Finally after 3 months the clouds clear; NGC2237/2244, The Rosette Nebula

[astrovirus]

After 3 months of clouds, rain and fog when here was some winter weather, we finally had 3 clear nights again. Unfortunately I had to pass out on the first 2 nights, but got to see some action on night 3 (January 17 to 18). This image comprizes 2 hours 30 min of 10 minute subframes on ISO 800, calibrated with 5 darks, 20 bias and 13 flats. Captured with Nebulosity 2.4, pre-processing in DSS, post-processing with CS3 (Carboni actions, GxT, HLVG).

Equipment used: 8"F/5 Skywatcher Newton/MPCC on NEQ6-pro/CdC/EQmod mount, guided by QHY5/9x50 Finderguider/PHD. Camera: Canon 350Da

Although it could probably do with a little more exposure time, I am really happy with this result as it shows very nice color all over the star field, with nice round stars into all corners. After being at rest for such a long streak this longs for more and forecasts are looking good for the coming week.

Thanks for watching,

Regards Tim

[26Left]

That's a great shot. What are your skies like? 10 minutes at ISO 800 and F/5 is pretty long by my standards, so they must be pretty dark.

Cheers,

Tom.

[astrovirus]

Thanks Tom,

Yes I'm a bit blessed with my location which is pretty dark for Dutch understanding. I'm in the Eastern part of the country, and despite living in one of the bigger towns around, most of it is situated to my North. Only sad thing are the greenhouses to my South and Southeast, but fortunately they are pretty well shielded on clear nights. I do not have a SQM reading for my backyard, but can tell you the Milky Way is visable by the naked eye and also Ursa minor shows all its stars of the dipper.

I have already done 10 min subs at ISO 1600 with the same setup and recon I can even go a little bit longer in the zenit based on my histogram.

Regards Tim

[26Left]

Sounds a good place to be. On a good night, my NELM is a little better than 5, which is not bad. I see the Milky way through Cygnus in the summer, but only just.

I was flying over the Netherlands on my way to Germany last year and I noticed some large rectangles of bright lights on the ground. Are they the greenhouses you mentioned? What do they grow?

[Beyond_Vision]

Nicely captured with the central cluster stars taking centre stage. It would be worth taking some more subs to smooth it out and it will be a real cracker.

Regards

Kevin

[DugDog]

Congrats Tim! Well done.

[astrovirus]

Thanks guys,

Some more subs are in the planning as it a little bit to noisy to me aswell, but unfortunately the moon is moving in on the target over the coming nights, despite very clear and cold winter skies are forecasted starting tomorrow.

Regards Tim

[Zul]

Very very very nice!