Cygnus Widefield from Urban Guildford

[PortableAstronomer]

I took this with my grab & go setup from a car park at the Royal Surrey County Hospital. My friend works there and knows the security guards so at least it's somewhere safe we can go with our scopes.

I was inspired by that amazing wide field shot that Steve L posted on here from Kelling, and see how far I could go from a city location with grab & go setup.

Setup: EQ6+EQMOD

QHY8, 3x5mins IDAS filter, 2x10 mins HA

28mm Pentax Super Takumar lens M42 screw at f/3.5

Gerd Neumann filter drawer system

DeepSkyStacker, combined in PixInsight LE

It lacks dynamic range, the very strong processing to get rid of the light pollution has left a noisy remaining signal. Also the lens should have been stopped down a bit more. Stars at the edge look like comets. Will have another go later.

Nevertheless it shows you can do some deep sky colour imaging from the city.

[PortableAstronomer]

Just a comparison, here is the original stack, before processing.

[PortableAstronomer]

And this is what it looks like from where I setup.

Right next to a floodlight sports ground.

I think it confirms that it's best to stick to narrow-band imaging from the city!

[narrowbandpaul]

portable astronomer,

I like your images very much, apart from the one immediately above. You have a very LP'd location.

adding a Ha filter was a very good choice....it helps remove most of the LP, and highlight the bright nebula that are around that area.

adding more data would overcome the low SNR you face through bright skies.

adding the labels was a nice touch, you have also cptured IC1396 just to the right of cepheus...its that round patch you can see.

very nice images....keep up the good work

paul

[JAO]

Super images indeed. I can even see the veil of at one side of the first image. I used to live near guidford so i know what you had to contend with in terms of light pollution

Adrian

[PortableAstronomer]

Thanks for the feedback.

Actually I was quite shocked at the number of people who have scopes but haven't used them because (like me) they're in apartments and have nowhere safe to use them. I used to drive out with my club to a rural site in the hills, but recently we've been harassed and made to feel unsafe by a load of Kevs turning up in their Vauxhall Novas with oversized exhaust pipes and deliberately keeping their headlights on us for a laugh. There seem to be quite a lot of us who also get harassed by police helicopters; just shows what an ignorant and paranoid society there is out there.

Roll on the star parties.... :-)

[narrowbandpaul]

couldnt agree more.

[gataki]

Hi,

That's a stunning image! (The labels are really helpful too.) I'm amazed that you could get something so beautiful from the Royal Surrey - having spent rather too long a time in there a few years back I know just how much there is to see outside at night - the LP is awful round there and Tescos!

I sometimes go and sit up at Silent Pool - but only with binos - I would feel too vulnerable with my scope as well.

Do you belong to GAS? I thought of becoming a member and emailed for some info but couldn't get a reply and then gave up as I won't be around for a while.

Liz

[poltabs]

Very nice image, any chance you can share your processing tips to get to the final image?

Thanks

Kevin

[PortableAstronomer]

"Very nice image, any chance you can share your processing tips to get to the final image?"

Well I recorded the imaging session on video (through a SC1 modified webcam) and also a desktop recording of myself doing the processing (deepskystacker & PixInsight LE) through a Windows Desktop recording program. The trouble is hosting it somewhere. YouTube limits the size & quality; would be gould if subscribers could purchase web space on this site, then instead of putting just pretty pictures online, we could link them to videos on how they were created.

In fact all my deep sky attempts are captured and processed in company of other people including members of my local club (Guildford); much more fun to it as a group activity I think! Shame it takes an hour to setup and and dismantle the kit every time; but you guys will know exactly what I'm talking about !

Thanks for the responses everyone! :-)

[PortableAstronomer]

Here's one just in H-Alpha....

[PortableAstronomer]

It's a shame for this particular case I didn't record any video of that evening or the post-processing; I wish I had now. Anyway the general idea is the same I used for M42 here;

M42 processing with DeepSkyStacker, PixInsight LE, GIMP

I must record my nights out on video more...

[Dr Dixon]

Hi

Great shot considering you were at the Royal luckly i'm about 20 mins from guildford in Chobham, still LP but nowhere near as much as you have to contend with at that location.

How big are your videos? Vimeo lets you upload in 720p HD format and 640x480 for standard definition 4:3 video, 872x480 for widescreen DV. The weekly upload limit is 500MB though you can only upload 1 HD video per week (unlimited standard or DV)on the free accounts.

IF there very large you might want to check the formats that there in, and consider reprocessing them into a more compressed format.

Ian

[PortableAstronomer]

Thanks for the tip Ian ; Actually I capture the video footage using a modified SC1 SPC900NC webcam, at 648x400 resolution so HD isn't really necessary. The videos only come to about 20mb so it's easy for most people to watch/stream. I might check out Vimeo though, sounds good.