Heart Nebula with 200mm lens and astrotrac

[Dave Smith]

This was taken on Tues evening 16th October 2012.

My intention was to get 3 hours worth of 5 minute subs but the weather had other plans so this is 70 mins in 5 minute subs.

It was a difficult object to find as even in a full 5 minute sub, the nebulosity was hardly visible. (see below)

Camera: Canon 40D with 200mm f2.8 lens at 800iso.

and here is a single unprocessed sub. The blue is due to the CLS filter.

I did wonder if I had found the Double Cluster except there is some nebulosity just visible.

Dave

[Gina]

Very good Dave I didn't realise the Heart Nebula was that big. Must give it a go when I get the chance.

[ollypenrice]

Good one Dave. The Double Cluster is down a bit. http://ollypenrice.smugmug.com/Other/Best-of-Les-Granges/i-SgJHrdL/0/X3/HEARTLEY-HEART-FINAL-X3.jpg

You could mosaic in the Soul as well, maybe...

Olly

[Dave Smith]

Thanks Olly. My original intention was to get both the heart and soul but without goto simply found it difficult to identify where the camera was pointing. I cannot tell that the heart was present in that single sub.

I may have another go using my NEQ6 mount.

Dave

[ultranova]

Thats very nice, Love the wide field, so much going on

and the colours look very good,

If your sky conditions are any thing like mine then the use of the clip filter

is a must, but it does make it hard to see if your on target.

well done Dave

Paul

[Digz]

That's great. And it's good to see a single sub As a comparison as it shows the benefit and requirement for multiple subs and stacking.

[Dave Smith]

Many thanks Paul and Lee.

Dave

[Tim]

Oh that's nice Dave, as you say, a tricky target to get framed up and set nicely, but this looks perfect. Good job!

Tim

[Dave Smith]

Thanks Tim, as it is so tricky it does make it difficult to do more than 90 mins as the astrotrac needs rewinding and hence recentering.

Dave

[iksose7]

Beautiful image Dave, results like this are making the Astrotrac more and more appealing as a purchase rather than a big ol' scope and mount.

[Dave Smith]

Beautiful image Dave, results like this are making the Astrotrac more and more appealing as a purchase rather than a big ol' scope and mount.

Thank you. I must admit by being surprised as to how good the astrotrac is. It is however quite expensive when you cost in geared heads. Fortunately I already had a 405 geared head which makes the polar alignment a doddle and already had an NEQ6 tripod that was redundant (I also already have a carbon fibre tripod should I wish to take it overseas) but did need to get a 410 geared head for on top of the astrotrac. A ball head that I already had would tend to slip.

Dave

[Psychobilly]

Nice work Dave I failed miserably to find both the Heart and Soul nebs when I tried a while back...

Fits nicely in the fov

Peter..

[morimarty]

Thats a very nice widefield image of the heart nebula Dave, Great Work!

[Black Knight]

That's another fine image Dave. You're on a bit of a roll at the moment!

[Dave Smith]

Thanks Peter, Martyn and Andy.

Dave

[themos]

I have been inspired by Olly's image and this one to try for Heart, Soul and Double Cluster in one frame with the 200mm lens and the autoguided EQ1. Not this week, by the looks of things, though. Well done! You could try using astrometry.net to help you "GoTo" with a non-GoTo mount. http://stargazerslou...fly-astrometry/

[Dave Smith]

Thanks Themos for the suggestion of using astrometry.net. I usually use EQmod and have no trouble finding a target. My intention with the astrotrac is to normally only use it at star parties where I wouldn't have any signal to access the web. If it should be a regular problem, I guess I will need to sort out using my mobile phone as a modem.

I don't know which camera Olly was using to get all three in a single frame, but with my 40D it is only just possible to get the Heart and Soul. I would have to make a mosaic.

The sub shown above is my full frame and the processed image is only slightly cropped. What looks a bit like the double cluster in the sub is actually within the heart nebula.

Dave

[themos]

You can use astrometry.net without access to the web. It's a big download though.

[Dave Smith]

Thanks. That does look interesting. I believe it can also be done with MaximDL which I already have. Time to look into this properly.

Many thanks

Dave

[themos]

I wouldn't bother with the MaximDL plate-solver. It hardly ever gets it right and it needs to be told roughly where you are anyway. The astrometry.net solver just works.

[Gina]

Think I'll have to download astrometry.net and see how it works though I can usually find things now I have a wide-field long exposure imaging system I can use as a finder.

[Tom OD]

Lovely pic, that lens doews a great job on the deep sky objects

[Dave Smith]

Thanks Tom.

Dave

[stellawolf]

Another great image Dave well done

[Dave Smith]

Thanks stellawolf

Dave