INTERSTELLAR
CLOUDS
Eagle Nebula First Attempt
By Seeta Persaud | October 18, 2021
I captured my first image of the Eagle Nebula from my Bortle 6 backyard sky back on September 1. This image reflects a total integration time of 30 minutes with 10 minute subexposures and dark calibration frames using a cooled camera. Gain was set at 100. Photos stacked in Deep Sky Stacker and processed in Photoshop.
While I am excited by my first capture of the Eagle Nebula and the very visible Pillars of Creation, the image is soft-focused and needs far more focusing fine tuning. I am currently still focusing manually. I have opted for the time being to not use an autofocuser until I have fully mastered manual focusing. With the winter months looming on the horizon, this might be a decision I will soon regret as an autofocuser would allow me to focus indoors. But we will grin and bear it as the Orion Nebula will be rising in the eastern sky at sunset in the coming weeks.
This summer and early fall haven’t been cooperative when it comes to clear skies but hoping the fall/winter nights ahead will provide more opportunity for exploration.
The hauntingly beautiful Pillars of Creation is what sparked my love of the night sky 26 years ago. To be able to capture my own image of the Pillars of Creation from my backyard a quarter-century later is its own tiny miracle like a mote of dust in the morning sky.
“The cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be. Our feeblest contemplations of the Cosmos stir us—there is a tingling in the spine, a catch in the voice, a faint sensation, as if a distant memory, or falling from a height. We know we are approaching the greatest of mysteries.”
– Carl Sagan
Monochrome LRGB and Narrowband (SHO)
Last year I had the chance to enter the world of monochrome imaging with LRGB for broadband targets and SHO (Sulfur II, Hydrogen-alpha, and Oxygen III) filters for narrowband targets. I also finally dove right into the world of Pixinsight in order to process my astro-images.
Galaxy Season 2023
Integration time of 52 minutes comprised of 2 min subexposures with calibration frames. Data captured on 4/13/2022. Second attempt, this time with an autofocuser and processed in Pixinsight.
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF)
The last time comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) approached the Earth was 50,000 years ago – back then, the Neanderthals were still walking our planet. Unfortunately, the comet was very difficult to spot in binoculars in light-polluted skies. I was able to view the comet with the Skywatcher 80ED and a cooled ASI 533MC camera.
Eye of God, Orion, Horsehead, Pleiades
Between the end of October 2022 and mid-January 2023, I captured six winter targets that have eluded me due to cloudy skies and other winter weather since 2021: the Eye of God or Helix nebula, the Orion nebula, Horsehead nebula, the Pleiades star cluster, Triangulum galaxy, and Stephan’s Quintet.
M16 Eagle Nebula – Pillars of Creation
I finally captured a successful image of the Eagle Nebula from my Bortle 6 backyard. This image reflects a total integration time of 54 minutes with 3 minute subexposures, dark frames, flat frames and dark flat frames. Gain was set at 100. Photos stacked in Deep Sky Stacker and processed in Photoshop.
Andromeda Galaxy First Attempt
I captured my first successful image of the Andromeda Galaxy from my Bortle 6 backyard sky on October 19 (likely the last warmish night we’ll have for a few months) under a very full moon in the eastern sky.
Bodes and Cigar Galaxies
First attempt at Bodes and Cigar galaxies during the Spring while configuring the telescope. Total integration time of 40 minutes with 2 min subexposures and calibration frames.
Welcome
My love of astronomy began over 25 years ago when the first images from the Hubble Space Telescope were released. I’ll never forget the first time I saw Pillars of Creation. It still haunts and captivates the imagination. I bought my first telescope 6 years ago, learned the night sky, and began dabbling in wide-angle and planetary DSLR astrophotography only last year.
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