. This time however there is much more detail visible and I am happy. Once again this is taken from my light polluted back garden. Imaging scope: Skywatcher 72ED. Imaging camera: Canon 7D. Guide scope, Skywatcher 50mm finder scope. Guide camera: ZWO ASI 120MC-S. Mount: Skywatcher AZ-GTI. Filter: Optolong LPRO. All controlled from an ASI AIR PRO.

You are very kind thanks Jeremy, it's quick, grainy and cheerful, (right inline with my approach to astrophotography), but most importantly, it's pleasing to me 🙂

Here we have a total of 57 minutes, (19 x 3 minute exposures), of the NGC 7023: The Iris Nebula. I think this definitely could have benefited with more exposure time but with the British weather and short nights, I'm happy to have achieved any kind of image. This is another target that I've never tried before and one I will undoubtedly be revisiting. Again taken from my light polluted back garden. Imaging scope: Skywatcher 72ED. Imaging camera: Canon 7D. Guide scope, Skywatcher 50mm finder scope. Guide camera: ZWO ASI 120MC-S. Mount: Skywatcher AZ-GTI. Filter: Optolong LPRO. All controlled from an ASI AIR PRO. Image stacked in DSS and processed, (with my very limited knowledge), in StarTools and Gimp.