While I was sleeping ...Horsehead Nebula

[Robert_T]

Another first time for me. Sunday night looked to be clear all night long so after collecting some subs on the Tarantula I setup NINA around 9.30pm to go to the Horsehead and run till 4 in the morning ticking the box to do auto meridian flip and plate solve re-centre etc... I was amazed to wake and find it had done that successfully collecting nearly 6 hours worth of data and with good framing and even finishing by parking and warming the camera. :D

Anyway here's a stack on the best 4hr 25min using 300s exposures ASI533mc, Askar 400, Lextreme filter.

I did some careful processing to bring out more of the yellow in the flame as the Lextreme has a tendency to make everything plain red.

[Imme]

Great work....the joys of automated imaging hey!

You've got some good detail coming out there but I have a sneaking suspicion there may be more hidden in that blackness! Have you tried stretching a little more. You really have managed to tame that pesky bright star that often blows out on this target (Zeta Orionis???)

I have a questions though.......why are you still in the Beginners Section? (I'd say time to move to Deep Sky based on this pic!)

Well done, great capture

[xelasnave]

That is excellent.
Alex

[rustigsmed]

that is awesome Robert, nice job - think i am going to have to look into NINA.

cheers

[Wilsil]

That is a brilliant picture.
I am still far far away from having everything automated.
Just starting in APT with the sequence, that's it. :-)
I have NINA installed but haven't used it.

[Robert_T]

thanks Jon, there is definitely more detail in the fainter areas, but it's a compromise between detail and noise. If I can add another night I can stretch more and manage the noise. I still think of myself as a beginner in this deep sky digital stuff; I only started with a DSLR on a telescope ~ 4 months back and then onto dedicated ASI cameras 2-3 months ago. I'm spring-boarding tho on years of astro experience in and out over last 40 years, including film-based astro deep sky in the 80's; and years of digital terrestrial photography over the last 10 years helps with some basic processing stuff in Photoshop :-)

[Robert_T]

thanks or the kind words Alex and Russell

[Robert_T]

I came from APT as well. I wish I could have a bit of both. APT makes a lot of sense to me. NINA has a more modern interface but some quirks as well. What pushed me to change (and I had several tries where I got so far and gave up and went back to APT) was Autofocus. I simply could not get accurate reliable focus using APT's autofocus routine...sometimes, but often long frustrating failure. Whereas with NINA it's been great and it shows you what it's done and where your focus is on a curve as opposed to APT where you've left wondering did it even do anything? I haven't been able to get auto meridian flip to work in APT as it always said cant have dithering at the same time... my hopes weren't high with NINA but it as virtually check a couple of boxes and just worked.

[DavidU]

Oh, YES.:thumbsup:

[Fernando]

Really great Robert!!! Excelent!!!

[PKay]

Thant's a keeper Rob.

Now send it off to the printer!

[Anth10]

Automation has payed off here with heaps of capture time to create this fine example of the horse head. nice detail coming through especially in the rising red background behind the horse head which I like. The flame is also vivid.
Good work

[Sunfish]

Most excellent work. Gotta love that .

[Robert_T]

thanks Dave, Fernando, Peter, Anthony and Ray; i'm loving this automation lark, but my wife reckons it's cheatin'... unless I'm freezing or getting bitten by mosquitos she reckons it doesn't count ;-)

[Jackstar]

Great image there Robert.


You have a great camera with the ASI533, what settings do you use?



NINA has transformed what i am doing too. If it wasn't for the ability to do what you have done here, setting it up to image while sleeping, i would not get half the imaging done.



well done


Jack

[Robert_T]

thanks Jack, nothing special setting wise, unity (100) gain and standard offsets for the ASI533 work well. Ideally I'd be running t -10deg, but have risen to -5deg in the Brisbane warming months. I have a library of darks i built up for both temps at exposures from 30s to 300s. And use flats of course but don't update those as much as I should. ;)