Well I’m back from IISAC2008, a little tired, a little sunburnt, a little disappointed (with the weather) but a lot relieved. Another year down, but planning for IISAC2009 has begun already!
We had pretty ordinary weather.. it couldn’t have been much worse, though if it was raining during the day that would be classified as worse. We had mostly hot days but mostly cloudy nights. On Thursday night, we had reasonably clear skies just after sunset - enough to get drift alignment completed, and then it clouded over for a few hours. It cleared again at midnight for a total of 2 hours - enough time for me to grab some data on the Horsehead and Flame Nebula in the Orion Constellation - just next to the bright star Alnitak (Zeta Orionis), which is one of the stars in Orion’s belt.
I was lucky enough to borrow Chris Wakeman’s modded 350D, which captures much more data in the h-alpha wavelengths than my standard Canon 350D - perfect for a target like the horsehead region which has abundant h-alpha emission.
I captured 42 minutes worth of data - 5 minutes and 7 minutes at ISO800, and 3 x 10 minutes at ISO400, all with ICNR on to subtract the darks. The modded 350D was at prime focus of the ED80 (with Williams Optics 0.8x reducer/flattener) on the EQ6, which was guided using PHD software, an 80mm guide scope and the DMK21AU04.
I wanted to capture much more data, but the clouds came back at 2am so I pulled the tarp over all the gear and went to bed in the tent. I took the flats when I woke up at 6:30am, and started processing later that day.
Anyway too much rambling, here’s the image:
The Horsehead and Flame Nebula
Click on the image in the gallery to see the less-compressed 1200px wide version.
I’m very happy with the image - the dark skies and the modded camera made a real difference and this image is a huge improvement to my previous attempt of this object from about 10-11 months ago.
Thanks for looking.
The Horsehead and Flame Nebula from IISAC2008!
