Rose and Cone

[don4l]

Another clear night!!!

I've had another go at a mosaic.  This time I went for the Rosette and Cave area.  My mosaicing skill still need working on.  I've tried to get APP installed, but it doesn't like my firewall (apparently).  I couldn't get ICE to work in two dimensions.  So I am carrying on with the Gimp.

This mosaic consists of 6 panels. Each has 10 minutes of Ha data binned 2 x 2.  I've also overlaid the image onto a screenshot from Cartes du Ciel.

Clearly, I should have rotated the camera 15 degrees clockwise, but I didn't know what to expect.  The Cave area is much dimmer than the Rosette, so I used DDP to  brighten up the dimmer stuff.

 

[Vixen4eva]

I think you mean The Cone. Nice image though. Where did you get the clear skies from??

Alan

[don4l]

46 minutes ago, Vixen4eva said:

I think you mean The Cone. Nice image though. Where did you get the clear skies from??

Alan

Oh dear God!  I can't believe that I did that.  I've even saved the images in a folder called "Cave".

Thank you.   I've edited the title.

The clear skies were not forecast, but it cleared a bit around 8 o'clock.  Just after 9 it was crystal clear and I got imaging by 10.  I had to go to work today so I had to finish at 01:00.

 

My scope is outside at the moment - just in case!  

 

[PeterW]

Could you extend”” “upwards” a bit. Very nice shot, the area is full of fluff!

Peter

[Hallingskies]

Very impressive.  What camera and lens/scope combination did you use?

[don4l]

1 hour ago, Hallingskies said:

Very impressive.  What camera and lens/scope combination did you use?

Thank you very much!

The scope is an FSQ 106ED at F3.6 - (about 380mm FL).  The camera is an STL 6303 (which has peak QE at about Ha emissions).

The filter is a Chroma 3nm Ha filter, although I don't think that makes a huge difference with these type of images.

 

Each frame is 5 x 120s exposures binned 2x2.  They are then scaled down by 33%.  So, I guess that the effective binning is the equivalent of about 6 x 6!

[don4l]

8 hours ago, PeterW said:

Could you extend”” “upwards” a bit. Very nice shot, the area is full of fluff!

Peter

 

No problem at all.    I'll add another row when I get the chance.  We might get a bit of clear weather tomorrow night.  It would be interesting to see if it can be done with a bright moon so near!

 

[PaulM]

Very nice did you superimpose your image onto the star map as it gives a great appreciation for the size of the objects you have captured

[PeterW]

Some people mention the area round Barnard 37 (just above the cone) as interesting, not sure what the hydrogen alpha would be like...

be great to see what you come up with!

these objects are not small, Barnards Loop and the angelfish nebulae to the right from these especially!

Peter

[sloz1664]

Lovely mono image and a nice mosaic as well.

Steve

[don4l]

1 hour ago, PaulM said:

Very nice did you superimpose your image onto the star map as it gives a great appreciation for the size of the objects you have captured

Yes.

I used the "Prt  sc" button to copy the CdC screen, and then pasted it into The Gimp, where it was cropped.  I then opened my own image as a new layer and scaled/rotated it until the stars in both lined up.  At this point I could have just left it as it was, but I used the G'MIC filters to blend the two layers.  This was just an experiment to see what it looked like.  As far as I can see, it has added a bit of background colour to my image to make the superimposition a bit less obvious.

I often platesolve my images and put them into CdC's picture directory so that CdC automatically displays them.  I haven't quite mastered this yet, but it is useful when coming back to the same area. 

 

[PaulM]

14 hours ago, don4l said:

Yes.

I used the "Prt  sc" button to copy the CdC screen, and then pasted it into The Gimp, where it was cropped.  I then opened my own image as a new layer and scaled/rotated it until the stars in both lined up.  At this point I could have just left it as it was, but I used the G'MIC filters to blend the two layers.  This was just an experiment to see what it looked like.  As far as I can see, it has added a bit of background colour to my image to make the superimposition a bit less obvious.

I often platesolve my images and put them into CdC's picture directory so that CdC automatically displays them.  I haven't quite mastered this yet, but it is useful when coming back to the same area. 

 

Worthy process as it can be quite hard to appreciate how extensive some of the DSO objects are especially as I just visually observe so get ti see the smaller brighter parts or in some cases nothing at all !

Imagine if our eyes could collect more light the night sky would be simply amazing, thinking on I wonder if animals with betters night vision than us such as cats see DSOs ?

[don4l]

5 hours ago, PaulM said:

Imagine if our eyes could collect more light the night sky would be simply amazing, thinking on I wonder if animals with betters night vision than us such as cats see DSOs ?

That is an astonishing thought.

 

What a magnificent sight the sky would be if our eyes were much more sensitive in the Ha spectrum.

[don4l]

21 hours ago, PeterW said:

Some people mention the area round Barnard 37 (just above the cone) as interesting, not sure what the hydrogen alpha would be like...

be great to see what you come up with!

these objects are not small, Barnards Loop and the angelfish nebulae to the right from these especially!

Peter

Thank you for those suggestions.  It cleared for a while last night and I had a look at both Barnard 37 and the Angelfish. 

 

Part of B37 is  discernable in my original images.  It was less discernable last night, and I think that this is because of the moon.  However,  I will come back to it when the moon is gone again.  This will be a great learning exercise for me.

 

The Angelfish is fascinating.  I would never have thought of attempting this, but I am really pleased that you suggested it.  I only got two quick frames before the cloud rolled in, and my impression is that it isn't as faint as the Internet would have you believe.  Hopefully, I'll have a proper go tonight - depending on how the moon affects things.

 

 

[PeterW]

You might like to get a copy of Brackens Astrophotography Sky Atlas. There are plenty more big unknown nebulae out there to play with.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Astrophotography-Sky-Atlas-Charles-Bracken/dp/1517687802

Peter

 

[GavStar]

1 hour ago, don4l said:

That is an astonishing thought.

 

What a magnificent sight the sky would be if our eyes were much more sensitive in the Ha spectrum.

Night vision monoculars with an Ha filter do give this feeling real time imo. This phone photo gives a good indication of the live visual views (about a 40 degree fov)

 

[don4l]

1 hour ago, GavStar said:

Night vision monoculars with an Ha filter do give this feeling real time imo. This phone photo gives a good indication of the live visual views (about a 40 degree fov)

 

 

I was wondering about this earlier.  I decided that if the Ha filters could be used visually, then I would have heard about them for visual use.

 

I'll look into the monoculars.  Mind you, I have already got a list as long as my arm.

 

That is a fantastic image, it gives me a good idea of what I am trying to image.  If I had remembered it, then I would have realised that the Angelfish was bigger than my CdC showed.  It also shows the huge difference in brightness between the Rosette and the Cone area.