CCD vs Film? Lots of time vs no patience? Alright, this is your place to discuss all the astrophotography what's and what's not. You can discuss about techniques, accessories, cameras, whatever....just make sure you also post some nice photos here too!
Last night was pretty good. One of the rare nights where after 9PM, there was not a single passing cloud in sight. As such, imaging could go on undisturbed. Tracking was better than usual as well. Here is one of the lesser known nebulae in Scorpius, NGC6357. It is next to the more popular Cat's Paw Nebula. Both are located slightly above the 'Sting' of Scorpius. This is just a sneak preview preliminary image to see how much the nebula extent is in the field of view. It seems you will need at least 4 frames to cover the entire nebula. During this course of exposure, the refractor was almost reaching its extreme traversal end, and looked 'upside down'. Throughout the course of exposures, the nebula was close to setting into the light polluted horizon. Sky was stable and besides capturing it in h-alpha (2 exposures of 20 minutes each), i could squeeze three more 5 minute exposures of the red channel. Here is the end result. It is a little noisy at the moment since there are quite a few frames only, but oh well, it is a preliminary image! The nebula looks kinda scary.
Good choice! According to the DSS, there's more potential in this nebula... go deeper!
[80% Steve, 20% Alfred] ------- Probability of Clear Skies = (Age of newest equipment in days) / [(Number of observers) * (Total Aperture of all telescopes present in mm)]
"The universe is composed mainly of hydrogen and ignorance." 
