NGC2170

[Carole]

I have been waiting for 2 years for an opportunity to get this target.  Trying to get to a dark location in the winter is somewhat challenging due to weather and ground conditions.  The target is between Alnitak and Sirius and is LRGB so not suitable from home even if I had a low enough horizon. 

Finally managed it only to be let down by my kit.
I was using the dual rig to try to capture  as much data as possible using the ED80/Atik460 to capture LRGB, and the Atik314L/WOZS71 to capture luminance only, and had captured about 2 more hours luminance with the latter (or so I thought!!!)

The Atik314 was started to play up downloading blanks some of the time.  Imagine my disappointment to find none of the luminance had saved, and I had checked all the settings 3 times over to make sure of not making a mistake.  I have searched the computer and first time around they showed up on Artemis as a file but said it could not be opened, likewise in Maxim, but now I can't find them at all!!

So making the most of a bad job, this is what I got, it is very noisy, but who knows when I shall get another opportunity.  Very colourful area (one for Mark).

Atik460EX.ED80 + focal reducer x 0.8
HEQ5

Luminance 10 x 450 binned (decided to bin to save time)
Luminance 2 x 600
Red 12 x 300 binned
Green 11 x 300 binned
Blue 11 x 300 binned

Total imaging time 5 minutes under 4 hours.

NB, there is definitely a purple nebula mid left as I have seen it on other images, just not showing clearly on mine as I obviously need a lot more data. 

Edited image with better small star colour


Edited again with an attempt to improve the noise, did not realise this target was so faint:

[MarkS]

As I said at DSC, I'm not familiar with NGC2170.  But it's clearly a very beautiful and interesting area of sky.

It would certainly benefit from a lot more data but you've done an excellent job with the data you have.  The colours are spot on!

Mark

[Carole]

Thanks Mark. 

Carole

[ApophisAstros]

Nice image, much too low for me at moment.
Roger

[Carole]

Yes, had to wait for Orion to rise after midnight, and was imaging until dawn.

Carole

[Carole]

See top post, original left for comparison.

This is still very noisy, not helped by the loss of data, but would welcome comments on the new revision, which is a bit less noisy I think.  If I can get to a dark location in the next few months will collect some more data.

Thanks
Carole

[NoelC]

Very interesting target.  Does it have a name?
How about; The Squashed Fly Nebula?
Not sure I should comment on noise as I don't really know what I'm looking at; but there is some merit in the first image over the second when looking at the bottom right hand.
Well done.
Noel

[Carole]

Thanks Noel, am a bit disappointed in this image its much fainter than I thought which I think is why it is so noisy.

I don't think it has a name.

Carole

[Carole]

Just been doing a bit of reading on this target, seeing the comments below maybe I should have found this out BEFOREhand:

the infamous ngc2170! A very hard one this

you need to know how faint it is!,.......it was hours and hours and hours for a weak signal

Hmmmm