20 replies to this topic

[nmoushon]

The September 2019 Challenge is now open. The target is IC 1805 The Heart Nebula, this can also include the Soul Nebula or any part of either. It up to you how wide or how narrow you want to image on this target.  To reduce the number of stickies, please submit your entry to this thread.

 

The Rules will remain pretty simple:

      Your Equipment
      Your Data, Captured This Season
      Your Processing
      One Entry Per Member

 

To increase participation over such a diverse group, the winner will be selected by random drawing. Please feel free to start a thread requesting guidance on your entry prior to submitting it, the whole purpose of this challenge is to learn and compare on a common target. Entries must be submitted by midnight eastern time on September 30, and I will try to announce the winner early in October.

 

Note: If I am late announcing, gently nudge one of the moderators in a private note, it helps. Seriously, PM one of us!

 

Please display an image in your post, not just a link!!

 

I hope everyone has fun with this one, and with that,

 

Let The Games Begin

 

**Disclaimer** - If the selected winner does not reply and pick a target with-in 3 days of the winner being announced the Mods will then select the next target.

[johnsoda]

Click on small image for better quality image and acquisition details.

 

 

[syxbach]

Imaging year 2018

Spent 3 nights at dark sites of bortle class 2-3，totally 18-hour exposure time
Mount: NEQ6
Telescope: AT65EDQ
Camera: SBIG STF-8300M+FW8-8300+OAG 8300+Kiss focuser
Guide camera: QHY5L-II
Filter: Baader Ha 7 nm; Baader O3 8.5 nm; Baader S2 8 nm
Exposure time:
Ha: 18*20 min
O3: 18*20 min
S2: 18*20 min

 

Edited by syxbach, 06 September 2019 - 03:43 PM.

[Acer]

My imaging setup right now is a little tight for the Heart Nebula, but I got the center of the Heart Nebula anyway.

 

Skywatcher MN190

ZWO ASI183MM-PRO

EQ6-R PRO 

Skywatcher 72ED

ZWO ASI120MC-S

 

Ha:  18, 300 sec

OIII:  18, 300 sec

SII:  18, 300 sec

 

 

 

[richorn]

I spent most of last month trying to get an image for the August Challenge, and finally got a halfway decent image the day after the winner was announced lol!

 

SO...  I am prematurely tossing this one in the ring.  It is my third ever image.  I shot it a couple nights ago, and it was my first successful night with 10 minute subs.  My auto focuser is "gone" as I await my new Starlight assy, so I had to try and hit focus and leave it there for the night.

 

It would appear my setup is not wide enough for this subject. I think I will try my first mosaic to see if I can pull it off.

 

Processing:  I did my first PI integration.  I found a tutorial (in German) that got me through integrating the RGB and then the narrowband.  I KNOW my colors are off, the background is crap (too dark) and it seems that my flats and darks were ignored as I have both vignetting and amp glow in the result.

 

I am going to post this in one of the regular forums to see if I can learn the proper way to post process this image.  In the meantime, here it is!

 

6x600s Ha

6x600s OIII

6x600s SII

20x60s R

20x60s G

20x60x B

 

SkyWatcher ED-80

SW x.85 Flattener/Reducer

iOptron CEM25P

ZWO ASI1600MM-P-Cool

ZWO 60mm Guide Scope

Toupcam G3m287C Guide Camera

 

Attached Thumbnails

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[kskostik]

My imaging setup right now is a little tight for the Heart Nebula, but I got the center of the Heart Nebula anyway.

 

Skywatcher MN190

ZWO ASI183MM-PRO

EQ6-R PRO 

Skywatcher 72ED

ZWO ASI120MC-S

 

Ha:  18, 300 sec

OIII:  18, 300 sec

SII:  18, 300 sec

 

 

 

Magnificent image! 

May I suggest a small trick. 
- Invert the image
-Use SCNR to remove all green
-Invert back to normal
-Observe the difference

[AKHalea]

Here is my rendition of the Heart nebula (IC1805), widefield with Fishhead nebula (IC 1795) in natural colors: 

 

 

It was captured on November 16, 2018 with my gear listed below: 

 

Location : My backyard in S. Texas,

OTA : Skywatcher Pro80 ED doublet with an Orion 0.8x focal reducer, 

Imaging camera : HA modded Nikon D5300 -

Narrowband filter : Omega Optical's duoband filter which has a 12nm bandpass for HA & 30nm bandpass for H-beta & OIII,

Mount : iOptron iEQ 30Pro,

Guiding : None

Capture details: ISO 800, f6, 140 minutes of total integration time (18x2Min, 21x2.5Min and 17x3minutes). 

 

The image was processed using APP (Astro Pixel Processor) and StarTools with normal RGB processing workflow. That gives me the natural color palette. The red is dominant because of strong HA emissions, which has been slightly toned down in saturation to help the central star cluster Melotte 15 to show. So, the image lacks the "pop" that a false color Hubble palette might give. Nevertheless, I was happy to get good results. Hope you guys enjoy it too ..... Anil

Edited by AKHalea, 10 September 2019 - 06:25 AM.

[Gipht]

The SHO images are great, but we need more red in this thread.  Here is a kind of, sort of, HOO image.  Lum(H76x4'+O20x4'), R(H86x4'), G(H20x4'+O20x4'), B(O20x4').  A total integration of just over 6 hours taken on 9/8/2019 and 9/10/2019.  Gain at 210 on the ASI183MM-Pro with Baader NB filters.  Used a Stellarvue 70mm  telescope  at f/4.8 on a CEM60  mount, guided.  Stacked in DSS.  Developed in Star Tools and Gimp.

 

 

Attached Thumbnails

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[rkelley61]

I decided to try the Hubble palette this time around.  I still have a long way to go in planning and technique, and building a mosaic is a bit beyond me at this point so my image is limited in extent and the camera rotation probably could have been better.  The images where taken from my backyard on August 31st, September 1-4, and 7-9.  I used Astronomik 6 nm HA, SII, and OIII filters to produce 360 images,120 images per filter, 90 seconds per exposure, 9 hours total exposure time. Equipment: ASI1600MM Pro; modified GSO 10" f4 Newtonian; G11T mount, 70mm Astromania Guidescope with ASI290MM.  Captured using SGP/PHD2, processed in PixInsight, conversion to jpg using Photoshop.

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[Astro_Sholo]

Equipment:

WOZ61 & WO 50mm Guide Scope

ASI1600m-p with filter wheel & ASI120mm-s

CEM25P

Sequence Generator Pro

 

Data collected over 6 nights this month.

Ha - 27 x 420s - 3 hr. 9 min. 

Oiii - 65 x 480s - 8 hr. 50 min. 

Sii - 33 x 480s - 4 hr. 24 min. 

Tot: 16 hr. 23 min. 

 

Processed using Deepskystacker & Photoshop

 

 

Edited by Astro_Sholo, 21 September 2019 - 02:04 PM.

[Der_Pit]

For a change, here's my entry.  I had first intended a mosaic, but with my gear that would have had to be at least a 3x2, in RGB 18 different frames (and at least 100 subs for each...).  Might still do that, but not before end September :o

 

So instead now a session with an old Canon FD 135/2.8 lens and my ASI1600+EFWmini.  That nicely covers both IC 1805 and Sh2 199.  I stopped the lens down to F/3.85.

120 45s frames for each color, taken unguided with random 10" dithers every 3 frames.

Had some issues with the color - not sure if that is the lens or the new filters.  Guess one should always only change one thing at a time.... 

 

[Dave53N]

The Heart Nebula in “bicolour” with IDAS NB1 filter.

 

This was taken over two nights for a total of 3h 8m. I used an IDAS NB1 filter which has two bands centred around the Ha and OIII signals. The Ha band is 20nm wide and the OIII band is 32nm wide, so not really a narrowband bicolour image.

 

The stars were controlled using Starnet++  and combining the starless image with the original image.

 

Equipment:
Scope: ES ED102-FCD100 at f7 (714mm) with Starfield  field flattener
Camera: ASI294MC-Pro
Mount: CEM60
Guide scope: Starfield 60mm with ASI120mm-S and ASI290mini
Filter: IDAS NB1 nebula contrast enhancer.
Guiding error ~0.7 arc sec total RMS
No Moon, SQM-LU reading 19.9
Location: Rear deck.
Exposures, all at gain 200 and -15C:
Lights: 94 x 120s; Darks: 40 x 120s; Flats: 7s with LED light pad; Dark flats: 7s.
Integration 3h 8m.

Processing software: DSS, APP, GIMP 2.10, Starnet++ and RawTherapee

 

 

[zach540]

Gear:

iOptron CEM 60
PoleMaster
Williams Optic ZenithStar 73 w/ Flat73A
ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
ZWO Mini EFW
Baader Ha, Sii, Oiii filters

 

Acquisition:
21, 22, 24 Sep 2019
Sii - 16x 240sec (Gain 139, Offset 21, -20 temp)
Sii - 3x 240sec (Gain 200, Offset 50, -20 temp)
Ha - 20x 240sec (Gain 139, Offset 21, -20 temp)
Ha - 1x 240sec (Gain 200, Offset 50,-20 temp)
Oiii - 21x 240sec (Gain 200, Offset 50, -20 temp)

 

Software:
SGP, PHD2, Pixinsight

 

Location:
Backyard, Calhan CO

Attached Thumbnails

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Edited by zach540, 26 September 2019 - 09:30 PM.

[ImNewHere]

This is a challenge and a half to process due to the star field. I need an l-enhance to give it a good go.
 

45x 180s ISO 1600, 10 flats, 20 darks, 60 bias, Pentax K5 astro mod, WO Redcat, iOptron CEM25P, MGEN II, stacked in Sequator (DSS completely fails to do heavy star field ones) and processed in Photoshop.

 

[TelescopeGreg]

Hi folks,

 

Ok, so this target isn't exactly ideal for my imaging train, nor local weather alignment with the Moon's cycle.  But, here's what I got.

 

This is focused on Melotte 15, the central open cluster within the Heart Nebula, cropped only to get rid of stacking and alignment artifacts.  First Moonless opportunity to image was during a Star Party on 9/21 under clear Bortle 4 skies.  As the crowd started to thin, I fired up the autoguider, threw on the camera and grabbed about 26 minutes of 20 second subs before having to pack up.  No time for darks, and with the disassembly required for travel, couldn't get flats the next day either.  Stacked what I had in Sequator, using darks from last month.  Not bad - actually saw some of the nebula's glow - but it of course needed more time.  Then the weather turned.

 

Three days later was a short window in the cloud cover, so I grabbed another hundred subs and a set of darks from home (Bortle 5/6), and flats the next day.  The auto guiding system failed (tentatively traced to a bad USB cable connection), so I just ran unguided and without a plate-solved alignment (plate solving uses the guide camera).  Manually weeded out the worst of the result and stacked the rest (24 minutes worth) in DSS.  Looked similar to the earlier session, though with more walking noise (typical with DSS over Sequator).  I expect this isn't the best idea, but I then took the two stacks and mushed them together in Sequator because it's really quick and both stacks were of similar integration time.  Processed the result in StarTools.

 

Enjoy!

 

Greg

 

Scope:  Celestron 8 inch f/5.6 Newtonian with Paracorr coma corrector

Mount:  Celestron AVX

Guiding (1st night only):  80mm f/7.5 guide scope, ASI174 camera, PHD2 software

Camera:  Nikon D3200, unmodified.  ISO 12,800

Lights:  152 total, 20 seconds each (50 minutes integration)

Calibration (2nd night only):  20 darks, 20 flats, 20 dark-flats

Stacking:  Sequator 1st night, DSS 2nd night, merged with Sequator

Processing:  StarTools

 

 

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[MCO Pilot Astronomer]

We just finished 5 nearly perfectly clear nights in Central Florida at Kissimmee Prairie Preserve. Lots of data, lots of images to share. Here's my Heart Nebula. 

 

Details on astrobin, but summary is 45 2 mins subs. 80mm ES Carbon Fiber APO, ASI1600MC and guided with the ASIAir and processed in PixInsight. 

 

 

https://astrob.in/6yz1d7/0/

[BABOafrica]

I'm south of the equator, so this one is very low on my horizon. Atmospheric crud and LP made this a tough target. I'm glad I managed to get something.

 

WO66 on AVX with Fuji X-A1 (iso6400) using a Ha filter

 

114 x 60s   (darks only for registration)

 

DSS & StarTools

 

 

 

BABO

[Wintermute]

Shot this last night, just getting in under the wire!

 

 

Bigger and more details: https://telescopius....a/by-wintyfresh


 

Edited by Wintermute, 01 October 2019 - 05:16 PM.

[rohitb]

95 mins of H-Alpha.

ZWO ASI183MM Pro with SV80 Triplet with 0.8x reducer on Sirius belt-mod mount
Processed with PixInsight

Attached Thumbnails

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Edited by rohitb, 30 September 2019 - 11:07 PM.

[nmoushon]

And the winner for this month is syxbach post #3! Congrats! A really wonderful image with great colors. 

 

I will post next months target as soon as syxbach lets me know what the target is. 

[nmoushon]

October's Imaging Challenge is up! The target is NGC 281 The Pacman Nebula!