Rain dodging Dolphin Head and Pencil Nebulae

[MarsG76]

Hello,

We're having a horrible few months with weather down in Australia... weeks of rain, rain, rain with floods, followed by a semi clear with an occasional glimmer of hope than back to weeks of rain!!!!

Having an observatory in my backyard allows me to take advantage of every clear moment, even if it's only for an hour or two... and thats exactly what I had to do to image my last few images... a game of cloud dodging was no exception to expose these two images.

These images are also exposed through Ha, O3 and Hb filters for the red, green and blue channels, a method I tried out about 6 months ago and am liking this kind of narrowband near natural looking color look.

To maximise my object gathering, I alternated exposures between the Pencil (NGC2736) and the Dolphin Head (Sh2-308) nebulae. I figured that at worst case scenario, I'll end up with a mono image or each object.

These images could do with a few more hours of exposure time, but as the weather was not playing nice and the full moon was approaching, I decided to give it a rest and find new targets once the rain and clouds clear off.

The total exposure time for the Dolphin Head was 8 hours and 40 minutes and for the Pencil was 9 hours and 50 minutes for all channels. These subs were exposed across multiple nights with throwing out around 25% due to cloud damaged subs.

Clear Skies,
Mariusz

[alan potts]

Stunning, never seen that before which being where you are sort of explains why.

Alan

[MarsG76]

On 28/03/2022 at 00:04, alan potts said:

Stunning, never seen that before which being where you are sort of explains why.

Alan

Thanks Alan... I would think that the Dolphin Head would be visible from NH at least?

[alan potts]

16 hours ago, MarsG76 said:

Thanks Alan... I would think that the Dolphin Head would be visible from NH at least?

I have just had a look which I have to confess seeing where you were I completely thought it was out of range. I could get onto this, albeit a bit lower than I would like. I have shot M41 a few times in the past. Seeing the last week has been very still, even Sirius was as still as I have ever seen it for many nights. I am clear tonight so I may have a go at getting a few shots of it. Not the best time of year as one of my walnut trees comes into play. It is always best before the meridian for this low down.

Alan

[MarsG76]

9 hours ago, alan potts said:

I have just had a look which I have to confess seeing where you were I completely thought it was out of range. I could get onto this, albeit a bit lower than I would like. I have shot M41 a few times in the past. Seeing the last week has been very still, even Sirius was as still as I have ever seen it for many nights. I am clear tonight so I may have a go at getting a few shots of it. Not the best time of year as one of my walnut trees comes into play. It is always best before the meridian for this low down.

Alan

Looking forward to see your work.

[alan potts]

15 hours ago, MarsG76 said:

Looking forward to see your work.

Me and my big mouth, it was cloudy until too late to start. With getting up at 5.30 most mornings the hour going forward really ruins my nights. It was only a couple on months back where I could easily get 4-5 hours in before bed, now we are down to 2 tops.

Alan 

Alan

[MarsG76]

On 30/03/2022 at 18:43, alan potts said:

Me and my big mouth, it was cloudy until too late to start. With getting up at 5.30 most mornings the hour going forward really ruins my nights. It was only a couple on months back where I could easily get 4-5 hours in before bed, now we are down to 2 tops.

Alan 

Alan

I hear you... unfortunately if it's not weather that gets in the way of the hobby, it's life commitments.

 

[Same old newbie alert]

Your dolphin is awesome...

[juno16]

Absolutely beautiful images Mariusz!

Even with the weather difficulties, your hard work paid off with an excellent result(s).

The Dolphin Head is truly stunning!

 

Jim

[MarsG76]

33 minutes ago, juno16 said:

Absolutely beautiful images Mariusz!

Even with the weather difficulties, your hard work paid off with an excellent result(s).

The Dolphin Head is truly stunning!

 

Jim

In weather situations like we're having for more than the last 4 months a permanent setup is worth it's weight in gold to have the opportunity to take advantage of the moments or clarity... BUT unfortunately now I'm pushing past 2 weeks of permanent cloud and rain!!!! ARRRGHHHH Who keeps buying telescopes in my area???

[Same old newbie alert]

Hi mars what equipment did you use for capture, the dolphin is bigger than I imagined 

[MarsG76]

22 hours ago, Same old newbie alert said:

Hi mars what equipment did you use for capture, the dolphin is bigger than I imagined 

The equipment I used for these images was a QHY268M camera, a 80mm f6.25 BOSMA Beta-RE Achromat refractor on a "Hypertuned" CGEM mount. Filters used were 7.5nm Baader Ha, OIII and Hb narrowband.

The Dolphin is quite large, this is the size at 500mm focal length. At 1280mm (f6.3 on my C8) I suspect that the bubble would be edge to edge.