NGC7023; The Iris Nebula from Die, France

[astrovirus]

Enjoying a very nice and warm vacation to the South of France, Die to be exact. Clear night after clear night. Despite my second night was spoiled by technical issues with guiding I did produce this image of The Iris Nebula on my first night out

Details of the image

Telescope: Skywatcher 8" newton @ f/5

Mount: Skywatcher NEQ6-pro/CdC/EQmod

Camera: Canon 350D Baader ACF self-modded

Guiding: QHY5/9x50 finder guider via PHD€

Filters: MPCC

Exposure: 38 x 5min. (3 hrs 10 min), 18 darks at 18.5°C (shot the next day with the TEC), 20 bias, 40 flats

Acquisition: Nebulosity 2.3.0

Processing: Calibration, Registration, Stackin in DSS (Kappa-Sigma)

Post-processing: Nebulosity 2.3.0, Adobe Photoshop CS3; Carboni actions

Date(s): July 29 & 30, 2011 (23:00 - 3:30)

Temp: 21-17°C

Thanks for watching, regards Tim

[Willarnold]

That's a fantastic shot!

[Keiran]

Stunning, truely fantastic

[Shibby]

Great image of the Iris, you've picked up a lot of that faint dust (I see you're making the most of nice dark skies).

[MjrTom]

The detail in the dust and light reflected through the nebula just looks really three dimensional.

Thanks for sharing

[foundaplanet]

That's a beauty

[Yoddha]

Stunning image!

[blackparticle]

Wow.. All that in 3 hrs with a DSLR. Stunning.

Out of interest, what ISO setting did you use?

[dgsgc]

Superb, seeing the dust like that is amazing, i dont know how you guys do it...

[astrovirus]

Out of interest, what ISO setting did you use?

Since I opted to not use the TEC because of probable power issues (Only 10A at our place, and all of the gear was estimated around 9A peak with our other power needs) I used ISO 800.

[Rustysplit]

Cracking shot. Gives hope to us dslr users just starting out.

[Boren]

Just wonderful - and so happy to hear you're enjoying a GOOD time there

You might like to check out the following technique:

make another layer in PS

go to curves

go to the red curve

choose a point which is quite bright

press control

the point will show on the red curve

push this point up 3 points

close

repeat a second time

apply to the image with a mask protecting the stars and the sky

you'll see the dust much better

cheers,

Harel

[ollypenrice]

Hi, I have just done this from a little to your south. (I know Die well and my UK home town of Wirksworth is twinned with it.)

You have a good capture there, very good. The wide dutfield is excellent. I'd have a good look at Harel's advice because, when it comes to these dusty objects, he is most certainly the man. I'll be having a look myself.

Olly

[Yoddha]

Just wonderful - and so happy to hear you're enjoying a GOOD time there

You might like to check out the following technique:

make another layer in PS

go to curves

go to the red curve

choose a point which is quite bright

press control

the point will show on the red curve

push this point up 3 points

close

repeat a second time

apply to the image with a mask protecting the stars and the sky

you'll see the dust much better

cheers,

Harel

Harel, looks very handy trick! Sorry for the stupid question but can you explain a bit more the last step:

apply to the image with a mask protecting the stars and the sky

Many thanks in advance!

[AndyUK]

Harel, looks very handy trick! Sorry for the stupid question but can you explain a bit more the last step:

apply to the image with a mask protecting the stars and the sky

Many thanks in advance!

Yes, I'd be very interested in this too... (Please?!)