NGC 1499

[wimvb]

During the few clear nights we've had lately, I've managed to get some time on the California Nebula.

I thought I couldn't catch this target with my unmodded DSLR, but last fall, when I was doing some wide field, I found out that my camera picked it up.

So, here's somewhat of a close up.

NGC 1499 down to Atik.

Imaged over 2 nights in January, a mixture of 3 & 4 minutes subs.

Mount: SW EQ3-2 Goto

Camera: Pentax K20D unmodded, with 135 mm f/3.5 lens @ ISO 1600, f/4

30 * 3 and 4 minutes exposures (unguided and dithered)

Processed in PI.

This is still a WIP, as I want to do star reduction and try to enhance the faint nebulosity that may just be visible in this image.

[gonzostar]

Very impressive. One day maybe i may get as good 

[wimvb]

Thanks, Dean.

I posted this picture on the PixInsight forum as a processing challenge.

Here's a link to what other users managed to get out of it:

http://pixinsight.com/forum/index.php?topic=9649.0

 

Cheers,

[wimvb]

Some more tweaking, and experimenting with star reduction.

I definitely need to revisit this target with a smaller FL. Still I'm quite pleased to get this much out of my budget setup.