Horsehead and The Flame Nebula
20:52 27/12/2008 UTC
It's been a long time since I was imaging last time. We have had a long cloudy period and whenever there was clear sky, I was occupied somewhere else. During the christmas holidays I had an opportunity catch some photons and test my MT-1 motors for the mount. Everyting went quite fine, sky wasn't totally clear however. But still I was able to capture something about this nice target. I also begun to build a library of carefully prepared darks, this time I used one made in -5°C from 40 frames. Should be somewhat free of randon noise...
NGC/IC Object List:
NGC2024 gaseous nebula RA:05h41m42.5 Dec:-01°50m'43" BMag: , CED 55P
Camera: Modified Canon EOS 350D | Telescope: Skywatcher ED80 Pro 80mm f7.5 refractor, William Optics 0.8x focal reducer | Mount: Vixen GP-D2, Boxdoerfer PowerFlex MTS-3SLP drive controller | Filters: Astronomik EOS L UV/IR Insert Filter, Astronomik H-alpha 13nm 2" | Guiding: The Imaging Source DMK 21AU04.AS CCD camera, Orion ShortTube 80mm f5 refractor, Stark-Labs PHD Guiding | Exposure: Ha: 7x600s (1h10m) ISO800 f6, 40 darks, 11 flats, 0 bias | Software: Stark-Labs Nebulosity 2 | Location: 60°31'N 26°52'E (Koivula/Kotka,FI) | Background sky brightness (SQM): 19.36 mag/arcsec² | Image Field: 2.086 x 1.565 degrees | Image Center: Ra 05h40m35s Dec -02°05'56" | Target altitude in the beginning of the exposure 28°
M45 - The Pleiads
21:02 29/9/2008 UTC
Pleiads is one of those targets fairly easy to capture but extremely difficult to make a good image. I had an exceptionally good conditions while capturing this. We went to a dark site with my friend to get most out from the pitch black sky. SQM reading went up to over 21 mag/arcsec2 and that meant I could easily do ten minute subs without narrowband filters, so M45 was my choice. While weather was good I of course hassled somewhere else: I forgot a memory card home, which is essential part of my flat field process. I also screwed up some 60min of subs... And if that wasn't enough I had terrible reflections in final image. But it was nice to be under stars in such conditions!
NGC/IC Object List:
NGC1432 gaseous nebula RA:03h45m49.5 Dec:+24°22m'06" BMag: , LBN 772 Maia Nebula
NGC1435 gaseous nebula RA:03h46m10.0 Dec:+23°45m'24" BMag: , CED 19I Merope Nebula
Camera: Modified Canon EOS 350D | Telescope: Skywatcher ED80 Pro 80mm f7.5 refractor, William Optics 0.8x focal reducer | Mount: Vixen GP-D2, Boxdoerfer PowerFlex MTS-3SLP drive controller | Filters: Astronomik EOS L UV/IR Insert Filter | Guiding: The Imaging Source DMK 21AU04.AS CCD camera, Orion ShortTube 80mm f5 refractor, Stark-Labs PHD Guiding | Exposure: RGB: 5x600s (50m) ISO800 f6, 17 darks, 2 flats, 0 bias | Software: Stark-Labs Nebulosity 2 | Location: 60°39'N 26°48'E (Huruksela/Kotka, FI) | Background sky brightness (SQM): 21.03 mag/arcsec² | Image Field: 1.765 x 1.321 degrees | Image Center: Ra 03h46m25s Dec +24°04'43" | Target altitude in the beginning of the exposure 33°
M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy
23:46 26/9/2008 UTC
Regards from DS-Meet, a Deepsky observers gathering in Tähtikallio observatory, Artjärvi. Skies in Tähtikallio are very dark and I was after M31 again to get the most out of the galaxy. Weather wasn't the best during the happening but we had a short window of clear dark sky (21.37mag/arcsec2) and I could do some imaging. I was prepared to expose til the dawn but clouds ruined my plan. Anyway, I think I got still a nice image - but I have to return to this once more to get my planned 4hrs of exposure and try to reveal the material bridge between M31 and M110.
NGC/IC Object List:
NGC205 galaxy RA:00h40m22.1 Dec:+41°41m'07" BMag: 8.9, M 110
NGC206 open cluster RA:00h40m32.3 Dec:+40°44m'18" BMag: ,
NGC221 galaxy RA:00h42m41.8 Dec:+40°51m'57" BMag: 9.1, M 32
NGC224 galaxy RA:00h42m44.3 Dec:+41°16m'08" BMag: 4.3, M 31 Andromeda Galaxy
[High Resolution : 3364x2296]
Camera: Modified Canon EOS 350D | Telescope: Skywatcher ED80 Pro 80mm f7.5 refractor, William Optics 0.8x focal reducer | Mount: Vixen GP-D2, Boxdoerfer PowerFlex MTS-3SLP drive controller | Filters: Astronomik EOS L UV/IR Insert Filter | Guiding: The Imaging Source DMK 21AU04.AS CCD camera, Orion ShortTube 80mm f5 refractor, Stark-Labs PHD Guiding | Exposure: RGB: 4x600s (40m) ISO800 f6, 3 darks, 15 flats, 0 bias | Software: Stark-Labs Nebulosity 2, Adobe Photoshop CS4, GradientXTerminator Plugin | Location: 60°44'00"N 26°12'46"E (Tähtikallio Observatory/Artjärvi, FI) | Background sky brightness (SQM): 21.37 mag/arcsec² | Image Field: 2.58 x 1.762 degrees | Image Center: Ra 00h42m53s Dec +41°14'52" | Target altitude in the beginning of the exposure 67°
![[High Resolution : 3364x2296]](images/orig_2008.09.26-23h46m-m31.jpg){kind=link}
IC5070 - The Pelican Nebula (SII:Ha:OIII)
18:40 22/9/2008 UTC
At last I could do the SII to this project. I was a bit surprised how much signal I got. This is a very nice target for narrowband filters, but could also use some more exposure time to get decent SNR to work with. However it resembles some nice work others have done with CCD's, but still not even close... DSLR is just not that sensitive and free of noise. This time I was monitoring the progress of the imaging session from inside using Wireless LAN. And also, this is the first light for my Unihedron Sky Quality Meter: My backyard background sky brightness was 19.83 magnitudes per square arcsecond. Quite nice, but not dark.
NGC/IC Object List:
IC5070 gaseous nebula RA:20h50m48.0 Dec:+44°11m'00" BMag: 8.0, LBN 350 Pelican Nebula
Camera: Modified Canon EOS 350D | Telescope: Skywatcher ED80 Pro 80mm f7.5 refractor, William Optics 0.8x focal reducer | Mount: Vixen GP-D2, Boxdoerfer PowerFlex MTS-3SLP drive controller | Filters: Astronomik H-alpha 13nm 2", Astronomik OIII 13nm 2", Astronomik SII 13nm 2", Astronomik EOS L UV/IR Insert Filter | Guiding: The Imaging Source DMK 21AU04.AS CCD camera, Orion ShortTube 80mm f5 refractor, Stark-Labs PHD Guiding | Exposure: Ha: 9x600s (1h30m) ISO800 f6, 17 darks, 10 flats, 0 bias; OIII: 8x600s (1h20m) ISO800 f6, 17 darks, 10 flats, 0 bias; SII:9x600s (1h30m) ISO800 f6, 17 darks, 10 flats, 0 bias; | Software: Stark-Labs Nebulosity 2 | Location: 60°31'N 26°52'E (Koivula/Kotka,FI) | Background sky brightness (SQM): 19.83 mag/arcsec² | Image Field: 2.286 x 1.713 degrees | Image Center: Ra 20h50m27s Dec +44°12'06" |
IC5070 - The Pelican Nebula (Ha:OIII:OIII)
18:39 5/9/2008 UTC
I got a short window of opportunity to collect OIII data for the Pelican I started yesterday. I was in good pace exposing nice series of 600s exposures when a thick cloud cover cut the session short. OIII is incredibely dim and there really isn't that much data to change the appearance of the nebula. But still, there is some. By this method of combining the channels (OIII both green and blue), OIII active regions mostly are desaturated a bit compared to the bright ionisation front which is brightly red from H-alpha. My daughter calls this a Fish Head Nebula. In fact I've always had difficulties seeing a Pelican here, but fish head is quite obvious to me...
NGC/IC Object List:
IC5070 gaseous nebula RA:20h50m48.0 Dec:+44°11m'00" BMag: 8.0, LBN 350 Pelican Nebula
Camera: Modified Canon EOS 350D | Telescope: Skywatcher ED80 Pro 80mm f7.5 refractor, William Optics 0.8x focal reducer | Mount: Vixen GP-D2, Boxdoerfer PowerFlex MTS-3SLP drive controller | Filters: Astronomik H-alpha 13nm 2", Astronomik OIII 13nm 2", Astronomik EOS L UV/IR Insert Filter | Guiding: The Imaging Source DMK 21AU04.AS CCD camera, Orion ShortTube 80mm f5 refractor, Stark-Labs PHD Guiding | Exposure: Ha: 9x600s (1h30m) ISO800 f6, 17 darks, 10 flats, 0 bias; OIII: 8x600s (1h20m) ISO800 f6, 17 darks, 10 flats, 0 bias | Software: Stark-Labs Nebulosity 2 | Location: 60°31'N 26°52'E (Koivula/Kotka,FI) | Image Field: 2.234 x 1.696 degrees | Image Center: Ra 20h50m34s Dec +44°11'50" |