I had a little more then an hour left over on a clear sky night and I decided to turn to Markarian’s Chain – A string of galaxies that form part of the Virgo Cluster.
On the left is the picture, which is heavily cropped, that I ended up with and the one on the right is annotated by astrobin.com.
Equipment & Stats Meade Series 6000 80mm Triple APO Refractor Canon EOS Ra Optolong L-Pro Filter Sky Watcher EQ6-R Pro Mount ZWO 30mm f4 MiniScope (guide) ZWO ASI224mc (guide)
60 x 60s 20 dark, 50 flat, 50 dark flat and 50 bias frames
After doing a widefield session where I was able to get both M42 and the Horsehead Nebula in one frame, I decided to look at some other targets I could do with my set up and one, or rather two targets umped out right away: The Rosette Nebula and the Cone Nebula.
Both of these targets quickly became favorites of mine, especially the Rosette. I spent five days in January getting almost 12 total hours of data integration and loved every minute of it. The Cone Nebula, which includes the Christmas Tree Cluster started out a little rockier, but with another evening of data beyond my first, came out really well too. This time I was able to get both of the Nebulae in the same frame at the same time!
TPO UltraWide 180 f/4.5 Astrophotography Lens & Guide Scope Canon EOS Ra Sky Watcher EQ6-R Pro Optolong L-eNhanced filter ZWO 30mm f4 MiniScope (guide) ZWO ASI224mc (guide)
30 x 300s 20 dark frames 50 flat frames 50 dark flat frames 50 bias frames 800 ISO – Bortle 8
Captured in APT with guiding done with PHD2. Stacked in DSS and processed in Photoshop
Rosette & Cone Nebulae – Annotated by astrobin.com
New Year, old target that I felt like I could never get right. Enter the L-eNhanced filter by OptoLong and I feel a lot better about my efforts on this target. I originally processed the data like I normally would – stack in DeepSkyStacker then go straight into processing with Photoshop. However, a friend on Instagram began experimenting with Astro Pixel Processor and separating out the Ha and Oiii channels (possible with a filter like the L-eNhanced) and so I decided to follow suit and I like the results A LOT on this California Nebula data.
The orange / yellow version uses more of a SHO type palette while the red / pink version uses a more typical RGB palette. I love them both, however the yellow image is probably my favorite. I did the same type of processing with Heart Nebula data as well. I plan on doing a post that goes over the idea of separating these channels when using a dual band filter as well as share some of videos that covered how to do it. I will of course include photos!
Equipment & Stats
Meade Series 6000 80mm Triplet APO Sky Watcher EQ6-R Pro Canon EOS Ra Astro-Tech 0.8 Reducer/Flattener Optolong L-eNhanced ZWO 30mm f4 MiniScope (Guide) ZWO ASI224mc (Guide) PHD2 for guiding, APT for capturing, APP for stacking/processing, Photoshop/Topaz for final processing
60 x 180s subs 20 dark frames 50 flat frames 50 dark flat frames 50 bias frames
Heart Nebula – Providence, RI – 8.8 Hours Integration
Final version of the Heart Nebula project with my broadband data and three days worth of narrow band data all put together. Note, that for most of these the Moon was either full or close to it, so there was a lot of ambient light beyond the typical light pollution I suffer from. I will be creating a portfolio on Pixieset specifically for Heart Nebula images for purchase. For other images, please visit SNC Astro on Pixieset.
Statistics and Gear:
Meade Series 6000 80mm Triplet APO Sky Watcher EQ6-R Pro Mount Canon EOS Ra Astro-Tech 0.8 Reducer / Field Flattener OptoLong L-eNhanced Filter (2″) ZWO 30mm f4 MiniScope (guide) ZWO ASI224MC (guide)
Last full moon of the year and it was a beauty! While attempting to get some additional data on some targets through the telescope (an adventure in itself with a bright full moon) I was able to take quite a few exposures of the Moon. This full moon is also known as “The Cold Moon.”
Nikon CoolPix P950 2000mm | 1/1250s | f/8.0 | 400 ISO 30 light frames and 20 dark frames stacked in AutoStakkert and processed in Photoshop
Full Moon – 12/29/2020 – Providence, RI
Nikon CoolPix P950 2000mm | 1/1600s | f/8.0 | 400 ISO 30 light frames and 20 dark frames stacked in AutoStakkert and processed in Photoshop
This month has been… a challenge. Between not having clear skies, Covid-19 running through the family (myself, my wife, my seven children and other family members) and then personally getting worse and ending up in the hospital right before Christmas with Covid/Pneumonia, it has simply been a month that in a lot of ways I’d like to forget. However, I was blessed to be able to recover enough to be home for Christmas and while I was in the hospital, several items that I had been waiting for came in (Optolong L-eNhanced filter for one) and then I saw I would have clear skies on 12/26. I did everything I could to help boost my strength – still weak, tired, etc, and I was able to set up and get a little time in on the Heart Nebula which is located in the constellation Cassiopeia. I had gathered data twice before on this target with mixed results – once with no filter and then once again with my reducer and Orion SkyGlow Broadband light pollution filter. This time though I was armed with the Optolong L-eNhanced and I love the results, even if I wasn’t able to get as much time on target as I wanted.
Statistics and Gear:
Meade Series 6000 80mm Triplet APO Sky Watcher EQ6-R Pro Mount Canon EOS Ra Astro-Tech 0.8 Reducer / Field Flattener OptoLong L-eNhanced Filter (2″) ZWO 30mm f4 MiniScope (guide) ZWO ASI224MC (guide
28 x 180s light frames at 800 ISO 20 dark frames (180s at 800 ISO) 50 flat frames (10s at 800 ISO) 50 dark flat frames (10s at 800 ISO) 50 bias frames (1/8000 at 800 ISO)
Guiding with PHD2 and captured in APT. Stacked in DSS with processing in Photoshop, Topaz and StarNet++
Yes, you read that right, 10 second flats…. used AV mod on the Ra, filter was in and I had my light panel real low with a doubled up handkerchief for light diffusion and it seemed to work out okay. I also took some at 1.3″ just in case, but I did not end up using them. I might run the whole process through Siril for the heck of it just to see and if I do I will probably use the lower exposed flats.
Heart Nebula – Combined Data – 11/26 & 12/26 2020 – Providence, RI
Now, these two are a combination of my data from 12/26 and data I also took on 11/26. The difference is on 11/26 I took 59 exposures at 150s with the Orion SkyGlow Broadband Light Pollution filter. Combining all the data gave me just under 4 hours worth of data
28 x 180s (12/26) – L-eNhanced 59 x 150s (11/26) – Orion Skyglow Broadband LP (231.5 min integration / 3.85 hours) Darks (20 / 15) Flats (50 / 50) Dark Flats (50 / 50) Biases (50 / 50)
SNC Astro - Photo 