INTERSTELLAR
CLOUDS
Monochrome LRGB and Narrowband (SHO)
By Seeta Persaud | February 17, 2024
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. Though I wish I had done this sooner, it was helpful to learn other imaging and post-processing techniques to truly appreciate the power of Pixinsight. Here are a few targets I managed to capture last spring and last summer that I am only just now getting around to processing. Although the integration times for each target are rather short, notwithstanding that fact, I was able to get some incredible detail. Hopefully, if the sky is ever clear again, I will plan for longer integration times (more signal to noise). The horsehead and orion nebulas were previously captured and re-processed in Pixinsight now that I finally have a better sense of what I’m doing. Some images were captured with NINA, others with ASIAIR. All were processed in Pixinsight.
Much of my time will be spent in the next few weeks gearing up for the solar eclipse!
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.
Eagle Nebula First Attempt
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.
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.
Join
