Outside Shooting NGC6992

[wesdon1]

Hi all, I’m currently outside imaging the eastern vale neb. I’m shooting 3 minute subs ( haven’t made the same stupid mistake I made last time doing 90sec subs! Lol ) at 1600 ISO with my 66/400 refractor and the L-Extreme filter. 

heres my rig…

( look how bright/awful my local light pollution is! Big white light LED street lights blazing right over my rig! 😱😫 Anyone got a shotgun I could borrow please!!??😫😂 ) 

[Sarek]

I was also shooting this target last night. Hope it went well!

[jhonson]

I missed it. Can you share some of yours?

[wesdon1]

10 hours ago, jhonson said:

I missed it. Can you share some of yours?

@jhonson Hi J. Sorry for late reply. 

yea ofcourse mate, how would I send the data to you? Let me know and I’ll send the data tomorrow mate. 

I’m actually outside again tonight, we’re being spoiled here in Liverpool these last two nights lol. I’m shooting the Soul Nebula tonight. If you want that data too let me know J. 

hope you’re outside yourself, the weather has been criminal this year, this is only our 7th  clear sky in Liverpool this year! 

[wesdon1]

12 hours ago, Sarek said:

I was also shooting this target last night. Hope it went well!

@Sarek Hi Sarek, sort for late reply.

It went great last night mate, and shockingly ( for here in Liverpool ) I’m being treated to my second clear night in a row! 

Im shooting the Soul Neb tonight, up to just over 1 hour total exposure thus far.

Hope the weather was kind to you too Sarek!

Clear Skies, Wes.

[Fegato]

I get shadows like that here with a full moon (sorry!....) 

[smashing]

At least you have the L-extreme to help...I remember trying to shoot without filters whilst being able to read a book outside as the moon was so bright....I never could get the gradients out hahaha

[Mr Green]

I'm in St Helens so not far from you.

It's definitely odd to have clear skies on consecutive nights. I've managed to collect over 4 hours of data on latest target (NGC 7822) and hoping for more tonight.

BBC weather showed clear skies across the entire country bar from a tiny patch over Merseyside therefore not holding my breath.

Let's hope we get a third night in a row!!

[TiffsAndAstro]

2 hours ago, Mr Green said:

I'm in St Helens so not far from you.

It's definitely odd to have clear skies on consecutive nights. I've managed to collect over 4 hours of data on latest target (NGC 7822) and hoping for more tonight.

BBC weather showed clear skies across the entire country bar from a tiny patch over Merseyside therefore not holding my breath.

Let's hope we get a third night in a row!!

Not far from you, clouds arrived about 2am

[Mr Green]

1 hour ago, TiffsAndAstro said:

Not far from you, clouds arrived about 2am

Good effort!

I packed up at midnight, can't stay up that late on a weekday.

Hoping to get a good few hours in tonight but won't hold my breath.

Be interesting to know if anyone shoots mono up this way. It'd take me months to finish a project.

[TiffsAndAstro]

31 minutes ago, Mr Green said:

Good effort!

I packed up at midnight, can't stay up that late on a weekday.

Hoping to get a good few hours in tonight but won't hold my breath.

Be interesting to know if anyone shoots mono up this way. It'd take me months to finish a project.

4 hours ago clear outside said green from 8pm to 5am. Now it doesn't.

I think clear outside is probably best of the weather forecasting sites

[wesdon1]

On 30/08/2024 at 13:41, Mr Green said:

Good effort!

I packed up at midnight, can't stay up that late on a weekday.

Hoping to get a good few hours in tonight but won't hold my breath.

Be interesting to know if anyone shoots mono up this way. It'd take me months to finish a project.

@Mr Green That's exactly why I've held back from getting a mono camera and NB filters, the weather here in NW England would mean by the time we got a second night of clear skies our target would have long disappeared for the year! lol. OSC is definitely the only way we can feasibly do astro in the NW!

[wesdon1]

On 30/08/2024 at 14:15, TiffsAndAstro said:

4 hours ago clear outside said green from 8pm to 5am. Now it doesn't.

I think clear outside is probably best of the weather forecasting sites

@TiffsAndAstro I've learned over time, that even the very good "clear outside" app can't tell us exactly what clouds will be around, I literally have to go outside and look with my own eyes. Also I find the bbc weather reports to be utterly useless 90% of the time! So now what I do is check bbc for general weather patterns, then the clear outside app for local weather patterns, then finally I judge by what I'm seeing above/around me outside my home with my own eyes. This approach seems to be the best one for me personally.

Clear Skies, Wes. Liverpool.

[wesdon1]

On 30/08/2024 at 10:15, Mr Green said:

I'm in St Helens so not far from you.

It's definitely odd to have clear skies on consecutive nights. I've managed to collect over 4 hours of data on latest target (NGC 7822) and hoping for more tonight.

BBC weather showed clear skies across the entire country bar from a tiny patch over Merseyside therefore not holding my breath.

Let's hope we get a third night in a row!!

@Mr Green Yes being in St. Helens you will have been experiencing the same awful weather as me this year! And yes we ended up getting 3 clear nights in a row, albeit the third night I got clouded out around 1am. 

Little tip...Only rely on bbc weather for general weather patterns, I have found bbc weather to be awfully hit n miss accuracy wise! Also if you don't already have it, get the free "clear outside" app, it's a lot more reliable for local weather info.

Clear Skies, Wes.

[wesdon1]

On 30/08/2024 at 09:31, smashing said:

At least you have the L-extreme to help...I remember trying to shoot without filters whilst being able to read a book outside as the moon was so bright....I never could get the gradients out hahaha

@smashing haha oh don't get me started on gradients!! I had nightmares with them before getting decent filters! haha!

Oh mate the L-Extreme is incredible!! I highly highly recommend it, It's a game changer for me!!

[wesdon1]

Here's my east vale neb pic. I'm currently struggling with post processing, but for me personally it's a great image. The L-Extreme is incredible but this image does not do it justice, because my processing skills are still limited! 

*NGC6992

*SkyWatcher HEQ5 Pro mount.

*66/00ED Doublet Refractor

*Canon T3i DSLR "astro-modded"

*ASI 120mm Guide camera

*Optolong L-Extreme Filter

*3 min subs/117 min total exposure

*Bortle 7

*Wavertree, Liverpool UK.

 

 

[TiffsAndAstro]

1 hour ago, wesdon1 said:

@TiffsAndAstro I've learned over time, that even the very good "clear outside" app can't tell us exactly what clouds will be around, I literally have to go outside and look with my own eyes. Also I find the bbc weather reports to be utterly useless 90% of the time! So now what I do is check bbc for general weather patterns, then the clear outside app for local weather patterns, then finally I judge by what I'm seeing above/around me outside my home with my own eyes. This approach seems to be the best one for me personally.

Clear Skies, Wes. Liverpool.

Too many times BBC says zero percent chance of rain, only for it to rain

BBC, top tip, don't write zero, use 1% instead. Zero is a big thing.

[Mr Green]

That's not a bad effort at all in my opinion, I think that you've got a nice colour on the veil.

Not sure what software you're using for processing but I'd try and work on the background colour.

A simple way to do this in photoshop is via a thresh hold layer. 

Trying to explain this over a message sounds complicated but it's actually really easy and can be applied to any image.

The below video was helpful to me as I also learnt how to create colour masks which is great for only adjusting colours to areas that you want to make changes to.

 

Lastly I also recommend that you look on YouTube at processing videos by Peter Zelinka as he explains everything he does very well.

I hope this is helpful.