2014-10-04: Images from the Whiteside Conservation Area

Post date: Oct 05, 2014 5:45:42 AM

I observed at the William G. and Erma Parke White Memorial Wildlife Area during September and October with Al Skinner and Jack Gillette. Unless otherwise stated, all images are with a Nikon D5200 at prime focus of a Meade LX-90 8 inch telescope with an Antares 0.63x focal reduce, mounted on a Celestron Advanced VX mount. Images were auto guided using an Orion Magnificent Mini 50 StartShoot guider. An equal number of lights and darks was generally used.

NGC6960, the Veil Nebula

September 13 and 20, 2014

This is a composite image of NGC6960, the western edge of the Veil Nebula. It’s the first time I tried integrating images taken over different nights; Deep Sky Stacker is incredible. It is a 106 minute total exposure at ISO-1600.

NGC7000 the North American Nebula

This image was taken at September 20, 2014 04:26 UTC, with Al’s Nikon D7000 having automatic dark current subtraction, riding piggy-back under the Meade LX90 ACF 203mm aperture F/10 on Celestron Advanced VX Mount. He used a 200mm F/2.8 lens. It is a 10 minutes total exposure at ISO-800.

NGC1952 (M1) the Crab Nebula

This image was taken October 4, 2014 09:08 UTC and has a total exposure time of 24 minutes at ISO-800, with 2x drizzle. There were mild wind gusts which somewhat reduced resolution. The guider reported swings of +/- 3 arc seconds.

NGC2068 (M78)

This image was taken at October 4, 2014 09:50 UTC and has a total exposure time of 12 minutes at ISO-800. The reflection and dark features are clearly visible, though more exposure time is needed to reduce noise.

NGC1976 (M42) and NGC1982 (M43) the Great Orion Nebula

This image was taken October 4, 2014 10:06 UTC. It has a total exposure of 23 minutes at ISO-800. I overexposed the central region and need to re-image with a variety of exposure duration, then ask Al to perform the High Dynamic Range (HDR) magic.