Hi all
Though Ive already got NGC 2032 I re-imaged it thismorning, this time re framed to fit in NGC 2014 and the strange ringlike NGC 2020.
6x15 minutes, ISO 400, Idas UV/IR and Baader UHC-S filters, MPCC , Modded 350D. 10 inch f5.6 newtonian, off axis hand guided.
Flats, darks, offset processed in Iris, then Photoshop. Resized in PSP4 (seems to give less compression artifacts then Photoshop.
Star Atlas Pro used to locate and correctly frame the objects
Sadly, upon locating a guidestar, it was a shapeles blob, the seeing was awful. Sky was reasonably dark for Newcastle, but very bad seeing. I knew no matter how careful the focus stars would never be pin sharp. The scope had been left out all night too, so scope would be temperature equalized. Also, the wirerd weather, it seemd to be getting WARMER, not colder as time passed and astronomical twilight approached. Also,warm dry wind gusts from the east were coming through, now that was odd as easterlies are always cooler and moise as the ocean is less then 10 ks away, but this felt warm and dry. Most odd indeed.
Scott
Thats a nice image Scott, done well considering the crappy seeing!!!.....
Same this way.....got up at 2am and was really clear but the seeing terrible. at 200x the stars were jumping everywhere so done some shots with my 300mm lense instead and just before twilight that horrible hot wind came this way to!!!
Goodd work..
Cheers Gary
Thanks folks.
yes after much experimenting 15 minute subs with the UHCS filter at ISO 400 seems to be best. 20 min. subs seem to mean more dark noise and brighter sky backgrounds, combining to see no real gain in depth of final image. Shorter subs mean not enough depth. I guess in winter time and with a darker sky 20 min or even 1/2 hour subs could be the go.
Thankgoodness the southerly has come through now. Cooling off, now cooler I think than at 5 am thismorning!
Scott
Hi Scott, thats a nice image you have captured, NGC2020 is quite amazing, it looks like someone has dropped a star into a puddle and its been frozen at the moment of impact. I think I'll have look more into that one as well.
That's another fantastic image - well done. Excellent tracking and focus too.
Very glad to hear STAR Atlas PRO helped you find these objects. I really like the ring shaped nebula (NGC2020?) and the suttle hues of green nebulousity in the larger nebula (middle right).