M16 Eagle Nebula Questar image
The Eagle Nebula includes the famous "Pillars of Creation" which have been imaged in great detail by the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes. The pillars are noted as "stellar nurseries," and multiple bright stars activate the gaseous emission nebula. It's a nice backyard target but it's very low in my sky which means I have to plan for when I can image it. Here I've used my 3.5" Questar, a fine telescope for viewing planets but it's very slow (f/16) for targets like this. I acquired a new mount this year that makes most steps of the capture process much more efficient than "hacked" approaches I used when I started imaging 8 or 9 years ago.
Tech Stuff: Questar 3.5" telescope/RST-135E mount/ZWO ASI 533MC Pro camera/IDAS LPS V-4 filter. 80 minutes of unguided 4 to 15-second exposures collected in SharpCap livestacks and processed in PixInsight. From my Bortle 7 yard 10 miles north of NYC.
M16 Eagle Nebula Questar image
The Eagle Nebula includes the famous "Pillars of Creation" which have been imaged in great detail by the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes. The pillars are noted as "stellar nurseries," and multiple bright stars activate the gaseous emission nebula. It's a nice backyard target but it's very low in my sky which means I have to plan for when I can image it. Here I've used my 3.5" Questar, a fine telescope for viewing planets but it's very slow (f/16) for targets like this. I acquired a new mount this year that makes most steps of the capture process much more efficient than "hacked" approaches I used when I started imaging 8 or 9 years ago.
Tech Stuff: Questar 3.5" telescope/RST-135E mount/ZWO ASI 533MC Pro camera/IDAS LPS V-4 filter. 80 minutes of unguided 4 to 15-second exposures collected in SharpCap livestacks and processed in PixInsight. From my Bortle 7 yard 10 miles north of NYC.