New DSO imagers, you don't have to hide away from a full moon.

[tomato]

I was out last night doing housekeeping on the rig and imaging as I steadfastly refuse to waste a clear night, moon up or not. Just as an exercise I imaged the Horsehead Nebula, 8 x 2 min exposures with a IMX 571 OSC camera and an Esprit 150 refractor. The moon was 85% illuminated and about 30 degrees away from the target, I had an LED street light directly below Orion.  This was imagined in RGB, no NB filters.

OK, it wasn't taken with entry level kit and it won't get an APOD, but all I'm saying is if we get a clear night and the moon is up, still have a go, you might be pleasantly surprised.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 14, 2022 by tomato

[Alex_]

Oh you are not helping me spend any less money on this hobby! That said, I fully enjoyed my hour or so moving about the moon last night, when I realised the promised fog hadn't materialised! Goes to show that if you don't try you don't get...

[Steve143]

As a beginner I'm always mindful about trying to image DSOs when the moon is up. Your image looks great but is the quality of this down to your equipment or with your processing skills in removing light pollution?  

[Steve143]

I should have mentioned that I'm using a DSLR for my imaging - will this perform less well when the moon is up? 

[Craney]

Totally agree,

These days we are 'blessed' with a big bright Moon whenever it is clear.    <  Is there a causal connection there  ?? ....hmmm possible research ??? >

So you just have to get on with it.  Always good to look to the other side of the sky and eek out some rare  Abell or Sharpless classified oddity that shines in Ha or O3.

I tried for this one last night....  Abell 31 (not my picture) which is in Cancer.   It was just a bit too big for my setup, but I know it's there and I will bag it soon. 

[tomato]

Here is what one 2 min sub looks like, calibrated and streched but no LP removal applied. The first image I posted is only 16 mins of integration taken under very adverse conditions, so I'd be interested to see what can be achieved with longer integration times and maybe a less severe LP contribution from the moon. 

For sure, a cooled dedicated astro camera will be a lot more sensitive than a DSLR, but I know some folks won't set up if there is a first quarter moon or bigger in the sky, even with dedicated equipment. I think there is  some worthwhile DSO imaging time to be had under those conditions.

 

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Narrowband filters are also a good option for Moonlit nights, this was taken a couple nights ago.

Without the Moon perhaps I'd have got a bit more of the faint stuff.

Moony nights are also good for testing and debugging.

[Iem1]

I agree!

I took a stab at the Iris nebula across two nights with a 94% moon and 88% moon I believe.

Just over 4 hours of 30 second subs, OSC from a modified Canon 600D with a WO Z73 III on a Sky Guider Pro. I was amazed at how well it actually turned out, all things considered (gear used, moon etc)

Credit to @ONIKKINEN for walking me through handling the data, had to follow a literal step by step process to get it looking like this  

 

[Clarkey]

2 hours ago, Knight of Clear Skies said:

Narrowband filters are also a good option for Moonlit nights, this was taken a couple nights ago

Agreed, this is always a good option. If using a DSLR / OSC there is always the option of a dual band filter such as the L-extreme or similar.

[ONIKKINEN]

Browsing through my available catalogue of subs i find that there is somewhere around 1-1.5 magnitudes of difference in sky brightness (18.5-20) for nights with no moon vs a night with a full Moon. All of my examples were such that the Moon was on the opposite side of the sky, so it could be much worse but far from wasted.

There are more than 4 magnitudes of difference in people imaging from dark skies vs very light polluted skies and both can take good looking images, so no real reason to shy away from imaging with the Moon in the way. Of course an hour from a no Moon night will be more valuable in terms of signal to noise ratio than an hour with a full Moon, but it wont be "wasted" like i fear some people might think. The only way a full Moon can make me lose imaging time from broadband DSO imaging is if i decide to shoot the Moon instead.

[Lee_P]

This is great advice. Shout-out to PixInsight's NormalizeScaleGradient function too, which helps with subframes have gradients due to moonlight.

 

 

[happy-kat]

It's bitterly cold so went on the practicing kit arrangement option, unfortunately the testing to see if I can extend the camera usb otg cable wasn't a success back to pondering that one. Getting that sorted removes the need to be outside, though whilst I know I've other options I'm sticking with exhausting can I make what I'd rather use work for now. 

[Craney]

So it's One o'clock in the morning and still clear....   Moon is an hour or so from going behind my neighbours house, still casting shadows.  Some clouds scudding across as well.

Work day tomorrow.....  Lets try a LUM widefield and let it run until dawn.   Shriek !!   ... with a 3/4 Moon!!

This is what I got after 355 x 30 sec exposures.  ( Equinox 80 + atik 414ex).

If nothing else, it highlighted that I need to clean the imaging train as there were a few huge dust bunnies to photoshop out.

 

[barbulo]

Yesterday: around 4h of 75s subs. No filters. 


Yes, you can; however, I’m planning to move mono since NB seems the way to take advantage during bright moon nights. 

[iantaylor2uk]

I find the L-enhance filter is good to use when the moon is up

[Iem1]

I also imaged Bode's galaxy last night

Though, I did not capture nearly as much detail as you two! Think it was about 90% moon, managed about 1 hr 30 of 30 second subs with a modded canon 600D.

still waiting for my power bank to be delivered to be able to use my EQ6-R Pro, so hopefully this was my last deep sky outing using a Sky Guider Pro!

Edited January 15, 2022 by Iem1

[Daf1983]

I don't have an image to share because my laptop gave up on me last night. But since getting the l-enhance filter, I never consider the moon (a major) factor. As long as my target is relatively far away from the moon, I consider clear nights too rare to lose.

[Padraic M]

With the full moon up in the city centre lights, I took the opportunity to test out some changes to the rig. This 10-minute single Ha sub surprised me!

[Elp]

Halpha filters are a wonderful invention

[barbulo]

10 hours ago, Elp said:

Halpha filters are a wonderful invention

Yes indeed. Also a good excuse reason to move to mono imaging.

[tomato]

Processed the original 16 minute moonlit image further and squeezed a bit more detail from it.

[SteveNickolls]

On 14/01/2022 at 15:47, tomato said:

This was imagined in RGB, no NB filters.

Might I enquire your light pollution conditions normally? Thanks for the image.

Cheers,

Steve

[tomato]

I’m in a Bortle 5/6 location according to the LP map, the Milky Way is just visible when my vision has dark adapted. I have  a LED streetlight on the adjacent road facing towards the garden which I normally keep well clear of, but Orion was directly above it when I took the subs.

[alacant]

On 14/01/2022 at 16:47, tomato said:

still have a go

+1. Absolutely.

Just look at those gradients.

This was our effort last night, the moon gradient not helped by high haze. From the edge of a small village with a -desperately-in-need-of-tlc- 6" telescope and equally bashed around eos700d.

No need to sit out if it's too cold. This session was controlled through to dawn using EKOS' scheduler. Keep a check using your 'phone if you feel the need. All around 2 1/2 hours in 3 minute frames.

No need to spend hours/days processing either. Around 20 minutes per shot on a fast ryzen.

Full moon again tonight:)

ngc1342

ngc1528

m41

m108

 

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by alacant