M27 from Bortle 4 site

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turfpit
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M27 from Bortle 4 site

#1

Post by turfpit »

Captured at a beach on the Isle of Anglesey, off the North Wales coast. This is a Bortle 4 site as opposed to my home which is Bortle 6.
High res image here https://www.astrobin.com/full/0ffje8/0/

Equipment: Celestron AVX mount, Altair 66ED refractor, Altair 0.8x reducer/flattener, Altair 183C V2.
Capture: 60x60s, 20 darks, 100 bias, 100 flats.
Software: SharpCap 3.2, FITS Liberator (to inspect test frame), Siril (calibration, registration, stacking, crop, colour calibration, green noise removal), Gimp (Curves, Saturation, Contrast).
Capture settings were RAW12, gain 200, black level 30 (black level established by using lowest value which gives centralised histogram for bias frame at gain 200) .

The image from the Bortle 4 site has a much richer star colour and number of stars compared with my Bortle 6 site image here
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1724. During the registration of frames, Siril was finding in excess of 2,000 stars in the frames.

M27-60x60s.png
M27-60x60s.png (470.32 KiB) Viewed 2768 times

The final stack was cropped and re-processed, to show more detail of the nebula:

M27-60x60s-cropped.jpg
M27-60x60s-cropped.jpg (322.42 KiB) Viewed 2768 times

Dave

[ALTAIRH183C]
Debayer Preview=On
Output Format=FITS files (*.fits)
Capture Area=5440x3648
Binning=1x1
Pan=0
Tilt=0
Colour Space=RAW12
Fan=On
Temperature=14.3
Black Level=30
USB Speed=1
Auto Exp Target=120
Frame Rate Limit=Maximum
Analogue Gain=200
Exposure=60000
Timestamp Frames=Off
Banding Threshold=35
Banding Suppression=0
Apply Flat=None
Subtract Dark=None
#Black Point
Display Black Point=0.005859375
#MidTone Point
Display MidTone Point=0.015859375
#White Point
Display White Point=0.78515625
TimeStamp=2019-08-28T22:45:31.8468576Z
SharpCapVersion=3.2.6086.0
BlackWikkett
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Re: M27 from Bortle 4 site

#2

Post by BlackWikkett »

NIce image Dave, Well Done!
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turfpit
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Re: M27 from Bortle 4 site

#3

Post by turfpit »

Thanks Wickett, I think the darker skies made the difference.

Dave
nexusjeep
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Re: M27 from Bortle 4 site

#4

Post by nexusjeep »

Hi Dave,
Nice shot well done, it is an object that I have looked at but never get round to image perhaps get my ass into gear at some point and give it ago problem is so many targets so few clear nights :D

Cheers
Nick
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turfpit
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Re: M27 from Bortle 4 site

#5

Post by turfpit »

Thanks Nick. Imaging on the beach was rough but worth the effort.

Dave
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turfpit
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Re: M27 from Bortle 4 site

#6

Post by turfpit »

A complete re-process of the original data using Astro Pixel Processor. High res image here https://www.astrobin.com/1graw1/0/.
Starting to retain star colours now, which I feel is moving in the right direction.

M27-60x60s-183C-Anglesey-cropped2.jpg
M27-60x60s-183C-Anglesey-cropped2.jpg (337.2 KiB) Viewed 2461 times


Looking at the RAW data, I think 90s exposures would be about right.

M27-data.JPG
M27-data.JPG (70.75 KiB) Viewed 2461 times


Some Ha to capture more nebulosity wouldn't go amiss. Next time around .......

Dave
BlackWikkett
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Re: M27 from Bortle 4 site

#7

Post by BlackWikkett »

Very nice Dave!

-Chris
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turfpit
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Re: M27 from Bortle 4 site

#8

Post by turfpit »

Thanks Chris.

Dave
umasscrew39
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Re: M27 from Bortle 4 site

#9

Post by umasscrew39 »

Dave

Excellent star color and shape along with a beautiful M27... congrats. Looks like you found the sweet spot using APP which I have never tried. Awesome image.
Bruce
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turfpit
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Re: M27 from Bortle 4 site

#10

Post by turfpit »

Thanks Bruce.

I have spent the last 6 weeks grinding through the APP video tutorials repeatedly - especially the ones with downloadable data. I am starting to get to the point where I can repeat the outcome - no gain without pain. Still a long way to go to master the software.

Dave
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