NGC 2158 and part of M35 taken on Dec 11, 2017. 275×8 sec @ Gain 2098, SharpCap 2.9, RT Sony IMX224, Televue TV-85 at F/5.6. Resized to 200% in post processing.
I had in mind when starting this that I could get a mosaic going for M35 and its nearby companion, NGC 2158. So, I started on NGC 2158 first since it is the more interesting cluster. By the time I was finished, my window to shoot was just about over, so I moved on to something else and did not finish the mosaic.
What I did get came out OK for 8 second exposures. I will probably go back to it the next time I use the Rising Tech Sony IMX224 eyepiece cam. It is actually enjoyable watching SharpCap do live stacking with the short exposures. Reminds me of the old days when I was doing mostly planetary imaging. lol 🙂
The Crab Nebula. 414×8 sec @ 3500 Gain, RT IMX 224, TV-85 at F/5.6, SharpCap 2.9.
The Crab with an 85mm objective. Scopes of this size are not normally known to produce good images of M1, the Crab. But, I tried anyway since I am still learning the ropes with the IMX224.
Taken from the middle of a metro area in a Bortle Red zone. 8 sec seems to give good results with the LP levels at this location. More exposure just gets more LP and very little more, if any, faint target material.
Above is the gussied-up and gaudy version. Below is the not-so-gaudy version with less saturation and curves boost.
The Crab Nebula. 414×8 sec @ 3500 Gain, RT IMX 224, TV-85 at F/5.6, SharpCap 2.9.
I also left more green behind, since the Crab has some green parts. It shows that better but also shows more of the LP that I had to cut through to get the shot.
M103 Open Cluster. 10×15 sec, 30×8 sec, 540×2 sec @ 2000 Gain. RT Sony IMX 224, TV-85 at F/5.6.M15 Globular Cluster. 9×8 sec, 47×2 sec @ 2000 Gain. RT Sony IMX 224, TV-85 at F/5.6.NGC 891 Edge-On Galaxy. 152×4 sec @ 2000 Gain. RT Sony IMX224, TV-85 at F/5.6.Gamma Cass Ghost Nebula. 50×8 sec @ 2000 Gain. RT Sony IMX 224, TV-85 at F/5.6.The Little Dumb Bell Nebula. 100×8 sec @ 2000 Gain. RT Sony IMX 224, TV-85 at F/5.6.
Here is a roundup of objects I was able to see during my most recent Electronically Assisted Astronomy (EAA) observing session. These were taken in a Bortle Red zone and under a nearly full moon on Dec 1, 2017.
Yep, the Supermoon lives again. 50 frames stacked per panel and two panels for this shot (top and bottom.)
The moon still appears full and tonight (Sunday, Dec 3, 2017) is supposed to be the night when it is actually at its largest and closest to Earth at perigee.
It looked bigger to me the night before, but I guess that was because the weather was better. 🙂 To find out, I made an animated GIF that compares the 4 days worth of images:
Animated GIF of the Moon for 4 days starting with Nov 30 and ending on Dec 3, 2017.
It does look like the 4th moon is bigger than the others! So, it was worth it to re-setup the scope and get the shot. Lucky for me the sky cleared long enough to do it. Later that evening, the clouds arrived in force and it hasn’t been clear since.
The Supermoon of Dec 2, 2017. Two panel mosaic taken with a TV-85 at F/5.6 and a Rising Tech Sony IMX224 eyepiece cam. Best 100 frames for each panel out of 200 in each AVI file.
The full “Supermoon” of Dec, 2017 taken on the night of the 2nd at about 11:30 PM local time (Dec 3, 2017, 05:30 UT.) Not too bad seeing and just a few high clouds that I had to wait out.
I have another version from data earlier in the evening. At about 7:30 PM CST, the moon was high enough to shoot. I shot 2 AVI’s with 200 frames each and processed those in IRIS:
The Supermoon of Dec 2, 2017, 7:30pm CST. Two panel mosaic taken with a TV-85 at F/5.6 and a Rising Tech Sony IMX224 eyepiece cam. Best 100 frames for each panel out of 200 in each AVI file.
M42 taken with an Rising Tech Sony IMX 224 camera and 100×4 second and 200×8 second sub-images. TV-85 at F/5.6, Atlas EQ-G w/EQMOD, PHD Guiding2 and Sharpcap 2.9.The data from above with an additional 400 frames added in Sharpcap, making it a 700-subs image. Kinda reminds me of my old planetary imaging days. lol
Who knew just a few years ago that I would be shooting 8 second sub-images and building up images that rival my best efforts with a DSLR camera and 180 second sub-images. Now, all I have to do is save up for one of these new breed of Sony CMOS cameras with lots more mega-pixels that can match the resolutions I get with my Canon cameras. They are not too costly anymore and the results speak for themselves.
Blended rendition of the 700 subs image using the central region of the 300 frame image and some of its color.
BTW, this was shot with the bright moon nearby. I got him, too, though! 🙂
The Moon on Nov 30, 2017. 2 panel mosaic of 50 frames each, TV-85 at F/5.6, Toupcam Sony IMX224 eyepiece camera.
On Thursday, November 30, 2017 I tried my luck with “lucky imaging” of the moon. I set the capture to 100 frames each and took top, middle and bottom images of a waxing moon a few days from full.
I ended up using only the top and bottom panels since there was enough overlap with the TV-85 and the Toupcam IMX224 camera in those two panels. Each panel is the best 50 frames.
After a basic levels adjustment for all layers , I used the wavelets filter in the Astra Image Photoshop plug-in to do an initial sharpening of the merged image and then a SmartSharpen filter to finish it off. No other processing was done to the image beyond the above.
Update: Friday, Dec 1, 2017 moon image with the same setup as the above.
The Moon on Dec 1, 2017. 2-panel mosaic with 100 frames per panel. It was taken with a TV-85 at F/5.6 and a Rising Tech Sony IMX 225 CMOS camera.
Cassiopeia region including M31, wide angle view. 6×300 sec @ ISO 1600, Sigma 28-70 Zoom at 28mm, F/2.8, Astronomic CLS filter. North is to the right in this view.
By luck I framed this one with M31 and the Cassiopeia region and got all the good nebulae that were in the area to boot. You can see the Heart and Soul Nebulae, the PacMan Nebula, emission nebula NGC 7822, and other smaller nebulae like the one near Gamma Cass. The Double Cluster is there along with lots of other open clusters.
It is not the best lens and I did do some distortion correction in PS. It was a little difficult to process since this was the first time I used the Astronomik CLS filter. Before, I had one light pollution filter and two cameras, so I finally got another one so they both have one. All I need now is a small mount for light loads like the setup I used here and I could get two cameras going at the same time. Yeah, buddy! 🙂
The North American Nebula Area. 10×300 sec @ ISO 1600, modified Canon XS, Astronomik CLS filter, Sigma Zoom 28-70 at 28mm, F/2.8.
I salvaged what I could of this one. I had problems with the acquisition of the sub-images and it was mainly caused by dew. I had to wipe the lens down several times and every time I did, the focus or focal length changed. I was able to fix it by installing a dew heater strip on the lens, but that was not until the next set.
I gave up on these after an hour of fighting it. I should have installed the heater before shooting, but I was in a rush to get data and there was not any dew problems in the beginning.
But, at least I got something out of it. Anyway, here’s a portrait orientation version of the data with North at the top:
The North American Nebula Area. 10×300 sec @ ISO 1600, modified Canon XS, Astronomik CLS filter, Sigma Zoom 28-70 at 28mm, F/2.8. Portrait version.
And here is a close crop of the central region:
The North American Nebula Area. 10×300 sec @ ISO 1600, modified Canon XS, Astronomik CLS filter, Sigma Zoom 28-70 at 28mm, F/2.8. Close crop.
1st shot of the night and I caught a small meteor. 1×180 sec @ ISO 1600, Canon XS (Modified,) Sigma 28-70 Zoom at 28mm, F/2.8, Astronomik CLS filter. No calibration or processing of this image, except to set the black point and rotate the canvas.
Instead of my usual dead-end road site, I drove a few more miles west of there to a new site I’ve been wanting to try out. It is only 50 minutes total trip time and you get a borderline Bortle 3/4 site with a really dark southern and southwestern horizon.
Milky Way. 1×180 sec @ ISO 1600, modified Canon XS, Astronomik CLS filter, Sigma Zoom 28-70 at 28mm, F/2.8.
The west is pretty dark, too, but there are various small light domes from the west-northwest to the north. The northeast has a larger light dome from a metro area in that direction and the east has some smaller ones here and there. There is a line of trees from the southeast to the northeast which blocks the LP from those areas, which is good. But, it would not be the best place to shoot early morning comets, for instance, since you can’t see the eastern horizon very well because of those trees.
Milky Way. 8×180 sec @ ISO 1600, modified Canon XS, Astronomik CLS filter, Sigma Zoom 28-70 at 28mm, F/2.8. Used the 1×180 sec image as a base and it is mostly the bottom part of the image.
It is definitely dark there. Rated a 0.22 radiance level on a light pollution map. At one point, I might have glimpsed M33 naked eye, but I was not sure. If it would have been more towards the west I’m pretty sure I could have seen it. Moonrise was at midnight, so I quit early and did not get a chance to try for M33 when it was in that area of the sky. Maybe next time! 😉
Crop of the Central Regions, 2×180 sec @ ISO 1600. Same lens and camera as the other images.
Images of Comets, Nebulae, Galaxies and Star Clusters
