Another M57 Ring Nebula

[jonifive]

Bet you are all getting sick of looking at this bleeder!!

I had to have another go at it, this time with the Newt (SW200). Prime focus with my Nikon D40. 20 second exposure at ISO400. I took 10 of these and two darks, then stacked them in DSS. The result was utterly carp. So I played with this single shot in PS2 (just Levels and Curves). Alignment was poor as usual, and the focus is out, but you should of seen my M31 earlier in the evening.....I laughed my socks off!

What do you think?

(click to enlarge)

JV

[SteelRat]

Never get sick o that one JV. Nice shot 8)

[GazOC]

I agree Matt, its a great object.

[lunator]

JV

M57 is always a treat to see.

For asingle shot this is a good starting point.

Have you thought about 15 sec at ISO800?

it could be the right balance

Cheers

Ian

[jonifive]

Thanks guys

Ian, I did a 15sec at iso800, but the LP turned the whole image orange. My garden is a really bad imaging spot. I can't win I'm afraid.

JV

[lunator]

JV

I understand, I can usually get away with ISO800 when I do my afocal pics but tonight the sair was very damp as it cooled and the LP was pretty horrendous

Sound like narrowband is the way to go

Cheers

ian

[jonifive]

Just had a look at Kai's narrowband M31, even with the relatively poor seeing it seems to bring out a lot of detail.

I need to buy a few more things before I play with narowband filters....namely a goto upgrade, some dew straps and a decent barlow!!! The dew tonight was a real pain.

JV

[CELESCOPE]

Nice wide field JV, always looks nice nestled in a wide field .

ever thought of gettin a cheap ccd camera JV ,if you really want to overcome this pollution, b/w imaging with a CCD will allow you to take a huge leap in imaging, mostly anything up there, dont think you can be much worse than me for light pollution, have to be careful what filters you use when u get them , make sure what you need for certain objects , plenty of advice on here .

Rog

[jonifive]

Thanks Rog.

I have a celestron webcam and hope to have a go at Mars before long, but it isn't much good at anything else I believe.

Lots of people seem to be buying Berns QHY5 cam, what do you think? It is in the price range I can get away with but it will eat at my synscan fund.

What do you recommend Rog?

JV