Cats paw nebular with DSLR

[bluesilver (Peter)]

Hi, Just an attempt at having a go at the Cats Paw Nebular.
Still working out the program Star Tools
But one with the stars left as they are and one with them dimmed a bit.
Binned to 25% in Star Tools
So Basically taken with a Canon 600D
20 x 5 minutes exposures.
20 x 5 minutes Darks
20 x bias
Messed up the Flats a bit, only have 1 minute exposures there for some reason.
Still got quiet a bit of noise there, bit play around with DeepSky Stacker a bit more to see if it will remove a bit more
Had to down size them quite a bit to put on here.
Still haven't quite got the detail as you would normally get.

[Startrek (Martin)]

Peter,
The Cats Paw is a very dim object but you have exposed quite a bit with your 600D
Well done indeed !!
If I were imaging it with my 600D ( I never did I always thought it was too dim ) I probably would run 3 minute subs at ISO800 to keep the read noise down a bit , dither each sub to at least 5 pixels , and capture at least 3 to 4 hours of data on it, only my thoughts on a capture plan
Anyway great effort
Martin

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

Hi Peter,

I can't remember what scope you have and obviously that will play a part in the best exposure setting for your case.

For comparison, I'm also shooting the cat's paw tonight. I have a 10" Schmidt Newt and a QSI683 CCD. For Luminance I shoot 5 min unbinned subs and always run my camera at -15 degC.

Here's a single raw (uncalibrated) sub straight from the camera to give you a comparison. I'm close to the city in Brisbane (all sky camera shows the light pollution).

[bluesilver (Peter)]

Thanks for the advice, greatly appreciated.
Scope is a Skywatcher Evostar 150ED
I dithered every 3rd exposure and at ISO 800
I have done it with 2 minute exposures also just for a comparison, just haven't processed that one yet.
I have yet to setup to any more that a 1 hour session, so more time would be a good option to try
Just a tad wary of equipment getting covered in frost, was sitting at 0 degrees when this one was done.
I have just picked up a asi017mc camera, keen to give that a try on this target a bit latter.

[bluesilver (Peter)]

Originally Posted by peter_4059

Hi Peter,

I can't remember what scope you have and obviously that will play a part in the best exposure setting for your case.

For comparison, I'm also shooting the cat's paw tonight. I have a 10" Schmidt Newt and a QSI683 CCD. For Luminance I shoot 5 min unbinned subs and always run my camera at -15 degC.

Here's a single raw (uncalibrated) sub straight from the camera to give you a comparison. I'm close to the city in Brisbane (all sky camera shows the light pollution).

That looks like a very decent image, much better than a DSLR,
I don't really have the ideal scope for this type of imaging unfortunately ( Skywacher Evostar 150ED)
Will look into more options if if i continue to go with imaging.

[Startrek (Martin)]

Originally Posted by bluesilver

Thanks for the advice, greatly appreciated.
Scope is a Skywatcher Evostar 150ED
I dithered every 3rd exposure and at ISO 800
I have done it with 2 minute exposures also just for a comparison, just haven't processed that one yet.
I have yet to setup to any more that a 1 hour session, so more time would be a good option to try
Just a tad wary of equipment getting covered in frost, was sitting at 0 degrees when this one was done.
I have just picked up a asi017mc camera, keen to give that a try on this target a bit latter.

Peter,
Great camera the 071MC , is it new or an older second hand one as the 071MC prior to mid 2019 had an issue with the sensor frosting up , the later ones were rectified by ZWO
Gee you won’t know yourself with a cooled OSC compared to the old 600D
You can explore so many more imaging opportunities now with the new camera
Just takes a bit of time learning how to maximise its performance
I use APT for frame, focus and capture with my 2600MC, easy to use and can be linked to so many other programs.
Cheers
Martin