Deep Sky @ Les Granges

[mftoet]

It was the 10th time for me to visit Olly at Les Granges (Southern France). I spend a week with 4 other members of the Dutch Society for Astrophotography, Temperatures during the day almost hit 40 degrees C. Too hot for those pale Dutchmen (we have the same climate here in Holland as in the UK... Okay, you win: you experience several more showers). During the night, temperature dropped around 20 degrees to 17 degrees at the end of the night. Pursuing astrophotography in shorts and T-shirts wasn't so bad for a change. Not so good for cooling the CCD's. My SBIG ST-8300M wouldn't cool further than -10 degrees.

We had almost 7 completely clear nights. On two or three nights it cleared after midnight (around 01:00 AM CEST). It had brought my FSQ-106ED and INTES MK-69 along. I'm still busy with processing some of my data, but I would like to share several of the best results so far. I chronological order.

NGC 6559, M8 & M20 with the FSQ-106ED at f/3.6 (technical details can be found on my website). NGC 6559 is often overlooked, because it lies in the shadow of M8. It's a beautiful object on its own (although in reality, it probably is part of one bug mass of emission and reflection nebulas. My first approach had an American - let's saturate does colors (note: American spelling) - taste with crunchy stars and looked like this:

A few days later, my tummy got sore of the colours, so I made a more subtle approach. Note that the blues above and below the Lagune that now have become visible/discernible:

My favourite of the week is NGC 6914. Exposed with the INTES MK-69 (I like spikes!). Technical details on my website. I didn't had to use any form of noise reduction, because the nebulas here are so bright and I had a lot of data (9.5 hours in total). The reds are 100% H-alpha (Baader 7 nm filter). The stars are RGB.

Close-up of NGC 6914 (full resolution):

Back to the FSQ. NGC 1333 and many dusty friends. Full field of view:

Same, but with labels:

Crop of NGC 1333 (full resolution):

Last but not least, Van den Bergh 141 (Ghost nebulas) with the MK-69. These area needs an awful lot of data. I had to use several noise reduction tools/tricks in order that get a decent final image:

Same image, L only (from LabColour):

Crop of Casper and friend:

[ultranova]

wow , what a collection of fantastic photos, and very nicely processed.

A real treat for the eyes, well done.

Paul

[Jessun]

I know very well that Les Granges provides great skies, but this doesn't just 'happen'. Professional quality making the very most of a nice setup!

[perfrej]

Aaaaahhhh! Smashing! What a treat it is to experience the skies at Olly's!

/per

[mftoet]

Thanks guys!

I wrote:

let's saturate does colors

Please replace "does" with "those".......

[Chris-B]

What incredible images! im gobsmacked pictures like these can come from a man and his telescope, not multi million pound observatories.

[jarralad]

great pics. enough said

[JamesF]

Lovely images. I definitely much prefer the softer treatment of the second image.

James

[prokyon]

WOOOW! Stunning, great pics! My favorites are the dusty ones.

[squeaky]

Incredible. Stunning.

[jam1e1]

Fantastic images!

[carastro]

Some fantastica images there. Nice and sharp, lots of lovely colours.

I am going to Les Granges next year, just hope I can get some good success as well.

Carole

[SJJ]

Brilliant collection of images. A job well done.

[ollypenrice]

Glorious, Maurice, glorious! 6914 is new to me and is, as you say, a real beauty.

I prefer your European Sagittarius Triplet! (I tend to move the reds a little further from magenta and towards Cyan but what do I know??) You've got a strong Ha signal there pulling out the faint connections between the nebulae and your blue around the Trifid is as good as it gets. That's impressive because it is quite late in the season for these objects so you couldn't have had all that long with them placed high in the sky.

The ghost is a terror of an object, ridiculously faint, but there it is, nice and clear. (I also used lots of nloise reduction even with 21 hours of data.)

I didn't know the widefeid area around 1333 was so interesting. It has gone straight to the top of the list!!

Could you post a link to your time lapse?

Olly

[ronaldo999]

Absolutely stunning images, it looks a very interesting area to image lots going on.

[Tom OD]

Excellent Maurice,

Lovely collection, especially NGC6914, excellent resolution ot the blue central reflection nebula. I'm in the middle of NGC1333 to IC314 myself. Some beautiful web like dusty clouds in there.

Tom.

[Gina]

Absolutely fantastic - a treat for the eyes - thank you for posting them

[Les Tilly]

Very very nice I might have to take a plane ride one day

Les

[Cath]

Beautiful images

[stephane zoll]

Very nice set of images.

On VdB141, you may reduce the color noise further.

Sincerely,

Stephane

[mftoet]

Thanks for all the comments. Much appreciated.

Here's the link to the timelapse Olly asked for:

[Les Tilly]

Great time lap image

What is the glow on the horizon From?

[mftoet]

Light pollution. It becomes visible on long exposure images, even at dark places.

[Cath]

mmmmmm time lapses

[FarSide]

Some fantastic images, mate. Well done.