NGC6888 the Crescent nebula

[Daniel]

If I get down to DSC this weekend, Im hoping to take the 120ED and the 80ED to guide with, would love to see what i can achieve in a  propely dark site

[RobertM]

Thanks for the offer Mike, I have a spare bar and rings so might take you up on that.

Chris, yes it is roughly 4.9 arcsec/pixel.

[Mike]

Mike - Have you got your mount back together yet? John

Yes it went back together for last DSC but its a bit rough with naff PE, mainly because the bearings were whacked around a bit too much with it being stiff first time around during disassembly and are probably a bit eggy shaped. Getting a new set of bearings is on my 'to do' list, but I haven't got around to doing it yet. I should get it done ASAP as they don't cost much and the nights are starting to darken now and I want to start getting back into imaging seriously and also using my VC200L a lot more which only the EQ6 can cope with.

I'll probably just bring the H-EQ5 and do widefield stuff this weekend like Robert. Theres not a great deal of good targets to image at this time of year, plus it doesn't get truly dark yet. The impending weather is probably not going to be good enough for anything serious this weekend anyway.

[Carole]

The impending weather is probably not going to be good enough for anything serious this weekend anyway.

Yes it's annoying isn't it with all the nice evenings we have had recently.
Even more annoying is they have all been on evenings when I had something on and couldn't get out there!!!!!

If I get down to DSC this weekend

Daniel if you do get to DSC can you introduce yourself as I don't think I've met you yet even though we've "spoken" a number of times on the forum.

Carole

[Mike]

....they have all been on evenings when I had something on and couldn't get out there!!!!!....

That is just about every night with me lately! I rarely get the chance to get out and image as much as I used to.

[Rocket Pooch]

I'll probably just bring the H-EQ5 and do widefield stuff this weekend like Robert. Theres not a great deal of good targets to image at this time of year, plus it doesn't get truly dark yet. The impending weather is probably not going to be good enough for anything serious this weekend anyway.

Wow you sound like a man who has given up imaging, there's 3 hours darkness and perfect for HaO3SII, also Cygnus is cool and has loads of stuff, not forgetting M13, LRGB will only take an hour!

[Mike]

Yeah agreed but compared to winter the list of possible options is pretty limited. I'm still prepared to do some imaging weather permitting !! Weather not permitting I have plenty of cider.

[Rocket Pooch]

I also have plenty of wine and beer, cunning eh!

[RobertM]

One way or the other it sounds like you two have DSC well sorted !

[Rocket Pooch]

Look drink is a last resourt, I really do want to use the SXD in anger this weekend to see if its 100% before I drag it to France.

[RobertM]

I've just reprocessed this as I found I'd set the black level too high in MaximDL.  I think it shows all the nebulosity now:

Original posting:



After reseting the black level and next to no processing in PS:

[JohnP]

Nice one Robert - that shows up the neb a lot better. The whole area is bathed in tons of nebulosity - look at this ultra widefield of same area posted on UKAI by Eddie Davies:

http://www.siamesedream.co.uk/ukai/2008/06June/art11002/ngc6888_large.jpg

Cheers,  John

[Fay]

Fantastic image, Robert. What were the imaging details?

[Daniel]

Wow, i really need to try that, I did a crescent a few weeks ago which came out ok, but needs a lot more subs, but that ribbon around it would be amazing to get

[RobertM]

Fay, it was with the Sky90 operating at approx f/4.5 and the SXV-H9 unbinned.

20 x 300s Astronomik 13nm Ha unguided no flats, bias or darks.

Sigma SD combined and DDP in MaximDL.  Loaded via FITS liberator with log stretch into PS then a very small amount of unsharp mask, 0.2 Gaussian blur and very mild levels/curves adjustment.  Could have done with a tad more in curve but not much.