440 replies to this topic

[Jeff Morgan]

My first photo of the Elephant Trunk. (At least, the first one I think I kept.)

 

IC 1396 is a very large and bright nebula (notice the photo parameters), something like a 135mm telephoto would be about perfect. In larger instruments the entire field is flooded with nebulosity, with the Elephant Trunk and some other dark nebula breaking things up with some contrast and lanes.

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[Scottsdale90]

Was out at my favorite dark sky site north of Flagstaff, SQM22.1 Elevation 5300ft. All taken with iPhone11 running Nightcap with a TEC140ED and Mod3C intensifier.  Here are few highlights:

 

Object               ISO     Exposure   Duration   Filter

Barnard 86a        32        1 sec           20 sec     642 bandpass (surprisingly this gave a better image than no filter, even at a very dark site)

Eastern Veil        320       1 sec           30 sec     12 nm HA

Lagoon              125        1 sec           15 sec     6 nm HA

M16                   160        1 sec           15 sec     12 nm HA

M101                 100        1 sec           15 sec     none

NGC6946            80        1 sec            20 sec    none    Captured a pesky Starlink satellite too

 

I also imaged Pluto for the first time which was cool.  Also managed to get a dim fuzzy view of Stephan's Quintet which really pushed my aperture/technology (14-16.7 magnitude).

 

All photos at prime focus except for NGC7000 which was afocal with 55 plossl and an Astrophysics 0.75x focal reducer.

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[Wildetelescope]

 

Another night out looking at Cygnus.  Two shots from slightly different angles.   Just the Monocular with a 12 nm Halpha Filter.   There was quite a lot of high thin clouds.  Each image was taken with my iPhone XR.  Iso 250, average of 10 1s exposures.  In the first shot, the North American Nebula is clearly visible at the left edge.   In the second image, N. Am is not clear at all, but the nebulosity around Sadr becomes quite clear.   Curious as to why things on the edge of the FOV seem to stand out relative to the center?  Still learning, but making progress.  At least this time things are more or less in focus .  And yes, I know I need to spring for a narrower band HAlpha filter:-).  

 

Cheers!

 

JMD

[Jeff Morgan]

Ideally, one wants to shoot as low an ISO as possible for less grain. But there are always trade-offs ...

 

Here I went down to ISO 100 and a 12nm filter. I did not get all of the filamentary detail inside the nebula that I am accustomed to seeing. Too low of an ISO.

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[Wildetelescope]

Ideally, one wants to shoot as low an ISO as possible for less grain. But there are always trade-offs ...

 

Here I went down to ISO 100 and a 12nm filter. I did not get all of the filamentary detail inside the nebula that I am accustomed to seeing. Too low of an ISO.

Hi Jeff

Visually, the images I posted above were much brighter, at the eyepiece and on the screen.  Frankly, if I am taking an image, I have no problem stretching it a bit to bring things out.  I respect the rules of the forum,  and understand that it is important to not misrepresent a processed image as real time result.   But for my own personal use and enjoyment I will process most of my images to one extent or another.  Interestingly, NV images seem to have their own set of challenges in that regard.  

 

My main question is why contrast of a target seems dramatically better away from the center of the field.  Others have noted this in other threads.  Is this due to the filter, the non linear brightness of the senor across the field (Halo), or the fact that I had a lot of high thin clouds that night.   Just curious.  

 

Jmd 

[Mazerski]

There are some wicked photos posted. No matter how much I look, it is never enough.

 

I gave it a try using iPhone 7 and simply taking a photo at the Mod 3 eyepiece with no tracking. I can't recall which is which but photos taken with 8" Boren-Simon and 12.5" New Moon.

Currently in market for tracking mount and the TTS looks interesting but expensive and the Rowan is working on or already has prototype motors for tracking. If NEAF happens in September, I'll show up and look at what is available.

 

Question: when using Mod 3, why do some photos show as bluish and others (can be the same object a few seconds later) show greenish-grey? All look better with eye vs. these photos.

 

Photos: M13, M81 / 82, M3, M8, M20, M104, M17

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[Wildetelescope]

That is the white balance of your iPhone. If you don’t set it manually it will shift around from blue to green. Nightcap let’s you do this in real time, or you can do it afterward in Photos.

Jmd

[Mazerski]

Thanks for the info. 

[Jeff Morgan]

My main question is why contrast of a target seems dramatically better away from the center of the field.  Others have noted this in other threads.  Is this due to the filter, the non linear brightness of the senor across the field (Halo), or the fact that I had a lot of high thin clouds that night.   Just curious.  

 

I do not know. Perhaps it is over-exposure of the center field due to high gain for the ISO used?

 

Visually, I have not noted this. 

[Jeff Morgan]

Getting near the end of my initial cell phone photography era ... this is the Cocoon Nebula from last November.

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[nicknacknock]

Dear all,

 

Since the NV gallery continues as is, but with a new set of rules, kindly review this, which I copy below:

 

Please post post-processed images ONLY in this pinned topic, along with any other NV related images you would like to post which are not post-processed.

 

It is a requirement to:

 

- State what post processing, if any, has been done, in order to separate images that show a representative view from NV devices Vs images that are enhanced to show features viewed to the best possible degree.

 

- Identify the object of interest by name or catalog number.

 

Any posts which do not comply with the requirement, will be removed without warning.

 

Thank you all and I look forward to seeing move NV related images

[Jeff Morgan]

Last of my "old era" NV photos - another view of the Propeller Nebula, larger aperture.

 

 

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[Jeff Morgan]

One of the questions people want to know about the NV eyepiece is how much of a magnitude gain can be expected.

 

The TeleVue blog post features this:

 

"Perhaps a good way to illustrate the magnitude increase due to the monocular [alone] is through a pair of observations made from my backyard on a night of below-average transparency. At the time I struggled to see naked-eye stars in the Little Dipper fainter than Polaris and the two at the end of the dipper’s bowl, but the monocular easily showed more stars in the area that are plotted in Sky & Telescope’s Pocket Star Atlas. That’s a gain in the ballpark of three plus magnitudes.

From Dennis di Cicco’s review of the TNVC / Tele Vue Optics night vision system published in Sky & Telescope."

 

In a CN post Glenn LeDrew says that for certain emission nebula that can not be seen by any conventional eyepiece the magnitude gain is "infinite":

 

https://www.cloudyni...ture/?p=8716239

 

Personally, I have always been conservative and said about two magnitudes, which allows for different target types.

 

One of the difficulties of pinning this down is counting stars - in almost any section of sky, a NV eyepiece shows too many stars to count! 

 

I have found a technique around this: using resolution of globular clusters. The search area is very manageable, and professional magnitude data exits. The source I use is the Uranometria Deep Sky Field Guide. It lists not just integrated magnitude (too easy!), but Brightest Member magnitude and Horizontal Branch magnitudes. To resolve a cluster, you must be able to reach the brightest members.

 

Attached is a photo of the Intergalactic Wanderer (NGC 2419) from my suburban backyard, SQM 20.5 on a good night. With my 16" scope and a conventional eyepiece, this globular is seen only as a featureless patch. With the NV eyepiece, I can hold 4-8 stars on any given night, so I am definitely reaching the brightest members - magnitude 17.3.

 

The "theoretical" limit for that aperture is 15.4 depending upon your source. Even before allowing for light pollution, I am getting a solid two magnitude gain.

 

Allowing for light pollution, three magnitudes is not an unreasonable estimate.

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[Jeff Morgan]

Entering the "Modern Era" as it were.

 

My earlier efforts were very unstructured - very hit or miss. I knew I needed a more systematic approach to cell phone imaging efforts, and worked on exploring the variables. Reading GeezerGazer's guide to NightCap crystallized this for me.

 

Not that I am anywhere close to One Object One Exposure. Far from it! Still plenty of little things that can (and do) go wrong. But I am starting to see improvements. At the moment I am only working with a 5" refractor. But at times those results are surpassing earlier results with larger scopes.

 

I will of course re-shoot everything once my current Dob project is complete - and press my 80mm LOMO refractor into action. But for now the work with the 5" refractor is turning out to be good practice and preparation.

 

 

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[Jeff Morgan]

M92 is just a short GO2 away, much smaller (how many are larger than M13?), concentrated core.

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[Gavster]

Here’s a link to a video mix of a selection of images I have taken with my night vision monoculars and phone over the last couple of years
https://youtu.be/8V4Zl4rp6uw

[Jeff Morgan]

Here’s a link to a video mix of a selection of images I have taken with my night vision monoculars and phone over the last couple of years
https://youtu.be/8V4Zl4rp6uw

Great video Gavin!

 

I bookmarked it to share.

[Jeff Morgan]

Completing the sweep of Hercules Globular Clusters (at least, all of them that can be had in a 130mm aperture) is NGC 6229.

 

The Uranometria Deep Sky Field Guide lists the brightest members at magnitude 15.5. No problem resolving this into stars from my suburban skies in the 130mm. I'm not sure how much detail will survive the compression required to post on CloudyNight but if you zoom to 100% on the image you can probably make out at least a dozen individual stars.

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[Jeff Morgan]

Unlike emission nebula, there are no magical filters for galaxies. They emit across the spectrum, just like light pollution.

 

Nevertheless, I wanted to try a few from the back yard. And I wanted some image scale, so I used a barlow, which reduced my effective focal ratio to f/16.8. So, I had to crank the gain up all the way on the tube, and the ISO on the phone.

 

An interesting result, this fall I will want to try a few more from one of my darker sites (21.5 or better). And use a faster scope of course ;-)

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[Jeff Morgan]

M53 is also easily resolved with a 5" aperture.

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[Jeff Morgan]

At the current time a 130mm f/7 refractor is my primary scope (new Dob still under construction). I have been using a barlow (now a Powermate) for image scale on small targets, leading to some rather slow effective speeds. Photographically, this can be managed well.

 

M82 is a galaxy that can handle this "rough treatment" visually as well. One of my best views to date was with a 8" f/9 Newtonian and 2.4 barlow.

 

This photo however is with my 130mm refractor.

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[Jeff Morgan]

Another summer favorite, M16 aka the Eagle nebula.

 

Last month I made a focus mask consisting of a cover with two holes offset from center. It helped a bit but as you can see from this effort, not quite enough. Shortly after this outing I ordered a Bahtinov mask which is a great improvement.

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[Astrojedi]

Very cool images Jeff. I have been using NV for a while but never taken any pictures - usually reserve that for my camera based EAA. But I finally ordered the TV adapters kit. Surprisingly in all these years in the hobby I have never done afocal imaging. Something new to mess around with I guess.

[Jeff Morgan]

Very cool images Jeff. I have been using NV for a while but never taken any pictures - usually reserve that for my camera based EAA. But I finally ordered the TV adapters kit. Surprisingly in all these years in the hobby I have never done afocal imaging. Something new to mess around with I guess.

 

Thanks.

 

Ironically, this little taste of imaging has made my want to do "real" imaging with a CMOS camera!

 

Then I realize I just shot ten objects with the Bahtinov mask still on the scope ... or get home from a session of cell phone imaging and realize I did something else silly and got 20 flawed shots ... Maybe cell phone imaging is the most I can handle right now 

 

In any event, here is a prime focus shot of M17. I wanted a little more image scale so shot at f/7. M 17 is inherently bright so it came out OK. It will have to do until I get a newer phone or larger scope.

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[Astrojedi]

Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) using gen 3 thin filmed WP, Lumicon night sky h-alpha filter, 50mm GR plossl and AT60ED on a photo tripod. From my Red/white zone San Diego neighborhood. 
 

The comet was not visible with the naked eye to me although my 7 year old son could just detect it without any optical aid.

 

https://youtu.be/2ty8BSuWSRQ

Edited by Astrojedi, 17 July 2020 - 02:18 PM.