Three Images In One Night
The trouble with being an amateur astronomer in the UK is the reliability of the weather. On more than a handful of occasions, I have spent an hour or so meticulously setting up the scope, framing my image and calibrating the guide camera, only to find the clouds have rolled in before I have managed to capture a single image. So I could not believe my luck last night, when surprisingly, the forecast was accurate and we were blessed with an extremely clear and still night. The result was not one, but three images.
Firstly, The Ring Nebula (M57), which is a planetary nebula in the constellation of Lyra and is approximately 2,300 light years from earth. It was formed when a shell of ionized gas was expelled by a giant red star, during its dying transformation into a white dwarf. The image comprises 16 x 120s exposures.
Next was Pleiades, or the Seven Sisters (M45), which is an open star cluster located in the constellation Taurus and is approximately 380 light years from Earth. This image comprises 4 x 200s exposures.
Finally, the most difficult of the three to capture - The Eagle Nebula (M16), which is an open star cluster and diffuse emission nebula in the constellation Serpens and is approximately 7,000 light years from Earth. Within it are several star forming gas and dust regions, including the famous 'Pillars of Creation'. This image comprises 9 x 200s exposures.
All three images are the result of multiple exposures, captured using my astro-moddified Canon EOS 1000D, attached to my Sky-Watcher Explorer 190MN Pro. A 2" Hutech IDAS LPS P2 filter was used to enhance contrast and reduce the effect of light pollution, which makes the faint areas of nebulosity easier to process. Once calibrated and stacked using Nebulosity 3 the images were processed using Adobe Photoshop CS6.
Considering all three images were the result of one night under the stars, I am really pleased with the outcome. Had I spent longer on each subject, in order to capture more expsoures, the result would have been even better, but that can wait for another night!
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