Astrophotography

Hello everyone,

Thank you to all who contributed images for the December and January challenges. We had some fantastic examples submitted of Orion and the Rosette nebula by several club members. It’s amazing how much of the sky can be captured with a simple DSLR camera with just a tiny bit of patience. We did not have a challenge for the month of February to work on this year, however, now we have entered galaxy season and that is about to change.

Soon, there will be many possible targets ideally positioned in the sky. This time, I thought it might be best to take a different approach and make it easier for a wider range of focal lengths to take on this challenge. Rather than choosing a specific galaxy or group of galaxies to target, instead I would like to leave that part of the challenge up to the individual astrophotographer. You choose a which galaxy or group of galaxies to photograph. However, I would like to suggest the following guidelines on how to approach this challenge.

1. To ensure the best view through the atmosphere, choose a target that will be transiting the meridian during the time data is being collected. The closer to the meridian when collecting data, the better.

2. Choose a focal length that works well with your camera and sensor. For example, as far as focal length is concerned, Markarian's chain is a great target to pair with shorter focal length systems (<600mm). Whereas specific targets like M 104 (The Sombrero Galaxy), NGC 4435/NGC 4438 (The Eyes Galaxies) or 4038/NGC 4039 (The Antennae Galaxies), etc... are more appropriate targets for longer focal length systems. That still leaves pixel size to consider (see next paragraph).

3. Use any tool or software available to help select and frame up a target. Here is the URL to a free web-based resource https://www.blackwaterskies.co.uk/imaging-toolbox/. Once in the toolbox, click on the equipment option (the little camera on the upper left corner) to select your gear from the drop-down menus. The field of view will be outlined in green box and will also provide you with the Dawes limit to help you find the best focal length to use with your sensor and pixel size. Follow this link for more detailed instructions https://www.blackwaterskies.co.uk/imaging-toolbox-instructions/.

4. Remember, be patient and wait for clear Moonless nights to collect data -- unless you use an appropriate narrow band filter, the light from the Moon will swallow up your data.

5. Most importantly, remember to be patient and that you're having fun, especially when something goes wrong.

Good luck and clear skies,

-Lou

Here's my wide field attempt at imaging Messier 81 and 82. It is my first attempt at the pair. I think I need more light frames to get more data

Canon EOS Rebel T6 with MSM tracker with a 200mm Pentax telephoto lens

109 light subs @15 sec each for a total of 27 min

15 darks, bias and flats

Taken over 2 nights (March 3 and 5) in Willistown Twp

I am still struggling to see this visually through my 8" Nexstar scope, but that's a different topic :)

Here's my attempt to get the whirlpool galaxy (Messier 51) as a widefield image. The inter-galactic interaction is visible. However, I still need to improve my polar alignment and see some coma.

Taken over 2 nights (Mar 29/30) from Rehoboth beach with a waning moon at 98% :)

Equipment: Pentax 200mm lens + Canon EOS Rebel T6 + Move Shoot Move star tracker

Total exposure time: 42 min at ISO 1600 at f/5.6

Processed with DSS and enhanced with Photoshop.

This is my submission for the spring imaging challenge.

The Sombrero Galaxy is located in the constellation Virgo about 30 million light years from Earth and is about 1/3 the diameter of the Milky Way. With an apparent magnitude of +8.0 this object can be best seen from a dark suburban location during the month of May with small amateur telescope. The prominent dust lane and bright central bulge give it the shape of a slightly tilted Sombrero, Olé! Additionally, this particular galaxy is also noted for its rich collection of globular clusters estimated at about 2000, 10 times as many that orbit the Milky Way.

Pre-processing: 41 light ISO 800 x 300 sec 50 Flat, 50 Bias and 60 Darks calibrated aligned and stacked in batch preprocessing with Pixinsight.

Post-processing:

Linear data in Pixinsight: Dynamic Crop, [Dynamic PSF, Star Mask, Lightness Mask ,Deconvolution (CIE L*)], ABE, BackgroundNeutralization, ColorCalibration, SCNR, MultiscaleLinear Transform[4 layers on lightness, 7 layers on Chrominance,(linear mask)] and masked stretch to non-linear state.

Non-Linear processing:

Recombined lightness with LRGBcombination, lightness mask applied for Curves Adjustments and ACDNR, StarMask for MorphologicalTransformation, Lightness mask also used for HDRMultiscaleTransform and UnsharpMask

Optimized image for mobile phone using Adobe Lightroom Mobile: White Balance, Levels, Curves, Vibrance Saturation, Clarity, Dehaze and final noise reduction.

-Lou Varvarezis

Astrophotography Chair, DVAA

Canon EOS Rebel XS (full spectrum mod)

Astronomik CLS CCD

Orion thin off axis guider

QHY5L-II M guide camera

Celestron CGX,Edge HD 8,0.7x focal reducer

Optec TCF-Leo focuser

Here is my Entry for the Spring Imaging Challenge.

NGC4565 (also known as the Needle Galaxy or Caldwell 38) is an edge-on spiral galaxy about 30 to 50 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. It lies close to the North Galactic Pole and has a visual magnitude of approximately 10. It is known as the Needle Galaxy for its narrow profile. First recorded in 1785 by William Herschel, it is a prominent example of an edge-on spiral galaxy. (Wikipedia)

Image was taken with Celestron C6 SCT /F6.3/ASI533MC Pro/Gain 320/2 Min Subs/70 Min Total Exp

Stacked with Astro Pixel Processor, Stretched with Gimp, Touch Up Light Room

Steve Haas

The pinwheel galaxy (Messier 101) located 21 million light years from earth as captured over 4 nights in late April / early May. It is unique in that you can view this galaxy "head on". In 2011, a supernova was also discovered in M101 and was visible in images in the 7 o'clock position of the galaxy's arms when it reached peak magnitude.

Acquisition details:

2 min subs with darks, flats and bias for total integration time of 116 min (no guiding)

Gear: Modified Canon EOS Rebel T6 with a Pentax 200mm Prime telephoto lens, iOptron Skyguider Pro, Windows laptop

Software: BYE, iPolar, DSS, Photoshop

Location: West Chester, PA

Here is my entry for the Spring Imaging Challenge

My target is NGC 4438, the Eyes galaxies, but due to the FOV of the image there are a LOT of DSOs in the image

- 9 Messier objects

- 50 NGC objects

- 62 IC objects

I have also attached the annotated image

Imaged at SOS field on Jan 26

35x180sec frames (no filter except the UVIR filter on the camera)

Redcat 51 refractor (250mm FL)

ZWO ASI2600MC Pro at -20ºC

Guide Scope: ZWO Mini 30mm f/4

Guide Camera: ASI224MC

iOptron CEM-25EC mount with Tr-Pier

ASIair Plus

Stacked in AstroPixelProcessor (Darks, Bias, Flats)

Post-Process in Pixinsight

Mark, as always, beautifully done!

-Lou

Canon EOS Rebel XS (full spectrum mod)

Astronomik CLS CCD

Orion thin off axis guider

QHY5L-II M guide camera

Celestron CGX,Edge HD 8,0.7x focal reducer

Optec TCF-Leo focuser

I think my two best images this year (so far) are not galaxies

First, I have NGC 2264 the Cone Nebula

Imaged on Feb 5th at the SOS field

46x300s (3hr 30min)

Orion ED80 refractor with 0.85x reducer (510mm FL)

ZWO ASI294MC Pro at -20ºC

Guide Scope: Svbony 60mm f/4

Guide Camera: ASI224MC

Orion Sirius EQ-G mount

ASIair Pro

Second, I have the Veil Nebulas in Cepheus

Imaged on June 9th in Shawhan KY

82x120s (2hr 44min)

Redcat 51 refractor (250mm FL)

ZWO ASI2600MC Pro at -20ºC

Guide Scope: ZWO Mini 30mm f/4

Guide Camera: ASI224MC

iOptron CEM-25EC mount with Tr-Pier

ASIair Plus

Some incredible shots here already! I figured I'd toss in my spring project, the Eastern Veil Nebula. Open to all suggestions and critiques. This is my first time processing an image via PS, and my first time using my full set up.

Using a Vixen 80EDsf on a Skywatcher EQ6 Pro.

Canon 6D w a.85x reducer.

Photoshop processed

183 x 80 seconds.

Well done Hari!

-Lou

Canon EOS Rebel XS (full spectrum mod)

Astronomik CLS CCD

Orion thin off axis guider

QHY5L-II M guide camera

Celestron CGX,Edge HD 8,0.7x focal reducer

Optec TCF-Leo focuser

This is just a reminder to everyone participating in the seasonal imaging challenges. . If you created more than one image for this challenge, you are welcome to submit all of them if you like.

-Lou

Canon EOS Rebel XS (full spectrum mod)

Astronomik CLS CCD

Orion thin off axis guider

QHY5L-II M guide camera

Celestron CGX,Edge HD 8,0.7x focal reducer

Optec TCF-Leo focuser

Fantastic Spring Challenge submissions everyone. It's great to see the increased participation for this season's challenge. Keep up the good work!!

Tracey and I were at BMVO for two nights at the end of April and four nights at Cherry Springs at the end of May. I was able to image a fair amount of all six nights with my recently purchased ZWO ASI2600MC-Pro color camera and ASIAIR (i.e. - Raspberry Pi based astro-imaging computer). I was learning the system and also experimenting with a couple of different OTA configurations to see what the results would be like.

I spent some time on Monday of this week to process five of the approximately eleven images I took during those evenings. I posted them in the Challenge (2022, Spring) folder in the "Document Library" part of the DVAA (per the link provided in the Astrophotography Resource Page. (I realize that some people posted their images directly to this thread and some posted in the Documents Folder, so I assume all of the entries will be combined at some point.)

Here's a list of what I posted in the Challenge (2022, Spring) Document Folder:

• M8, M20, M21 (TV101, CSSP)
• M51 (C6, CSSP)
• M57 (C6, CSSP)
• M64 (CSSP, C6)
• SN 2022hrs in NGC4647 (TV101 w-2X PM, BMVO)

Take a peak if you get a chance.

Clear skies,

Gary

The sun imaged in H-alpha taken with our own DVAA rental scope :)

Telescope: Daystar 60DS Scout telescope in H-alpha

Mount: ioptron skyguider pro

Camera: ZWO ASI 120MM mini (Monochrome)

Additional accessories: SVBony 0.5 focal reducer, UV/IR filter, Manfrotto fluid head

Chromosphere: 2500 frames x 3 captured with Sharpcap and stacked using Autostakkert 3, processed using Registax and Photoshop

Prominence: 500 frames with Sharpcap, stacked with Autostakkert 3 and post processing via Registax and Photoshop

Final composite image created with Photoshop

Clear Skies

Hari

Beautiful image, great work

-Prasad

Hoping to process this more before the deadline, but only got through auto stacking .... :sweatsmile:.

Lagoon and Trifid Nebula.

71mm Apo @ f4.7, L-Pro Filter, Canon T7i (80x1m 1600iso)

Full techie details over at https://www.astrobin.com/aje4to/

~g

Here are 3 galaxies I imaged this Spring from my backyard in Upper Moreland using an 8 inch F4 Reflector and a ZWO ASI174mm camera. The galaxies are:

NGC2903 a 9th magnitude barred spiral galaxy in Leo. 40 minutes total exposure.

NGC3184 "The Little Pinwheel" a 10.5 mag galaxy in Ursa Major. 30 minutes total exposure

NGC5907 "The Splinter or Knife Edge" an 11 mag galaxy in Draco. 44 minutes total exposure.

There is also an image of Venus & Jupiter at Conjunction on April 30th, from Cherry Springs state Park, when the planets were only 14 minutes of arc apart. This image was

taken with a Canon 3Ti DSLR camera with a 135mm telephoto on a fixed tripod.

And finally, there is a composite image of the Sun taken on June 20th 2022 through a Lunt 60mm Solar Scope, 2x barlow lens and a ZWO ASI 174mm camera.

Thanks for looking.

Tom Nolasco

Hello Tom,

Thanks for sharing and for the detailed descriptions. Very impressive and well done all the way around.

-Lou

Canon EOS Rebel XS (full spectrum mod)

Astronomik CLS CCD

Orion thin off axis guider

QHY5L-II M guide camera

Celestron CGX,Edge HD 8,0.7x focal reducer

Optec TCF-Leo focuser

Re: Zodiacal Light

Thx Lou, No problem, Glad you picked up on M31.

Just to let you know I had trouble posting, sent a request to Brian requesting help.

I was unable to toggle/activate the member post option/privilege, maybe b/c I'm new.

My Spring Challenge Submission was sent on June 20, 2022.

Michael Wintering

Colorized solar image from June 20 2022. Lunt 60mm solar scope 2x Barlow ZWO ASI174mm camera

Tom Nolasco

Very impressive Tom!

Canon EOS Rebel XS (full spectrum mod)

Astronomik CLS CCD

Orion thin off axis guider

QHY5L-II M guide camera

Celestron CGX,Edge HD 8,0.7x focal reducer

Optec TCF-Leo focuser