Two sleepless nights

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!
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hhzhang
Posts: 730
Joined: Sun May 10, 2020 4:11 pm
Favourite scope: 115mm APO

Two sleepless nights

Post by hhzhang »

Two clear sky nights. Time well spent learning astrophotography.

The moon is annoying for deep skys but on the other hand always the easiest target for high resolution imaging.

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Did not expect the fireworks galaxy would be such a difficute target. But the light pollution plus the low alt is to blame. Single 1min shot could reveal merely the central fuzzy bright core. Hope to tackle this object from a dark site next year.

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IC1396 which accomodates the famous Elephant's trunk would also not rise to high altitude due to the high DEC value. But it turns out that Ha filter did the magic to bring out the nebula. The object is at perfect size for the combo of 180F2.8 lens+the 1-in CMOS on ASI183MM Pro.

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Neowise has faded badly. Through eyepiece I could barely notice a very faint fuzzy blob.

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Next on the list was M4. An easy target.

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M15 is less impressive.

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M54 is a noteworthy object. An extragalactic GC, and probably the core of a satellite drawf galaxy. 50kly or 80kly? Only a handful stars were resolved.

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BL Lac is the prototype galaxy for BL Lac objects, a type of active galactic nucleus.

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The summar Milky way is the best place for exploring rich star fields.

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Last edited by hhzhang on Mon Aug 10, 2020 6:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
celeron787
Posts: 113
Joined: Sun Jan 12, 2020 2:30 pm

Re: Two sleepless nights

Post by celeron787 »

Great collection of images! Looks like you had a fruitful 2 nights!
hhzhang
Posts: 730
Joined: Sun May 10, 2020 4:11 pm
Favourite scope: 115mm APO

Re: Two sleepless nights

Post by hhzhang »

Lessons learnt about the importance of proper processes for flat and dark frames. Many frames see little values.

Removing light pollution gradient is still an art to learn.

Additional two pictures.

The milky way central region. Worthwhile another more serious attempt.

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The moon. A quick shot before packing up and ending the loneliness.

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Airconvent
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Re: Two sleepless nights

Post by Airconvent »

Nice nice and productive series! And you managed to catch Neowise. I think I missed it already :)
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