The 30 Minute Challenge

[Owmuchonomy]

I've often wondered what this thread was about. I'm afraid the only target of mine that qualifies is yet another bright object - M42.  This is 42 x 30 sec subs.  It was taken using my 9.25 SCT on an unguided HEQ5 pro mount with an unmodded Canon 600D in November 2013.  I'm waiting for clear skies this season, which have been VERY few and far between.

[uhb1966]

Can't wait to post my own first real m42 :-)

[MattJenko]

I am waiting with eager anticipation as well. I have only been doing astrophotography for a few months and the winter skies look amazing....

[Christopher Davenport]

I have never posted on this 30min thread before, because my scopes are slow and I usually need about 3 hrs to get them to look good.

Anyway, PHD crashed the other night after only 20min, so I thought I would process anyway and see what came out.

Here are my efforts

[glowingturnip]

the result of a rather frustrating session.  Had had high thin cirrus all week and wouldn't have really bothered except i was running out of scope time, the cloud thickened up again cutting the session short.  Also had PHD crashing problems, due to a dodgy camera connection apparently, so ended up throwing away more than half of the subs, so the upshot is this qualifies for this thread.

The Pleiades (M45) by glowingturnip, on Flickr

13x 120s at ISO800, DSLR at prime focus, darks, flats and bias, equipment as per sig, Pixinsight.

I did 2 minute exposures since I didn't want the stars to over-expose, but actually could have shot for a longer exposure time, and I didn't get as much detail as I'd have liked in the nebulosity, so a do-over required I think.  Still, I'm quite pleased with the diamond-like stars.

Cheers,

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Managed a quick session this evening before a thick band of fog rolled across my imaging site. Didn't really go to plan, was aiming for NGC 7822 originally but couldn't see it in my framing subs on the camera screen. Wanted to try the Pleiades at 200mm but they weren't quite high enough. Conditions didn't look promising, there was already some mist at ground level by that point, so went for an easy target in the end.

22x70 second subs (25 minutes total), 135mm SMC Takumar f2.5 lens stopped down to f3.5.

Interesting to compare it with my earlier effort taken down in dark Cornish skies.

6x120 second subs (12 minutes) with a slightly different lens, a 135mm Super-Takumar f3.5 stopped down to f4.5 (from memory).

[MattJenko]

the thread that keeps on giving. love this one.

[RichM63]

I doubt that you would have had any chance at all from Cornwall, the fog boiled up over here as it started to get dark, fuzzy clear patches around 3.30am then thicker towards dawn. Mug of tea and back to the duvet.

[laser_jock99]

Some recent sub 30 minute shots from earlier in November - all taken with a Teleskop Service/GSO 6" imaging Newtonian combined with an ASA Keller 0.7x Reducer/Corrector and Fuji DSLR camera

IC2117 Seagull Nebula single 227s sub 150mm F2.9 Newtonian ISO3200

Witch Head Nebula four subs totaling 1380s ISO2000 150mm F2.9

NGC2264 Christmas Tree Cluster 150mm F2.9 600x2 ISO1000

Rosette Nebula single 600s sub 150mm F2.9 ISO1000

Horse Head Nebula two subs totaling 238s ISO1000 150mm F2.9

M45 PLEIADES single 600s sub 6" F2.9 ISO1000

Witch Head Nebula 1380s ISO2000 150mm F2.9

Witch Head Nebula 1380s ISO2000 150mm F2.9

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Here's a quick image from last night, 12 minutes on Orion's Belt & Sword at 135mm/f4.5. This was meant to be a set of short subs for the core of the Orion Nebula, but even with 30 second subs it is blowing out!

I also took some longer subs which I'll add to the stack when I can get around to it - got an awful lot of data last night, fingers crossed there is some good stuff in there.

[toxic]

Most of the Rosette Nebula 1 x 300 sec HA - 1 x 600 sec HA - 1 x 300 sec each for r-g-b (good job the processing isnt included in the time lol).

hope you enjoys it as much as me.

thanks 

chris

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Very pleased with this one, a 30 minute Rosette Nebula with my 135mm f2.5 Takumar at f4.0.

[jgs001]

12 minutes (6x2 minutes) on Comet Lovejoy

Comet Lovejoy

[laser_jock99]

Comet Lovejoy 6x 60s 16-01-15 8" F2.9 Newtonian @ ISO800

[StuartJPP]

Unguided AstroTrac TT320X
Baader Modified Canon 650D
Canon 500mm f/4 L IS lens at f/4
15x 120 second subs @ ISO800
16th January 2015

NGC2244 - Rosette Nebula by StuartJPP, on Flickr

[edjrgibbs]

5x5min on the rosette (Rosette Nebula (caldwell 49) - 19-01-2015 - 5x300s (25m) - QHY8L, Eq66, HEQ5, APT CC2014)

5x5m on the Western Veil (NGC6960 Western Veil Nebula - 11-10-2014 - 5x5m - HEQ5 - Eq66 - QHY8L - QHY5FG - APT - CC2014)

[frostynixon]

Great topic!

I have three entries:

M42 - Exposure time 1 x 240s, Nikon D800, Skywatcher EQ6, GSO 8" F5

M13-  Exposure time 30 x 40s, Nikon D5300, Skywatcher EQ6, GSO 8" F5

C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy, Exposure time 40 x 30s, Nikon D800, Skywatcher EQ6, GSO 8" F5

greetings

[toxic]

2 x 600 sec HA

1 x 300 sec S2

1 x 300 sec OIII

and a very bright half moon

i am still amazed at the small amount of data you need to get an image from the 383l+ mono.

the Heart of the Heart nebula in HST palette.

chris

[barkis]

The 10 x Darks should read 10 x Bias, at the bottom of each info block, unable to edit post...

Changed it for you Steve

[BillPickle]

My first effort at the 30 min challenge.

40 x 30s iso 800 subs

5 darks

no flats or bias

[Stevie P]

Changed it for you Steve

Thanks for that...

Really chuffed this thread is still generating interest.

Some really good images from you guys..

Struggling to get out at the moment due to a knee injury...

Still as they say "I`ll be back"...

[DoctorD]

Hi

Thought I'd be cheeky.....

Here's 30 minutes of Electronically Assisted Astronomy using a Lodestar-C colour CCD camera, Baader 35nm Ha filter, INED70 with AE x0.6 reducer operating at 210mm F/L (F3.0) on an unguided HEQ5 Pro taken from Suburban Bradford in a "Yellow" zone.

Each image is a screen capture stacking 10 x 60s exposures live using Lodestar Live, no post processing, only the real time controls available in Lodestar Live and 5 x 60s dark frames automatically subtracted from each frame. You see each frame being added in real time, reducing the noise and enhancing the image.

Horsehead and Flame Nebula

Rosetta Nebula

Cone/Christmas Tree Nebula

Total of 30 minutes exposure for all three;)

If you'd like to find our more about Video Astronomy and Electronically Assisted Astronomy have a look Under Science->Video Astronomy.

Clear Skies

Paul

[laser_jock99]

M42 Orion snapshot- possibly the last chance of the season as it's heading into the twilight fast.

M42 single 60s sub, GSO 6" F4 Newtonian (at F2.9 UNGUIDED) Fuji IS Pro DSLR @ ISO3200

[MattJenko]

Been a while since I posted on this excellent thread. Here is my effort to keep it going.

M13. 10 x 2mins. 20 mins total. ED80/Atik 414ex.

[StuartJPP]

~10 Minutes on the Large Magellanic Cloud. 21x30 second sub's at ISO1600.

Baader modified Canon 6D with Canon 135mm f/2 lens @ f/2. AstroTrac TT320X.

Large Magellanic Cloud by StuartJPP, on Flickr