M16 Eagle Nebula in Ha (1x10min subframe)

[Paramount]

Hi all
Last week before I imaged the Pacman nebula (posted earlier here) I was doing a few test exposures of different subjects that were low in the sky. I thought I would try out the Eagle nebula and try for a few subframes to see what would turn out (to give an idea of how low it was in the sky the telescope was horizontal), unfortunately after the first subframe it decided to hide behind the roof of my shed, so that was that for M16, later on I carried on with the Pacman nebula after redoing the polar alignment due to me accidentally nudging one of the feet on the Tri-Pier.
Anyway to cut a long story short I was bored this afternoon as the weather has turned nasty again so I was having a fiddle around with some images and noticed that the solitary subframe of M16 was still there so I loaded the FIT file into CS2 and had a go at processing it, rather than using the full widefield image I cropped it so only the nebula is filling the frame and the end result is below. Obviously it is over processed (my apologies for that) as I had to use a fair bit of noise reduction to help smooth the image, but I think I still managed to retain some of the detail. If ever it gets high enough I will have another go at a few more subframes or even use the pier raising motor on the Tri-Pier 2 (gives 20 inch extra height without affecting polar alignment). I hope it is worthy of posting
Thanks for looking
Gordon

http://www.imagingtheheavens.co.uk/U...-nebula-Ha.jpg

[jase (Jason)]

Look at those details for 1x10min sub! Incredible. If that doesn't change a DSLR users mind to buy a CCD, I'm not sure what will... Thanks for sharing Gordon. Time you hit us with some colour.

[Paramount]

Hi Jase
Thanks for the comments, I was just as surprised with what I was able to pull out of 1 subframe which is why I decided to post it, I am looking forward to trying to get some more on this as it is one of favourite objects and this was my first attempt at it and it is very low in the sky as I mentioned. It is funny what you say about ccd and dslr as I am running a poll on my website on the home page for this and so far the people who use dslr outweigh the ccd users by about 5 to 3. I will be having a more concerted effort at colour when the nights are bit longer and also I will be finally succumbing to the delights of autoguiding
Best wishes
Gordon

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Gordon, One sub?, unguided?, top work, imagine what you could do with lots and lots of subs LOL. Oh, the English, I admire your determination in the face of adversity, (well, the free world was built on it ;-). Colour Jase?, that could take months!!.

[Paramount]

Hi
Months you reckon for a colour image of M16? Based on the fact that I got 1 subframe that night, the unpredictability of the British weather and rare clear nights, the fact that M16 is only visible for a short period where I live and the fact that I would probably need at least 15 subframes per channel, I think we could be looking at years here...lol
Best wishes
Gordon

[jase (Jason)]

Ah c'mon Gordon, use some imagination. Connect that OSC camera up to collect the RGB, then align it do the H36 mono cam data Saves worrying about individual filters exposures being ruined by the notorious UK weather. Where there's a will, there is a way.

[AlexN]

One word..

PHWOAR!!!!!!!

I've seen stacks of 10 ~ 15 * 5min subs not bring up a final image like that...

**Throws DSLR in the bin.

[Paramount]

Originally Posted by jase

Ah c'mon Gordon, use some imagination. Connect that OSC camera up to collect the RGB, then align it do the H36 mono cam data Saves worrying about individual filters exposures being ruined by the notorious UK weather. Where there's a will, there is a way.

Hi
Have you ever tried using a SX M8C, it has 3.125micron pixels. I will be selling my two colour cameras next year as I will be going the monochrome + filter wheel route, or get a more sensitive colour camera such as the H9 and then I may follow your suggestion
Best wishes
Gordon