Large Magellanic Cloud

[LostInSp_ce]

I'm currently testing a few things at the moment. I've printed some components e.g new lens hood/dew shield, guide scope mount, cable runners e.t.c so I needed a target to try it all on. Taken last month and captured over two nights with the first having reasonably good seeing but the second was poor. Still I decided to combine both nights anyway including all bad frames as I'm only testing at this point. There's some tracking and balance errors from the second night's acquisition but I just wanted to see where I could take it.

Details:
Bortle 7-8ish Sky
Canon 6D
Canon EF 70-200 f2.8L IS USM II
NEQ6 Pro
ISO 1600
300 x 45 sec unguided
Deep Sky Stacker and GIMP

[RyanJones]

Hi LostInSp_ce,

What a cracker of an image. Well done! Great detail and subtle colour. That’s one for the pool room !

Cheers

Ryan

[Sunfish (Ray)]

Great colour and contrast between all the different elements and objects. A very rich wide field indeed. Worth all that effort in aligning the technicalities.

[raymo]

Nice job; I see there is no sign of Ha. I wonder how long the subs would have
to be when using an unmodded DSLR for some Ha to reveal itself.
raymo

[LostInSp_ce]

What a cracker of an image. Well done! Great detail and subtle colour. That’s one for the pool room !

Thanks Ryan

Great colour and contrast between all the different elements and objects. A very rich wide field indeed. Worth all that effort in aligning the technicalities.

Thanks Ray, I like the field of view on this one too.

Nice job; I see there is no sign of Ha. I wonder how long the subs would have to be when using an unmodded DSLR for some Ha to reveal itself.

Thanks Raymo, you read my mind. That was the exact same thing I was thinking when processing it. I'm thinking maybe 2 min subs but I'm not sure if I can expose that long because the local light pollution is bad here and the nights are now warmer. At the time of capturing this I was more concerned about the operation of my gear than the final image but after seeing the result I'm curious to see if the 6D can get any. I think there's a clear moonless night coming up next week. If life permits I'll try to have another crack at it then.

[Paulyman (Paul)]

Very nice. Lots of detail there.

[LostInSp_ce]

Originally Posted by Paulyman

Very nice. Lots of detail there.

Thanks Paul, I wasn't sure of how much would show because of the second night's poor data but I guess DSS may have rejected a lot of them. Usually I manually remove the bad subs first, but this time I was just trialling things so I wasn't too concerned about the result. It can be tricky at this location because of my lighting issues. We've just had a new kids play area installed up the street a few weeks ago and along with it came these flashy new lights. I'd like to know if they're even legal because they seem like complete overkill lol.

[casstony]

Originally Posted by LostInSp_ce

I'm thinking maybe 2 min subs but I'm not sure if I can expose that long because the local light pollution is bad here and the nights are now warmer.

A modified camera and L-Enhance filter would work well in your heavy light pollution. My setup is useable even under a full moon provided the scope is pointed well away from the moon. Of course less moon is still better.

What focal length was your lens set at for the image? I covet full frame but haven't quite worked out how to get there yet.

[Startrek (Martin)]

Terrific image well done !!

[LostInSp_ce]

Originally Posted by casstony

A modified camera and L-Enhance filter would work well in your heavy light pollution. My setup is useable even under a full moon provided the scope is pointed well away from the moon. Of course less moon is still better.

What focal length was your lens set at for the image? I covet full frame but haven't quite worked out how to get there yet.

The lens was maxed out at 200 mm but I also cropped it for a tight fit. If using a cropped sensor then 135 mm is a good length.

I've been holding off on camera purchases for a while because I still can't make my mind up between sticking with DSLR or changing to a dedicated AP camera. When I originally planned everything two years ago the skies here were decent and imaging with an unmodified DSLR was doable, but in the last year a lot of unexpected developments have suddenly popped up around me. But what can I do except laugh.

Still I shouldn't complain too much because I do have some dark skies only 20 mins away if I really need them.

Terrific image well done !!

Thanks Martin

[Ant0nio (Tony)]

Awesome shot, well done.
Cheers,
Tony

[LostInSp_ce]

Originally Posted by Ant0nio

Awesome shot, well done.
Cheers,
Tony

Thanks Tony.

Skies have been rubbish for months so I haven't been able to add anymore exposure time to this. Unable to image I decided to reprocess it with some tweaks to my usual workflow and see if I can squeeze more out of it. After a few good stretches I did manage to find a little Ha in there. It's not much but it's there. The question is how much additional exposure time is needed to bring it all out? I'm not sure but I'm guessing it's going to be at least triple the current amount of subs before I see some more red stuff on that sensor. That's a whopping 900 subs or so!