Shooting the lagoon nebula.

[Galen Gilmore]

On monday I should be going to a fairly dark sky, my plan is to shoot the lagoon nebula but I don't know anything about this target. I would like any tips on exposure times, stacking, processing, ect. I know how to find it because I have seen it visually, and I know that it is about 6th magnitude. Thanks in advance.

-Galen

[ollypenrice]

Firstly it has very attractive neighbours so be sure to work out your framing in advance. Can you model your field of view on a planetarium to see exactly what fits in the frame? This is something most imagers do as a first step. If you can fit the Trifid in the frame as well don't miss it!

The lagoon is strong in Ha so you need an Ha sensitive camera. I don't know yours, I'm afraid.

Make the subs as long as you can without saturating the chip and take as many as you can. Standard advice.

If you have Photoshop, Ha signal can be enhanced by going to Image-Adjustments-Selective Colour-Reds and dropping the cyans in red. (Top slider to the left.) The effect is astonishing.

Have fun,

Olly

 

[Gerry Casa Christiana]

Hi there 

Ive been doing some shots of it lately. On my Canon 550d I've been doing 240 sec subs and they seem to be coming out ok.

Lets see the results. 

Gerry

[alacant]

Hi. I had a go with a DSLR and a 130mm f5. Both m8 and M20 fitted. I'm at 38°N. I reckon that ATM you're best waiting until it's dark and the air has had chance to settle; begin, say when it's crossed the meridian, around 01:00 I think. Light frames at 180s maybe and a decent deconvolution algorithm to help with the turbulence low down. Good luck and do please update with your hands on. HTH.

[NeoObserver]

Galen,

I would second Olly's advice about framing. I imaged the Lagoon and Trifid on my first trip to a dark sky site almost a year ago. I was only able to consistently record 75 sec without star trailing with an unguided mount and less than optimal polar alignment. Imaging with the XT-1 at ISO 1600 and an f5.4 refractor did well on the Lagoon and Trifid with 62 light frames plus dark, bias, and flats. Best of luck with the trip. I hope the skies are clear for you!

[Galen Gilmore]

Thanks everybody for the advice, unfortunately I'm out of town and I don't have a laptop so I can't do any framing in stellarium. Guess I'll just have to take a few test exposures first to frame it up. It seems that my Fuji xt-1 has very good Ha response for an un modded camera. I think staying up until 1:00 to start imaging is not an option, realistically that's when I would like to start packing up. 180 seconds seconds seems pretty reasonable, I'll start at that and then work my way down.

@ollypenrice thanks for that bit of processing information, I guess I'll have to see if it's as good as you say it is!

@alacant What deconvolution algorithm would you recommend? I would preferably like something that is free. Also would it be okay without messing with that? Or would it look all wonky?

@NeoObserver Thanks for that, it helps that you know about the xt-1. Clear outside says it should be clear, I hope it's right. I'm also doing this at a small public observatory, it rates as a .60 or roughly dark turquoise on the light pollution map. (The .info version to be exact.)