What part of the sky to image on

[AlistairW]

Hello,

I have been wondering what areas of the sky I should concentrate imaging on in order to get best results. I have noticed at extremes (such as near the horizon or near the pole) that my tracking gets worse. Are there angles with in DEC and RA where it is best to stay within in general ?

Thanks

Alistair

 

 

 

[carastro]

Tracking can struggle near the pole or horizons.  They always say closer to the Zenith is best for astrophotography as there is less atmosphere to see through.  This can be problematic in itself depending on what kit you have, but as high as you can go is best.  

Are you guiding?  That will help keep the tracking accurate.

 

Carole 

[Demonperformer]

Agree ... and atm Cygnus is almost overhead after dark - an area that is absolutely jam-packed full of interesting targets, whether looking for star-fields, clusters, nebulae, ...

 

[almcl]

+1 for Cygnus - an amazing area! (The North American nebula, the Pelican, the Veil, the Crescent, the Cooling Tower, the Tulip, the Blinking planetary - if you get enough clear nights to do all those, I want to move to nearby!)

Cepheus is good, too, with several interesting areas and not far off the zenith at astro dark.

[AlistairW]

Thanks for that - i will add the Zenith in to something like Stellarium and see what that gives. (Carole - yes i am guiding).

[carastro]

Yes Cygnus is the best for imaging at the moment.  

Crescent Nebula

North America Nebula

Pelican Nebula

Butterfly nebula

Veil nebula

Tulip nebula

M27 

M57 (but it's very small)

 

Carole 

[AlistairW]

Great list - thanks

[MARS1960]

I like both Cygnus and Cassiopeia region for some wide field imaging.

For my target image planning session i now use http://dso-browser.com

[ollypenrice]

In a perfect world you'd start an imaging project on a target rising in the east at dusk. That way you'd have a month or two (or three) before it sank too low. That is certainly what we do here on 'in house' projects which might require vast amounts of data.

If your horizons are high and limiting then you have to wait for targets to rise higher.

If you have the luxury of choice then you should shoot blue and luminance at the highest possible elevations and green and red at unfavourably low elevation.

Olly

[carastro]

Quote

For my target image planning session i now use http://dso-browser.com

Great Link.