NGC6888 Nearly Two Years On

[Budgie1]

I like looking back at what I managed to achieve with a target when I re-shoot it again. It confirms I've made progress, both with imaging & processing and pushes me to continue to better my images. 

For this thread it's NGC6888 Crescent Nebula. I last imaged this target on 23rd December 2020 with an astro-modded Canon EOS 1300D attached to the Evostar 100ED DS Pro with 0.85 FF/FR and mounted on a EQ5 mount. The capture software was APT with PHD2. I can't remember which software I use to process it, I think it was likely Photoshop CS3 and stacking was DSS. 

This is 2h34m of 240s exposures at ISO800:

Now to the comparison image.

This was shot on the 4th September 2022 (last night) with high cloud and poor seeing. The scope is the same Evostar 100ED DS Pro & FF/FR but the mount is the HEQ5 with Rowan Belt mod, the camera is ZWO ASI294MC Pro with the L-eNhance filter. I still use APT and PHD2 but all stacking & processing was done in PI. 

Given the seeing conditions and the short integration time, I think it's done quite well. The Oiii shell is just starting to show and the detail is there, I fully intend to take another 4-5 hours worth of data on this target while it's in a good location for me.  

This is 1h24m of 180s exposures at gain 200 & offset 30.

Anyone else done something similar, feel free to post your own progression images.

[carastro]

Big improvement.   Well done. 
 

Carole
 

 

[Phillyo]

Huge improvement, great job!

[ncjunk]

Great pic, I love ngc6888.

[Budgie1]

I managed few more hours on NGC6888 last night.

So here is 5h15m of 180s exposures, everything else is the same as in the first post.