The camera was set on ISO 3200 a Cannon 50 D . The lens was set at 18mm a F4 capturing 8 sets of 4 second exposures . I averaged them together and averaged again calibrating the position of the stars due to the rotation of the earth .
Bootes and Corona Borealis
The following images of NC2359. Thor's' Helmet 'was taken on 9 seperate evenings with additional data added, an extra 55 minutes using a blue filter, 1 hour using a H Beta filter and 2.5 hours using an O111 filter. I also used a high pass with an unsharp mask filter to enhance the central detail. Notice the bright star in the centre, a Wolf-Rayet star.
RGB
Hubble Palette
This image of M42 contains old and new data. 30 minutes using RGB filters, 6 hours and 10 minutes using a H A filter, 2 hours and 45 minutes using an O111 filter. 2 hours and 10 minutes using a S11 filter and an additional 60 minutes using a H Beta filter . The data were captured using a 4 inch F/6.3 refractor , a Vixen Atlux mount and an Atik 383L mono CCD camera .
NGC2359 . Thor 's Helmet nebula. This emission nebula lies in the constellation of Canis Major at about 11.000 light years away from us and is about 25 - 30 light years across . I took this image on 4 separate evenings using my 10 inch f/4.8 reflector, a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding, a set of Astronomik RGB and narrowband filters , HA. O111 , S11. I captured 5 minute sub frames with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of noise and vignetting in the final image. The total exposure time was 3 hours 30 minutes using a H A filter, 90 minutes using a S11 filter, 1 hour using an O111 filter and ten minutes using a blue filter. A total exposure time of 6 hours and 10 minutes.
B33. The Horsehead Nebula. This part of the night sky is my favorite. It lies about 1 degree south of the bright star Alnitak the most eastern star on Orion's belt at a distance of 1,500 light years. It is also very challenging to see visually. I can only truly say I have seen once on a very clear moonless night up in the Brecon Beacons national park using a ten inch reflector, a 40mm eyepiece and a Lumicon H Beta filter. However it is not that difficult to image, especially when using narrowband filters, evern in an urban site. The equipment I was using when I was imaging was my 4 inch f/6.3 refractor, a Vixen atlux mount. PHD auto guiding, an Atik 383L mono CCD camera and a set of Astronomik narrowband and RGB filters. I set the camera on X2 bin mode To increase the sensitivity of the camera and captured two minute sub frames. I then combined this data with matching dark frames and flat field frames to reduce the effect of noise and vignetting in the final image. The total exposure time was 1 hour using a blue filter, 1 hour using a H Beta filter, 2 hours and 50 minutes using an O111 filter, 3 hours and 50 minutes using an S11 filter and 13 hours and 7 minutes using a H Alpha filter.
RGB plus narrowband colour
Here we have an example of signal to noise. Notice the greater the exposure time the less noise in the image increasing the dynamic range of the image.
Closer view
Here we have an example of taking flat field frames. The first image is of a flat field frame, the second image is an example of B33 taken using light frames and dark frames only and image number three is with flat field correction.
IC2177, The Seagull Nebula. This large patch of nebulosity lies on the border of Monoceros and Canis Major at a distance of about 3,600 light years. It was discovered by the welsh astronomer Isaac Roberts. The equipment I was using was my 4 inch f/6.3 refractor, a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding, an Atik 383L mono CCD camera with a set of astronomik narrowband filters, HA , S11 and O111. I also used a blue filter to try to reveal the colour of the stars. The sky conditions were good with stars visable down to magnitude 5.5. This four section mosaic was taken on three separate evenings. The camera was set on X2 bin mode increasing the camera's sensitivity by four times. I captured two minute subframes with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of noise and vignetting in the final image. The total exposure time was 30 minutes for each filter.
Hubble palette
Bicolour
RGB
NGC2359, Thor's helmet. I took this image under very clear sky conditions with stars visable down to magnitude 5.5. This patch of nebulosity lies in the constellation of Canis major. I was using my 4 inch f 6/3 refractor, a Vixen Atux Mount, PHD auto guiding, a set of Astronomic narrowband filters with an Atik 383L mono CCD camera. I captured two minute subframes with the camera set on X2 bin mode and matching dark frames and flats to reduce the effect of nose and vignetting in the final image. The total exposure time was 45 minutes in H alpha filter 50 minute in OIII and 40 minutes using a SII filter.
RGB
Bi-colour
Hubble Palette
NGC7293. the Helix nebula . This image of the Helix nebula contains extra data, a total of 122 minutes using a H Alpha filter, 30 minutes using an O111 filter and ten minutes using a blue filter. The camera was set on X2 bin mode using sixty second sub frames with matching dark frames and flat field frames reducing the effect of noise and vignetting in the final image.
The telescope was my 4 inch F/6.3 refractor mounted on a Vixen Atlux mount with an Atik 383L mono CCD camera ..
Notice the reduction of noise in the image due to the extra exposure time.
The Helix nebula
