Cone nebula, fox fur and christmas tree in Ha

[Paramount]

Hi all
Finally managed to get out and do some imaging last night, not completely problem free though, after about an hour during a long session from 7pm to 7am I had some condensation on the camera optical window so I had to take it off and give it a blast with my girlfriends hair drier for five minutes, then had to refocus so half an hour or so wasted. Clear sky all night although imaging low in the sky was out of the question due to misty sky, the moon was high up as well which meant lots of sky glow and the ability to do my Telegraph crossword without artificial lights. Any way enough of the excuses.
I had originally planned to do this in colour but after starting the OIII something didn't look right in the image and I eventually tracked it down to condensation on the camera window, once I had sorted this out and refocused the subject was heading towards the mist so only Ha for this one I'm afraid. It is 8x10 minutes unguided with the Takahashi BRC-250 and Starlight Xpress H36. The image is cropped as there is now some vignetting in the corners since putting the PDF focuser in the image train (that is a small sacrifice to pay). Simple auto dark subtraction was used in Maxim DL, no flats or bias frames were used
Thanks for looking
Best wishes
Gordon

http://www.imagingtheheavens.co.uk/USERIMAGES/cone.jpg

[CoolhandJo (Paul)]

Gordon,

given the circumstances this images looks brilliant. I find this region very difficult to image due to the faintness of the cone nebula and brightness of the outer areas. Your image show good contrast on this (especially at the base of the cone)
Do you plan on imaging again in RGB?

[Paramount]

Hi
Thanks for the comments. I will be having a go at colour with this at a later date but this may have to wait until later in the year when Monoceros comes round again unless I get a few clear nights within the next couple of weeks. I will be doing it in narrow band colours because to shoot this subject I am always shooting across neighbours gardens and houses which have security lights and house lights coming on not to mention the street lights I have to contend with so for most of the time RGB is out of the question for me and as you say this is a fairly faint object and requires long exposure times which for narrow band is ok but not for RGB with the light pollution
Best wishes
Gordon

[gregbradley]

Hi Gordon,

Very nice shot.

If you are using flats your vignetting should go.
I am using an Apogee U16M and PDF on a BRC and there is no need to crop.
Make sure you get accurate flats.

Greg.

[spearo (Frank)]

nice and crisp
well done!
frank