C27 - The Crescent Nebula in Cygnus - First Light - NB - WIP

[Gina]

Some clear skies last night and thought I'd give galaxies a rest and go for the Crescent Nebula in Cygnus in NB. In fact just Ha and OIII as I couldn't find any SII. the overnight run yielded :- Ha 15x1m + 54x2m and OIII 18x1m + 67x2m but it looks like cloud came over around 2am as after that the subs were useless.

MN190 with Atik 314L+ mono, guiding with Lodestar on OAG and PHD. Stacked in DSS, combined and processed in PS. Colour mapped as follows :- Ha to Red, OIII to Green and 25%Ha + OIII to Blue.

This is the result of just 21 Ha and 12 OIII 2m subs (later I may try adding in the 1m subs since the 2m ones resulted in so few) :-

[emadmoussa]

Oops...I think I came across this last night..and I was wondering what I was looking at Of course it's not as clear as the image - great one though!!

[Stargazer33]

That is very nice Gina!

You were lucky to get some clear skies last night going on the early evening weather report (no I don't really believe them ).

I'm going nuts waiting for a clear night. Every time we seem to get one, it's on a night that my wife and I go out and by the time we get home it's too late to set up! Oh to have an observatory!

Mind you I need a whole night to do what I want to. I would like to get my guiding set-up going, try drift aligning, re-collimate my scope, oh...and do some observing/imaging!

[fwm891]

Hi Gina - good start on the crescent. Needs longer subs I think there's lots more detail inside the crescent shaped top.

[x6gas]

Looking good Gina! The first one looks a little bit over-processed to me - not that I can trust the display on this laptop so it's probably me

[Gina]

Thanks everyone

[Superdavo]

Nice!

[Gina]

I thought I'd got quite a reasonable amount of data with something likr 5 hours of imaging time. I just separated the Ha and OIII subs into separete folders, stacked them and combined them as above. That's the first image. Then I thought I'd check and found about 3 hours of subs were very poor so we must have had some thin cloud come in. As the guiding continued all night it couldn't have been very thick - thick enough to spoil the images but not thick enough to stop the guiding. So I just popped all the subs in the pot, stewed gently and posted the result. Not a very good result IMO.

The second image is, as it says, just the good 2m subs rather quickly processed. Now I'll have another go and see if I can produce something better

[Gina]

Just had another go at it using all the good subs including the 1m ones. Total of 40 Ha and 29 OIII. Stacked in DSS as usual then aligned with RegiStar and combined and processed in PS as above.

[r3i]

That's excellent Gina - lots of detail. Looks like all your new gear is working well.

[andyo]

Really nice image Gina the last one with all the good subs looks the best to me and you have captured the outer shell well done

[Gina]

That's excellent Gina - lots of detail. Looks like all your new gear is working well.

Thanks Mike Have to say I've very pleased with MN190 and the Lodestar, and the OAG is very solidly made. Plus the Atik camera and FW, of course. I feel I've got the "proper gear" now Now what's needed is plenty of good imaging weather and practice

[Gina]

Really nice image Gina the last one with all the good subs looks the best to me and you have captured the outer shell well done

Thank you Andy I don't think it's too bad for the amount of data. I'll carry on with this one on the next imaging night and get more data. I'll also take longer subs and use masking to keep the stars alright. I limited last night's lot to avoid overexposing the stars - I like to see nice tight stars without the colour bleached out.

[jackrussell0232]

Some lovely detail in the Ha, Gina.

I think I might have gone a little too light in my version, but I remember what I caught with my DSLR in this area using just 5 minute subs, and it is in fact quite a bright bit of sky (for 'space' 'that is).

I wonder how much more would come out of your image if you weren't trying to keep the background so dark? This will be out all summer though, so plenty of time to get more data if you want to. There's just so much else to see though!

Jack

[sloz1664]

Hi Gina,

Great to see you have the MN190 up & running and nice to see you using the NB filters. To think you had minimal imaging time on C27 I think they are wonerful images.

Just think what they WILL be like when you add sufficient data. Isn't it imaging lark just wonderful (when things go smoothly).....

I have just received my Astrinomix Ha, SII & OIII filters so hopefully soon I will be imaging with these.

You mentioned your OAG, which one have you got I am in the process of upgrading mine but need a good sturdy one

but with as small a spacing as possible to get my FF/FR, filter wheel & OAG to focus with my ccd cameras.

cheers

Steve

[Gina]

Some lovely detail in the Ha, Gina.

Thank you Jack

I think I might have gone a little too light in my version, but I remember what I caught with my DSLR in this area using just 5 minute subs, and it is in fact quite a bright bit of sky (for 'space' 'that is).

Perhaps but it's better than mine

I wonder how much more would come out of your image if you weren't trying to keep the background so dark? This will be out all summer though, so plenty of time to get more data if you want to. There's just so much else to see though!

Jack

Looking forward to finding out when we next get a clear night - whenever that might be You're dead right about lots to see!

[Freddie]

Very nice work there Gina. Shame you were not able to use all your data.

As we both have MN190, 314+, OAG etc it's always nice to be able to see what others are doing with the same kit.

[RobH]

Good start Gina, and the OIII shell is starting to show some detail.

This really needs longer subs though, especially in OIII. NB in general responds well to long subs....Tim is now doing 2 hr subs (he's bonkers though!....sorry Tim ), and I'm shooting half hour binned OIII on this target.

You don't need to go that far if you don't want of course, but with NB, 10 minute subs will get you a lot deeper.

Cheers

Rob

[Gina]

Very nice work there Gina. Shame you were not able to use all your data.

As we both have MN190, 314+, OAG etc it's always nice to be able to see what others are doing with the same kit.

Thanks Freddie Yes, I agree with that

[Gina]

Good start Gina, and the OIII shell is starting to show some detail.

Thank you

This really needs longer subs though, especially in OIII. NB in general responds well to long subs....Tim is now doing 2 hr subs (he's bonkers though!....sorry Tim ), and I'm shooting half hour binned OIII on this target.

You don't need to go that far if you don't want of course, but with NB, 10 minute subs will get you a lot deeper.

Cheers

Rob

I'm bonkers too And I shall be taking longer subs but not as long as 2 hrs I'll probably go for 10 or 20m

[Gina]

I'm onto this again tonight and now taking 10m Ha subs and 20m OIII subs. Here's a single OIII sub stretched in PS.

[RobH]

Looking great Gina.....cloud over this for me at the moment unfortunately.

It's a very different object in Ha and OIII isn't it.

Cheers

Rob

[Gina]

Here is the result from last night's data. Some guiding problems curtailed the data unfortunately so I plan to add more.

Ha - 4x10m + 2x5m : total 50m

OIII - 3 x20m + 1x10m + 1x5m : total 75m

R = Ha

G = OIII

B = 24% Ha + OIII

So only just over 2 hours total. I lost a lot of time trying to get PA set up using AT - without success

[RobH]

Looking good!!

The OIII shell is fab......just more data now to bring the noise down.

One poin

t about combining different length subs....if you add, for example, a 5 minute sub to 3 x 20 minute subs, the software will assign them all the same priority and so the 5 minute sub will drag back the stack somewhat. Using your OIII as an example, stack the 5 minute and 10 minute subs together, then stack that with the 20 minute subs.

Cheers

Rob

[Gina]

Looking good!!

The OIII shell is fab......just more data now to bring the noise down.

One poin

t about combining different length subs....if you add, for example, a 5 minute sub to 3 x 20 minute subs, the software will assign them all the same priority and so the 5 minute sub will drag back the stack somewhat. Using your OIII as an example, stack the 5 minute and 10 minute subs together, then stack that with the 20 minute subs.

Cheers

Rob

Thank you Rob I'll take your advice and stack the long subs separately - I'm still learning