Lucky Imaging with Neptune

[orion25]

It was quite a challenge, but I was up for it, and with a clear night calling I couldn't resist! Same setup: 180mm Mak, ASI 224mc, Celestron 2x Barlow, Firecapture, Registax 6, and Photoshop. The most difficult part was getting such a dim target (especially using Barlow) onto the sensor:

 

For comparison, here again is my recent image of Uranus using the same setup:

 

Cheers!

Reggie  

 

Edited November 26, 2023 by orion25
updated image

[Kon]

Excellent image and processing Reggie.  I am glad you got it.

[orion25]

Just now, Kon said:

Excellent image and processing Reggie.  I am glad you got it.

Thanks, Kostas. You urged me to do it and the sky agreed, lol!

[bosun21]

Great captures. I can imagine the difficulty of placing Neptune on a small sensor at that focal length. Perseverance pays off.

[orion25]

4 hours ago, bosun21 said:

Great captures. I can imagine the difficulty of placing Neptune on a small sensor at that focal length. Perseverance pays off.

Thanks. You're not kidding with the placement! I made sure my finder was spot-on first of all. Then, I used a nearby "bright star", 20 Piscium, to focus. A little star hopping and field sweeping and I managed to get the little blue dot on Firecap's screen! Hooray! The image was still pretty dim even with the max exposure setting (10ms) and max gain but I got it  

[geoflewis]

Two excellent captures Reggie. I haven't imaged Neptune in nearly 10 years - I need to try that next year, maybe.

[orion25]

1 hour ago, geoflewis said:

Two excellent captures Reggie. I haven't imaged Neptune in nearly 10 years - I need to try that next year, maybe.

Thanks, Geof. If you do decide to try it again I will be waiting to see the result