First go at narrowband imaging - NGC 7000

[blackparticle]

I have to give a nod to TJ for providing the inspiration and method for this. He posted a very similar image a few weeks ago after getting his Starlight Xpress camera hooked up to a Pentacon 50mm lens which gave me a good benchmark to test my setup out on.

A big thanks to Terry as well at SX for sending me the adapter f.o.c.

SXVF-M8C (2x2 binned)

Pentacon 50mm f1.8 (@f2.8) .. £20 on eBay !!

Baader Ha 7nm Filter

NEQ6 (Unguided)

11 x 600s - 5 darks

Captured in Nebulosity 2 - Stacked in DSS (x3 Drizzle) - Processed in Photoshop CS4.

I am a happy bunny!! I can finally take pictures when the moon is full!!

Alan

[blackparticle]

I've managed to squeeze in a few more hours between the clouds.

Now up to 33x600s. I'm going to keep adding to this when the skies permit to see how it evolves. A set of subs at a higher f-stop might be good to tighten up a few of the stars.

[fwm891]

Really really great!

[Coco]

Looking smooth... now some S2 O3

[ollypenrice]

You're reaally getting there with that. No-one ever had more narrowband data than they needed...

If you want to stop down, using a front aperture mask has the advantage of not creating spikes. I will be making one as soon as Mr Postie brings me a compass-cutter.

Olly

[fwm891]

H&S at work - No scalpel blades taped on to compasses for Olly!

[blackparticle]

You're reaally getting there with that. No-one ever had more narrowband data than they needed...

If you want to stop down, using a front aperture mask has the advantage of not creating spikes. I will be making one as soon as Mr Postie brings me a compass-cutter.

Olly

That's a good idea. It's probably a bit late for this one but I'll have to see if I can make one.. or, as I use a Cokin filter holder as the basis of my dew-shield, I should be able to slot one in there.

As for the image.. I'm now up to almost 15hrs of Ha.

Apart from the rounding of a couple of the stars, it hasn't added much to the 600x600 screen image (which is approx 16% of the original).. What it has done though is added a lot more detail to the full-size 16-bit "print" version.

After 2 failed attempts at different guide cams, I've now ordered a Lodestar. If that doesn't work I'll probably give up astrophotography and take up crochet!!