Rosette Nebula and Whirlpool Galaxy

[crimbfighter]

Last night was first light for my newly astro modified Nikon D610. I bought it used from KEH, then sent it to Spencer's Camera in Utah for the modification. I'm mad I hadn't done it sooner! Having an astro modified camera makes a world of difference.

Equipment:
Celestron 8" EdgeHD scope
Celesrron AVX go-to mount
Nikon D610

Captured using Backyard Nikon
Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
Processed in PS

Rosette Nebula:
140 second sub exposures at ISO1000
23 min total integrated exposure
Optolong L-Extreme dual narrow band pass filter

M51, Whirlpool Galaxy:
180 second sub exposures at ISO1600
1hr 3min total integrated exposure
Optolong L-Pro light polution filter
Fun fact, the magenta dots in the spiral arms are individual nebulae within the galaxy!

 

[Space Face]

Love the first. Looks like a computer game background.

 

[PJM]

Amazing. #1 is stunning. It feels like you are moving right through it.

 

[Jeff15]

Good shots.....

 

[K9Kirk]

Both are very nice, good job!

 

[photoflyer]

Very strong motivation for me to get my T7i modified. But I still won't get results like that. Just waiting for Canon to realease the R7 so I can replace it.

I just got the L- Extreme Dual band filter. I'm curious if you think using it in combination with a modified camera makes a big difference given the wavelengths it attenuates.

Oh, and it is clear from these that I need to graduate from an AltAz mont to an Eq mount and start guiding....will it ever stop?

 

[crimbfighter]

Love the first. Looks like a computer game background.

Amazing. #1 is stunning. It feels like you are moving right through it.

Good shots.....

Both are very nice, good job!

Thank you, all!

 

[crimbfighter]

Very strong motivation for me to get my T7i modified. But I still won't get results like that. Just waiting for Canon to realease the R7 so I can replace it.

I just got the L- Extreme Dual band filter. I'm curious if you think using it in combination with a modified camera makes a big difference given the wavelengths it attenuates.

Oh, and it is clear from these that I need to graduate from an AltAz mont to an Eq mount and start guiding....will it ever stop?

Using the L-Extreme filter with stock DSLR isn't useless, but you're really going to struggle to get much data. The filters in stock cameras cut out almost all of the light associated with h-alpha emissions, which is one of the two wavelengths the filter allows through. The astro modification makes the camera much more sensitive in the reds, where h-alpha resides. I tried it with my unmodified D800 and saw almost no usable data. I imagine you'd have to triple your exposure times to get anything.

The modification I had done allows visible light plus h-alpha through, similar to the Nikon and Canon factory modified astro cameras like the D810a. That way I don't need to use an IR/UV cut filter for broadband. They also remove the AA filter and install a heat sync in the camera to help with noise reduction.

And no, it never stops, haha. It's a bit of a rabbit hole. Although, I'm at a point now where I have everything I need, so I no longer feel the gear acquisition bug. The astro modified camera was the last big ticket item on my list.

This is my entire rig.

 

[mountainjunkie]

Very nice. The whirlpool galaxy is particular impressive with only ~1 hr exposure time! Thanks for sharing the feedback on the modded DSLR...I've toyed around with the idea of getting one of those or just plunging into a dedicated astro camera (of course that would inevitably lead to an a larger scope as well ). Unfortunately neither is on the short list with other expenses at this time.

 

[photoflyer]

So back to my question regarding results I might expect with better gear, this was shot Sunday night on a Celestron 6, altitude/azimuth mount on an unmodified Canon 6D. There are about 10, 30s exposures stacked with Sequator. I was in rural VA.

Have you shot him M82? If so I'll bet it looks much better than this.

I'm thinking that if I modify the t7i for astrophotography and get an equatorial mount, and start guiding, the much longer exposures and the L Extreme Dual Band filter would achieve significantly better results.

 

[crimbfighter]

So back to my question regarding results I might expect with better gear, this was shot Sunday night on a Celestron 6, altitude/azimuth mount on an unmodified Canon 6D. There are about 10, 30s exposures stacked with Sequator. I was in rural VA.

Have you shot him M82? If so I'll bet it looks much better than this.

I'm thinking that if I modify the t7i for astrophotography and get an equatorial mount, and start guiding, the much longer exposures and the L Extreme Dual Band filter would achieve significantly better results.

View attachment 205212

I haven't shot just M82. I've shot M81 and M82 in a more wide field shot.

When it come to shooting galaxies, the L-Extreme filter won't work. That filter is meant to isolate light typically emitted from nebulae, OIII and H-alpha. In fact, you'll barely get a galaxy to show up using it. Galaxies need to be shot in broadband. Either one shot color, like a dslr or OSC astro camera, or shot with a mono camera using LRGB filters and combining the image. While galaxies do emit light in the non-visible spectrum, most of the light is visible light. You're best off using only a light pollution filter with your dslr for galaxies.

Having your camera modified, and guiding for longer exposures on a alt/az mount will help a lot. By increasing your exposure times you'll get more data and you can take advantage of dithering to help with noise.

 

[photoflyer]

When it come to shooting galaxies, the L-Extreme filter won't work.

Of course. Thanks for the reminder. I do have a CLS clip in filter - I'll need to review the bandpass on it to see what it is best suited for.

 

[crimbfighter]

Just for fun I made a starless edit of the Rosette Nebula. Stars removed using Starnet++