NGC2070 Tarantula Neb - Learning NINA

[Doogs38 (Alex)]

So little time for astro atm - I'm missing it. I have however (finally) got my new NINA setup running on my 120ED refractor ... I migrated from Ekos running on an RPi4 to NINA on a Mele 3Q mini-PC. The Mele is very quick in comparison. Learning NINA, PHD2 etc has been fun and not too difficult; I quickly got quite use to it over three nights and actually had my best guiding ever with the 120ED on one of those nights. I still haven't tackled NINA's newer scheduler because I'm a chicken, but it does look good.

Anywhooo I used the Tarantula for a bright, easy target to learn about NINA, PHD2, ASCOM etc without having worrying/wonder about NINA's meridian flips. This is about 8hrs of Ha-Oiii (180s subs), stacked in APP (drizzled), processed in PI using a HOO-ish palette. I spent a lot of time gently stretching using GHS to tease out detail, especially in the core to avoid blowing it which seems to have worked. I've included some 1:1 close ups of various parts of the image to highlight some of the detail ... the core itself (middle image) is insane!


Hires image is here (it's big). Thanks looking. Alex

[Spookyer (Brett)]

Good stuff! NINA is pretty good I reckon a little learning curve I think but well worth it.

[Cyberman (Rob)]

fantastic Alex. Which camera did you use? Rob

[AstroViking (Steve)]

Fantastic image, Rob. Very well done!

[Doogs38 (Alex)]

Thanks Brett, Rob and Steve. The camera was an ASI294MC and I used drizzle integration because many of the smaller stars (... the Tarantula has lots of them) looked slightly undersampled. The 294MC is coupled to a 2" EFW via ZWO's T2 tilter (per ZWO's guidance) which introduces some sensor tilt in the bottom RH corner of the image. Interestingly, it's not practical to remove the sensor tilt with the tilter as there is only one way the EFW/tilter/camera can be connected, which results in the tilter's adjustment screws being hidden against the EFW. I have no doubt there are other ways to connect the camera to ZWO's 2" EFW and other compatible tilters, but I haven't done any research. Alex

[ahmed_haider (Ahmed)]

That's brilliant! The core especially looks amazing.
Thanks for sharing! not just the photos but the write up too, some useful nuggets there for a beginner like me

Cheers
Ahmed

Originally Posted by Doogs38

So little time for astro atm - I'm missing it. I have however (finally) got my new NINA setup running on my 120ED refractor ... I migrated from Ekos running on an RPi4 to NINA on a Mele 3Q mini-PC. The Mele is very quick in comparison. Learning NINA, PHD2 etc has been fun and not too difficult; I quickly got quite use to it over three nights and actually had my best guiding ever with the 120ED on one of those nights. I still haven't tackled NINA's newer scheduler because I'm a chicken, but it does look good.

Anywhooo I used the Tarantula as bright, easy target to learn about NINA, PHD2, ASCOM etc without having worrying/wonder about NINA's meridian flips. This is about 8hrs of Ha-Oiii (180s subs), stacked in APP (drizzled), processed in PI using a HOO-ish palette. I spent a lot of time gently stretching using GHS to tease out detail, especially in the core to avoid blowing it which seems to have worked. I've included some 1:1 close ups of various parts of the image to highlight some of the detail ... the core itself (middle image) is insane!


Hires image is here (it's big). Thanks looking. Alex

[generalzod (Stan)]

These are awesome photos.

[alan meehan (Alan)]

Alex you did brilliant the tarantula to process is just a tangled web ive been trying to get it right for yrs well done and put these in the main photo section your off your L plates thats for sure

[Doogs38 (Alex)]

Thanks Alan. I might keep my L plates for a little while longer; I’m still very much a beginner and get nervous when deviating too far from main roads Maybe, just maybe, I’m nearing my P plates! Alex

[Dave882 (David)]

That's a wonderful image! The high-res is nothing short of stunning!

[Doogs38 (Alex)]

Thanks Dave.