Tenth night. DSO hunting :) [M3 in RGB, Rosette in Ha, Saturn]

[MikeWilson]

Hello everyone,

After a cloud and work induced lull, I managed to dust off (literally) my telescope and went outside during yesterday's beautiful warm afternoon in anticipation for a night of astronomy. And I wasn't dissapointed!

I had received a Ha filter from FLO almost two months ago and tonight was first light for it. I took 15 minutes (3 x 5 minutes) on the Rosette Nebula before it vanished from view:

I'm very pleased with that, especially for an object sitting right over some very light polluted sky (if I look down the main scope tube I can see the OTA almost completely bathed in light - I could read by it comfortably). Narrowband is certainly a viable option for urban astronomers, I'd heard this but didn't realise quite how useful a narrowband filter could be.

I fluffed up the flats badly. Partly because my usual method of taking flats didn't work - narrowband flats needed longer exposures and I couldn't hold the tracing paper over the end of the lens, hold the light source far enough away AND click the camera shutter at the same time.

Switching over to Saturn and popping in an eyepiece I saw Saturn and almost fell over. I wish I hadn't sold my f/11 Mak now, the view was amazing. It was my first >decent< view of Saturn. Through my 6" f/5 newt I could see the rings and make out the Cassini division. My wife came out (once Saturn was all ready in the eyepiece - what a santised astro experience!) and she was amazed too. I almost wanted to invite all my neighbours over to see it. I didn't, since I wanted to try to image it....

Not so good, I know. I'm pleased, but it doesn't capture the full beauty through the eyepiece.

I used a Canon 550D with "Movie Crop Zoom" mode, a zoom which uses only the central 640x480 pixels of the sensor. A few hundred (about 500) frames in Registax and this is the result.

I couldn't actually capture Saturn at first as it was far too damn bright. I put the cap on the front of the telescope (effectively reducing it to a 2" aperture) which helped reduce brightness and improved contrast a lot.

At first I had tried connecting the DSLR up to the 32mm eyepiece and the eyepiece up to a 2x barlow and placed the whole long precarious train into the focuser. I didn't have enough back focus for it but if I can get a 4" long 1.25" wide extension tube it might just work and give me that extra bit of focal length and zoom that I need to get a more detailed image.

I took the movie I made and uploaded it to YouTube too:

YouTube - Saturn through a telescope (using Canon 550D)

M3 next. M13 wasn't available (house in the way) and I managed 20 minutes before I got bored of it and wanted to maximise my sky time and cram another target in:

So I tweeted and asked my followers to pick a target that they wanted me to image. I got a response pretty quickly - NGC 5466, an obscure globular cluster near Bootes (actually quite close to M3). My secondary was sopping wet at this point but I did manage to get an exposure of the area encompassing NGC5466, but the cluster itself was missing...

Not a keeper that one.

Summary

Thanks to everyone here at SGL from the mods to the friends I've made and everyone who has shared their advice, time and expertise.

I think I'm finally getting a feel for imaging, given a few more clear nights I'll concentrate on one or two objects properly rather than a few minutes here and there (I was experimenting with CdC, PHD, EQMOD, etc). I had a lot of fun imaging these objects and seeing Saturn properly through the eyepiece for the first time was amazing. I wish I could show more people Saturn through the eyepiece, once you get over the feeling it's an optical illusion the feelings of amazement and intimacy with the solar system cannot be overstated.

It's a real, "WOW" object.

[johnrt]

Glad to see you've managed to get out again Mike, it feels like it's been a really long cloudy winter. The sky here last night was as good as I've ever seen it, so black and still with hardly any moisture. Good night for imaging.

[Yoddha]

A very productive session, Mike! Thanks for sharing the results!

[MikeWilson]

Thanks chaps.

Yes John, the sky last night was particularly good (other than the moon - but it rose 'late' so not too bad considering). I wish I was at a darker site though.

Thanks Yoddha - your APT tool was very reliable throughout! (I managed to get it to crash once but couldn't reproduce it). FHWM focusing is particularly helpful - I can now see why people invest in stronger, more capable focusers.

Clear skies,

Mike

[msinclairinork]

Great images Mike and a good read/report too!

I look forward to seeing the next lot!

Keep up the good work!

Michael

[MikeWilson]

Thanks Michael,

I forgot that I actually took this single 278 second guided sub of the Flame and Horsehead Nebula in Ha too

[msinclairinork]

You can certainly see plenty detail in their!

The horse is certainly well defined!

Michael

[AndyUK]

Hi Mike - Nice results....! It must have been great to get back in the saddle again after all those weeks (months?).

Although you noted you flipped around a bit to test the kit out, for such few subs, these have come out really well .

I've realistically lost the Rosette now (due to streetlights ) and I know you've mentioned previously your struggles with LP - That Ha filter obviously does a superb job, and the shot of the HH/Flame nebula just goes to show how narrowband it is, especially for a single <5min frame... You must be feeling well chuffed that it's all come together .

... And your M3 is actually VERY similar to my M13 - With more subs, that'll look great, although I can emapthise about "getting bored" with an object. I usually find another (better) object becomes available about 30 mins into a run, which makes it a difficult choice whether to lose the last half hour and start again or stick with it , especially as dark clear skies have been rarer than rocking horse do-do...

And I love your Saturn taken with the 550 movie mode (I still aspire to being able to see the Cassini division, let alone image it... One day...)

It looks like it *might* be another clear(ish) night tonight (fingers crossed), so I look forward to seeing some more... (and hopefully I can slope off this afternoon and get set up for an early start...)

[MikeWilson]

Hi Mike - Nice results....! It must have been great to get back in the saddle again after all those weeks (months?).

I've decided to keep track of progress by the number of the night that I go out. So this was the tenth night Think of the progress that could be made if we each received a week of clear skies.

Although you noted you flipped around a bit to test the kit out, for such few subs, these have come out really well .

I've realistically lost the Rosette now (due to streetlights ) and I know you've mentioned previously your struggles with LP - That Ha filter obviously does a superb job, and the shot of the HH/Flame nebula just goes to show how narrowband it is, especially for a single <5min frame... You must be feeling well chuffed that it's all come together .

I'm very pleased with how they all came out considering the short subs and it's given me confidence to try for longer subs. Narrowband especially is dramatically effective at killing light pollution. Just for fun I tried looking through the narrowband filter during the day and I was surprised that you could actually see things through it. It's like a strong pair of sunglasses, so strong in fact that it blots out the stars, makes focussing and taking flats a real pain but the benefit is obvious as it slices through light pollution. You still get light pollution effects but they're very easy to filter out compared even to an Astronomik CLS-CCD (a minor miracle in itself) which during similar conditions would have given me a stronger gradient.

I had both the CLS-CCD clip on AND the Ha filter attached at the same time (I didn't want to mess with removing the clip filter outside).

... And your M3 is actually VERY similar to my M13 - With more subs, that'll look great, although I can emapthise about "getting bored" with an object. I usually find another (better) object becomes available about 30 mins into a run, which makes it a difficult choice whether to lose the last half hour and start again or stick with it , especially as dark clear skies have been rarer than rocking horse do-do...

I can't remember any time when skies have been so murky before. Even last summer wasn't as bad as the winter we've just had. Just when I was getting a 'feel' for the bit of sky I get to see, cloud comes in and it's over a month before I get out again and everything has moved!

And I love your Saturn taken with the 550 movie mode (I still aspire to being able to see the Cassini division, let alone image it... One day...)

You've got a SkyMax 180, so you'll probably not just see the Cassini division but you may even be able to count all the snowballs in it

I plan to artificially enhance the focal length of my setup next time by going from the focuser into a 2x (or 3x?) barlow, then an extension tube (probably around 2-4") and then into a 32mm eyepiece and then into a T-adaptor and then into the 550D. It'll stick out like a forearm but I'm guessing it will give a bigger, dimmer planetary image.

It looks like it *might* be another clear(ish) night tonight (fingers crossed), so I look forward to seeing some more... (and hopefully I can slope off this afternoon and get set up for an early start...)

It's a lovely afternoon at the moment but it's going to be cloudy tonight according to the forecasts

[MikeWilson]

Last night the Saturn image shown here was shown on the BBC's "The Sky at Night" programme!

I can hardly believe it! I've never had a picture shown on the TV before, not even any of those children's TV drawings that I used to send in

Is it silly to feel a little chuffed? Even though it's a "fuzzy" image

http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b0107s20/?t=9m08s

[Deneb]

Congrats Mike, I also saw that last night. Fuzzy image or not ! It's nice to be ackowledged...

Nadeem.

[MikeWilson]

Thanks Nadeem,

It means a lot to me :-)

I suspect that the world would be a much better place if everybody was able to look at Saturn (and other targets) through their own telescope. Maybe my piddly image taken under heavy light pollution might inspire someone else to have a go!

Mike

[AndyUK]

Hi Mike - Congrats from me too - It doesn't matter how fuzzy it is... One of your pictures was on the telly! .

Feel free to be as chuffed as you like (maybe you could tell your wife that you'd possibly get more images on TV if you had a better/bigger scope/camera/obs (delete as applicable)

[Tim]

Nice going Mike! Can hardly believe the progress you've made

For flats with the Ha filter, try using the sky at twilight, you'll get a better result, still use a white T shirt or tracing paper though.

Tim

[MikeWilson]

Cheers Andy and Tim,

Thanks again for all your advice - I will remember to use twilight flats with a diffuser (I used to get stars on my twilight flats so that should sort that out!) and use the image appearance as leverage for more kit (I doubt it will work, but every little helps ).

Mike