Two 2hour images, M45 Pleiades and Horsehead

[bdlbug]

These are a couple of images I took last Thursday night through into early Friday morning, went out late, had a few setup niggles but by 11pm everything was doing the right thing.
I set up the M45 imaging session in APT as a vertical plan, so it takes a sub through each filter in turn so if the imaging session is interrupted then you at least have data from every filter selected.  M45 by 1am was heading over towards the meridian and into my dreaded bubble of logistics center light pollution, so I stopped the session - 2hrs , 30 min each of LRGB in 120s subs. The moon, although only around 40% illuminated was up so I decided to go on with Ha(7nm) only and as Orion was well positioned it was either M42 or Horsehead, I decided Horsehead and set up the plan to run for 2 hrs and use 300s subs.
I have had the ASI1600 for nearly a year now, but its sensitivity on unity gain 139/21 is amazing and although these images have quite a bit of noise I am reasonably happy to post them up for everyone to view. The Horsehead focus is slightly soft, my fault for not checking after I slewed over to HH, so its had a bit of de-convolution applied in PI

All taken through At106ED with 0.75X reducer/FF and IDAS D2 LPF and Baader LRGBHa(7nm) mounted on AZ EQ6
Captured with APT, processed APP, PI, PS

Bryan

[geoflewis]

Well that was a good nights work Bryan. I particularly like the M45, but then I'm a sucker for (RGB) colour and that bright red star top left just sets the whole picture off for me....

[wornish]

Excellent work.  

The ASI1600MM is very low noise and very sensitive  as well. I agree.

[RolandKol]

Nice! Result Bryan!

I need to get RGB filters for sure!

I am also with 1600MM-Pro since around June, also on Unity Gain, but only with NB filters... Still learning...
I think of increasing Gain up to 200 to reduce the noise a bit...

P.S.

Strange diffraction spikes on M45! Never seen them before. And almost none on the Horse Head... Is if filter related?

[bdlbug]

@geoflewis, @wornish, thank you for your comments, like you I am very much a RGB fan and despite our infrequent clear nights and battles with light pollution, sensitive imaging technology based on CMOS is making fast grab and go imaging like this achievable on a school night   - although getting up and out to work on Friday was tough, it was a double espresso wake up shot to get me out there...

@RolandKol, so the spikes - I said I had a few niggles when I started to image - I had condensation on the camera window - so I had to stop, warmup cycle the camera and clean the camera front window - that may explain the large spikes, although I have seen smaller diffraction spike on bright stars from this scope and FF/FR combination. I may invest in the ASI1600 anti-dew heater from FLO to try and avoid this issue in the future. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo-accessories/zwo-anti-dew-heater-strip-for-asi-cooled-cameras.html

Bryan

[Z3roCool]

Brilliant images!

I am yet to go over to a dedicated camera. Off to Bortle 1 in January (In the Desert in Morocco). Will be using my DSLR still.

Can I ask, between imaging with each filter, did you have to check focus every time?

Tommy.

[RolandKol]

30 minutes ago, bdlbug said:

 

@RolandKol, so the spikes - I said I had a few niggles when I started to image - I had condensation on the camera window - so I had to stop, warmup cycle the camera and clean the camera front window - that may explain the large spikes, although I have seen smaller diffraction spike on bright stars from this scope and FF/FR combination. I may invest in the ASI1600 anti-dew heater from FLO to try and avoid this issue in the future. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo-accessories/zwo-anti-dew-heater-strip-for-asi-cooled-cameras.html

Bryan

Wow....

Whats your cooling time on APT? I use 5 min and never had any frost during my sessions...

Nice to know.... BTW, which cam is it? MM-Coolled or Pro?

 

 

[bdlbug]

Its a ASI1600MM-Cool, I use these settings in the APT cooling aid, never had condensation issues before.

 

Bryan

[wornish]

2 hours ago, Z3roCool said:

Brilliant images!

I am yet to go over to a dedicated camera. Off to Bortle 1 in January (In the Desert in Morocco). Will be using my DSLR still.

Can I ask, between imaging with each filter, did you have to check focus every time?

Tommy.

If the filter is in a filter wheel then switching between Lum, R, G and B filters doesn't really need a re-focus in my experience to date.

Switching been different narrow bands Ha, OII and SII then yes its worth checking.

The lucky ones who have powered focusers can automate this process for every filter change so it doesn't become an issue.

[Z3roCool]

21 hours ago, wornish said:

If the filter is in a filter wheel then switching between Lum, R, G and B filters doesn't really need a re-focus in my experience to date.

Switching been different narrow bands Ha, OII and SII then yes its worth checking.

The lucky ones who have powered focusers can automate this process for every filter change so it doesn't become an issue.

Thanks, I will probably go for NB filters when I first get my dedicated camera so more learning curve ahead