Pathetic Leo Triplet with C6 SCT taken at Light polluted sky

[PETER LOO]

As i heard the saying that Galaxies love Aperture, so i used the largest i own to date, Celestron C6 SCT to capture Leo Triplet on Friday night at FL = 945 mm (1500 X 0.63 reducer), the sky was super "opened". The result was Low Signal to Noise ratio due to larger aperture attracts more light pollution at the same time, looks pathetic esp. the ngc 3628 at the bottom left hand corner, contrast was super poor, i think using an APO refractor would produce much better result. the consolation is, this time the stars all round !!! w/o doing much s/w compensation, just make the PHD (Press Here Dummy) box smaller (size 20) & also because it its not pointing at a large Declination near pole. Shooting data as follow:

(Leo Triplet) 12 Apr 2013, C6 SCT with 0.63 X reducer, NGC 3628 is found hiding at the lower left hand corner. a bit blur though. Same old GPD2 Mount set up but guided this time with 50mm scope & SSAG / PHD (Press Here Dummy). 45s X 13 @ ISO 1600, Clip on filter for EOS used. Lagi simple aligned. Taken via roof top carpark, light pollution severe.

[beginner]

Peter,

Saw your result and I am tempted to cancel my order of the clip-on filter.
It seem like it didn't helps at all.
Btw which clip-on did you buy?

[beginner]

Peter,

The normal clip-on let in the Hydrogen Alpha wavelength and block artificial light.
The Leo triplet does not fall into this category of objects so it is not going to help you pick up the galaxy detail.

Try it on a bright nebula and see if it pick up anything.
But judging form the light pollution in your image I not hopeful at all.
There will still be a lot of noise that you have to deal with.

[PETER LOO]

Hi (ur actual name ?), i am not sure if it is of the H-Alpha type, i received it from Shirox & is Astronomik R121, had used it on Rose Neb, sui, sui (see attached re-process rose), thanks but the Rose was taken away from the city lights following ur advice, Triplet from Tampines

[Gary]

Peter, nice attempt under such conditions in Singapore. Knowledge that those fuzzy spots captured contains billions of stars still makes the photo interesting and the capture commendable.

[PETER LOO]

Thanks Gary, thank you for the nice encouragement esp. on the poor Milky way i first presented, without your supporting words on that , today i would not have guts to publish the mostly not so nice & So not nice shots
The reasons why my shots not good this round is not because of rush, but because of superstitious, Friday night i did not dare to shoot at Changi seaside although the part facing Ubin / Tekong is much darker as it will cross over to Friday the 13th after midnight .. (oops, it's Saturday 13th) lol,
Also thanks Shirox for selling me his cam with clip filter, is really nice ..
n.b. now i am slowly switching to visual work starting with C6, best regards.

[beginner]

Peter,

I not familiar with this Astronomik R121 filter.
Don't know what wavelength it allow through and what it blocks.

Regards,

[PETER LOO]

Hi, please consult Shirox, i also do not know , by now, you would have known that i am not a perfectionist type & quite chin chye

[shirox]

Yo Peter, nothing is pathetic in your attempt!
In fact I really love to see your various attempts in Singapore as it is really really difficult to take nice images with a DSLR in SG furthermore drift alligning the mount in your balcony!
Your constant effort is remarkable. So keep trying. Its not about the end results but the process of learning! hahaha

With regards to the Filter its a clip on CLS from Astronomik, designed to reduce light pollution. Never really read about the specs of it as I'm also a person not into details.
Currently I'm using a Hutech LPS which is quite nice and it doesn't alters the colour like the astronomik does.

[PETER LOO]

Thanks brother, frankly speaking, i did eye on your G11 mount while money no enough (alahmak !) at this point in time (my youngest kid still studying in Uni), one of my Taiwanese Astro Friend Wang W. Y. tested his G11, he said can achieve +/- 3.5 after PEC recording or something (he had attached his PEC result in FB), this is the Takahashi EM 200 spec also man !!!