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Eagle Nebula in Ha

Farooq

By Farooq
in Imaging - Deep Sky

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Farooq

Farooq

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Got a break in the clouds for the first time in a month, and sods law the full moon is out.

So I thought I'd give my new Ha filter a try. Attached is my first ever narrowband image in Ha only. I was quite surprised to get anything given how close the full moon was to the nebula.

Anyhow attached is my feeble attempt, 6x 10min Ha only. Feedback and advice most welcome. The image is cropped.

post-34232-13387776112_thumb.jpg

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Farooq

Farooq

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Thanks for the encouragement guys. I was rather surprised that I was able to get such a clean image considering the short imaging time, and the full moon.

In terms of adding more data to it ,what would you guys suggest, more 10 min subs or longer subs say 15mins ?.

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Quatermass

Quatermass

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Every time I see an image on here done in Ha I am amazed at how good they are, I don't know anything about Ha filters but would really like to learn more about using them. Hope to sort myself out with an HEQ5 Mount later on this season and would appreciate some advice on how you are taking images in Ha fantastic result.

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Farooq

Farooq

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The thing that most surprised me about the final image that came out was the fact that I did not and cannot polar align in the true sense of the word (ie. using polar scope or drift align) because of the position of my balcony. Polaris not visible and limited view of sky.

I just set my altitude and use the iphone compass app and align the mount towards tru north. Then i do a two star align using carte du ciel and my guidescope and PHD.

When slewing to a target it is in usually in the field of view of the guidescope. The rest is PHD, providing the target object isn't too low down, PHD seems to guide reasonably well.

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badgers

badgers

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Are you on a skywatcher mount ?

The new beta firmware will do a polar readjustment for you after 2 star align.

It slews you to a star, you centre it, then it moves it away again, and you use the alt/az bolts to centre it again.

I've no idea how far off a good drift align this would be, but in your case it sounds like it might help given that you don't need to see polaris for it to work.

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Farooq

Farooq

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I have the old synscan handset and do not use it. Instead I use eqmod and Carte du Ciel for alignment. I have 2 black markers on the ground which I placed after my first alignment 8months ago and have not polar aligned since. I just do a 2 star align before I start any imaging and that seems to work for me for the time being.

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Farooq

Farooq

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Yes, your'e right, there is some rotation. I think it might be due to either of not precise enough polar alignment and or maybe balancing. My dovetail plate is only 8 inches, and therefore in order to balance I had to use ankle weights tied with velcro around the dewshield. So not a very secure arrangement.

I'm not sure what one would use to balance the scope which would provide for a more stable and secure arrangement at the objective end.

I used maxim DL for capture and phd for guiding.

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Uranium235

Uranium235

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Are you on a skywatcher mount ?

The new beta firmware will do a polar readjustment for you after 2 star align.

It slews you to a star, you centre it, then it moves it away again, and you use the alt/az bolts to centre it again.

I've no idea how far off a good drift align this would be, but in your case it sounds like it might help given that you don't need to see polaris for it to work.

Pardon? This is something new to me, youre saying SW mounts now have a software polar alignment routine? My wallet is starting to itch :D is this update available for NEQ6 mounts?

Great M16 btw, the first of the year I believe!

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Farooq

Farooq

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Thanks.

I just looked up on the Skywatcher website and the polar realignment feature looks very useful. I think I will be ordering a synscan v3 handset from the UK so I can upgrade it to the new firmware. Anyone want a v2 handset :D

That will mean I only need 2 usb ports for both cameras(guide and imaging) and no longer need the powered usb hub and long eqmod wire and adaptor.

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