NGC 6995 & NGC 6960 - my first images of Veil nebula

[Martin-Devon]

I started imaging a couple of months ago, so am still on the steep learning curve - especially with the Photoshop processing steps! The Veil nebula though provides an easy and rich source of good targets for a beginner like myself. I'm using just a H-alpha & OIII filter with PHD guiding, but as yet am doing no darks or flats subtractions. The Ikharus refractor/Atik 314/CGEM combination works well on these widefield DSO targets.

[hayju01]

Very nice Martin, great images

[PNJ]

Hi

very nice images. well done

what do youthink of the

cgem mount, does it guide good

cheers

paul j

[Martin-Devon]

Hi Paul, I'm really pleased with the CGEM - this was my first introduction to an equatorial mount & it took me a while to get the hang of setting it up for the first few times, but now its pretty straightforward. Once star & polar aligned the tracking is excellent & I'm doing 3 hour imaging runs with 10 minute subs now. At the end of the stint I have recently also gone back to one of my original alignment stars and been pleased that it was still spot in the middle of the field. It guides very well also with the Lodestar/PHD. I'm sure there will be times ahead when odd things will happen, but so far its behaved really well.

[sgazer]

they are very impressive considering you've just started imaging. Very nice colours in there. I'm interested to know what colour channels you are assigning Ha and OIII to and are you creating a false 3rd channel (like false green with Noel's actions in PS)? Thanks.

[PNJ]

Hi Martin

thanks for the info

when you polar align do you use the built in software for it

[Deneb]

Nice images Martin. The 1st CGEM I had was a duff, but this one I got seems to be very good from the 1st session last night, & it's goto is bang on...

Nadeem.

[Martin-Devon]

Thanks to everybody for your kind comments.

SGazer - for the images, I assigned the following channels: (a) for NGC 6995 HA/Red, OIII/Blue & OIII/Green, and ( for NGC 6960 OIII/Red, OIII/Green, HA/Blue. There were some further colour balance tweaking steps subsequently in photoshop as well.

PNJ - for the CGEM polar alignment I use the software system where you pick any bright star (I use Deneb at the moment since most of my imaging is around this area), and then follow the instructions to polar align the mount using the latitude & azimuth controls. The overall time from initial start-up now takes me around 20 minutes, with the initial star-align & calibration stars step, followed by polar align (on Deneb) step, followed by unsync, and then new star aligning step. I also use an illuminated Skywatcher cross-hair reticule eyepiece 12mm to very accurately get each star spot in the centre of each field - I think this helps a lot.

Regards,

Martin

[Uranium235]

A very nice first stab at the Veil there! Its good to see the 102mm in action becuase Ive been waiting to see if its any good for AP (had thoughts on getting one). I'd like to see someone attempt some LRGB with this scope to see if the colour is ok.

Im surprised at your choice of PA star, I usually go for something thats as close to the sothern meridian as possible becuase its supposed to give the most accurate polar alignment results with the nexstar handset (pretty sure thats what was in the manual anyways!). If youre using a 314L+, then you probably dont need the crosshair EP - just calibrate everything (including the PA) through Artemis capture. This way there will be no problems with rotation when stacking subs from different sessions as youre not constantly disturbing the orientation of the camera (not unless youre using a flip mirror for the ep).

Oh, what do you do for a finderscope on the 102mm? Ive noticed it doesnt have a shoe, does a finder come with it?

[Martin-Devon]

Hi Uranium – I’ve had the Ikharus 102mm refractor for 6 weeks now, and so far it has performed superbly. I’ve not got any benchmark for reference though since this is my first refractor, but I’ve gone straight into imaging as a beginner and it has produced some very good results for me so far. I’ll probably post a few more images soon that I’ve recently got with this scope.

For your query on the choice of star for polar alignment - I’ve just had a quick look in the CGEM manual, and it says that for best results with polar alignment to choose a star that is high in the sky and near the meridian, and to avoid stars close to the west & east horizon. Maybe a star on the southern horizon as you suggest though is good….?

You make a good point about using the Atik CCD instead of an eyepiece for the alignment steps – there are imaging folks my local astronomy club (Norman Lockyer Observatory) that never use an eyepiece either in their scopes, they do all the set-up by viewing the star image/positions via the Atik.

For the finder arrangements, I’ve added an IKI red-dot finder (supplied by Ian King imaging) which screws directly into the side of the Ikharus scope and this works great for initial sighting. Since I also have the ST80 guide scope mounted on top of the Ikharus, I also put a wide-angle EP in this to get the star of choice centred, and from there it’s usually pretty much central in the Ikharus reticule EP as well – which again now I think about it, probably means that I could use the Atik CCD image to fine-tune the alignment rather than using the EP. I think it’s a very good suggestion you make here since it’s one less thing I would have to change during the setting up, and I would just start the session with the Atik already in place in the Ikharus.

Regards,

Martin

[Uranium235]

Thanks for the info on the finder arrangements. Its just that whatever telescope I choose next there needs to be a way to attach 2 finderscopes (as I use a finderguider). Both my finders are of the Synta type, so I'd probably have to have a chat with IK to see how this can be done.

From what you said about your mount alignment, you might as well leave the 314 where it is then. If your finder is lined up with your imaging scope well enough, then whatever is in the middle of the finder should show up in artemis capture. Another bonus to leaving it where it is - much less dust/dirt getting in

My use of the southern portion of the meridian is because the further away from the CNP your PA alignment star is, the better the result, and the little CG5 I have pretty much requires good PA, otherwise it has a hissy fit

[Shibby]

Great results Martin! You have loads of signal and I love the colours and detail. I don't know if it's just my monitor, but have you used a little too much noise reduction?

[Martin-Devon]

Hi Shibby - yes I think there is plenty of scope for improvements - I keep making the beginners error of going strong with the colours, max'ing out the features (hence losing the subtle details) and trying to get the background inky black. I need to be less heavy-handed with the processing that's for sure. Thanks for your comments.

[fatwoul]

Lovely images, and clearly the mount is doing a fine job. Your choices of palette for each image work really well to show what's going on.

...From what you said about your mount alignment, you might as well leave the 314 where it is then. If your finder is lined up with your imaging scope well enough, then whatever is in the middle of the finder should show up in artemis capture. Another bonus to leaving it where it is - much less dust/dirt getting in

Interesting that you say this, because this was my thinking, and I left my Titan and 314 in place in my dome. But with all this rain this week, I was starting to worry that the damp environment might do them more harm, so I've packed them away again. Maybe a ziplock bag with silica gel in it, around the cameras, would be a good idea for anyone leaving there camera(s) in place?

[Uranium235]

That may be the sensible option if its permanently based in an obsy and very wet outside for a while. But I store my gear indoors in the converted cellar so it could still probably use a de-humidifyer. But the zip-lock bag seems a cheaper alternative, its easy to find the zipper bags - but where would you get the silica?

[martin_h]

That may be the sensible option if its permanently based in an obsy and very wet outside for a while. But I store my gear indoors in the converted cellar so it could still probably use a de-humidifyer. But the zip-lock bag seems a cheaper alternative, its easy to find the zipper bags - but where would you get the silica?

Here? 100 X 1GM SILICA GEL DESICCANT POUCHES SACHETS NEEK57 | eBay

[Uranium235]

Very handy (and cheap), thanks!