NGC2264 (Christmas Tree Cluster) and some milestones achieved

[The Admiral]

On Wednesday I took advantage of the very dry and clear conditions to set up for some imaging. But boy, was it cold 🥶. Given the time since I was last able to image it seemed like starting over again! Plus -

• This is only my third serious attempt at imaging with my new iOptron GEM45 acquired in April last year.
• This is only my second attempt at guiding, using my new MGEN-3 guider, and my first attempt at dithering.
• My first attempt at using Astro Pixel Processor (trial version) on new data.

Anyhow, I thought I'd post the image with all its faults! On the whole, I'm pretty pleased with the way it's turned out, and as is my wont I've been a bit aggressive with the colour, partially to make up for the lack of red content as the Fuji camera is not modified (though does still possess a modicum of Ha response).

Imaging details:
26 subs of 300s (total imaging time 2h 10m)
12 Darks, 50 each of flats, dark-flats and bias. Processed in APP, with adjustment of black point, addition of a little clarity and selective colour intensity, and noise reduction, in Lightroom.

Equipment:
Altair Wave 102mm Super ED Triplet APO, William Optics Flat 6A III 0.8x reducer/flattener, William Optics Uniguide 50mm guide scope, iOptron GEM45, Lacerta MGEN-3 autoguider, Fuji XT-1 mirrorless camera.

The yellow-starred cluster bottom right is the Trumpler 5 cluster. I didn't realise that was there until I processed the image! Pity it's going off the frame.

 

Ian

Edited February 13, 2021 by The Admiral
Corrected Tr2 to Tr5

[SteveNickolls]

A very lovely image full of detail, colour and dust lanes. The various nebulosities have created a 3D effect in the detail. Well done.

Cheers,

Steve

[Adriano]

Nicely done. NGC 2264 is a beautiful nebula. Thanks for sharing your image with us.

[Clarkey]

Really nice image. Far better than my attempt!