Hey all,
After trialing my new Esprit 100mm out with some popular targets as "first light tests"... the Lagoon and Trifid, the Omega and Eagle Nebulae and lastly with Carina. This is my first proper project with my new scope. The IFN in Apus near the south celestial pole. It's the longest integration time I have ever gone for on one target with 16 hours all up.
96 x 10 minute subs. I should have taken just 4 more subs to crack 100
I was planning on going for over 20 hours and I may do that one day and add to the dataset with a reprocess. The thing with the location of the target is that it just skims the rooftop of my house which limited how much time I could get on it each night. But in all honesty I am not sure how much more I could improve this shot with my current camera (unmodded Canon 6D).
Integration time really helped on this dim target. Playing around with the first nights data of 5 hours worth and comparing it to the 16 hour version was night and day. As I have a weakness for dark nebulae I think I am going to break this 16 hour record soon with other targets I have planned!
Click here for the full res version on my Flickr.
Am I the only one who thinks it looks like a Leafy Seadragon?
For context, the background on the seadragon image is just 5 hours worth of data.
Anyway feedback always welcome and thanks for looking!
... and it does look like a Leafy Sea Dragon 
great shot 
