Mike Lewis
Staff Member
So many of you are aware of my astrophotography setup, where I have my gear located in AZ and control it from here in CO. I am an avid imager, but only those who have been around on this forum for a little while would be aware of that, as the remote nature of my setup means I am not always in control of when I am able to image. In this case, due to travel issues for my friend who lives down in AZ, as well as gear problems that cropped up when I attempted to add a newer, larger, and more capable camera to my setup, I have been 'offline' for any serious imaging since spring, and maybe even before that, if you consider that when I was last able to image, it was galaxy season and my 580mm OTA is not well matched for those type of targets.
Well fortunately, now here in November I have managed to fix a number of issues:
So just starting a couple of weeks ago I was able to finally start taking for real actual astrophotography frames of deep sky objects again. Those who know me also know I like to go deep on objects, and would rather take lots of data on a singular object than take multiple objects, so even now my postings are likely to remain a trickle instead of a steady flow, but hopefully it will be a case of quality versus quantity, although that is of course up to all of you to decide.
So anyway, here is the first image hot off the press, The Flaming Star Nebula, an object I have long wanted to image but have not been able to get to until now. This ends up being my longest integration time yet, helped not only by sky placement, but also by my first usage of the free control software N.I.N.A., which allows for lots more unattended data capture, including meridian flips, and parking and gear disconnect without operator intervention. A short write-up plus the gear and collection details follow the image. As always, comments and critiques are most welcome. For those who are aware of Astrobin, an even larger version is available there if you click though, including the larger than full size 2x drizzled version.
https://www.astrobin.com/f27n9a/0/
This was amazing processed without any flat frames, as I have not taken them yet. It does not seem to have any real obvious issues in spite of that. I guess those new filters are starting out clean, and the telescope was professionally cleaned by Dean at Starizona in Tucson too (BIG shout out to those guys, throw some business their way!)
Thanks for looking,
Best Regards,
ML
The Flaming Star Nebula (IC405) is a relatively bright nebula in the constellation Auriga with both emission and reflection elements. It is estimated to be approximately 1,500 light years from Earth. This image uses a modified SHO palette in narrowband to represent the nebula, with extra RGB data collection to represent the stars in natural light. It is a first light image for a newly acquired QHY268M camera.
Equipment:
QHY268M Camera @ -5C and Gain:56 Offset:25
Software Bisque MyT Mount
Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8
Antlia Pro Filters (3nm narrowband plus LRGB)
Askar FMA180 Guidescope/ASI290MM Guide Camera
Software:
Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8
Lightroom CC
Photoshop CC
N.I.N.A. Control Software
Light Frames:
Hα - 56 x 480 secs ( 7 hrs 28 mins)
OIII - 78 x 480 secs (10 hrs 48 mins)
SII - 81 x 480 secs (10 hrs and 18 mins)
Red: 28 x 30 secs 14 mins)
Green: 27 x 30 secs (13 mins 30 secs)
Blue: 28 x 30 secs (14 mins)
Total Integration:
29 hrs 21 mins 30 secs total
Dark Frames:
10 x 30 secs (5 mins)
10 x 480 secs (1 hr 20 mins)
Bias Frames
60
No Flat Frames
Well fortunately, now here in November I have managed to fix a number of issues:
- My new camera is finally successfully mated to existing refractor telescope (which required a recollimation)
- I traveled down to south AZ and brought a larger OTA (Edge 9.25 HD) to be ready for galaxy season next time, or maybe even some planetary imaging now as well
- My friend has been able to stay down in AZ for longer stretches.
So just starting a couple of weeks ago I was able to finally start taking for real actual astrophotography frames of deep sky objects again. Those who know me also know I like to go deep on objects, and would rather take lots of data on a singular object than take multiple objects, so even now my postings are likely to remain a trickle instead of a steady flow, but hopefully it will be a case of quality versus quantity, although that is of course up to all of you to decide.
So anyway, here is the first image hot off the press, The Flaming Star Nebula, an object I have long wanted to image but have not been able to get to until now. This ends up being my longest integration time yet, helped not only by sky placement, but also by my first usage of the free control software N.I.N.A., which allows for lots more unattended data capture, including meridian flips, and parking and gear disconnect without operator intervention. A short write-up plus the gear and collection details follow the image. As always, comments and critiques are most welcome. For those who are aware of Astrobin, an even larger version is available there if you click though, including the larger than full size 2x drizzled version.
https://www.astrobin.com/f27n9a/0/
This was amazing processed without any flat frames, as I have not taken them yet. It does not seem to have any real obvious issues in spite of that. I guess those new filters are starting out clean, and the telescope was professionally cleaned by Dean at Starizona in Tucson too (BIG shout out to those guys, throw some business their way!)
Thanks for looking,
Best Regards,
ML
The Flaming Star Nebula (IC405) is a relatively bright nebula in the constellation Auriga with both emission and reflection elements. It is estimated to be approximately 1,500 light years from Earth. This image uses a modified SHO palette in narrowband to represent the nebula, with extra RGB data collection to represent the stars in natural light. It is a first light image for a newly acquired QHY268M camera.
Equipment:
QHY268M Camera @ -5C and Gain:56 Offset:25
Software Bisque MyT Mount
Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8
Antlia Pro Filters (3nm narrowband plus LRGB)
Askar FMA180 Guidescope/ASI290MM Guide Camera
Software:
Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8
Lightroom CC
Photoshop CC
N.I.N.A. Control Software
Light Frames:
Hα - 56 x 480 secs ( 7 hrs 28 mins)
OIII - 78 x 480 secs (10 hrs 48 mins)
SII - 81 x 480 secs (10 hrs and 18 mins)
Red: 28 x 30 secs 14 mins)
Green: 27 x 30 secs (13 mins 30 secs)
Blue: 28 x 30 secs (14 mins)
Total Integration:
29 hrs 21 mins 30 secs total
Dark Frames:
10 x 30 secs (5 mins)
10 x 480 secs (1 hr 20 mins)
Bias Frames
60
No Flat Frames
Last edited:
