Gems in Orion - The Great Orion Nebula & Horsehead Nebula

I have been wanting to capture these together since purchasing the 200mm lens a couple of years ago.  The Orion Nebula (M42) and the Horsehead (Barnard 33) - Flame Nebula (SH2-277) complex are some of the most imaged space objects captured by amateur and professional astronomers alike.  Their beauty  is unmatched and the complex nature of swirling winds of gas are fascinating.  They are all part of the Orion Molecular cloud which is an immense cloud of gas and dust some 1,000 to 1,400 light-years away.  The Orion Nebula is a huge stellar nursery and one of the closest to Earth.  It also happens to be visible to the naked eye if you have good vision and a dark sky but is easily seen with binoculars - of course it would not show the colors but some structure would be visible.  The Horsehead - Flame Complex is invisible to the naked eye but is rather easy to find as it surrounds the end star of Orion's belt (Alnitak).  

Imaging took over three weeks due to weather conditions.  I originally had high hopes to use my very old (over 10 yrs) computer to run my Atlas Pro mount, do plate-solving, control the camera, and run the autoguider.  Well that pipe-dream ended pretty quickly so I did it the old fashioned way and just slewed tot he target.  Collecting RGB is not a problem as you can use live view, however, Ha is a different story as only brightest stars are visible which makes locating and fusing difficult.  Add to that I was doing this over successive nights so I had to get it in the exact orientation - the good news is the way I had my camera mounted on the home bracket keeps it in the same orientation.  The computer problem was fixed by ordering a refurbished Lenovo ThinkPad for $300 to run my gear.  You do not need a top of the line computer to run astrophotography equipment like you do for processing programs. 

The original RGB data looked horrible so it required heavy processing which is one of the reasons I decided to collect some Ha data.  I collected unguided 60-second RGB and Ha data but also collected 5-second subframes for the core of Orion.  The addition of the Ha data really improved this image.

I made a video which shows my trials and tribulations along the way.  Also, some of the raw stacked images and processing is shown:

https://youtu.be/DHqAs1ejrG4 

Dates: 2-5-21, 2-8-21, 2-9-21, 2-21-21, 2-25-21

https://kurtzeppetello.smugmug.com/
http://astroquest1.blogspot.com/
https://www.astrobin.com/users/kurtzepp/collections/
http://youtube.com/c/AstroQuest1

The Great Orion Nebula (M42) & Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33)

Dates: 2-5-21, 2-8-21, 2-9-21, 2-21-21, 2-25-21
Camera: Canon T3i/600D modified

Lens: Canon 200mm f/2.8L II USM
Focal Length: 200mm
f/3.5
Mount: Orion Sirius
Filter: Astronomik Ha
Autoguiding: None
Exposure: Ha 212 x 60, RGB 96 x 60
Temp: -2 C

Processing: PixInsight, Photoshop, Topaz DeNoiseAI.

https://kurtzeppetello.smugmug.com/
http://astroquest1.blogspot.com/
https://www.astrobin.com/users/kurtzepp/collections/
http://youtube.com/c/AstroQuest1

Once in Red Moon?

This is the moon taken with my astro-modified T3i/600D with the Astronomik 12nm Clip-In Ha filter and the Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM lens.  Using this Ha-filter is a bit tricky as you need to set the focus on a bright object so I put the moon to good use and used it.  Also, it blocks most of the light so trying to locate object is very difficult because live view is useless.  In color camera Ha-filtered light (wavelength - 656nm) is in the red region hence the red color.

I did get a bit of imaging last night before the clouds rolled in.  The weather has not been good here lately and my FOV is limited so I have four projects going on at the same time - two with my main telescope setup and two widefield with my DSLR. 

     

NGC 2264 - Cone Nebula & Christmas Tree Cluster

Apparently NGC 2264 refers to both the Cone Nebula and the Christmas Tree Cluster and unofficially  goes by the Fox Fur Nebula and the Snowflake Cluster.  Relatively close at 2,600 light-years in the constellation of Monoceros the nebula spans some 30 light-years and is a birthplace for stars.  

NGC 2264 is very popular amongst imagers in the Northern Hemisphere but it is only my second time.  My first image from many years ago was with my DSLR and pretty poor processing skills which is why I wanted to get back.  I was originally planning on an HaRGB or HOO but it seems the only time it is clear here is when the moon is out so I went with SHO.  

I find this whole complex quite interesting especially swirly arcs at the top and the cone at the bottom.  I cropped it a slight amount but not too much as I wanted to keep the dark region in the upper right portion which has an almost 3-D effect.  The bright star in the center of my image is known as S Monocerotis and forms the base of the Christmas Tree which is pointing downward.  

Dates: 12-27-20, 12-28-20, 1-20-21, 1-23-21, 1-28-21, 1-29-21, 1-30-21

https://kurtzeppetello.smugmug.com/
http://astroquest1.blogspot.com/
https://www.astrobin.com/users/kurtzepp/collections/
http://youtube.com/c/AstroQuest1

NGC 2264 - Cone Nebula & Christmas Tree Cluster

Dates: 12-27-20, 12-28-20, 1-20-21, 1-23-21, 1-28-21, 1-29-21, 1-30-21 
Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro Telescope: Astro-Tech AT115EDT 115mm Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 805mm
f/7
Focal Reducer: 0.8x AstroTech Field Flatterner/Focal Reducer
Mount: Orion Sirius
Filter Wheel: ZWO EFW 8 x 1.25"
Filter: ZWO Ha, OIII, SII
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure: Ha 71 x 240, OIII 57 x 240, SII 58 x 240
Gain: 139
Offset 21
Temp: -2 C
Processing: APT, NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, Topaz DeNoiseAI.

https://kurtzeppetello.smugmug.com/
http://astroquest1.blogspot.com/
https://www.astrobin.com/users/kurtzepp/collections/
http://youtube.com/c/AstroQuest1

Sunset After The Snowfall - Imaging Location 3

I just got done shoveling the driveway after the snow stopped and looked up at the colorful sky while the sun was setting so I grabbed my iPhone.  It was cold and crisp but very beautiful so I wanted get it as they don't last long.

This happens to be my third imaging location.  The first and most used is from my shed which would be directly in back of this image.  The second is covered in snow directly in the foreground which is where I do most of my summer imaging from.  The location from this image where I set up occasionally to do odd projects using wide field camera lens imaging and such.  Inf act I started one now that I hope to complete but as you can see it is up to the "weather gods"!