First Time with Ha. Which Target?

[TheMrGecko]

Took delivery of my first ever Ha filter 7nm. Can anyone recommend a good target to start with that is in the sky right now? sunday night looks clear all night. just hope no fireworks spoil any of my subs haha

[Galen Gilmore]

I'm not an expert in AP, nor do I own an Ha filter. But the Pacman nebula seems to be good target at this time of year, and particularly strong in Ha.

[carastro]

Heart Nebula, Soul Nebula, Elephant's trunk nebula. 

[Tim]

Go for something away from the moon, like the targets Carole suggests, they are all bright and easily show up. Also in Cass. you have NGC 281 the Pacman which has a great Ha response and a very bright ridge and intriguing dark nebulosity too, and of course NGC 7635, the Bubble.

As the moon wanes then NGC 1499 the California nebula is rewarding, if you have a decent focal length try M1, all building up to B33, M42/43, NGC2244, NGC 2175....

That should keep you going all winter

[Adam J]

Soul nebula is high in the sky now and a good target for H-a.

[Craney]

It may be going past the zenith earlier than you would like, but  NGC7000  ( North American Nebula)  in Cygnus always gives a good return.

[carastro]

Also the Tadpole Nebula.  

Carole 

[ollypenrice]

Make your subs as long as you can...

Olly

[Tim]

4 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

Make your subs as long as you can...

Olly

Absolutely. With a Ha filter light pollution and sky glow are largely irrelevant, and longer exposures will improve contrast, especially with the darker elements of the nebula. 10 minutes as a minimum, 20 minutes if you can, and 30 minutes as a goal.

[ollypenrice]

3 hours ago, Tim said:

Absolutely. With a Ha filter light pollution and sky glow are largely irrelevant, and longer exposures will improve contrast, especially with the darker elements of the nebula. 10 minutes as a minimum, 20 minutes if you can, and 30 minutes as a goal.

A man after my own heart.

Olly

[TheMrGecko]

WOW. i never dreamed of 30 mins subs. tonight should be interesting!

[DarkAntimatter]

Let us know how it went. 

[ollypenrice]

10 hours ago, TheMrGecko said:

WOW. i never dreamed of 30 mins subs. tonight should be interesting!

They are, of course, high risk. Field rotation due to PA error, guiding error, passing cloud. I no longer worry about sat trails because I have the 'remove line' feature in AstroArt. If you have a similar feature somewhere it is best to apply it to the single affected sub before putting it in the stack.

Olly

[tomato]

Great thread, Santa's bringing me a 7nm Ha filter so I am reading this with interest.

30 minute subs, the Mesu might start earning it's keep....

[ollypenrice]

On 06/11/2017 at 13:28, tomato said:

Great thread, Santa's bringing me a 7nm Ha filter so I am reading this with interest.

30 minute subs, the Mesu might start earning it's keep....

It's all down to PA. With good enough PA our original Mesu could image indefinitely since it has never dropped a sub to guiding error in 5 years. I'm not advocating the 5 year sub, though...

lly

[sloz1664]

3 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

It's all down to PA. With good enough PA our original Mesu could image indefinitely since it has never dropped a sub to guiding error in 5 years. I'm not advocating the 5 year sub, though...

lly

Come on Olly.......Up for the challenge 

Steve 

[tomato]

I agree Olly, the Mesu should certainly cope with 30 minute subs with good PA. The latter is the challenge for me, having to set up and take down each time. Lately I have become lazy and align the foot pads of the pier on scratched circles on the patio slabs, align in azimuth using marks on the Mesu base and pier and then off I go. Not sure this would be close enough for 30 minutes subs though, will have to use some precious time doing a proper drift align, that still takes me 20-30 minutes I'm afraid.

[Tomatobro]

So....... Wait for clouds to clear. Switch on laptop wait 10 mins for windows updates to install and reboot. Set up mount 15 mins. Sort out malfunctioning Comms connection. Polar aling 30 mins. Lumi's 30 mins, RGB 30 mins each, Darks, Flats .......whats that coming up in the East.....

Dedication.