M103 – A small, bright, open cluster in Casseopeia

Captured while waiting for M1 to clear some trees. This is an ideal target for a quick imaging session. 1.5hrs of RGB imaged with the ASI1600 on my 250mm Newtonian. Simple stacking a processing in Pixinsight. On this occasion I used a combined dark-flat with the flat frames This seems to work well.

Posted in Deep Sky, Open Cluster | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on M103 – A small, bright, open cluster in Casseopeia

M1: The Crab Nebula in Taurus in SHO

I first imaged this supernova remnant back in 2005 using a modified web-cam.

I tried again is 2012 with a DSLR:

Picture saved with settings embedded.

I was very pleased with the results then but my recent efforts (Dec 2021) are significantly better as they should be given all the high-tech I have thrown at it:

It still needs more signal to get a decent SNR but the results so far are excellent given this is 1.5hrs RGB, 1hr for Ha and S2 and 2hrs for O3. By coincidence we have the same orientation for each image so a direct comparison is easy.

1 month later (6th Jan. 2022) with an additional 4.5 NB data and 45 minutes of RGB I was able to produce this version which uses only SHO data for the Crab nebula itself:

The narrowband light emitted by the nebula images very differently showing that the Crab has lots of very complex structure:

Combining Narrow Band signals to produce my Crab Nebula image.

Posted in Deep Sky, Nebula | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on M1: The Crab Nebula in Taurus in SHO

The Horsehead nebula in Orion – (Barnard 33, in the region of IC 434)

This is a tricky target from my back yard, I only have about a 50-minute window between some trees to capture this. Imaged on a windy night the stars are not a great shape but I can live with that. This an Ha only image cropped and focused on the horsehead itself:

IC434 The horsehead nebula.

And here is the full frame:

The Horsehead nebula in Orion

Imaged using the ASI1600 on the OO250mm Newt, just 22 x 120sec Ha. Accidentally imaged at 0 gain! It’s tricky to get more data at this focal length due to the small window of opportunity so I’ll likely go portable for the classic a wider view with my short focal length refractor.

Posted in Deep Sky, Nebula | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on The Horsehead nebula in Orion – (Barnard 33, in the region of IC 434)

7-Sisters, The Pleiades Cluster, Messier 45

Messier 45, The Seven Sisters, The Pleiades Cluster

This is the bright 7-Sisters star cluster in Taurus visible high in the winter northern skies. This is a target that has been long on my list of failures – results have previously been poor with not having the right focal length and not taking enough sub-frames. It’s a broadband object so it is also at the mercy of light pollution.

Whilst the stars are bright the reflection nebula surrounding this cluster is quite faint and easily swamped. Bringing out the reflection nebula without saturating the stars requires choosing an exposure length that does not clip the stars and then take lots of exposures.

I decided that it was a good target for my un-modded, uncooled Canon 550D, matched to my 70mm APO refractor to give me a good level of detail with some surround star field for context. The result above took 479 x30sec exposures (4hrs). It was processed in Pixinsight and finished off in Paintshop Pro as a full frame resized to 30%. If I took another 4 or 8 hrs(!) I might be happy to display this at native resolution.

The HEQ5-Pro continues to be an excellent mount for this scope. Basically, its sub-arcsecond tracking accuracy with this load means it’s rare to lose a frame due to mount errors.

Posted in Deep Sky, Nebula, Open Cluster | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on 7-Sisters, The Pleiades Cluster, Messier 45

Comparison of ZWO 7nm Oiii (2018 version) versus Baader 6.5nm Narrow Band OIII Filter – CMOS Optimised (2021)

Earlier this year purchased a ZWO ASI1600mm Pro + 36mm 7-position filter-wheel complete with the LRGBNB filter set.

The ZWO filters represent very good value and I have had a lot of fun with them. However, of the set the Oiii is not the best performer, it produces distracting halos around bright stars and rings around dimmer ones.

I have learnt a technique to reduce the impact of halos during image processing but it is better not to have them in the first place if they can be avoided. Its asking a lot of budget filters so I had a look around, prepared to spend a lot more. But I noticed that the Baader filters had recently been updated with improved anti-reflection halo reducing layers (even claiming halo free). At £143 from FLO they are a similar cost to the ZWO filters when bought individually. I decided to give the Baader filter a trial to see how it lived up to the claim.

I fitted both the Baader and ZWO Oiii filters to the filter wheel for a side-by-side comparison. The optical train was ASI1600mm Pro, Filter-wheel, Lacerta KomakorrF4, Orion Optics 250mm F4.8 Newtonian. Autofocusing between filter changes was done with a ZWO EAF.

The camera gain was set @ 139, sub-frames were 120s. I took 34 subs with the ZWO Oiii and selected the best 10 frames to stack. I took over 100 frames with the Baader. Using the same quality selection criteria I had 38 frames, from which I took the first 10 for stacking for this comparison. I used the N.I.N.A autofocus routine with each filter change. All subs were taken during the same one-night session. Conditions during the night varied but because I restarted a few times, the conditions evened out for the two filters.

To conduct the test, I chose a new target for me but one with a reasonably bright star in the ROI. I chose the Bubble Nebula. Below are the stacked images with automatic stretch applied:

ZWO 7nm Oiii Narrow Band Filter

ZWO 7nm Oiii 36mm filter

The ZWO filter gives us a very obvious halo around the bright star.

ZWO 7nm gives a bright halo after 20 minutes of integration

Baader 6.5nm Narrow Band OIII Filter – CMOS Optimised

Baader 6.5nm Oiii

The Baader filter also has a halo but it is very faint. Additionally, the star appears better defined suggesting less scatter overall. The fainter stars appear brighter than in the ZWO image. (More testing would be needed under stricter conditions to verify this).

Baader 6.5nm – Very dim halo after a 20-minute integration.
Baader 6.5nm – Even after 80 minutes integration the halo is still faint and remains fainter than the halo produced by the ZWO filter 20-minutes of integration.

Finally for comparison here is a closeup of the ZWO Ha subs (80 minutes integration). There is no halo apparent.

ZWO Ha 40 subs stacked. No halo to worry about.

Conclusion

The new Baader 6.5nm Oiii filter offers a significant improvement in halos over the ZWO 7nm. There are still halos present in my particular setup, but the Baader halo is over 4 times fainter that the ZWO.

There is also the suggestion of less light being scattered, giving brighter stars and better definition in distributed objects like galaxies and nebula.

The Baader Oiii filter wins over the ZWO.

Posted in Astronomy Gear, Deep Sky, Equipment | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Comparison of ZWO 7nm Oiii (2018 version) versus Baader 6.5nm Narrow Band OIII Filter – CMOS Optimised (2021)

The Crescent Nebula NGC6888

This is was my first image of the 2021 season after a long break. It’s the result of two nights of roughly 1hr total for LRGB, 2hrs Ha and 5hrs Oiii. 

I’ve been practicing with methods to combine the images…

LRGB subs were 30sec @ gain 0, Ha and Oiii susb were 120sec @ gain 200. ASi1600mm pro and filter set, scope was the OO250 newt. Even at 30 seconds and 0 gain I still manage to clip some stars.

Posted in Deep Sky, Nebula | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on The Crescent Nebula NGC6888

The Wizard Nebula NGC7380 in HOO

NGC7380 The Wizard Nebula

This is the Wizard Nebula. I’m told it is supposed to look like a wizard in a pointed hat and gown with open arms. I imaged this over two nights under very bad weather conditions and a bright moon.

I attempted and abandoned some S2 – the signal was weak and too many subs were trashed. At the end of the two days I applied more than my usual rigor to the frame selection process and ended up with just 100mins each of Ha and O3.

Stacking just the best subs didn’t change the star sizes but the fainter ones were sharper, over-all contrast, range and noise was improved (so spending the time up-front to select good frames is really worth it). O3 was still weak but I decided not to push it too hard.  I applied the halo reduction technique for the O3 described here it works surprisingly well.

I’ve combined the signals as R=Ha, G= 0.3*Ha +0.7*O3, B= O3. The central blue area of the nebula was enhanced using an O3 range mask and just increasing the blue saturation a little. This was quite tricky to process and easy to overdo.

After imaging this nebula, I’ve purchased a replacement O3 filter. For future narrow-band projects I’ll be swapping out the notorious-for-halos ZWO 7nm O3 filter for the Baader 6.5nm (new for 2021) O3 filter that is supposed to have much improved antireflection and halo reduction coatings. I plan to do a side-by-side comparison in a mini-review just to see if the Baader filter is worth it in my setup.

Posted in Deep Sky, Nebula | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on The Wizard Nebula NGC7380 in HOO

The Cocoon Nebula IC5146

After cleaning and correctly(!) fitting my LRGB filters I decided to go a for a bright broadband target. Clouds, moon and poor seeing did not help but I managed about 45 mins each for RGB and Ha – shot with the ASI1600mm. This is tight cropped as I combined Ha from two sessions and the framing wasn’t very well repeated. (I really must work out a way to index my camera rotation.)

This is the first full imaging session since changing the RA and DEC boards of the CEM70G. The resolving power (Dawes-limit) for the scope is about 0.45 arc seconds. At this focal length the ASI1600mm pixel size is 0.65 arc seconds. This camera is basically working at the limits of the scope. If you pixel-peep this image even with the poor seeing you can tell the CEM70G is now getting the most out of the combination. An OAG may give me fewer reject subs but I am very happy using my 60mm guidescope +ASI290 guide camera.

https://www.bintel.com.au/tools/astronomy-calculator/?focallength=1200&fratio=4.8&pixelsize=&xpixels=&ypixels=&eyepiecemm=&eyepiecefov=&binning=1&multiplier=1&target=moon&p1=&p2=&p3=&telescope=&camera=20852&eyepiece=

Aperture 250mm /9.84 inches
Maximum Magnification :500x
Resolving Limit (Dawes): :0.46″ arcseconds
Native Focal Length / F: 1200mm / F4.8
Ideal Resolution : 0.67″ – 2″ arcseconds
Resolution 0.65″ arcseconds per pixel
SamplingSlight Oversampling ✅

Camera Chip FOV 0.84° x 0.64°

Posted in Deep Sky, Nebula | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on The Cocoon Nebula IC5146

The Andromeda Galaxy M31

This is the result of 3hrs and 50 minutes of 5min subs @ ISO800 using my resurrected Canon 550d, Optolong L-pro, Altair 70mm EDT-F on my trusty HEQ5pro.

I’m pretty happy with picking up the star bridge between M31 and M110, I noticed that disturbance even carries on past M110 if I over-stretch it.

More integration time would smooth out the outer regions and perhaps even pick up some of the blue/pink cloudy zones but I may leave it there to focus on M33 which I have never imaged before.

Posted in Deep Sky, Galaxies | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on The Andromeda Galaxy M31

Now take my Soul, IC1848 the Soul nebula in SHO

Right next to the Heart ( IC1805 The Heart Nebula – SHO) you will find the Soul.

This was trickier for me to process than the Heart nebula. Although it was clear, conditions were not great and I had few gremlins to deal with. Overall, it meant fewer hours of data so far captured (7hrs total, 2hrs each for Ha and O3, three hours for S2). This shows in the noise and processing artifacts visible in the enlarged image as I attempt to get something close to the Heart image in detail and vibrancy.

Details: ASI1600mm pro, Altair Astro 70mm EDT-F on the HEQ5.

Here is another attempt at processing the data, this time I just used the subs from the second night as they were better framed, so this represents about 3.5hrs of S2, Ha, O3, processed as SHO in a pseudo-Hubble palette.

Posted in Deep Sky, Nebula | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Now take my Soul, IC1848 the Soul nebula in SHO