M16: The Pillars of Frustration

[tomato]

Inspired by some recent images posted on SGL of M16, taken by UK based imagers I thought I would give it a go last night. Objects low to the horizon are not for good for me given I live in the middle of a housing estate, but I thought I might be lucky and have M16 rising above some bungalows opposite. Alas, it turned out to be further to the East and I had to wait patiently while it cleared my neighbour's roof. The time was counting down to the meridian flip which I wasn't in a position to image beyond as I have to manually realign the dome aperture, and I needed to be up early the next day. The guiding was awful, presumably due to the low altitude and thermals rising off the roof, then the guiding was lost altogether as some high cloud rolled in from the South. The best I could muster was a few 60 second subs with the SY135 as it rose tantalisingly above my neighbour's rooftop, I didn't realise how bright it is!

Oh well, I might try again or more likely file this one under "Not accessible from this location".

 

[Craney]

Yes, it took me a while to get anything decent with this target.   

There is one significant tree in my neighbourhood, and guess where it is !!!!

[jif001]

Had a go at this for the first time this month. Previously I had no chance because I can either see Polaris or M16, but not both, so polar alignment was not possible. Then I discovered NINA’s three star alignment and it was game on.

The other problem is its low altitude and - a common theme! - trees and houses in the way. I managed to get an hour on it as it drifted through a gap, but on three nights, so 3 hours of Ha integration so far. If there are no more clear nights very soon I won’t see any more of it this year and it will take me years to get a colour image! 

[jacko61]

I've only looked at this once a month or so ago and only managed 45 minutes between trees and clouds.  The Forestry commission are due to start felling south of me sometime this year so I'm hoping to get much better access to some of the lower objects. 

Graeme

 

[raadoo]

I'll shamelessly butt into this thread as I've recently moved and have access to quite a bit of unobstructed sky - up until now I didn't have a view of East at all, so going for M16 was high on the list. I too fought with poor guiding and the low altitude of M16 from my location (I'm at 46 N), but I did manage to get just under 10h of 5min exposures with my ASI183MC Pro from my light dome of a Bortle 6 location.

 

 

[Skyline]

I think all those images are great, just tells you what backyard equipment can do and how technology has evolved. It's not exactly we have $4 Billion under the hammer is it.

@Craney That 8" you sold me is doing really well for a planetary scope. 😉 

[carastro]

How frustrating Tomato.

Carole 

[Craney]

Hi @Skyline

Was that the Celestron C-8N  ?? 

Funnily enough in the last day or so I was "reflecting" on that scope (Ho! Ho!),  as an 8" F5 is a nice fast focal length for the likes of the Veil, North American Nebulae and the Eagle itself.

I might have to move around the garden to get a good transit arc of a few hours.    Glad to hear it is getting used.

 

Sean.

[Paul M]

On 26/06/2022 at 13:52, tomato said:

Oh well, I might try again or more likely file this one under "Not accessible from this location".

I'm not going to rub salt in your wounds by posting my own stunning rendition, mostly because the one and only time I tried for M16 I couldn't even pull it out of the sky glow from Blackpool to my South.

It occurred to me also that it's all about location, location. So I might have to move a few thousand light years to the south to have another go.

[tomato]

Just loaded my horizon file into NINA, CdC and Stellarium, I think I have about a 45 minute window after transit, when it briefly has a vertigo inducing altitude of 22 degrees…

[Skyline]

On 30/06/2022 at 17:17, Craney said:

Hi @Skyline

Was that the Celestron C-8N  ?? 

Funnily enough in the last day or so I was "reflecting" on that scope (Ho! Ho!),  as an 8" F5 is a nice fast focal length for the likes of the Veil, North American Nebulae and the Eagle itself.

I might have to move around the garden to get a good transit arc of a few hours.    Glad to hear it is getting used.

 

Sean.

Yes it is.