The Eastern Veil

June 4 2016

The Eastern Veil

   Nikon D5300A, Skywatcher ED80  + IDAS-LPS D1 + 0.85x Focal Reducer/Corrector Skywatcher EQ-3 Synscan, guided, ISO 400  4 mins x 44

Caldwell 33 or simply know as The Eastern Veil is a supernova remnant in the Cygnus Constellation. It is part of a much larger nebula known as the Cygnus loop. This  is a fairly large nebula  but with very low surface brightness.  I used my modified D5300 for this target, and  not surprisingly it performed very well on recording the H-Alpha of the nebula but then again, this is supposed to be an Oxygen III rich nebula which means there should be more greens and blues. Somehow those colors were suppressed. It could be the new light pollution filter but I am not complaining. Compare the image of the Western Veil that I acquired last year, the green colors are more prominent but with suppressed red response.  The overall green cast is due to post processing, common with most astro photos.

 

The Western Veil

The Western Veil (Caldwell 34) - Stock Nikon D610, no filter. Summer of 2015

M27 on Nikon D5300a

June 3, 2016

Messier 27 Dumbbell Nebula

  Nikon D5300A, Skywatcher ED80  + IDAS LPS-D1 filter  + 0.85x Focal Reducer/Corrector Skywatcher EQ-3 Synscan, guided, ISO 400 150secs x 47

Summer is here once again, and the summer triangle asterism ( Deneb, Vega & Altair) is slowly rising high every night. Located in the middle of it is the constellation Velpecula which the Dumbbell Nebula or simply known as M27 is located. It is a  planetary nebula, a supernova remnant, one of  my first targets when i started astrophotography last year. But last years' results are a  bit different using a stock dslr. 
With the modified D5300, it is easier to reveal the red colors (H-Alpha emission). I was also able to resolve finer details by using a lower ISO and less aggressive post processing. The green colors from Oxygen III emission is also easily visible.  Thanks to the magical performance of the IDAS LPS-D1 filter.

Messier 27 Dumbbell Nebula taken  last year using stock Nikon D610,  45 minutes total exposure @ ISO640

Notice the suppressed red colors on this photo. Stock dslr is not suited to record H-Alpha emission on short exposures. The Nikon D610 used for this shot has impressive dynamic range but due to its aggressive IR filter, it  is not sensitive enough for H-Alpha.

IDAS LPS-D1 Filter by Hutech.

This was also the first test using my new light pollution filter. It has no color cast, unlike my Baader UHC-S filter which gives off a strong blue color cast on all my raw files. The IDAS filter in my opinion is a perfect match for an astro modified dslr.

The Rosette Nebula

March 04, 2016

The Rosette Nebula or Caldwel 49

 Nikon D5300A, Skywatcher ED80  + Baader UHC-S filter  + 0.85x Focal Reducer/Corrector
Skywatcher EQ-3 Synscan, guided, ISO 800 2 mins x 40

 

Trying the Rosette  for the first time, a fairly big but very dim nebula on the  Monoceros  Constellation. I spent  many nights using Pixinsight LE to bring out the faint details. With a stock camera, it will be quite difficult to  image this on a bright suburban neighborhood.

The Luminance channel extracted, image is rotated. Noise Reduction is not applied. Pixinsight has an excellent noise reduction algorithm. I'm more than impressed.

Here is a single frame at 2 minutes ISO800. Auto leveled. The Nebula is just so dim.

Chasing Orion Part 3

February 26, 2016

Flame Nebula and Horsehead Nebula

 Nikon D5300A, Skywatcher ED80  + Baader UHC-S filter 
+ 0.85x Focal Reducer/Corrector
Skywatcher EQ-3 Synscan, guided, ISO 400 5 mins  x 7

..and still chasing Orion. Last Friday night, February 26 was the warmest night ever! It was a warm +5C or so and hardly any wind. The skies were clear and I thought I would give a proper field test for my new D5300A, modified by LifePixel USA. So I brought down all the gear, and slewed the ED80 on Alnitak, the southernmost star on Orions Belt. Alnitak contains one of the most beautiful nebula's in the night sky, not to mention The Great Orion Nebula itself. Problem is I only have less than an hour of imaging time, before Orion is goes behind my neighbors rooftops. But it gave me an idea how the D5300A performed.

 Here is a comparison shot, although the sky conditions might not be exactly the same as there was a rising moon when i took the shot using the D610, but still one can see the big difference of using a modified camera. The horsehead is particularly difficult as it is quite dim. Though I would admit the the low noise capability of the D610 is superior to the cropped sensor D5300.

Response curve of the modified D5300. Red line indicates the stock filter, typical for most modern DSLRs. The H-alpha (teal color) is only at 20% or so. The new filter (blue) has the H-alpha sensitivity up to 98%.  (Graph is taken from another source)

 Monochrome version. I kinda liked this one. It gives me a sense of a vast lonely but beautiful space.

Chasing Orion Part 2

Chasing Orion Part 2

January 30, 2016

The Great Orion Nebula  (M42)  &  The Running Man Nebula

 Nikon D7000, Skywatcher ED80 ISO 400  + Baader UHC-S filter
Skywatcher EQ-3 Synscan, guided
3 mins x 25, 30 secs x 2

...and so the chase continues. We got a bit of a mild weather one weekend (at -6C) and  i finally decided to give it a try. It might be now or never. The night was not so cold but with the windchill it feels like -12C. Orion is not so "accessible" from my backyard. It doesn't rise high enough and by 10PM it is hidden behind my neighbors rooftops. I have small spot that I can position my scope in plain view of Polaris at at the same time be able to see Orion. So I carried all my gear down and set it up by the garage. Setup time, polar alignment and calibration ate up 30 minutes of my precious time and I only managed to acquire 1 hour and 40 minutes of data before my guiding program went "ding-ding-ding-ding!" I checked visually and there, my target  is already lost behind the rooftops. Well, I was happy with the results at the very least, but it could have been better.  I was able to image Orion from my backyard and from the looks of it, there might be no other place. 

Skywatcher ED80 with my homemade dew heaters.

Laptop running PHD guiding on my garage

Here is a comparison : straight  out of camera, after stacking 25 photos in DeepSkyStacker (including calibration files), and final adjustment in Photoshop

Not too bad considering my light polluted skies and my trusted old D7000. I have to limit my exposure time just enough to balance my signal with the light pollution. Too short and  I will not  have enough data to process, too long and well, it will overexpose.  Might be too hard to recover in post processing. I settled for 30 secs on the core, as it  can easily blow out,  and  3 minutes for the  rest of the nebula. It is interesting to note that the reflection nebula on the top of Orion ( Running Man Nebula) is almost absent on the RAW file and takes form only after stacking. But  I have this mistake that my stars are a bit out of focus.  I  can be forgiven, to think that it is not so easy to focus a telescope when it feels like -12C and your hands are frozen and stiff....

Chasing Orion (Arayat, Pampanga Philippines)

The Orion Constellation  widefield shot

 Nikon D610, Nikkor 85mm f1.8 @ f4 ISO 800

SkyWatcher StarAdventurer

 Total exposure = 2 minutes x 16

For the longest time, I have been chasing Orion like mad.  Here in Canada,  (Northern Hemisphere) Orion is visible high enough on the horizon when it starts to be -10 to -30 outside, meaning it comes out when its the dead of winter.  You just can't do proper imaging on those of temperatures.

Chasing this beautiful constellation led me to Arayat Pampanga , during our 2015 Christmas vacation, where the skies are pretty dark. I was actually surprised how dark the skies there, on a clear night you can see all the stars  with very minimal light pollution. I checked my star app, and yes Orion comes out high at around 9PM!

For a month long vacation, I thought I will have plenty of time for astrophotography but as nature calls the shots, I only got 1 window of opportunity, the image above is supposedly just a 25 minute "field test" for my star tracker...before  I was called back from the rice fields as snakes tend to go out at night.

Then i never got the chance again. There was the rain, the flood, and on my last day where the night was perfectly clear,  I left my camera bag back at my hometown.

I just stared at the starry sky almost in tears. But the test shot turned out to be ok as i was able to capture most of the deep sky objects

 

The Stars of Orion (darn clouds started rolling in on the right)

 Betelgeuse and  Rigel are one of the brightest stars in the night sky.

 

 Orion Shines!  Just how clear the skies are in Arayat

1x30 secs@ ISO800 85mm  f1.8@f4