456 replies to this topic

[Jeff Morgan]

Another denizen of northwestern Cygnus, Sharpless 2-115. A fairly easy catch, about the same distance from Deneb as the North American nebula, but in the opposite direction.

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[Jeff Morgan]

The Cocoon Nebula through the 5" slowish refractor.

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[bobhen]

The Cocoon Nebula through the 5" slowish refractor.

Wonderful images , Jeff. 

 

Have you tried using a reducer with the 130mm refractor?

 

Bob

[Jeff Morgan]

Wonderful images , Jeff. 

 

Have you tried using a reducer with the 130mm refractor?

 

Bob

 

Oh yes, I have many yet to post. Most with the 67 Plossl, some with a 0.7x focal reducer. Both work well on appropriate targets.

 

After decommissioning the 16" f/7 Dob the 130mm refractor became my primary scope, the 16" f/2.8 is still under construction (in fact, working on the rocker box this afternoon, hope to be in the paint shop this weekend).

 

What that means is for the smaller objects I have been posting, prime focus is required to get the object to frame better the FOV. Using reduction on the Cocoon for example would lead to a much brighter image (and/or lower ISO) - but a very tiny image. All because the starting point is a telescope with only 910mm of focal length that is also relatively slow.

 

Perhaps I could have limited myself to better (larger) targets, but these images hopefully show people with modest aperture and modest focal ratio scopes they too can get in the game.

 

This fall should be a fun time, with the 16" coming on line, a new iPhone with a better camera, and possibly an upgraded tube in my Mod 3. Of course that means:

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=bKlmoCzBPdw

Edited by Jeff Morgan, 15 September 2020 - 03:37 PM.

[Jeff Morgan]

A zoomed in view of the Elephant Trunk Nebula.

 

 

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[Jeff Morgan]

While the Elephant Trunk gets all the attention, about 5-1/2 degrees due east is Sharpless 2-132. A fairly easy catch even in a 5" scope. It is also very close to an interesting open cluster, NGC 7234.

 

This nebula is easily recognized by the distinctive squiggle feature in the center.

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[Jeff Morgan]

Off to see the Wizard ... Sharpless 2-142, also co-located with open cluster NGC 7380.

 

Unfortunately, the 7nm filter really knocks out a lot of the cluster.

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[Jeff Morgan]

The Cave Nebula caught near the start of astronomical twilight - 3:36am. 

 

I do a lot of these early am sessions, allows me to be active when the moon is around 1st quarter. It gives me a jump on targets two seasons ahead, often in more comfortable conditions. And it covers me for long stretches of bad schedules and bad weather.

 

Don't get much done the next day though 

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[Jeff Morgan]

Sharpless 2-158. Many patches in this area, very close to the Bubble Nebula.

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Edited by Jeff Morgan, 22 September 2020 - 11:45 PM.

[Jeff Morgan]

And speaking of the Bubble ...

 

 

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[Jeff Morgan]

Sharpless 2-170. With the 130mm some detail is hinted at, a dark lane forming a letter Y, with a hammerhead at the bottom of the letter. Another good candidate for larger aperture.

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[gatorengineer]

Jeff, another nice shot, just a newbie question, my camera adapter is in the mail for my DSLR, wondering why you aren't sacrificing image scale for brightness and using a reducer?

[Jeff Morgan]

Jeff, another nice shot, just a newbie question, my camera adapter is in the mail for my DSLR, wondering why you aren't sacrificing image scale for brightness and using a reducer?

 

"Because I can" 

 

Seriously, a personal choice. Notice that the images I have been posting all have the same date (or thereabouts). During the May dark sky window I wanted to shoot some of the smaller nebula becoming available after midnight. I like the image scale.

 

The obvious answer is "use a bigger/faster scope". Unfortunately, I decommissioned my 16" f/7 Newtonian in March - to migrate the ServoCAT to a 16" f/2.8 Newt with a Mike Lockwood mirror. Personal and professional distractions slowed that build, but it is almost ready for paint (really!). In the interim, that made the 130mm refractor my largest available scope.

 

So, I am doing what I can basically. 

 

While that might seem like a limitation, the bright side is it shows a new NV astronomer that they can still do great things with what they already have, even if it is a small aperture scope and a phone two or three generations old.

 

In the June dark sky window I did switch gears to larger targets and did a lot of reducer/afocal work, I'll start posting those soon.

[Jeff Morgan]

They Pacman Nebula with the 130mm scope.

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[gatorengineer]

Hey Jeff, thanks for sharing your experience.  With your 2.8 Lockwood what are you planning on using as a coma corrector / reducer?  A Paracorr 2 or an ASA?  Its looking like we will be clear here tonight so I am planning on giving the 24 F4 lockwood a shot with a 0.75x antares, I also just got my 65 Russel and that hasnt been tried yet so that combo will get a go.  Be interesting to see how bad the coma will be with either of those.  If the .75 antares doesnt work (hopes arent too high) then I will probably invest in a .75x ASA  Running the math through i think that gets me down to F1.2 at 24"  will be interesting to see what that does.  May also screw in the .75x infront of the paracorr 2 for an experiment.

[Jeff Morgan]

Hey Jeff, thanks for sharing your experience.  With your 2.8 Lockwood what are you planning on using as a coma corrector / reducer?  A Paracorr 2 or an ASA?  Its looking like we will be clear here tonight so I am planning on giving the 24 F4 lockwood a shot with a 0.75x antares, I also just got my 65 Russel and that hasnt been tried yet so that combo will get a go.  Be interesting to see how bad the coma will be with either of those.  If the .75 antares doesnt work (hopes arent too high) then I will probably invest in a .75x ASA  Running the math through i think that gets me down to F1.2 at 24"  will be interesting to see what that does.  May also screw in the .75x infront of the paracorr 2 for an experiment.

 

I'm planning on a Paracorr 2. My understanding is that going SIPS would not have allowed prime focus use (though I did not quite understand why). I'll be doing a lot of afocal, but wanted to maintain the BOB solution.

 

Last winter I did pick up a Baader MPCC, but need the correct visual spacers for it. Kind of speculative though.

[Jeff Morgan]

Planetary nebula Sharpless 2-188 in Cassiopeia, also known as Simeis 22. The only magnitude data I found was here:

 

https://www.research...9_and_Simeiz_22

 

Magnitude 15 apparently. Not a bad catch for a 130mm aperture from yellow zone light pollution.

 

NV rocks!

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[Jeff Morgan]

Globular cluster M4 from my "new" site. I had actually used this location 18 years ago, kind of forgot about it.

 

The SQM meter reads a full point better than my back yard. Worth the 20 minute drive I think.

 

Shooting with the PowerMate results in a focal ratio of f/17.5. It does wonders for image scale (needed with this scope) though I do lose some of the small dark nebula around this object.

 

 

 

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[gatorengineer]

Followon question, how much does dark matter to filtered NV?  I shot my skies on a bad night and they were 18.6 moon etc.....

[Jeff Morgan]

Followon question, how much does dark matter to filtered NV?  I shot my skies on a bad night and they were 18.6 moon etc.....

 

Almost everything in our hobby works better from a dark sky.

 

On nebula I still use h-alpha. But from my dark sites (SQM 21.5-22.1) I don't bother with long pass.

 

 

I live north of the city. It would be considered a Green Zone for light pollution. I get a SQM reading of 20.5 zenith, 19.5 south horizon. So when observing from home and looking south I will use a long pass, usually 685. Everywhere else in the sky, my preference is unfiltered.

 

Your 18.6 skies are out of my experience though. The only advice I could offer would be "experiment". 

[Jeff Morgan]

Recently I have been looking for interesting pairings, as opposed to discrete objects. Here is a shot of globular cluster M4 paired with emission nebula Sharpless 2-9. In this case, the globular has enough muscle to punch through the h-alpha filter.

 

Unfortunately, I did pick up some anomalous reflection at the 7 o'clock position. If at first you don't succeed ...

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[Jeff Morgan]

Crossing the meridian early tonight ...

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Edited by Jeff Morgan, 05 October 2020 - 03:12 PM.

[Jeff Morgan]

I first ran across the Ink Spot from northern Illinois about 25 years ago, and it has always been a favorite summer stop. In conventional eyepieces the brightest field star is a lovely orange color. Of course one looses that with NV, but the field is so much richer.

 

I still enjoy both views.

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Edited by Jeff Morgan, 07 October 2020 - 11:13 PM.

[Joko]

I first ran across the Ink Spot from northern Illinois about 25 years ago, and it has always been a favorite summer stop. In conventional eyepieces the brightest field star is a lovely orange color. Of course one looses that with NV, but the field is so much richer.

 

I still enjoy both views.

Your pic is nice but this target is so much better in visual observation with NV.

It's one of my favorite summer DSO too.

Thanks for sharing all your photos on this topic.   

[Jeff Morgan]

Your pic is nice but this target is so much better in visual observation with NV.

 

Of course to each his own, but also bear in mind the CN file size limits. The full resolution (6.5mb) TIFF is quite a bit better than what you see here.