Witch’s Broom Nebula. 1.75 hours in 30 sec sub-images, gain 42, offset 150, QHY183c at -15C, UHC-S filter, Televue TV-85 at F/5.6.The Moon on Aug 8, 2020. 7 frames stacked with SharpCap 3.2 LiveStack, UHC-S filter, QHY183c at -15C, Televue TV-85 at F/5.6.Pacman Nebula – 188×15 sec, Gain 30, Offset 150, QHY183c at -10C, UHC-S filter, Televue TV-85 at F/5.6.
The night of August 7th/8th, 2020 was relatively clear, but hot and slightly muggy. Average transparency at first and below average towards the end of the night. I wanted to get out to my dark sky site, but at the last minute decided to stay in the big city, being that the conditions were not ideal.
I observed quite a few things and did quickies on them and some of the images are not really worth being posted. Here is one below of the Ring Nebula, which was. I was actually after the little galaxy next to the ring, IC 1296, which my Canon cameras never showed despite shooting the ring with them from much darker locations. It is nearly 15th magnitude and even dimmer in blue light, where it predominantly radiates
Ring Nebula and IC 1296. 372×15 sec, QHY183c, Gain 30, Offset 50, -10C cooling, UHC-S filter, Televue TV85 at F/5.6.
Below is a rendition from previous sessions data and this nights efforts.
Ring Nebula and IC 1296. 34×30, 4×15 sec, Gain 42, Offset 100, 372×15 sec, Gain 30, offset 50, QHY183c -10C to -15C,, UHC-S filter, Televue TV85 at F/5.6.
Finally, with the Witch’s Broom Nebula data from this night and 2 other nights, I combined the data to make this updated rendition of the W. Veil/Witch’s Broom Nebula. Check it out:
Witch’s Broom Nebula, combined data. 90×30, 46×30 and 410×15 sec data sets all taken with the QHY183c camera and Televue TV-85.
M22 Globular Cluster. Taken on Jun 20, 2020. 60×15 sec, QHY183c at -15C cooling, Gain 42, Offset 100, Baader UHC-S filter, Televue TV-85 at F/5.6, Atlas EQ-G w/EQMOD. SharpCap 3.2 LiveStacking and PHD2 Guiding with dithering on. Metro area Bortle Red Zone, below average transparency.M22 Combined Data to Date with Jun 20, 2020 data as a base.Ring Nebula – M57. Taken on Jun 20, 2020. 48×15 sec, QHY183c at -15C cooling, Gain 42, Offset 100, Baader UHC-S filter, Televue TV-85 at F/5.6, Atlas EQ-G w/EQMOD. SharpCap 3.2 LiveStacking and PHD2 Guiding with dithering on. Metro area, Bortle Red Zone, below average transparency .
Friday night, Jun 19th, 2020 was warm and muggy and clouds persisted till after 9:00 PM. It was predicted to clear, so I went to bed early and woke up just before 2:00 AM and setup my scope then. It was clear, but the transparency was poor and the humidity was still high.
I managed to get a decent amount of data on two objects, and I also peeked at 2 or 3 other things in between. M22, the globular cluster in the first image, was a secondary target and I really wanted to get the Omega Nebula and the Trifid Nebula nearby. My narrow window to image them was so small, however. Trees and streetlights were in the way. By the time I was ready to shoot, that area had moved out of position.
I had imaged M22 a few times, but with other scopes. I took all the data I had on it and recombined it to produce the 2nd image above. It is data from an 8″ Schmidt-Newt and a 6″ Schmidt-Newt, along with the data from the first image above.
The Ring Nebula was a quick peek that turned into a usable image. The full size image is a crop at 100% resolution of the central area. I was hoping to pick up that galaxy that is nearby to the Ring, but 48×15 sec sub-images wasn’t enough to bring it out.
However, I did have a stack of 34×30 sec sub-images taken in March that I blended this night’s data with and now you can see it, just barely, above and slightly left of the ring. Check it out:
Ring Nebula – M57. Taken on Mar 7 and Jun 20, 2020. 34×30 sec and 48×15 sec, QHY183c at -15C cooling, Gain 42, Offset 100, Baader UHC-S filter, Televue TV-85 at F/5.6, Atlas EQ-G w/EQMOD. SharpCap 3.2 LiveStacking and PHD2 Guiding with dithering on. Metro area, Bortle Red Zone, below average transparency .
It looks like I need to get out of the big city to get the summertime nebulae targets like Omega and the Trifid. Late June and early July sometimes has clear skies and hopefully I’ll be lucky and get to a dark sky site before too long.
The Crescent Nebula. 433×15 sec (1.8 hrs,) Gain 42, Offset 33, QHY183c at -15C, UHC-S filter, Televue TV-85 at F/5.6.
I think the last time I shot this was in 2014. This would be the first time imaging it with my new QHY183c camera. Not too bad for only 1.8 hours of exposure. Plus, it was very short 15 second sub-images, which kept the stars nice and tight.
M63, the Sunflower Galaxy. 121×60 sec @ Gain 30, Offset 15, QHY183c at -10C, UHC-S filter, Televue TV-85 at F/5.6M5 Globular Cluster.. 172×60 sec @ Gain 30, Offset 15, QHY183c at -10C, UHC-S filter, Televue TV-85 at F/5.6M27 Planetary Nebula. 60×60 sec @ Gain 30, Offset 15, QHY183c at -10C, UHC-S filter, Televue TV-85 at F/5.6
The Sunflower Galaxy was the second time this year for imaging it, so I combined the two data sets and got this detail view below. It is 3.77 hrs total time:
M63, the Sunflower Galaxy. 152×30 sec, Gain 42, 121×60 sec @ Gain 30, Offset 15, QHY183c at -10C, UHC-S filter, Televue TV-85 at F/5.6.
IC 443 on Feb 29, 2020 UT. 276×30 sec, Gain 37, Offset 15, QHY183c at -20C, UHC-S filter, Televue TV-85 at F/5.6.
First object of this night’s session was an ambitious attempt at the Jellyfish Nebula. Over 2 hrs and it still was not enough. I was hoping it would pick up more. The L-eNhance filter might do a better job. For nebulae, it is definitely more sensitive, just not as versatile as the UHC-S filter is.
Crab Nebula on Feb 22, 2020. 122×30 sec @ Gain 37, Offset 15, -20C, QHY183c, UHC-S filter, Televue TV-85 at F/5.6.
Just over an hour’s worth of exposure for this one. This was the 2nd object of the night, the first being Betelgeuse, which was only a few frames.
I had better conditions for this shot at the beginning of the session than later in the night for other objects. Too bad it didn’t stay like that.
While shooting this, two older ladies came by to see what I was doing. Interesting conversation, but I think I went right over their heads trying to explain a supernova remnant. LoL! 🙂
M78 taken on Jan 24, 2020. 300×30 sec, gain 42, offset 42, -20C, UHC-S filter, QHY183c, TV-85 at F/5.6.
This one was difficult to bring out the nebula since the UHC-S filter blocks some of the blue that this object predominantly shines in. But, it captures enough of the OIII, Hydrogen Alpha and Beta light to produce an image even from the heavily light-polluted location that I’ve been imaging from.
Rosette Nebula on Jan 25, 2020. 67×30 sec, Gain 42, Offset 25, -20C, UHC-S filter, QHY183c, Televue TV-85 at F/5.6, Atlas EQ-G w/EQMOD.
I was surprised how well this came out with only about an hour of data. I was after galaxies this night and I only took this to kill time. Even the 33 minutes worth I posted initially looked half-decent. I will have to devote a session to this one and possibly use the L-eNhance filter instead of the UHC-S.
Images of Comets, Nebulae, Galaxies and Star Clusters
