NAN - Nearly A Nebula

[Stub Mandrel]

Last night I decided to put my LP/skyglow filter and Sonnar 135mm lens to a proper test, and also try using ISO800 instead of 1600. A lot of changes at once... 100 minutes of Deneb, the NAN and Pelican.

Result?

• The LP filter certainly helped the ghastly yellow gradient wasn't there (but I already knew it works)
• There was still enough LP to make the subs 'milky' and make colour balancing difficult
• The lens delivered sharp stars across the field as expected
• ISO 800 does seem to give less noise

That's all fine and dandy, but I framed by positioning Deneb near top right... but the camera was 90-degrees out from where it should have been

Maybe tonight although th moon will be another fist closer...

[StargeezerTim]

Isn't it annoying when someone moves a nebula without telling you!

Nice image...

[alacant]

Yeah, I like it. You've got rid of the spikes I get with my 135. I was in that region too. I used cdc to sync deneb centre and then frame from there. This is with a 50mm lens but shows the idea. Helps a lot with the 'nearly'! Cheers and clear skies.

 

 

[Stub Mandrel]

That's what I did - centre on Deneb then move a bit.

No spikes because the lens is wide open at f3.5 - the Zeiss Sonnar is an amazing piece of glass.

There's a bit of a violet halo caused by UV, but I've got rid of that now with one of Noel's actions.

I think it needs more yellow and less red, but I have an ongoing problem with HLVG killing yellow as well as green.

 

[geordie85]

Still a very nice image. Why not try capturing the far side of the nebula, having it rather close to the left of the frame and stitch them together for a nice wide field mosaic? 

[StargeezerTim]

4 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Last night I decided to put my LP/skyglow filter and Sonnar 135mm lens to a proper test, and also try using ISO800 instead of 1600. A lot of changes at once... 100 minutes of Deneb, the NAN and Pelican.

Result?

• The LP filter certainly helped the ghastly yellow gradient wasn't there (but I already knew it works)
• There was still enough LP to make the subs 'milky' and make colour balancing difficult
• The lens delivered sharp stars across the field as expected
• ISO 800 does seem to give less noise

That's all fine and dandy, but I framed by positioning Deneb near top right... but the camera was 90-degrees out from where it should have been

Maybe tonight although th moon will be another fist closer...

What length exposures did you use. Did you guide or track?

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, geordie85 said:

Still a very nice image. Why not try capturing the far side of the nebula, having it rather close to the left of the frame and stitch them together for a nice wide field mosaic? 

That's an idea, although I haven't got much experience in stitching mosaics. If its clear tonight I might do another 100 subs on target, then try for 100 on the veil.

54 minutes ago, StargeezerTim said:

What length exposures did you use. Did you guide or track?

60 seconds unguided, but at just 135mm that's not a big challenge. There was too much high haze which with the full moon made any longer impossible.

[geordie85]

2 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

That's an idea, although I haven't got much experience in stitching mosaics. If its clear tonight I might do another 100 subs on target, then try for 100 on the veil.

60 seconds unguided, but at just 135mm that's not a big challenge. There was too much high haze which with the full moon made any longer impossible.

 

Give this video a watch. It should simplify things for you

[Stub Mandrel]

Thanks, I am right in understanding that as well as aligning it sorts out the tone matching as well?

[geordie85]

I'm not 100% sure but the only time I tried combining 2 mis-aligned nights on the same target they did look pretty even. 

That's the only time I've tried anything close to a mosaic. 

[Nova2000]

I centered the center of Cygnus and missed both, the viel and Nan. And the thing was I go to a star party once a year