Sterrenland

I went with the 294 when I upgraded from my DSLR to a dedicated camera and don't regret it at all. I think it's an awesome camera. I did research the 533, but it was the square format that put me off. I just thought the 294 provided a better format for framing the targets I'm interest in. But that's probably just a personal choice.

My first attempt to actually catch one of the LDN objects...keen to try out my mount that I had just upgraded with a belt conversion I chose a night with the moon at about 70% 🙄 I picked LDN1251 as it was almost opposite the moon. Using an L-Pro filter to help with a bit of contrast I managed just short of 4 hours of subs (180 second exposures). I always tend to take 'fresh' flats every time I have a night out, but the darks I tend to re-use. The procesing was a challenge...having removed the stars I made numerous adjustments in Curves and Histogram Transformation before re-combining the adjusted stars (just a bit of colour adjustment and Morphological Transformation to reduce their size). I did a final bit of tweeking in Photoshop. It's not easy processing 'dark' dust that doesn't present much contrast to the background! Anyway, here's my first go at LDN1251.

Having been struggling for a while with poor guiding and elongated stars I decided to upgrade my mount with the Rowan belt drive. Last night was the first time I got to try it out and I can only say I'm amazed at the difference it's made. From guiding between 1.0 and 2.0 RMS for months, I immediately got 0.5 last night and my stars were pretty round. Probably not the easiest target to pick to try out the belt upgrade, but I fancied trying to capture a 'real' dark nebula and decided to go for LDN1251 as it was far enough away from the moon. Considering the moon was at over 70% I was amazed at getting just short of 4 hours of data. Previously the mount had struggled settling after dithering whereas last night the modification seemed to make settling sooooo much quicker and reliable. Using an L-Pro filter helped a little with the lack of contrast caused by the moon. As my first 'proper' dark nebula I found the processing a challenge...trying to separate the dark dust and process it against the background of stars and the stars themselves. Having separated the stars and nebula through masks I've done my best to highlight the dust without overdoing it. Anyway, here's my first go at LDN1251.

Having struggled to get my guiding down to manageable levels I decided to upgrade my HEQ5 Pro with the Rowan belt kit which I purchased from FLO. I spent a couple of hours yesterday evening fitting it with a little bit of trepidation. managed to drop one of the tiny tiny tiny washers off one of the motor bolts...half an hour on the floor with a torch solved the problem. I've set up this evening and am trying to get some data of LDN1251...bit of a random target, but it's not right next to the moon! After months of hovering between 1.2 and 2 RMS tonight has seen my guiding around 0.5. Bit of a wow! moment for me. Definitely pleased I did the upgrade. Obviously I'll be able to see later if the shape of my stars has improved, etc. I know RMS figures aren't the only story, but I definitely feel like some progress has been made. From what I've seen so far I would recommend the belt upgrade!

Great image....a new nebula to me so will have to investigate!

Came across your video yesterday...it will come in very handy as I'm planning on upgrading my HEQ5 this week. Thanks for making it and sharing it!

Annoyingly, the last two times I've managed to get out my stars have taken a turn for the worst and seem to have become elongated. The smaller and fainter the star, the worse it seems. The elongation is over the whole image and seems to be horizontal (i.e left/right and not up/down and it is not curved as when back spacing is off). Here is my first ever attempt at the Jellyfish Nebula last night. This shows the elongated stars. The only change to the image train is that I rotated the camera-spacer-filter-drawer-spacers-field flattener optical 'block' in order to assist in framing the nebula. As the whole block was rotated and the back focus hasn't been changed, I'm not sure this would have contributed to the elongation. I have recently been struggling with my guiding and am wondering if this is the casue of the long stars. For some reason I 've been running at about 1.6 RMS. Occasionally it dips below 1.0 I have made sure my guide camera is focussed and I usually do PA a couple of times through the Asiair Pro to pin it down a bit tighter. Using the Zwo 120 mini guidescope I have the gain at about 50-60. I know the seeing hasn't been great, but in the past I tended to easily get the guiding down to 0.3/0.4 I know you shouldn't pay tooooo much attention to the RMS - up till recently my stars were pretty good, but they seem rubbish recently. The most recent addition was a Zwo filter drawer. I initially had a problem with the back spacing, but fitted one of the Zwo extra spacers and it seemed to cure the problem (I assume it was needed to account for the filter glass thickness). Any suggestions very welcome...it's annoying when new problems seem to appear from nowhere. Suggestions to improve the guiding especially welcome. Detail of stars from above image... Image train...

Stunning shot....the detail is amazing. I keep waivering about doing some lunar photography.

Here's my first effort with the Bubble Nebula...managed about 2.5 hours last night and, considering the moon was about, I'm not too disappointed with the result. Taken with an L-Enhance filter. You actually get about five things for the price of one here...there's the Bubble Nebula. Then to the left is the open star cluster M52. The nebula top right is the Northern Lagoon Nebula. The fainter bit of nebulosity to the right of the Bubble is SH2-159 and the two faint streaks bottom right are part of the Lobster Claw Nebula! Back to the Bubble...I've measured it's about 7 light years across (41,150,200,000,000 miles) and about 7100 light years from my kitchen window. It's the expanding shell of gas and dust from a young star. Isn't it a little wonder?!

Don't think this shot is that bad to be honest...I remember my first images using a Star Adventurer and a Canon DSLR and the thrill of seeing these deep sky wonders appear on my screen after a night of photography. I think one of the biggest contributions to improving image quality is dithering. It virtually eliminates the background noise...When I got my HEQ5 Pro mount and started dithering I was just amazed at the improvement.

Great image...I doooo love these dark, nebulous captures. The subtle colours are just perfect.

Like them both...love the detail. I captured the same object about a week ago with my 80mm...I sometimes fancy a bigger scope around 120-130mm to get that bit closer like your shots.

What a booootiful clear night last night...if a little nippy....and no moonlight to get in the way. For the first celestial object of 2022 I present the Rosette Nebula. First time seeing this one...as always it seems a bit magical seeing these wonders appear on my tablet. The image comprises just over two hours of 3-minute exposures. (Annoyingly this nebula is also known as the Skull Nebula...and now I can only see a skull and not a rosette 🙄)

Yes, for general deep sky shots (non-emission) I leave the L-Pro on which does seem to increase contrast, etc. I used this one here. For emission nebulae I have an L-Enhance which bring out the detail. Would recommend both.

I love this...amazing detail in the dust/nebulosity. Stunning!

Why do the very rare clear-ish nights always coincide with almost full moons??! Seeing the stars seems so rare at the moment I'm conditioned now to getting the scope out...even if the moon is wafting its way across the sky. So here's the Orion Nebula taken last night under a moon just past full. Think there's about 1.25 hours of 120sec shots. I'm not a great fan of M42's that have been over-HDR'ed just to show the Trapezium, so my processing is quite conservative. I prefer showing the amazing brightness at the heart of the nebula. Here's to the next clear sky...probably about March 2022!

Decided to reprocess the data...just wasn't 100% happy with the above version. So here's Version 2! 🙄

Took this the other night while waiting for Orion to rise...a quick and dirty capture of M45. In total I took 42 minutes of 120 sec exposures...I'm amazed at the amount of nebulosity that's visible, especially as conditions weren't brilliant with gusty wind, a 44% moon slinking down towards the west and my frozen fingers. Guiding was pretty bad all evening...between 2.5 and 1.7.

I only learned about M78 after seeing some pics on the net recently...I loved the contrast between the red and blue areas of nebulosity/star formation. Despite the moon starting to rise higher in the sky I thought I'd give M78 a go...I wasn't too fond of the gusty wind and the temperature hovering around freezing, but am pleased I managed to capture something. The weather having been what it is this year it's been a case of trying to get outside whenever there's a hint of clear sky. Even using the Asiair Pro in the warmth of my kitchen, I still end up having to go out into the cold for focussing, etc. In the end I managed about 1.5 hours of 2 minutes exposures. Brrrrrrr! I found this one a bit of a challenge to process what with trying to keep the clouds of dust/nebulosity and differentiating between the reds and blues.

Last night's offering was the Triangulum Galaxy. Managed a total of 1.5 hours of 2 minute exposures...it was rather chilly though! Despite the -5 degrees wind chill it was good to get outside...seems like way too long since the last session. This beauty is about 2.7 million light years away and measures about 60,000 light years across. Someone, somewhere, has worked out the galaxy contains about 40 billion stars, though I haven't counted them myself.

First night out for a few weeks and testing my repaired mount - thought I'd give the Cave a go for the first time. Thankfully, the mount seemed to be back in working order ( many thanks to FLO for sorting that out! ). I did have to contend with a 98% full moon so I'm pleased with what the L-Enhance filter managed to extract from the glare. Managed 2hrs 20mins of integration. Another one to try again on a moonless night!

Stunning image...the colour and detail is superb.

First time capturing (part of) the Cygnus Wall...amazing to see the vast fields of gas and dust. Stunningly...and scarily beautiful. Despite bits of cloud drifting over I managed 72 minutes (120sec subs) and used an L-Enhance filter which cut down the moon's brightness. Definitely on my list for acquiring more data.

Lovely image...great detail and very nicely processed.

Lots of detail there...lovely capture. I'd maybe bring the contrast up to make the background a bit less light and misty which will make the nebula 'pop' even more.