Widefield from the burbs under moonlight

[Mickoid]

Took the Nano Tracker out the other night with a waning gibbous moon in the sky. Not that I needed any extra sky glow, the suburban front yard gave me enough of that but it was interesting to see what I could dig out of the muck. The area around Antares sits right in a spot I can capture this time of year. Jupiter makes a special guest appearance as well.

40 subs consisting of a mixture of 800 and 1600 iso, UVIR and CLS filters and exposures ranging from 90 to 120 seconds at f5.6 to f8 with a 50mm. Yes, I was jumping all over the place but everything merged nicely in post processing. Shot with a modded Canon 550d.

[casstony]

Nice field of view Mick. I think the blue horsehead is on the left side about 1/4 of the way down.

[Merckx]

Nice work Michael. Can I ask why you chose f/5.6 and f/8?

[Mickoid]

Thanks James, this was shot with a cheap Canon 50mm f1.8 lens so at full aperture it suffers from aberrations such as coma and CA at the edges. I know from past experience that stopping down beyond f5.6 almost eliminates this.

I shot the UVIR subs at 90 secs, f 8 800 iso, due to the filter's high transparency and 120 secs, f 5.6 1600 iso, to compensate for the low transmission properties of the CLS CCD filter. :)

[Aron]

Is this the Omegon/Baader/Sightron nano tracker?

https://www.amazon.de/Nano-Tracker-Reisemontierung-Kamera-Nachführung-Astrofotografie-Time-Lapse-Aufnahmen/dp/B00D88IPLW/

I was interested in this, are they good?

[xelasnave]

You are brave having a go in light polluted regions.
But keep trying, one tends (one being me) to think it cant be done but you show there is hope...showing hope is a wonderful thing to do.
Alex

[Mickoid]

Yes Aron, that's what I have, it's the Sightron branded version. I bought mine online from a place in Queensland a few years ago now for about $350. They are a very reliable tracker and if you manage to get reasonable PA, then the results you can achieve are impressive. The peep hole in the housing is the only way to line up the pole so it's totally inadequate. I've made an assembly that holds a 6 x 30 finder scope that I've aligned to the peep hole during the day. I then just level the tripod, align the cross hairs of the finder to the SCP and away I go!

I found this on ebay which seems a good deal. https://www.ebay.com.au/p/Sightron-Star-seeker-nano-tracker-AS0005-F-S/2222301752

[Anth10]

Mick,
Although the colour is understandably lacking, you have still managed to draw out the long dark trails from the heart of the scorpion. The contrast makes for an interesting view of this rather attractive region. Longer subs would be the go but hey this would mean entering the realm of the autoguiding....

Anth

[Mickoid]

Thanks Anthony, I wasn't expecting anything spectacular from shooting under these conditions but rather curious to see what I could extract. Besides, the Nano Tracker is so light that I can pick the whole rig up with one hand and carry it outside. Auto guiding will only complicate things but who knows what's around the next corner! ;)

Hope and inspiration, that's what I'd like to be remembered by from the pictures I post, to try and convey the message that you don't need expensive gear to get reasonable results these days.

Thanks Tony, I often wondered where this Blue Horsehead was located. The nebulosity is washed out by the light pollution and moonlight but I see where you're talking about. :thumbsup:

[xelasnave]

A good example is the best we can do...it is wonderful that you take your time to do what you do.
The world needs more heros and you certainly add to their number.
Alex