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It Was Nice To See You M8

StuartJPP

By StuartJPP
in Imaging - Deep Sky

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StuartJPP

StuartJPP

Posted
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Taken on holiday on the 5th of May 2014 in Fuerteventura (loosely translated as 'Strong Winds').

As usual I used my AstroTrac (unguided) and my Canon 500mm f/4 L IS lens though this was my first outing with my newly self-modified Canon 650D, which I hadn't really tested properly due to bad weather so risked taking it and leaving the trusty Canon 1100D behind. Glad I did, the touch sensitive flip-out display was awesome.

The long term weather prediction on arrival had winds of 35-45km/h and I thought that I wouldn't get a chance to get out...but luckily they get the weather wrong there just like they do here...Conditions were ideal on this specific night, very little wind and clear skies, though quite a bit of light pollution from the beach promenade floodlights. I managed to get as far away from them as possible on foot without hiring a car (which I should really do!).

This time around, as opposed to last year, I decided to spend more time on a single target instead of jumping from one object to another. So I tried to get at least a full 2 hour session (one full AstroTrac "cycle" before having to rewind and re-frame) on each target that I went for. The problem is that these objects are fairly low on the horizon and only rise well after midnight so not too much time can be spent on them before Venus starts to show shortly followed by blue skies.

Details:

AstroTrac TT320X-AG unguided

Baader modified Canon 650D with Astronomik CLS-CCD LPS Clip filter

Canon 500mm f/4 L IS lens

60x 90 seconds lights at ISO800

20x darks

20x flats

20x bias

Full un-cropped and noisy version can be seen here or by following the Flickr link and finding the full version:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7448/14136844312_5d4e2fb58e_o.jpg

 

 

Full Frame Image Resized to 1024px

14136844312_068d8aa328_b.jpg

Lagoon Nebula M8 by StuartJPP, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lagoon M8 Region - 2048 x 2048 crop resized to 1024px

gallery_27141_2403_1073364.jpg

 

 

NGC6559 & IC4685 Region - 2048 x 2048 crop resized to 1024px

gallery_27141_2403_1231033.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

100% crop of NGC6559 & IC4685 region

gallery_27141_2403_181566.jpg

 

 

Another 100% crop

gallery_27141_2403_668467.jpg

 

 

Hope you like as there are hopefully more to follow...

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x6gas

x6gas

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That's very nice...

I've never really managed to get my Astrotrac imaging working properly (mostly trouble with polar aligning and then focusing properly) so I am particularly impressed when I see stunning images like this one...

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StuartJPP

StuartJPP

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Thanks for all the comments everyone...very much appreciated.

I could have done with a holiday after this holiday...getting up every night at midnight (after going to bed at 11pm) to check the weather and then staying up till dawn on viable nights and having an hour's sleep before breakfast takes its toll...luckily I managed to catch up some afternoons...

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