North American Nebula (56 mins) with a Nikon D5300a and Ha Filter

[Xiga]

Managed to grab just 7 subs of 8 mins each on NGC 7000 a few weeks back using the new Baader Ha filter, before the HEQ5 Pro decided to go Kaput on me (that's a story for another day, but it looks like i'll be installing a new motherboard soon). 

I forgot to shoot Flats, such was my dismay at the mount situation, lol. Also, there was quite a bit of high level cloud about, and 3 of the 7 subs were affected, but with so few to work with i pretty much had to stack them! 

I'm still impressed with the response of the D5300 (post modification). Of the (few) people out there who are also crazy enough to try NB with a DSLR, i would hazard a guess that most of them are doing longer subs than  8 mins, and probably in the region of 10-15 mins. I need to push this far myself (assuming i can get my mount to work again!) but even so i'm surprised at what so little data can yield with this camera. 

Processing was done in AstroPixelProcessor (the new kid on the block) and final edits in PS, as per usual. Very impressed with APP so far i have to say. In fact, it's probably worth it for the pre-processing capabilities alone. 

Decided to use one of Noel Carboni's actions to make a colourised version too, for those of us who like a splash of colour! ;-)

ps - Probably best not to pixel peep these ones ;-)

https://flic.kr/p/ZpznbE

https://flic.kr/p/Zo88pJ

 

[wxsatuser]

Looks pretty good at 8mins, 10 or 15 will no doubt be better, especially on the fainter stuff.

[tooth_dr]

Very nice! Hope you get your mount issues sorted. 

[Craney]

6 hours ago, Xiga said:

Of the (few) people out there who are also crazy enough to try NB with a DSLR, i would hazard a guess that most of them are doing longer subs than  8 mins,

 

 

Ha !!   I'm one of the DSLR NB faithful.  I have not mastered total foolproof guiding yet, so in the mean time  I opt for 2 mins subs..... usually about 20 of them.   I enjoy getting anything out of the process, so I am not too fussy  (yet....   )

Sean.

[Xiga]

5 hours ago, Craney said:

Ha !!   I'm one of the DSLR NB faithful.  I have not mastered total foolproof guiding yet, so in the mean time  I opt for 2 mins subs..... usually about 20 of them.   I enjoy getting anything out of the process, so I am not too fussy  (yet....   )

Sean.

Hi Sean

So I'm not the only Loony in town then

Wow, those are impressive for only 2 min exposures! What sort of aperture are you working with, I presume a lot more than the 80mm I'm using?

[Craney]

Not lunacy at all......  just trying to get as much out of kit that is possible without spending the mega-bucks.

I have a SW Equinox 80mm, so no Mt Palomar.  I take about  20 subs of 2 mins each and then move the filter wheel round.

I tend to use ISO1600, a compromise between speed and noise grainyness.  The SII and OIII bands are to most difficult to get right as there is no immediate image to judge how much NB action is going on.  I think I need to get more exposure time.  Here is an example.... Heart Nebula

Top left  H-Alpha from 20x2min subs,  Top right  OIII  from 20x2min subs.... all camera settings identical.

The bottom one is adding and fettling in PS.

Well, it keeps me out of trouble !!

 

Sean.

[tooth_dr]

Any subs I've done with an HA filter have been 10 minutes at ISO1600, but I havent captured anything as nice and contrasty as your NAN.

[Xiga]

9 hours ago, Craney said:

Not lunacy at all......  just trying to get as much out of kit that is possible without spending the mega-bucks.

I have a SW Equinox 80mm, so no Mt Palomar.  I take about  20 subs of 2 mins each and then move the filter wheel round.

I tend to use ISO1600, a compromise between speed and noise grainyness.  The SII and OIII bands are to most difficult to get right as there is no immediate image to judge how much NB action is going on.  I think I need to get more exposure time.  Here is an example.... Heart Nebula

Top left  H-Alpha from 20x2min subs,  Top right  OIII  from 20x2min subs.... all camera settings identical.

The bottom one is adding and fettling in PS.

Well, it keeps me out of trouble !!

 

Sean.

Very nice :-) 

How do you connect your DSLR to a filter wheel if you don't mind me asking? Although I presume you are using a Canon, in which case it may not apply to me with my Nikon? 

[Craney]

I use a 2" filter wheel ( thought I would future proof the whole NB thing and go large !! ) with a Canon 600D (modded).

The filter wheel has  threaded openings and removable threaded barrels so there is a bit of interchange possible.  The optical train  (in reverse order ).....

600D + T ring + field flattener + filter wheel + 2"barrel > SW  80ED 2" focuser        ( a '+'  indicates a screw thread )

Hope this helps.

 

Sean.

[tooth_dr]

21 minutes ago, Craney said:

I use a 2" filter wheel ( thought I would future proof the whole NB thing and go large !! ) with a Canon 600D (modded).

The filter wheel has  threaded openings and removable threaded barrels so there is a bit of interchange possible.  The optical train  (in reverse order ).....

600D + T ring + field flattener + filter wheel + 2"barrel > SW  80ED 2" focuser        ( a '+'  indicates a screw thread )

Hope this helps.

 

Sean.

Any photos Sean?

[Craney]

All the ones in this post are taken with this combo.   I have only had about 4 or five attempts with the set up..... which equates to about a month worth of nights !!

The ones above were taken with a big, bright Moon as well.... which makes NB'ers feel a bit smug.... I will dig the others out......usual Summer classics...

Here goes...Western Veil.

[Craney]

..... and the Californian.....

 

 

They don't have that 3D 'depth' of nebulosity that the pro's bring to the image or the lush layered tones, but it is early days and it keeps me happy 

Sean

[tooth_dr]

Sorry @Craney Sean, I meant of the setup on the scope, hows it sits on the focuser!  Nice photos by the way.

Hopefully Ciaran doesnt mind us polluting his thread with our attempts! Here are a couple of mine.  I hope to make more of an effort with the H-a filter this winter.

 

[Xiga]

I don't mind at all guys, keep 'em coming!

Sean, I too would love to see a photo of your setup.

Other than the NAN image above, the only other NB image I've taken to date was the California Nebula. For it, I had the best night I've ever had whilst imaging, and managed to get just over 3 hrs in total on it (again using 8 min subs):

 

[Craney]

@tooth_dr...Oops! ... read the post wrongly.. I'll get a picture of the set up tonight.... supposedly clear skies in the forecast later on.... fingers crossed...  Nice Bubble and Crescent, my attempts have not given me any detail like yours . Maybe a limitation of the 2 min subs.

@Xiga....  Blimey !!... that is a bright image of the California... almost lept off the screen.  Again, lovely detail.

[tooth_dr]

Thanks Sean @Craney  I agreed about the Cali Neb by Ciaran, it is stunning.

[Allinthehead]

Very nice result for such short time. Now just go and grab another 5 hrs or so

[Craney]

Cheers @Allinthehead,.... yep. but so many targets, so little time..... I'm on the case...

Scope and filters are warming up .....errr.... cooling down as I type.... looks like a clear night...... no sleep til Venus !!!

[Allinthehead]

2 minutes ago, Craney said:

Cheers @Allinthehead,.... yep. but so many targets, so little time..... I'm on the case...

Scope and filters are warming up .....errr.... cooling down as I type.... looks like a clear night...... no sleep til Venus !!!

Lucky you. All clouded out here.

[StargeezerTim]

You are not the only loonies in town (not very pc coming from a former mental health worker!). I've also recently started to play with a Ha filter on my 100D. I've tried combining with RGB but must have a look at the Noels action mentioned. Hope to have a go at the Elephant and Pleiades tomorrow, providing the forecast clear night materialises... I was hoping the Ha filter would allow me to image through clouds... but I was mistaken .

[Stub Mandrel]

Fellow DSLR NB Loony here, but a lack of clear 'moony' nights has limited my attempts so far especially as I'm only just learning to get guiding to work reliably, these are done with too few and too short subs to be any good...

Ha only:

Ha + OSC:

 

[Craney]

@tooth_dr   and  @XigaHere is the business end of the scope as requested.

 

 

I was going to include a picture from Thursday night.... but contined harassment by high cloud has really zapped the detail on anything I have.  

Some of the runs had 20 subs and 19 of them were affected by the eerie smog.....!!....

 

#STOP-PRESS# 

Managed to get my best (so far) version of M-31 out of the misty vapour......

This is 9x3mins using a Baader UHC filter on the wheel  ( the one I use to initially locate and centre nebulous targets with ).

As seen in the pics, a SW Equinox 80 ED at ISO 800 with modded 600D.

I have tried M-31 a few times but never seemed to make any big leaps forward.  I am quite pleased with this considering the iffy conditions.