Lets capture M1

[pyrasanth]

This is now a good time to go crab hunting- The crab nebula that is. I would like to see your images as I'm beginning a workflow to capture the details of this object. I'm not sure whether I should try RGB as I have very polluted skies or stick with narrow band. I took the following quick HA shot last night even though I had a full moon & mist to contend with. I will set the work flow for a full imaging session when I get your views as to how M1 should be imaged. The object is quite small when using the Hyperstar as this only has an effective focal length of 500 mm so I've decided to use the telescope at F7 which gives me just short of 2000 mm & a better image scale. I will be using the Atik 460 mono with Baader filters- either RGB or narrow band. The quick snap is below (5 x 720 secs Baader HA).

Let me know your ideas & lets see those images.

[carastro]

Not a great image, but done in bicolour HOO from SE London, so very light polluted.

[pyrasanth]

Nice picture sub dwarf shows what can be achieved even from light polluted skies. I think i will need much longer exposures to capture the mass of available detail. my test image was a total of 60 mins so I guess 5 hours of H-A & perhaps more for the SII & OIII

[Pete Presland]

i think this thread should probably be moved to the Imaging section.

this was only 6 x 180 sec exposures, with my 200PDS/Canon 350d

[bottletopburly]

How hard or easy is m1 to see in the eyepiece looked last night to no avail, used the telrad  to locate  ,how big does it look in the eyepiece .

[Pete Presland]

How hard or easy is m1 to see in the eyepiece looked last night to no avail, used the telrad  to locate  ,how big does it look in the eyepiece .

pretty easy to spot with decent skies, all looked a little hazy to me last night.

[Paul M]

I used to consider it an easy find even with my old 60mm refractor. These days it seems less obvious even in my 10" newt.

I put that down to a combination of increased light pollution and aging eyes!

Even so the Crab is one of my favorite objects. I love seeing what amateurs can now do to it with their imaging kit. 

[acey]

Like a lot of Messiers it can be seen from a light polluted site, but is far easier at a dark one, no matter what aperture is used. Of course, the view by eye never comes near the appearance in images. In the 19th century the illustration based on Lord Rosse's observations earned it the nickname Crab, as it resembled the carapace of a spider crab, but Rosse subsequently disowned the picture, which had a lot of artistic licence. The variations among the fine images here are likewise a reminder that the only way to find out how it looks to the eye is to look at it by eye.

[Cozzy]

Nice picture sub dwarf shows what can be achieved even from light polluted skies. I think i will need much longer exposures to capture the mass of available detail. my test image was a total of 60 mins so I guess 5 hours of H-A & perhaps more for the SII & OIII

As quote ''sub dwarf'' is Carastro. 

[Cozzy]

How hard or easy is m1 to see in the eyepiece looked last night to no avail, used the telrad  to locate  ,how big does it look in the eyepiece .

I have the same scope as yourself and was imaging M1 last night, I found it quite easy to find ‘’star hopping’’ using 200P and 15mm eyepiece, (very faint smudge) in my reasonable skies last night.

Tim

[carastro]

As quote ''sub dwarf'' is Carastro.

Yes, took me a while to work that out too, ha ha.

Carole 

[toxic]

another unfinished photo hopefully i can get some clear skies to actually finish something (i wonder if there is anywhere that gets more cloud than the uk (not including venus))

Atik 383l mono with baader 36mm unmounted filters + 200pds + az eq6

2 x 300 SEC HA

2 x 300 SEC 03

2 x 300 SEC S2

Hubble pallet ?

 M1 the Crab Nebula.tif

[x6gas]

Here's my attempt from last year.  This is 21 x 600s of Ha in much less than perfect conditions... but that was the last chance I got to capture any data on it as it started raining and never stopped, pretty much.  This is a crop of an image taken at 1960mm focal length (EdgeHD 11 with x.7 reducer) and an Atik 460.

Hope to get RGB of M1 this year and augment it with narrowband...

Cheers, Ian

[pyrasanth]

I went for the Crab last night & started imaging at a somewhat late 02.00AM & I needed quite a lot of subs so time was a bit against me. I settle on 20 eight minute exposures- 40 minutes each (5 x 8) in Red, Green & Blue with 40 mins in L/IR-UV-Cut (5 x 8). I used Baader LRGB filters on an Atik 460 mono 2x2 Bin.

Let me know what you think!

[pyrasanth]

Here's my attempt from last year.  This is 21 x 600s of Ha in much less than perfect conditions... but that was the last chance I got to capture any data on it as it started raining and never stopped, pretty much.  This is a crop of an image taken at 1960mm focal length (EdgeHD 11 with x.7 reducer) and an Atik 460.

M1 21 x 600 Ha repro.png

Hope to get RGB of M1 this year and augment it with narrowband...

Cheers, Ian

You have captured a lot of detail in the H-A filter. I might try an H-A capture on my image & substitute it for the I/R-UV-cut channel & see if this will make a difference. It's a shame you don't have the colour data as the detail would be superb & nicely enhanced with colour. I dropped the luminance on mine to 75% as it was swamping the image. 

[lensman57]

This target needs long exposure Ha, Oiii, Sii and then RGB added. The filamentary structure is very faint and delicate and requires processing with an undestanding touch. Here is a link to an image by Tim who is/ was a moderator here and it shows what should be expected and I consider  this image as reference, it is up there with some of the HST widefield images.http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/171946-m1-crab-nebula-in-narrowband-and-broadband-pushing-the-limits-of-mount-camera-and-sky/ .

Regrads,

A.G

[AndyUK]

This was taken February / March 2013 - Pretty much the last time I used my MN190 with a 314L+.  It's a bi-colour image with a false green channel - It was going to be an HST palette but I never got around to taking the SII or the extra OIII come to that... (and as I no longer have the 314L+, I can't call this WIP any more  ).   This was 38x600s Ha and 13x900s OIII:

Here is a link to an image by Tim who is/ was a moderator here and it shows what should be expected and I consider  this image as reference, it is up there with some of the HST widefield images.http://stargazerslou...camera-and-sky/ .

(I was about to post a link to Tim's image too... but you beat me to it! )

[pyrasanth]

I noticed that I had not removed the gradient from my image so here is an improved version.

[schmeah]

http://www.pbase.com/dsantiago/image/142979701

This was my attempt from a few years ago. 12 hours total exposure, 10 minute Ha, OIII and SII subs with 90 minutes each RGB. all subs were binned x2 except Ha. Taken with QSI 540 wsg on 10"LX200R at f/10. I can't to try this one again with my new mount.

Derek

[pyrasanth]

image.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/dsantiago/image/142979701

This was my attempt from a few years ago. 12 hours total exposure, 10 minute Ha, OIII and SII subs with 90 minutes each RGB. all subs were binned x2 except Ha. Taken with QSI 540 wsg on 10"LX200R at f/10. I can't to try this one again with my new mount.

Derek

I really like the colours in that image. I must do something similar but that's a lot of exposure time I'm going to have to give!

[schmeah]

I really like the colours in that image. I must do something similar but that's a lot of exposure time I'm going to have to give!

Thanks. The extra exposure time allowed me to capture a bit of that OIII "stalk" that I hadn't seen on many images of M1. I recall I had to "experiment" quite a bit with the palettes to get that color result.

Derek

[mdstuart]

I would like to see someone model that explosion on a computer and come up with that fine intricate web of an object!

[pmesquita]

here is my 2nd H-alpha photo ever attempt, about a year ago with a Monomod and peltier cooled Luis Campos 450d @-15ºC from ambient temperature.

this is the result of 8x600s lights with a 12nm astronomik filter on the monochromatic 450d. 20 flats, 50 bias and 8 (not needed) darks
The scope is an Orion Optics CT8 on a SW (at the time) NEQ6 mount.

I've been waiting for better weather (Portugal feels like England this Winter) to have a got at OIII with the mono cooled 450d and RGB with a baader IR modded...also TEC cooled 450d (yes, I have two cooled 450d's...one mono and one rgb)

cheers

paulo

[kingboya]

Here is my Ha crab. 6 10min subs under a near full moon with Baader filters. Taken in November.

[wavydavy]

Heres my attempt from several months ago. I be honest I don't have the CCD anymore, the image was taken with a orion G3 CCD (colour), and I had so many issues with the software and lost connections I returned it for a refund. I hjave now just received an atik 314L + and am looking forward to imaging again! My attempt of the crab nebula M1.....