The North American Nebula

[Mystical Potato Head]

The nebula on the left named for obvious reasons emits light in the infra red wavelenght,unfortunately DSLR cameras are fitted with a IR filter which blocks over 80%
of it so what you see as grey/white should be red.I converted it to b&w because the faint amount of red that did get through just didn't highlight the shape of the nebula very well.
3x10 min exposures @160mmfl,f5,iso800.Camera piggybacked on main scope.

http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo189/sat5_photos/NGC7000crop.jpg

Big On Black@ http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/onblack.php?id=3455665694&size=large

[tjc]

Another great shot MPH...

Spectacular stuff.

:cool:

[Mystical Potato Head]

Thanks tjc...i think this version is a bit smoother.

http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo189/sat5_photos/NGC7000crop-1.jpg

http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/onblack.php?id=3455665694&size=large

[tjc]

Yeh... that one is smoother...

Is it smoothness your after in these types of shots then MPH?

[wifie]

Always amazed at these shots and yer expertise MPH. These deffo aren't as crisp - what is the reason?

[Mystical Potato Head]

Yeh... that one is smoother...

Is it smoothness your after in these types of shots then MPH?
The first one is a bit noisey but has not bad detail,second one is smoother but has less detail. Ideally you want smoothness and lots of detail.
The more images you stack together then generally speaking the final image will be smoother.

Wifie,it was a struggle to get it converted from the low level infrared image to b&w and enhance it enough to get the shape of the nebula to show up.Need a camera with the IR filter removed(about £250 to get it done) or now that i can get longer exposures stick to galaxies and objects which aren't belting out infrared light.

[tjc]

Ideally you want smoothness and lots of detail.

That`s what I thought MPH.


Need a camera with the IR filter removed

What do you mean by this though and why does it cost so much?

:)

[Deemac]

Great shot MPH.

To me No.1 looks much better (though there appears to be a very slight vertical trail/movement). No.2 just looks soft and OOF.

[Mystical Potato Head]

Tjc...Dslr's are fitted with an IR cut filter so in a "modded" camera it is removed and replaced with a correcting filter which allows hyrdogen alpha wavelength to pass which is high in red,but blocks the very high infrared wavelength which causes bloated or a halo/ring effect around stars when using a camera lens.Depending on what model of camera you have it can cost between £200-300 or thereabouts.Trouble is your left with a camera thats only usefull for infrared imaging.
Here,s a link that shows the process.
http://ghonis2.ho8.com/rebelmod450d1.html

[Mystical Potato Head]

Great shot MPH.

To me No.1 looks much better (though there appears to be a very slight vertical trail/movement). No.2 just looks soft and OOF.

The trailing on the first one is only noticable on the smaller stars which makes me think the stacking got screwed up slightly,none of the original images showed signs of trailing or not any obvious signs anyway.

Here's one of the 10 minute originals with a red channel boost.(a bit of cheating but causes pink stars)

http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo189/sat5_photos/IMG_1520copy.jpg

[astroman]

I managed to capture the North American Nebula using a film SLR a few years ago, but have had no success whatsoever with my DSLR. But then I'm not nearly as accomplished at using image processing software to tease out detail. Well done MPH.

[tjc]

Tjc...Dslr's are fitted with an IR cut filter so in a "modded" camera it is removed and replaced with a correcting filter which allows hyrdogen alpha wavelength to pass which is high in red,but blocks the very high infrared wavelength which causes bloated or a halo/ring effect around stars when using a camera lens.Depending on what model of camera you have it can cost between £200-300 or thereabouts.Trouble is your left with a camera thats only usefull for infrared imaging.
Here,s a link that shows the process.
http://ghonis2.ho8.com/rebelmod450d1.html

Thanks for the rundown and info MPH... and the link. Makes a bit more sense to me now. Like the shot with the red...

[wifie]

Really interesting thanks for the info MPH! :D

[the poacher]

a couple of good pics there well done.