Space is .... dusty
Messier 45, the Pleiades - open cluster with reflection nebulae.
I really like widefield astro-images that show a lot of background dust clouds and nebulosity.
Im keen to attempt this with a relatively portable set-up using my StarAdventurer mount.
I had taken 179 x 1 minute subexposures and could see some dust and nebulosity but it wasnt that impressive - then I found a utility in PixInsight called Background Enhance that was very powerful and really brought up the faint dust clouds.
The Pleiades are a collect of young, bright stars that are passing through a dust field causing preferential reflection of blue light in our direction with absorption of red wavelengths by the dust. The linear stuctures in the nebulosity are thought to be the effect of the stars' magnetic fields lining up the dust particles.
The faint "clouds" around the nebula are called "cirrus".
Light pollution was measured at 20.1 magnitude/arcsecond2 which is really good for my suburban garden site.
This was taken with:
Sigma 135mm f/1.8 at f/2.5 @ ISO400
Canon 80D astro modified with IDAS LPS clip-in filter.
Star Adventurer mount
Guiding with ZWO mini-scope and ASIair raspberry pie controller.
Polar alignment with Polemaster.
I managed a RMS error of 4 arcseconds with the ASIair which is fine as native image scale here is 5 arcsec/pixel.
Space is .... dusty
Messier 45, the Pleiades - open cluster with reflection nebulae.
I really like widefield astro-images that show a lot of background dust clouds and nebulosity.
Im keen to attempt this with a relatively portable set-up using my StarAdventurer mount.
I had taken 179 x 1 minute subexposures and could see some dust and nebulosity but it wasnt that impressive - then I found a utility in PixInsight called Background Enhance that was very powerful and really brought up the faint dust clouds.
The Pleiades are a collect of young, bright stars that are passing through a dust field causing preferential reflection of blue light in our direction with absorption of red wavelengths by the dust. The linear stuctures in the nebulosity are thought to be the effect of the stars' magnetic fields lining up the dust particles.
The faint "clouds" around the nebula are called "cirrus".
Light pollution was measured at 20.1 magnitude/arcsecond2 which is really good for my suburban garden site.
This was taken with:
Sigma 135mm f/1.8 at f/2.5 @ ISO400
Canon 80D astro modified with IDAS LPS clip-in filter.
Star Adventurer mount
Guiding with ZWO mini-scope and ASIair raspberry pie controller.
Polar alignment with Polemaster.
I managed a RMS error of 4 arcseconds with the ASIair which is fine as native image scale here is 5 arcsec/pixel.