NGC2070 while waiting for Mars ...

[Averton]

After imaging Saturn and Jupiter on Friday night, while waiting for Mars to rise we took 50 minutes of the Tarantula nebula NGC2070. Not really astrophotography, more EAA (no EAA section to post in). Image processed with Siril.

[Crater101]

I don't know about it being "not really astrophotography". I think the line here is reasonably blurred. Fine result. :cool:

[Dave882]

That’s a great shot! I love me a bit of eaa!!

[oska]

Nice one! I love watching the live stack roll in, perhaps my favourite part.

[Averton]

Thanks Warren. Our location (Bortle 7-8) and patience level (short) don't lend themselves to serious DSO astrophotography. But we enjoy watching a stack develop.

[Averton]

Thanks David. Yeh, EAA really is the only option for DSO objects in serious light polluted areas.

[Averton]

Thanks John. Agreed :)

[AstroViking]

Good image there. I like how you've captured the reds and oranges of the nebula.

What I'd like to know is how you did it - my NGC2070 the other week had plenty of green through it all and not much else in the way of colour.

Where you using filters of any sort? If so, which ones?

Thanks,
V

[Averton]

Hi Steve,
We are pretty close to the CBD and hence have severe light pollution. Due to this we use a ZWO duo band filter. (15nm in Ha & 35nm in OIII) If we don't, the background just blows out. We used an ASI533MC pro OSC camera. The subs were 30 seconds and we did use darks but no other calibration frames. The stacked image looked awful from a colour point of view (very green) but we only used a few quick steps in Siril to fix it.

1. Photometric colour calibration. Siril does this by plate solving the image and then using spectral data in a database to correct the colours. We ran the tool just once. You can do it more times but not sure that it improves anything.
2. Then we ran the Green Noise Remove tool which removes any residual green noise.
3. Stretched the image as required.
That's it. About 10 minutes processing all up :)

[AstroViking]

Hi P&C,

Thanks very much for that! I have pretty much the same gear and processing workflow as you, so it looks like my new L-Enhance filter will make a huge difference.

Roll on the clear skies!

Cheers,
V

[Averton]

Yes, the L-Enhance is a little bit narrower than what we are using but we would expect a pretty similar result. Being that bit narrower you can probably have longer subs without affecting the background and might need slightly more integrated time. Should be good. Looking forward to seeing the pictures!