Is the Horsehead difficult to image?

[rikyuu]

hi,

I tried to find the Horse Head nebula last night using the Mintron 12V6 on my 10" Newt, but I couldn't see anything, not even a glimmer of a horses head. Baring in mind the camera is quite sensitive, but limited to a 2.5sec exposure and the light pollution (below) am I asking too much to see this? Do I need a dark location with a very long exposure camera?

[CELESCOPE]

Stick an HA filter on the mintron , you will see it then.

Rog

[vincentnm]

Not sure if 2.5 seconds is going to do the trick.

Another thing is the accuracy of your Goto. Given that the Mintron's chip size is 795(H) x 596(V), the FOV you will get with your C10 will be around 18' X 14'.

The horse head at 8' X 6' will fill up almost half of your FOV. Therefore there is not much room for Goto error.

At 2.5 seconds, M42 will come out ok. But you need to reduce your FOV with a focal reducer to see the whole thing.

Thanks,

Vincent.

[James]

I think Rog and Vincent have covered it really but given the small field of view you could try doing a goto to Alnitak and seeing if it's spot on. If so then your probably spot on when you goto the Horsehead. If it isn't spot on then given the small field of view even a slight error could leave it out of the field of view.

2.5 seconds isn't very long though. I was having to do 30 seconds to a minute exposures with an Ha filter to get a hint of the Horsehead although I wasn't using a Mintron...

James

[Kai]

You are going to have to increase the exposure time im afraid

[rikyuu]

hi,

thanks for your replies, I tried it with a UHC filter, but this blocks out so much light, even the Orion nebular is quite faint with it fitted. I also tried the focal reducer, I'm pretty sure I was in the right position, got it down to the nearest star in Carte du Ceil. I think it's down to exposure time as you say, most images on here are done over many minutes, and perhaps the sky glow too.

cheers

[Doc]

last night the sky had an eerie orange glow to it.

It looks similar to yours and the stars were very dim.

[MartinB]

With that fast scope of yours 2.5 secs the mintron will probably show the hh using an ha filter. Get a sync on Altinak, your goto should put you smack on the hh then. If it doesn't show up you can be confident you can't see it. As Rog says, Ha is the key.

[rikyuu]

aye caramba.....just seen the price of a Ha filter, think I'll give that a miss!

ps, should have mentioned in my last post my mount is not goto... unfortunately for me!

[CELESCOPE]

LOL got to spend to achieve in this game i,m afraid , need deep pockets lol

Rog

Look for second hand stuff

[Whippy]

aye caramba.....just seen the price of a Ha filter, think I'll give that a miss!

ps, should have mentioned in my last post my mount is not goto... unfortunately for me!

You say that and I did think the same when L'Missus bought me my Ha filter but for me, it's been more worth than my RGB filters as I've used it twice as much due to the moonlit sky/clear night scenario.

Tony..