Elephant's trunk in Ha 22/04/11 *more Ha data added :)*

[Whippy]

We're heading into that little part of the year when galaxy season is on the wane and there'a a little hint of the summer objects before the dreaded 'dead zone' of no darkness . Faffed around for a bit before this creeped over the back fence and despite the sky varying from initially pretty good to bad during the night, I can't detect a huge amount of difference in the subs, thank you Ha filter! I think given the chance this needs a bit more exposure time on it as I think I've over smoothed it so it looks a little 'plasticky' but as it stands I'm happy enough with it .

Looks clear tonight but I'm at work 'till 11 and I've only had 3 hours sleep so not tonight Josephine!

Total exposure: 4 hours 10 mins (25 x 10 mins). Taken with an Atik 16hr through an ED80, WO FFII (bringing it down to 480mm @ f6) and a Baader 7nm Ha filter. Guided with a QHY5, ZS66 and PHD all atop the trusty EQ6 pro. Stacked in DSS and processed in photoshop.

Tony..

[AndyUK]

Superb shot and great framing, Tony... My daughter thought it looked like a dementor...!

[Whippy]

Thanks Andy, as it happens I've been watching the Harry Potter films with my boys and I see excatly what you mean!

Tony..

[MikeD]

Great result Tony, deep and clean.

Mike.

[dc509]

Excellent image. I take it that's uncropped - must be a huge target to capture.

d

[ollypenrice]

Spot on. Great focus and resolution there.

Olly

[Paxo]

Fantastic shot Tony. It does make you wonder what some of the nebulae would be called if named today!

Steve

[Whippy]

Thanks guys .

Excellent image. I take it that's uncropped - must be a huge target to capture.

It is uncropped, the FOV I get with this setup is about 50 x 65 arcmins so to image the whole area takes a pretty wide field! Saying that though, this is one of those objects that has some great detail inside itself so there's something for everyone really.

Fantastic shot Tony. It does make you wonder what some of the nebulae would be called if named today!

I still see this as the 'wizened old man nebula'!

Tony..

[Boren]

Very nice result Tony!

The near-no-darkness zone is why I favor short focal lenghs so much, aiming to make each hour count much more. Another reason (for me) is that I have to travel to dark sites for imaging, which makes my imaging time even shorter...

Cheers,

Harel

[alaskacam]

Great shot.. Tricky object...

[Whippy]

It was unexpectedly clear last night so it gave me a chance to add some more to this. Intermittent guiding issues that I couldn't find the problem with meant that over an hours' worth of subs had to be binned so there's only another 80 mins' worth of data here. Still, it's an improvement . Now the total exposure time is 5 hours 30 mins (33 x 10 mins).

Tony..

[AndyUK]

Coming along VERY nicely Tony - Looking smoother and some subtle detail now coming through... .

[Whippy]

Thanks Andy , I think I'm done with this now although the difference between the data from last night and the 22nd was noticeable in the subs so maybe another go in the future.

Tony..

[AndyUK]

That's the thing I really like about imaging - You can always add to them at sometime in the future, be it tomorrow, next week or next year...