Grandpré 26-29 August 2022 | VdB 152, HH 450, B 175, DeHt 5 & SNR G 110.3+11.3

[mftoet]

Last weekend I stayed in Grandpré (northern France) with friends of 'Sterrenwacht Rijswijk' (public astronomical observatory / astronomy club). Since 10 years it has become a tradition to visit this dark site twice a year: in spring and late summer or early autumn. SQM-meters typically reach values between 21.3 tot 21.6 (Bortle class 3).

Several years ago the owners of the gîte have created an observing plateau on a hill belonging to their property. There's an electrified fence around it to protect the horses in the field from wild amateur astronomers... 😉 

Drone photo (courtesy of E. Hoorn) of the location.

Before heading off to Grandpré, I acquired a collapsible handcart to get my (heavy) equipment to the observing plateau. I should have acquired one earlier!  

When the weather is nice, the first thing we do after the 4.5 hour drive from our astronomy club is setting up the equipment.

During daytime we observed the sun either with a Quark Chromosphere behind a 6 cm apo or with a Herschil prism behind an 18 cm apo.

Of course a proper meal before a night of astronomy cannot be neglected. (G)astronomy!

Who's the first to spot Polaris and align his mount?

After focusing on a bright star, a serie of flat frames is acquired.

And next for the real thing: acquiring the subs. I use an ASIair Pro which I control and monitor on a tablet.

When it (temporarily) gets overcast, a typical kitchen ritual unfolds... 

 

The result I would like to share, is an HαRGB image, using my ZWO ASI294MM mono camera with an Hα filter at F=500mm f/2.8 and my Nikon D810a at F=770mm f/4.3 for RGB (actually one-shot colour). The Hα data, acquired at home, and RGB data, acquired in Grandpré, were combined in Astro Pixel Processor. Post-processing was performed in Adobe Photoshop.

The bright red veils are remnants of supernova G 110.3+11.3. VdB (Van den Bergh) 152 is the blue reflection nebula on the 'head' of the brown Bok globule B (Barnard) 175. The small red feature just right of VdB 152 is HH (Herbig Haro) 450, being a jet emitted from a newly forming star. The isolated bright red 'shell' is DeHt (Dengel-Hartl) 5, a dense part of the interstellar medium ionised by a hot white dwarf star.

Detail of VdB 152 with HH 45.

Detail of supernova G 110.3+11.3.

Detail of DeHt 5.

Exposure time: 19 hours, 15 minutes (136x 300" Hα, 95x 30" OSC | Optics: Takahashi ε-180ED f/2.8 & f/4.3 | Cameras: ZWO ASI294MM Pro (B 2x2, G 120, T 0 °C & -15 °C) at f/2.8 & Nikon D810a (ISO 800) at f/4.3 | Acquisition: ZWO ASIair Pro | Filter: Baader Planetarium Ultra-Highspeed | Mount: Astro-Physics Mach1 GTO | Location: Zoetermeer, Netherlands (Hα), Grandpré, France (OSC) | Date: 18 & 20 August 2022 (Hα), 26, 27 & 28 August 2022 (OSC)

Edited September 1, 2022 by mftoet

[Kon]

Stunning image and the location looks amazing.

[mftoet]

11 minutes ago, Kon said:

Stunning image and the location looks amazing.

Thank you, Kon. Yes, it gets dark over there and the countryside is splendid.

[pietervdv]

Hmmja, not bad... 😋 Just kidding, love this. Never seen this object looking like this, very natural processing. Actually looks like a photograph rather than something "processed". (if that makes sense). Btw: can I use that little cart anytime soon?☺️

[mftoet]

34 minutes ago, pietervdv said:

Hmmja, not bad... 😋 Just kidding, love this. Never seen this object looking like this, very natural processing. Actually looks like a photograph rather than something "processed". (if that makes sense). Btw: can I use that little cart anytime soon?☺️

Thanks, Pieter. Yes, soon we’ll test if the cart is suitable for an off road track somewhere in Southern France 😉 Feel free to use it. 

Edited September 1, 2022 by mftoet

[Xiga]

Just beautiful Maurice! The Nikon is a great match for the Tak and still gives many modern cooled astro cameras a run for their money when paired with a good scope and a skilled operator. 

[mftoet]

Thank you very much @Xiga. Yes, the D810a keeps surprising me and, indeed, is a great match for the Epsilon. I believe even @ollypenrice is convinced by the power of one-shot CMOS cameras in combination with fast optics, since he hosts Paul Kummer’s 8” RASA with ASI2600MC.

The thing I like most about a (high-end) DSLRs is their versatility. I also use it for daylight (macro) photography, nightscapes and timelapse photography.

Edited September 2, 2022 by mftoet