M16 & the Pillars of Creation

[cybereye (Mario)]

Hi everyone.

Well last night I decided to give 5 minute exposures a test as well as taking darks, flats and dark flats... or is that flat darks??

Anyway the target was M16, the Eagle Nebula. I wanted to see if I could image the "Pillars of Creation", and despite some guiding issues that I was having I think I've done a passable job. It's amazing what a difference taking flats have made as well!!

Parameters:
7x5 minute subs
1 5 minute dark
4 flats
3 dark flats
ISO800

Any feedback would be greatfully appreciated.

Cheers,
Mario

[rcheshire (Rowland)]

Mario. Can crop it or post a higher res.

[cybereye (Mario)]

As requested, a higher res,cropped picture. This is good for showing the noise!!!

Cheers,
Mario

[p1taylor]

Mario, That is fare better you can really see the pillars.

peter

[mac (Matt)]

It looks fabulous! Well done!

[bmitchell82 (Brendan)]

I think the noise was your enemy of the night mario! as with DSLR's you get them to above 10 degrees ambient and bad things happen!

Good luck cheif

[cybereye (Mario)]

Brendan,

It looks like it's going to be a long hot summer for me then here in Brissie!! Oh well, hopefully I'll get something for my effort, if not just the enjoyment of getting something from a piece of sky that showed nothing!!!

My guiding sucked last Saturday night - I'm not sure if my initial alignment was so far off that the 2 second capture in PHD gave the scope too long to get out of alignment before being guided back to the right position. Light pollution was very bad as well and my ir remote was playing silly buggers as well!! The Pentax Km requires you to hold the remote button down for the required length of time (in my case 5 minutes) whilst always having it pointed at the camera!!! Try holding a button for 5 minutes and tell me if you don't get cramps in your thumbs!! Anyway, I've discovered that I can hold the camera shutter release button down in the bulb setting and get the same effect. A mate's going to build me a bracket so that I can position an old-fashioned remote shutter cable (that you can lock) over the button and do my timed images that way!!

There's always something!!!

Cheers,
Mario

[rcheshire (Rowland)]

Hi Mario. Noise is a pain isn't it. Still an interesting target and some detail emerging there.

The remote operation is not too comfortable. I've decided to automate with an intervalometer, just to make the experience more comfortable.

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Originally Posted by cybereye

This is good for showing the noise!!!

Cheers,
Mario

Sure is.

[cybereye (Mario)]

Originally Posted by Bassnut

Sure is.

I'm starting to realise that taking images of faint nebulae in the middle of suburbia is like trying to talk on a mobile phone during a big footy match at Suncorp or the SFS. You know you should be able to hear something but the crowd noise makes it a very, very difficult task!!!

But, none the less you keep on trying!!!

[multiweb (Marc)]

You go Mario! More subs is a noise killer. You'll get on top in the end.