M67 Open Cluster in Cancer. Taken on Jan 29, 2017. 38×60 sec @ ISO 400, TV-85 at F/5.6, Canon T3, Atlas EQ-G w/EQMOD.
With the heavy light pollution (LP) I’ve had to deal with where I’m imaging from lately, I decided a few open clusters would be better targets than anything too faint like nebulae and galaxies. At around 10:30 pm on this particular night, M67 was in perfect position to be imaged.
The LP limited me to 1 minute exposures at ISO 400, so it is not a very deep image. Getting rid of the LP in processing knocks the colors out and I had to work hard to get a little of the colors back. Oh, well… at least I’m able to get something useful out of the data.
M35 on Jan 29, 2017. Full frame. 50×60 sec @ ISO 400, TV-85 at F/5.6, Canon T3, Atlas EQ-G w/EQMOD.M35 on Jan 29, 2017. Cropped and rotated north up. 50×60 sec @ ISO 400, TV-85 at F/5.6, Canon T3, Atlas EQ-G w/EQMOD. Additional 50% blend with image from SN-8.
Two versions of data obtained on Jan 29, 2017 in very light polluted conditions. The full frame is oriented north to the left and the crop has been rotated to north is up.
Comet Encke, Jan 29, 2017. 14×60 sec @ ISO 200, TV-85 at F/5.6, Canon T3, Atlas EQ-G w/EQMOD.
Here’s Comet Encke on Jan 29, 2017. I imaged it two years ago when it last came around. On this night it was very low in a very bad LP zone right above bright parking lot lights and street lights. I’m surprised anything even registered. As you can see, it was small and dim and almost, but not quite, swallowed up by the LP. 🙁
A two day old Moon. 4 images of varying exposures combined. TV-85 at F/5.6, Canon T3, Atlas EQ-G w/EQMOD.
On Jan 29, 2017, a two day old moon was in the sky and I shot it first thing before it sank too low to image. This is somewhat of an HDR image in that I took a series of 4 exposures, long to short, to try and get the earthshine and details in the crescent. I aligned and stacked them in PS with about a 50% blend for each exposure.
M101 on Jan 29, 2017. 23×60 sec @ ISO 800, TV-85 at F/5.6, Canon T3, Atlas EQ-G w/EQMOD.
Here’s one I have not shot in a while. I was hoping it would come out better, but unfortunately, I lost quite a few of the sub-images to bad guiding. I was supposed to get 40 or more, but only 23 were good enough to use.
UPDATE:
M101 with more time added. 64×60 @ ISO 400 and 23×60 @ ISO 800 or 87 minutes total.
I was able to shoot this again and get lots more sub-images. Not too bad considering the light pollution that I had to endure.
Comet Johnson (C/2015 V2) on Jan 29, 2017, 10:27 UT. 40×60 sec @ ISO 800, TV-85 at F/5.6, Canon T3, Atlas EQ-G w/EQMOD.Comet Johnson (C/2015 V2) on Jan 29, 2017, 10:27 UT. 40×60 sec @ ISO 800, TV-85 at F/5.6, Canon T3, Atlas EQ-G w/EQMOD.
Another Comet Johnson image. It seems to be a bit brighter than last time, but not much bigger. Eventually, it should get more photogenic as it gets closer to Earth and the Sun..
M51 on Jan 24, 2017. 40×60 sec @ ISO 400, TV-85 at F/5.6, Canon T3, Atlas EQ-G w/EQMOD.
Another Bortle Red Zone image with a relatively short exposure of 40 minutes in 1 minute subs. I have another batch of 1 minute subs taken at ISO 800 to add to this, but here is the preliminary image for the time being.
Update:
M51 on Jan 24, 2017. Close-up crop. 40×60 sec @ ISO 400 and 40×60 sec @ ISO 800, TV-85 at F/5.6, Canon T3, Atlas EQ-G w/EQMOD.M51 Full Frame.
The additional 40×60 sec @ ISO 800 subs-images are added into the mix and the updated full frame image and a close-in crop are above. 🙂
Just for fun, I added the above image with 2 previous images of M51 taken with bigger scopes and the results are below:
M51 Combined Data. C-8, SN-8 and TV-85 scopes with DSI and two Canon Cameras.
Comet Johnson (C/2015 V2) on Jan 24, 2017. 22×60 sec @ ISO 400, TV-85 at F/5.6, Canon T3, Atlas EQ-G w/EQMOD. StarFreeze version.Comet Johnson (C/2015 V2) on Jan 24, 2017. 22×60 sec @ ISO 400, TV-85 at F/5.6, Canon T3, Atlas EQ-G w/EQMOD.Comet Johnson (C/2015 V2). Close-up crop.
I’ve finally bagged a new comet after almost 2 years since I shot my last one, which was Comet Lovejoy. This one is small and dim at the moment, but it has a neat tail.
Comet Johnson is predicted to get better with the best views coming this summer. So far, it looks like it will be an easy target for the next few months. I’ll probably get more images of this one as it develops.
M42 – 11×60 sec @ ISO 200 plus 45×120 sec @ ISO 100. TV-85 at F/5.6, Canon T3, EQ-G w/EQMOD.
An additional 45 sub-images were added to the previous version of this image, which was 11×60 sec @ ISO 200. So, this is 101 minutes of exposure integration.
M45, the Pleiades. 10×120 sec @ ISO 100, TV-85 at F/5.6, Canon T3, Atlas EQ-G w/EQMOD.
It is surprising that you could get the Merope nebulousity in the Pleiades to show up under severe light pollution (LP) with just 10 minutes of exposure. It was definitely transparent this night, so that helped. Processing was no fun, however. Nasty red LP took its toll.
Update Feb 5, 2017:
I did a guiding test on Feb 3rd and used M45 as my target. I shot lots of sub-images with 15 and 30 second exposures. I took the best 74 and combined those with the above data is this is what I got:
M45 – 74×15 sec @ ISO 1600 added to 5×120 sec @ ISO 100 or about 28 minutes of integration.
It certainly smoothed out that muddy-looking background LP remnant splotchy-ness appearance. Not too bad for shooting from a location next to shopping center parking lots. lol
Images of Comets, Nebulae, Galaxies and Star Clusters
