The Pelican..

[James]

Another hiatus, a change of kit and a dearth of clear nights... I can't be the only one of us that now has a work in progress folder with just a few Ha subs of about 50 different objects, all desperately waiting for a few more subs and a few more colours!!

I had some stonking tracking errors the other night on my HEQ5 which I eventually tracked down to a missing grubscrew on an off-axis guider, switched it over for a piggy back setup in double quick time (easier than looking for a grubscrew in the wet grass) and over the last hour or so before astronomical twilight I aimed toward Cygnus rising in the east.

The Pelican is an object I keep trying but keep getting diverted by other nearby objects but I managed to stay undiverted for about an hour and a half...

Here's the results of 21x 4 min Ha subs captured through an Esprit 100 with a ZWO ASI1600mm-Pro. I framed it badly hence a bit of a crop, the field of view is bigger but I was just relieved to get the tracking sorted!

Conditions were pretty bad with high cloud coming over and poorish seeing but it was nice to sit back and  let the kit do it's stuff... 

Next job, triple the number of Ha subs, then go for OIII and SII... probably in the autumn!! I'm very happy with the amount of data being pulled down but I think I need more subs to reduce the noise a little (or to be more precise, reduce the need to process the noise as much).

Oh, and find an Ha filter that works in twilight  

Details:

Scope/Camera:  Esprit 100, ASI1600mm-Pro

21x  240 second subs in Ha  Gain: 250

Baader Ha 7nm Narrowband filter

Controlled by The SkyX, Stacked, processed in PixInsight

(I think if you click on the image a slightly clearer version will show!)

 

[PhotoGav]

Well done for exorcising the guiding Gremlins - they are rife out there! Lovely rendition of The Pelican, despite relatively little data. Definitely one to return to - more data = less noise and more contrast. As for this being a Pelican, I always like to rotate this one 90° clockwise and it becomes the Long Eared Rabbit!!

[James]

46 minutes ago, PhotoGav said:

 As for this being a Pelican, I always like to rotate this one 90° clockwise and it becomes the Long Eared Rabbit!!

You know... you have a point