M42 on Orion's Facebook page

Another Flickr member informed me that my M42 image was chosen as one of the 4 "nice astophotos from their customers for the end of 2012" on Facebook.

Pacman Reprocess

 

NGC 281 Pacman Reprocess & HST palette

 

 Reprocessed the Pacman using new Ha and colors from DSLR narrowband version to create the HST palette.

Images taken Nov 17,2012, Dec 12,2012 & Dec 23,2012

Camera QHY9M &w/ Starlight Express Filterwheel, LRGB & NB Baader filters
Telescope: Orion ED102CF & Sirius Goto Mount
Ha-2 x1200 sec 1x1 bin
L-5x1200 sec 1x1 bin
R- 3x1200 sec 1x1 bin
G-3x1200 sec 1x1 bin
B- 3x1200 sec 1x1 bin
Acquired with Nebulosity 2. Dark frames subtracted and DDP applied to each channel
Post-Processed in Photoshop CS6

 

 

Previous attempts seen at last blog entry:

http://astrochuck.blogspot.com/2012/12/pacman-nebula1-year-progression.html

Pacman Nebula.....1 year progression

Not quite 1 year ago I took my first picture of NGC 281 The Pacman Nebula in the constellation of Cassiopeia. This was taken with my Canon T3i & Orion ST-80T refractor. I used 12 stacked frames, 10 at 2 minutes and 2 at 6 minutes:

 

Taken on January 18,2012

Shortly after I bought a Canon T3 and modified it myself by removing the stock IR filter. I took this with the modified T3 and  the same Orion ST-80T. 16 stacked frames, 11 at 2 minutes, 5 at 5 minutes.

                                                        Taken February 3,2012

Late in the summer I purchased 3 Astronomik clip-in filters(Hydrogen Alpha,Oxygen III and Sulfur II) and attempted narrowband imaging using both of my Canon cameras and 2 telescopes.

Orion ST-80T & modified Canon T3 for Ha & SII
Orion ED102CF & Canon T3i for OIII

R=SII 6x600 ISO800
G=Ha 6x600 ISO800
B=OIII 7x600 ISO800

3h 10m

Taken September 7,2012

It was my first attempt at narrowband imaging and I used the Hubble Telescope palette in processing. I found the Canon DSLR produced alot of noise and started debating on whether or not to get a CCD camera.

After considering everything, I decided to get a QHY9M CCD camera. This was one of my first attempts with the new CCD.

Camera QHY9M
Telescope: Orion ED102CF
L-5x1200 sec 1x1 bin
R- 3x1200 sec 1x1 bin
G-3x1200 sec 1x1 bin
B- 3x1200 sec 1x1 bin

Images taken Nov 17,2012 & Dec 12,2012

Although I really like the Hubble palette, I don't have the correct filters to image narrowband with my CCD. So in photoshop, I used the colors from the previous DSLR version(the Canon cameras) to create this "hybrid"

 

It's basically a stack of the DSLR narrowband and current image. I used the blending mode of "colors" in the layers tab after aligning and scaling the DSLR image to the current image.

Hopefully soon, weather permitting I can re-image the Pacman in narrowband with my CCD

Orion's Nebulas

Brushed the dust off of my Canon T3 and used a 75-300mm lens to make this project. 4-10 minute subs with and without the Astronomik Ha clip-in filter makes up the background. Overlayed 3 of my past images M78,M42 and NGC2024. I actually imaged the background for this while finishing up gathering subs for my M78 image. That was the one and only clear night in weeks.

 

This image contains part of  the Constellation of Orion. On the right the long red nebulosity is called Barnard's Loop. At the top the blue nebulosity is Messier 78, a reflection nebula. The Horsehead Nebula and Flaming Tree Nebula can be see by the 1st "belt" star Alnitak. The 3 belt stars are nearly midway down running up towards the right. Below the Horsehead can be seen the Running Man Nebula and the Orion Nebula

 

M78 

 

NGC 2024 The Horsehead Nebula

The Running Man and Orion Nebulas

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/astrochuck/ 

Dec 8,2012 works in progress

It's been cloudy for weeks.My handbox for the ED102CF is in for repair and I haven't received my new filterwheel yet. Also ordered a Williams Optics Flat4 focal reducer. In the meantime decided to work on several projects I had going even though I haven't collected enough data yet:

                                                                              M78

Images taken Nov 10,2012
 

Camera QHY9M
Telescope: Orion ED102CF

R- 3x900 sec 2x2 bin
G-1x900 sec 2x2 bin
B- 5x900 sec 2x2 bin
Acquired with Nebulosity 2. Dark frames subtracted and DDP applied to each channel
Post-Processed in Photoshop CS6. Used the "channels" mode to enhance the green & red channels. The image needs alot more data....hopefully soon.

                              NGC 281 The Pacman Nebula

Camera QHY9M
Telescope: Orion ED102CF
R-3x20 minute sub 1x1 bin
G-1x20 minute sub 1x1 bin
B- used green

Acquired with Nebulosity 2. Dark frames subtracted and DDP applied to each channel
Post-Processed in Photoshop CS6.


NGC 2264 The Cone Nebula

Camera QHY9M
Telescope: Orion ED102CF

This is a single 20 minute Luminance subframe. Had a focuser issue as the weight of the CCD camera caused the focuser to move.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/astrochuck/