The EQ3 DSO Challenge

[Art Gecko]

Nice one @bobro hope you've got the weather to add to that tonight!

11 minutes ago, Nigel G said:

Thats just how it feels Neil.  

finally clear here, attempting to image the bubble and then the lagoon nebula.

Nige, I wish I had time in one night to image two targets!!

I'm actually hoping to add to my NAN tonight (at least the Cygnus' Wall region)... got the camera out there taking shots right now so fingers crossed.... and before anyone asks... yes, I have set the shutter to 'B' tonight! The intervalometer should be working it's magic in the right way!

[Stub Mandrel]

Well I let a dog out at 2:11 and it was clear but hazy...

Looks better for tonight, but the ground will be wet. A test for the anti-condensation heater.

[alacant]

10 hours ago, Nigel G said:

attempting to image the bubble and then the lagoon nebula

Suggest vica versa? Certainly from here, the lagoon would be too low after the bubble was at a decent altitude. HTH.

[Nigel G]

2 hours ago, alacant said:

Suggest vica versa? Certainly from here, the lagoon would be too low after the bubble was at a decent altitude. HTH.

Haha, Exactly that happened  I got 1.5 hours on the Bubble then switched to M8 to find it about to dip below the roof tops.

I looked at M8 before I started on the Bubble but it was just below my shed roof and about to pass the meridian so I started on the other.

So my second target ended up gathering more data on M31.

It looks like I will only get about 1.5 hours imaging time on M8 + M20 if I get another clear sky in time.

Nige

[Nigel G]

Quote

 

Here's the first of last nights imaging. Quite a quick process during lunch break  

21x240 & 1x360s subs with dark, flat and bias. ISO 800

Modified 1200D, EQ3 and Equinox 80ED.

PHD2, DSS & ST.

I almost got the whole bubble but I think my sky's are not quite dark enough to capture it. Still I'm pleased with the result.

A couple of clusters and nebula showing, will check there idents later.

Nige.

Edited July 26, 2017 by Nigel G

[alacant]

23 minutes ago, Nigel G said:

Exactly that happened

Ah, glad I got that right! Trying to imagine where it is for you at UK latitudes. I think the bubble will be higher for you whereas m8 would be higher for me...(?)

 

15 minutes ago, Nigel G said:

I'm pleased with the result

I would be. Excellent shot. It also stands up to enlarging. I can id the bubble and the cluster but what's the nebula toward the bottom?

[Nigel G]

4 hours ago, alacant said:

Ah, glad I got that right! Trying to imagine where it is for you at UK latitudes. I think the bubble will be higher for you whereas m8 would be higher for me...(?)

 

I would be. Excellent shot. It also stands up to enlarging. I can id the bubble and the cluster but what's the nebula toward the bottom?

M 8 is just above the roof tops and Bubble is quite high for me.

Theres 4 objects in the image. NGC 7635 Bubble, NGC 7654 cluster, NGC 7510 cluster & NGC 7538 an active dense star forming nebula.

Nige.

[Art Gecko]

Nicely done @Nigel G I wonder what the nebulosity is left of top centre?

I managed to add to my North America Nebula last night... Hard for me as my camera isn't tethered to a laptop so I can't really plate solve for position, but got it pretty close and collected another 40 mins of good data....At this point I tried something new, since my stacking software doesn't do rotational alignment and the 2 sets of subs were very slightly out... I stacked the new lot separately then loaded both stacks into photoshop (one 26min and one 40min) spent a while carefully aligning them, then blended the two layers and flattened them into one layer before starting the stretch... I'm not sure this would be a recommended technique, but it seemed to work better this way than stretching them each before blending (it also got me thinking it might help get a nice even stretch across a 4 panel mozaic when I get around to do M31?

Anyway, here it is... 1hour and 6 mins unmodded and unguided, but the best shot of a nebula I've done so far!

Hope you all have clear skies! Art

Edited July 26, 2017 by Art Gecko
Looked too green in browser, so had a tweak

[Nigel G]

@Art Gecko That getting there, pretty good for an unmodified camera, the more you add the cleaner it becomes.

I quite like doing mosaics although they can take some time to put together, there's a nice reward at the end. 

Good luck  I look forward to seeing your M31 mosaic  

Nige.

[Nigel G]

I have spent a couple of hours reprocessing the Bubble nebula image. I got a little more out of it and a bit sharper but still a bit of noise.

I'm not sure what the other gas clouds are, just part of the Milky Way gases I guess.

I have also corpped the Bubble for a closer look  

Cheers

Nige.

[Stub Mandrel]

Looks like some clear sky heading my way, followed by a thick band of rain. I'm wimping out  :-(

As usual I'll just take inspiration from Nige and revisit my bubble ;-)

[bobro]

21 minutes ago, Nigel G said:

I have spent a couple of hours reprocessing the Bubble nebula image.

Cracking image Nige! Great detail - setup must be well configured and very stable.

[Art Gecko]

8 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Looks like some clear sky heading my way, followed by a thick band of rain. I'm wimping out  :-(

Me too!

 

20 minutes ago, Nigel G said:

I have spent a couple of hours reprocessing the Bubble nebula image. I got a little more out of it and a bit sharper but still a bit of noise.

Nige I think that bubble is beautiful mate, and not so sure it's all that noisy really.. remember in the part of the sky you're imaging, the only bits that are actually black are where the dust gets in the way! if you go a little easier on black point and aim for a dark grey you'll smooth out that noise... not that I'm trying to preach to a guy that's got way more experience than me! You do produce some fantastic stuff!

[Nigel G]

Thanks guys  .

 @bobro The Equinox 80ED Pro APO is a fantastic little scope, 500mm FL, F6.25, with the mini guide setup it is perfect for the EQ3 Pro. I have the tripod set low as possible and the EQ3 has had an astrotec service which makes quite a difference, smoother tracking.

 

We have patchy clouds getting thicker so bailing out too  

A comparison to last year: I had 3 times more imaging last year !

I blame El nino.

Cheers,

Keep waiting, the sky's will clear  sometime.

Nige.

[Stub Mandrel]

9 hours ago, Nigel G said:

Thanks guys  .

 @bobro The Equinox 80ED Pro APO is a fantastic little scope, 500mm FL, F6.25, with the mini guide setup it is perfect for the EQ3 Pro. I have the tripod set low as possible and the EQ3 has had an astrotec service which makes quite a difference, smoother tracking.

 

We have patchy clouds getting thicker so bailing out too  

A comparison to last year: I had 3 times more imaging last year !

I blame El nino.

Cheers,

Keep waiting, the sky's will clear  sometime.

Nige.

Wish you hadn't said that, makes me even keener to try the WO61.

Thick cloud at 11:30 and 1:00 when letting dog 'L' out. Dog 'R' wanted out at 3, Cygnus gloorious with loads of tiny stars (I was fully dark adapted having been asleep!) Must have been stars down to mag 6, even a hint of Milky Way. But there must have been a lot of haze near the ground as low down was yellow soup with no stars at all, like having two completely different skies in one place.

[Peco4321]

I was trying 30 sec exposures of Dumbbell Nebula last night for the Imaging challenge based on my success last week on this target with 45sec exposures, clouds kept drifting over and the wind got up at about 23:30 so I packed away, as soon as I closed the shed doors, the heavens opened, perfect timing but I don't think I'll have much to process.  Forecast not good for the rest of the week so probably no more entries for the challenge sadly. 

[Nigel G]

Good timing, I was going to try another 30s image but unless tonight is clear I will not get another chance before the end of July.

Nige.

[mikey2000]

Good Bubble! I'd love to give it a go but I think my camera just won't see much of th HII.   Maybe I could just go for the M52 cluster and just hope that some of the bubble shows up :-)

 

It might just be clear here tonight (all my forecast apps are at odds with each other today).  I think I need to have a go at the Dumbbell and just possibly the Iris nebula (c4)...

[Nigel G]

Well I was watching the cloudy sky when at 11.15 a clear lane appeared around M8 so I went for it.

From packed away to my first guided image was 18 minutes, I wanted to know how quick I could be imaging  

I got a total of 56 minutes before the clouds covered the object. M8 & M20 are very low on a light polluted sky here so I wasn't expecting to much but well pleased to get the chance and with the quick morning process before work

As usual I'll spent more time processing later.

28x120s ISO 800, darks, flats & bias.

Nige.

Edit: add new image.

Second image is reprocessed and I think probably my favorite image to date.

 

 

Edited July 28, 2017 by Nigel G
Add image

[Art Gecko]

Nige that is magnificent!

[Nigel G]

Thanks Art.

Another clear night in Essex and another object as the moon was to close to M20 to top up.

I pushed the EQ3 mount further last night. Taking first about 1.8 hours at 240s then 1.8 hours at 360s and a couple of 600s, for a total of 3 hours 10 minutes.

This image is without the 600s subs. I will process the full set later to see if the 600s are for the better or worse.

NGC 6888 The Crescent nebula.

2 hours 50 minutes of 240s + 360s with dark, flats and bias 800 ISO.

Modified Canon 1200D with CLS filter, guided EQ3 pro & Equinox 80ED Pro.

PHD2, DSS & StarTools.

Thanks for looking.

Nige.

 

[Peco4321]

Clear last night in East Yorkshire as well so I had a crack at some fresh data on M27, will process tonight, hopefully a final entry for the 30 sec challenge. 

[bobro]

1 hour ago, Nigel G said:

Taking first about 1.8 hours at 240s then 1.8 hours at 360s

Great Crescent with good full body to it Nige. Can you tell me why the 2 exposure values (it's not a HDR target I think)? Thanks, Bob.

[Stub Mandrel]

I'm hoping for a clear night tonight. I can't wait to see what a coolde, guided DSLR can achieve after seeing Nige's photos.

[Nigel G]

1 hour ago, bobro said:

Great Crescent with good full body to it Nige. Can you tell me why the 2 exposure values (it's not a HDR target I think)? Thanks, Bob.

Thanks Bob.

Ok I was experimenting with exposures to see how long I could go without blowing the stars and seeing how well the mount would guide.

At 10.30 to 11.45 the moon was bleeding a bit of light into the subs, by midnight it had gone so I bumped the subs from 240 to 360s, and the last 20 minutes I tried 600s which looked like the stars are starting to bloat a little, not much though.

In the past I have had good results adding a few longer subs to the main batch. I guess the moon was the main reason though.

Here's the 3 different exposures converted into jpg for anyone interested, #1=240 with moon. #2=360 no moon. #3=600 no moon. ISO 800.

Nige.