Summer one night great image

[TiffsAndAstro]

So is it possible to take a "great" image in around 2 to 3 hours with my gear? 

Most likely might be iris nebula, but dust needs way more time I think.

Struggling to think of anything else.

[Elp]

You can but it depends on how noise free you'd want it to be from the background sky (and obvious intensity of signal). The shortest (long) project I did was SHO on M16, and got a decent image after NR just over two hours total at F3.8, but I tell you the 20 or so minutes I got of O3 was blotchy to say the least, almost unusable. You can do it shorter but you need larger aperture and lower f ratio (aperture being the main thing).

Other than M31, and M42, you really need maybe 10 hours or so at least running around F6, it's not a hobby for the impatient. One of the first things an APer starting off needs to do, is temper their expectations of getting a printable result in 60 seconds, it just won't happen.

A narrowband filter helps immensely with emission targets and that 10 hours can be halved in cases, it depends how "deep" you want to go trying to attain very faint signal depending on target. It's easy to capture the main centre part of a target, it takes longer to get the outer regions.

Obviously closed or open clusters you will fare better as essentially you're just imaging stars which have massive signal compared to emission or reflection gasses.

[TiffsAndAstro]

Cheers for this Elp I was hoping there was some target I hadn't considered.

What do you do this time of year?

[Elp]

Last year I was doing my virgo mosaic even during non astro darkness. M27 dumbbell too, with emission and NB filters you can sort of start and finish imaging at least 15 mins longer than when doing unfiltered RGB subject to sky brightness, it gets too bright afterward.

But this year, well it's almost the same as last year, no clear skies. Last did a proper imaging test end of May, two months and nothing other than an hour of lens testing end of June. Prior to all that it was start of March after waiting 3-4 weeks to get the final data for my rosette which started in Jan/Feb.

My lens test however went well, so if any nights do decide to turn up I might do a long milky way shot, most of the summer targets are way too low now unless if I go off site but even that's a lottery even when the forecast is clear.

[TiffsAndAstro]

52 minutes ago, Elp said:

Last year I was doing my virgo mosaic even during non astro darkness. M27 dumbbell too, with emission and NB filters you can sort of start and finish imaging at least 15 mins longer than when doing unfiltered RGB subject to sky brightness, it gets too bright afterward.

But this year, well it's almost the same as last year, no clear skies. Last did a proper imaging test end of May, two months and nothing other than an hour of lens testing end of June. Prior to all that it was start of March after waiting 3-4 weeks to get the final data for my rosette which started in Jan/Feb.

My lens test however went well, so if any nights do decide to turn up I might do a long milky way shot, most of the summer targets are way too low now unless if I go off site but even that's a lottery even when the forecast is clear.

Cool stuff is always too low for me. I'll go with iris nebula see if  I can get ten hours on it before August arrives lol.

Ha/Oiii NB filter is on my list.

[Elp]

Others in that area are Bodes and Pinwheel galaxies though you may struggle for contrast in these lighter skies.

[TiffsAndAstro]

38 minutes ago, Elp said:

Others in that area are Bodes and Pinwheel galaxies though you may struggle for contrast in these lighter skies.

I might try for bodes and cigar but my focal length isn't ideal. Maybe just for decent m101. Maybe too low for me now though 

I think iris is the least bad choice for me for broadband and one panel

Month or twos time my plan is m31 then M33 until horsehead in October maybe.

Edited July 11 by TiffsAndAstro

[900SL]

Tiff, what's your Bortle? Iris is reflection nebula and difficult in higher LP areas

[TiffsAndAstro]

Bortle 6

I did a test few months ago turned out ok....for about 40 minutes total.

turns out i also did some about a week ago doing a quick process on it now to see.....

 

Edited July 12 by TiffsAndAstro

[900SL]

Looks good there Tiff. Nice result for 40 mins!

[TiffsAndAstro]

Just now, 900SL said:

Looks good there Tiff. Nice result for 40 mins!

Ty will hopefully look better with 4 sessions 2.5hours each. If stars still exist by then, of course

[Gogleddgazer]

2hrs 54 mins, OSC and LXtreme 6 days ago generated this....As Elp said depressing background noise with such short integration times is problematic.  Even if you can't fit the whole loop in your fov, each of the elements is a worthy contender in its own right.

[TiffsAndAstro]

11 hours ago, Gogleddgazer said:

2hrs 54 mins, OSC and LXtreme 6 days ago generated this....As Elp said depressing background noise with such short integration times is problematic.  Even if you can't fit the whole loop in your fov, each of the elements is a worthy contender in its own right.

This is a really nice image

[Gerr]

I managed imaging the Whale Galaxy on 1st June. I planned 2 hours but only 14 lights of 2min duration each were useable (clouds and wind). Total imaging time of 28mins!!

SW200P and Zwo ASI294MC Pro with UV filter. Stacked in DSS and processed in Photoshop CC.

[TiffsAndAstro]

49 minutes ago, Gerr said:

I managed imaging the Whale Galaxy on 1st June. I planned 2 hours but only 14 lights of 2min duration each were useable (clouds and wind). Total imaging time of 28mins!!

SW200P and Zwo ASI294MC Pro with UV filter. Stacked in DSS and processed in Photoshop CC.

Very nice. It's on my list but not for right now I think