The heart of the Rosette Nebula - unmodded Canon 450d

[lukebl]

Hi all,

In an opportunistic few hours-worth of gaps in the cloud, I managed this closeup of the centre of the Rosette Nebula, imaged over two days last night and tonight with my unmodded Canon 450d. I would have had a final image covering a wider area, but the different frames overlapped quite a bit (including a couple of meridian flips) so I had to crop the final image. I've never done an image with so many subs, and I now realise the benefits, in terms of noise reduction, of taking as many subs as possible. I also didn't realise how huge the Rosette is!

c 4.5 hours of 5 min subs, unmodded Canon 450d, 250mm f/4.8 Newtonian, NEQ6, PHD Guiding using an SPC900 webcam + ST80 guidescope.

And here's the full image to show what a pain the misalignment of the different frames is. However, I am very pleased with the above result. My first attempt at the Rosette and my best DSO to date, if I may say so myself! You can see at the edges of the image below, where there are fewer subs, the noise and graininess really starts to show.

[Sparrow]

I'm glad you've shown the full image there - it really is a perfect demonstration of the benefits of more subs. I always like to leave my image uncropped whilst I'm processing so I can see that effect

[Merlin66]

very impressive!

What ISO setting were you using?

No filters??

[Psychobilly]

Very nice in deed Luke...

4 hours of data at around f5 usually produces a nice smoooth image for this sort of target as your image shows - the mis-aligned overlaps celarly show the benefits of more exposure time...

I found myself doubling the time spent on each target every season... the only trouble is it means this winter i got nothing much done at all

Billy...

[lukebl]

Many thanks, gents.

It was imaged at ISO800, no filters apart from SW Light Pollution one, unmodded camera, processed in DeepSkyStacker, Photoshop + GradientXterminator.

[tiwar]

Very nice Luke....

T x

[Digz]

Nicely done. A great demonstration of what more subs can do.

I like the variety of star colours in the image as well.

[lukebl]

Thanks again, guys. I'm really pleased at just what an unmodded camera is capable of, with a little effort.

[Coco]

Thats a great set of images.. and your guidings very good also...

You only need a 300mm focal length scope to image the rosette with a dslr... that's 300mm long not wide

Congrats on you efforts anyway

[Shibby]

That's amazing Luke, I haven't seen a better rosette with an unmodified camera before!

[themos]

Great job!

[jgs001]

Good work Luke, nice view into the heart of the rose

[lukebl]

Many thanks for the feedback, gents. Personally, I rather like the subtle colour effect which an unmodded camera produces. Modded images often appear too red and garish, at the expense of the blue end of the spectrum, to my eyes.

...Plus, I can't justify the expense of modding mine!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Really nice stuff, well done.