Eagle Nebula M16 and Omega Nebula M17

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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celeron787
Posts: 113
Joined: Sun Jan 12, 2020 2:30 pm

Eagle Nebula M16 and Omega Nebula M17

Post by celeron787 »

Another unexpected clear night. Imaged another part of the milky way containing the Eagle and Omega Nebulae. Tried manual dithering in RA and DEC, also tried out new method to take flats. Walking noise not seen now, not sure whether it's due to the dithering or the dense star field.

View plate-solved version here: http://nova.astrometry.net/annotated_full/4497279

The Eagle Nebula (right), also known as M16 or the Star Queen Nebula, is a star-forming nebula with a young open star cluster located in Serpens. The name Eagle comes from the nebula’s shape, which is said to resemble an eagle with outstretched wings. M16 is home to several regions of active star formation. These include the famous Pillars of Creation.

Just to the south of the Eagle Nebula is the Omega Nebula (left), also known as M17. The Omega Nebula is one of the brightest star-forming nebulae located in the constellation Sagittarius of the Milky Way. M17 contains an open cluster of 35 hot, young stars which are responsible for the nebula’s glow. The cluster is only 1 million years old, which makes it one of the youngest known clusters in our galaxy.

Sony A6000
Samyang 135mm F2.0
Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer
Tripod

Bortle 8
ISO400
Light frames - 354 x 15secs
Dark Frames - 30 x 15secs
Flat Frames - 30
Bias Frames - 50

Deep Sky Stacker
StarTools - 50% Bin, Autodev, Crop, Wipe, Life, Color, Denoise
Lightroom - Purple defringe

Image
Last edited by celeron787 on Sun Aug 23, 2020 8:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
hhzhang
Posts: 730
Joined: Sun May 10, 2020 4:11 pm
Favourite scope: 115mm APO

Re: Eagle Nebula M16 and Omega Nebula M17

Post by hhzhang »

Nice shot with plenty of interesting objects! The star points are sharp n clean.

Did you stop down the lens or just use the full aperture?
celeron787
Posts: 113
Joined: Sun Jan 12, 2020 2:30 pm

Re: Eagle Nebula M16 and Omega Nebula M17

Post by celeron787 »

hhzhang wrote: Sat Aug 22, 2020 12:27 pm Nice shot with plenty of interesting objects! The star points are sharp n clean.

Did you stop down the lens or just use the full aperture?
Thanks! I used it wide open at F2 to maximise the amount of light collection. I find the star shape pretty good wide open although I have not tried stopping it down. The CA is not very obvious too when wide open and easily removed in post-processing.
Focusing though is kind of tricky, just 1 tiny touch and the thing is out of focus. A bhatinov mask helps alot but there's still a tiny room between sharp and very slight out of focus.
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