Any Takers? ID - Eta Carina (Additions)

[gavcol (G)]

G'day Everyone

Ok, before we start I would like to reinforce that I am just a beginner (and always will be a student! ).

I have recently started imaging DSO's (since the 18 MAR 2013). The equipment I have been using is:

• Skywatcher ED80
• Orion Skyview Pro Mount
• Synscan
• Canon 1100D (Unmodified) (My New Toy)
• BackyardEOS Software

Before this I was concentrating on planets/solar system using a webcam (still a beginner there too!! ). So I have taken a big leap here, but one I have longed to do.

I started with the obvious and most easy to find M42. Ok no problems there finding that one!

So that said please go easy with me on this question.

Can anyone identify this part of the sky for me?

After imaging M42 again for the second time (link:http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...d.php?t=104816) I then decided to have a manual scan of the sky for anything of interest. When scanning to the south (away from Adelaide) at a fairly medium to high altitude I found a part of the sky that looked promising enough. There was no obvious nebula visible in the EP, but I thought I would take a gamble. The picture below was the outcome.

The original single images were quite faint. There has been no real tinkering with the image other than stacking and tweaking (i.e. RGB, Illumance and Saturation) in DSS.

I live in the South of Adelaide, M42 is in the North to me and directly over Adelaide (light polluted skies) and the moon has been quite bright this week. Which has made DSO imaging very interesting!

I tried to figure out what I had with the old star chart and planetarium program, but failed. Kind of embarrasing question, but any takers?

(Slightly embarrassed)

Cheers

Gav

P.S. Finding this did give me some level of experience of what it might have been like to actually discover a DSO for the earlier 17th to 18th century astronomers. It was kind of good and I was a little chuffed to be honest!

[gavcol (G)]

Sorry

Forgot to add:

15 Images at 20secs ISO 1600 to 3200. Just lights, nothing else.

Cheers

Gav

[ving (David)]

g'day gav. hmm... how long were your exposures? those stars are rather elongated. i reckon for a quick play around you have got plenty of detail, and there is probably more you can squeeze out of it.

I am suprised you couldnt see anything thru the telescope tho. i can in sydney with my ed80.

[ving (David)]

oh its the eta carina neb btw

[gavcol (G)]

Originally Posted by ving

g'day gav. hmm... how long were your exposures? those stars are rather elongated. i reckon for a quick play around you have got plenty of detail, and there is probably more you can squeeze out of it.

I am suprised you couldnt see anything thru the telescope tho. i can in sydney with my ed80.

G'day David

Thanks for your reply. Even more embarrassed now .

I have had another look at eta carina and I agree that looks like the likely culprit. I guess I didn't recognise it at first because I am use to seeing so many wonderful images of it with a lot more detail (nothing like mine). I have never looked at it visually before through a telescope! Mainly started my interest in the solar system.

In relation to not seeing much through the EP. I was using basic Meade 4000 Series 30mm Plossl to scan the sky. Moon was high and bright and I have poor white light practices (bad manners) when I am imaging in the backyard. Torches and other lights turned on and off between imaging on a regular basis, so night vision is blown constantly. My eyesight is quite poor too (hence I am more into imaging), I guess thats a problem with getting old . That said there was enough there to get me interested, lots of close stars (forming area) and a very slight hint of nebulosity. Maybe my eyes are just cr$p .

In relation to elongated stars. Imaging was a quick split decision thing last night. I wasn't sure I was going to get permission from the wife! . I don't have a permanent ob's yet, so I was rushing around setting up in the twlighlight before it got too dark. Also before M42 my main learning target disappeared behind a line of trees. So I didn't set up too well. A very basic/rough compass alignment with the South and then push and go to M42 and hope tracking was ok. Didn't even worry about GoTo as I wanted to look at some commonly known subjects (M42, Moon and Saturn).

Like I said it was a quick scan around for anything else before I finished up for the night. Wish I had spent more time on it now .

I might have another play with the image to see what I can get out of it.

Thanks for the information.

Cheers

Gav

[raymo]

Hi Gavcol, EtaCarina is quite large when the exposure is long enough
to show it all. It is a very interesting exercise to either take longer and
longer exposures ,and watch as more and more of it comes into view,
or stack increasingly large numbers of short exposures for a similar result.
The advantage of aperture is obvious when you consider that i can
get a slightly brighter image of E.Car. with almost no trace of star
trailing, with a single 8 second exposure @ 1600 iso with my 8" Newt.
happy imaging
raymo

[ving (David)]

lol gavin. you wont see stacks of nebulosity visually, just a tad. your eyes probably arent that bad
infact i had no idea the moon was up... *blushes*

play around with your image a bit more and see how you go anyhow. as for light practices, mine are just as bad :p hehe

[gavcol (G)]

Hi everyone

Spent about half an hour on Eta Carina this evening.

Moon was high and bright , but at least sky was clear .

Setup:

Skywatcher 120 F5 Achromat Refractor
Orion Skyview Pro EQ Mount
Canon 1100D (unmodified)
Backyard EOS Software

Thought I would try with a little more aperture than the SW ED80.

Anyway the attached are one lights only and the other lights and dark flats.

Just playing around really in DSS trying to learn the craft! No further alterations with any other package (i.e. Photoshop or GIMP). Just compressed in Picture Manager.

A little better than my first I think.

Anyway thanks for looking.

Regards

Gav

[gbeal]

You're off to a good start, and will soon find the hobby becomes an obsession.
Keep at it, and try this again when there is no moon.
Gary

[gavcol (G)]

Originally Posted by gbeal

You're off to a good start, and will soon find the hobby becomes an obsession.
Keep at it, and try this again when there is no moon.
Gary

Thanks Gary

I have been addicted for years! Much to my wife's displeasure .

This is just another new extension of my hobby, trying to progress on from visual astronomy and planetary/solar imaging (webcam only) which I still really enjoy and still consider myself a beginner at. I also just like sitting at times outside with ye olde binoculars still.

My wife isn't talking to me this morning as I told her last night that I was going to spend half an hour outside with the dslr and a tripod just practicing a few wide field techniques and constellation shots. I told her that I wasn't going to be long and I she didn't have to worry as I wasn't going to get any telescopes out.

Well after about 20 mins of attempting wide field shots with just the camera and tripod and being under that cloud clear sky (albeit moonlit) the urge became too much. The sky was calling me to give praise to it . Before you know at I was like a madman under the moon .

So you know what happened next , a telescope made an appearance. Although I did limit myself to about two hours, including setup and take down, which left me just a little over an hour of imaging both Eta Carina and M42. So I thought I had it under control ! But when I came in at around 2330h I found my wife had ditched me for bed and my space in bed had been claimed by my six year old . So stayed up to around 0130h using DSS and adding to these posts . I then had the pleasure of sleeping in a child's single bed . I don't know what all the fuss is about not as if I spent all night down the pub !

Looks like the other half will have her whip out today and I will spend the day doing jobs, arguing and looking after the kids !



However, I am sure it was worth it .

Regards

Gav

[ving (David)]

so shes an astronomy widow hey

keep up the good work. you'll find the colour will be better in the ED80 than the 120mm which will give false colour (due to not being an ED scope)

[gavcol (G)]

Originally Posted by ving

so shes an astronomy widow hey

keep up the good work. you'll find the colour will be better in the ED80 than the 120mm which will give false colour (due to not being an ED scope)

Thanks David

I understand what you are saying about the Apo/ED vs the Achromat, but my decision simply came down to the following:

1. 120 was already on the mount and balanced.

2. Time was against me and so was the wife.

3. I was also interested on how it would perform, I only bought this scope a month back (secondhand) from another IIS member. I actually bought it for the WO 10:1 microfocuser which in the end needed stripping and repairing. I recently stripped it down (the scope completely including the focuser), took apart the objective (I hear you all gasp) and cleaned it. Then put it backed together. Now don't get me wrong taking apart an objective is not my cup of tea and I did a lot of preying . But the lens had a lot of dirt and watermarks externally as well as some fungus between the objective. Whilst I originally only really bought it for its focuser, I am now quite happy with it as a complete package. Not bad for $300 bucks .

4. Also aperture fever got hold of me a little when comparing it to the ED80!

I was quite happy with the images I got last night. Especially when all I did was grab the mount from the shed, look to what I thought was south and plonked it down. No fiddling with a compass or polar scope just a complete guess. Turned on the Goto system and entered date etc. Did not do any kind of Goto alignment, ignored it. Set tracking to sidereal rate on the synscan controller. Loosened the RA and Dec and swung manually to first object, which was M42, and let tracking do its business. Oh and hoped for the best !

The rest is history and I feel it was some of my best imaging. Funny how things work out .

Regards

Gav

[stardust steve (Steve)]

Hi Gavin. It looks like you have got astro fever
I can relate to seeing that first bit of Nebula on the back of the camera screen for the 1st time Mind blowing.
Does your mount have a polar scope? I have found by doing a quick line up with the Octans in the polar scope will get you closer.
I enjoy the challenge of this hobby/lifestyle ( more the latter) and the rewards it can produce and i can relate to just going outside for a quick look and end up setting up and digging in for an imaging session
I too live in Adelaide's south and am probably not too far away if you need help with something, i'll do my best (i'm still learning too).

[gavcol (G)]

Originally Posted by stardust steve

Hi Gavin. It looks like you have got astro fever
I can relate to seeing that first bit of Nebula on the back of the camera screen for the 1st time Mind blowing.
Does your mount have a polar scope? I have found by doing a quick line up with the Octans in the polar scope will get you closer.
I enjoy the challenge of this hobby/lifestyle ( more the latter) and the rewards it can produce and i can relate to just going outside for a quick look and end up setting up and digging in for an imaging session
I too live in Adelaide's south and am probably not too far away if you need help with something, i'll do my best (i'm still learning too).

Hi Steve

Good to hear from another South Adelaide astronomer!

Yes it has become a bit of an obsession .

You are right, it was a bit of a memorable moment once I saw the image come through. Especially with M42 (on my other post), as you are aware it is right over Adelaide and all that lovely LP .

It was amazing how such a small (and I mean very small and faint) smudge turned into the very familiar Orion Nebula right before my eyes.

My Orion Skyview Mount does not have a polar scope and to be honest it is time to upgrade!

I too still classify myself as a beginner although I have been interested in astronomy for a long time. Thanks for the offer of help, I might just take you up on it! Would like to catch up with other astronomers from the South of Adelaide.

May even be enough of us to start up our own local group .

All the best and thanks for your message and offer of assistance.

Regards

Gav

[Astroman (Andrew Wall)]

Nice work Gavin... Your doing great. It's difficult to image with all that LP around but you are doing well... I also images Eta not long ago from North of Adelaide, using an 80mm scope.

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...d.php?t=105001

So your not far off.. Maybe spend a little more time setting up and aligning and possibly look into Autoguiding also, helps for longer exposures etc.. Sometimes if you spend the time to get everything setup and aligned properly, you will get longer times and your images will become better each time you try.. Also helps to set some markings up on the back lawn or wherever you setup so setting up in the future is much easier and quicker..

Good luck with future images, look forward to your progression.

[gavcol (G)]

Originally Posted by Astroman

Nice work Gavin... Your doing great. It's difficult to image with all that LP around but you are doing well... I also images Eta not long ago from North of Adelaide, using an 80mm scope.

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...d.php?t=105001

So your not far off.. Maybe spend a little more time setting up and aligning and possibly look into Autoguiding also, helps for longer exposures etc.. Sometimes if you spend the time to get everything setup and aligned properly, you will get longer times and your images will become better each time you try.. Also helps to set some markings up on the back lawn or wherever you setup so setting up in the future is much easier and quicker..

Good luck with future images, look forward to your progression.

G'day Andrew

Thank you for the compliments and the advice, much appreciated.

I like your image very much, you have done a great job!

Obviously had a bit of practice in!

I agree about the setting up etc, it is a very important consideration. Just always seem to decide to image (or more importantly get permission from the wife) at the last minute! Usually when it is already dark and setting up is a pain, also not enough scope cool down either.

I am planning on making some marking on the lawn based on the solar noon method, just need the sun to come out again. I am also looking at setting up a permanent pier in another area of the garden, I have already started and dug the massive hole and have a pier (wide plastic pipe) just need to do a solar alignment there too and then get the concrete in.

Funny you mention guiding as I am just working on setting up an Orion SSAG . I am hoping this will make a big difference!

Overall I am happy with my progress.

Thanks again.

Regards

Gav