The Wizard (NGC7380)

I was able to capture a few (3) SII (sulfur) last night. So I added them to my Ha images and here's what I got. I used the Ha for Luminance and Red and the SII as blue and green. Hopefully I can capture the O3 tonight and finish it up!

Wizard Nebula: (from Wikipedia) NGC 7380 (also known as the Wizard Nebula) is an open cluster discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1787. William Herschel included his sister's discovery in his catalog, and labelled it H VIII.77. It is also known as 142 in the 1959 Sharpless catalog (Sh2-142). This reasonably large nebula is located in Cepheus. It is extremely difficult to observe visually, usually requiring very dark skies and an O-III filter.

Located 7200 light years away, the Wizard nebula, surrounds developing open star cluster NGC 7380. Visually, the interplay of stars, gas, and dust has created a shape that appears to some like a fictional medieval sorcerer. The active star forming region spans 100 about light years, making it appear larger than the angular extent of the Moon. The Wizard Nebula can be located with a small telescope toward the constellation of the King of Aethiopia (Cepheus). Although the nebula may last only a few million years, some of the stars being formed may outlive our Sun.

M17 The Omega Nebula

I'm still playing with Narrowband imaging. This is my capture of the Omega Nebula using Ha = Red, SII = Blue, and OIII = Green. 2 1/2 hours of data. I could probably have used more data but by the time I finished the guider was being blocked by the dog house. 

 From Wikipedia: 

 The Omega Nebula, also known as the Swan Nebula, Checkmark Nebula, and the Horseshoe Nebula[1][2] (catalogued as Messier 17 or M17) is an H II region in the constellation Sagittarius. It was discovered by Philippe Loys de Chéseaux in 1745. Charles Messier catalogued it in 1764. It is located in the rich starfields of the Sagittarius area of the Milky Way.

First narrow band attempt.

Since I now have the camera working well along with dialing in my polar alignment to everything is guiding better. I decided to attempt my first narrow band image. Using the Ha filter for red, the SII filter for blue and the OIII filter for green and 3 hours of data here's the results for M8 the Lagoon Nebula

M 27 Dumbbell nebula. New coma corrector.

I have been pretty busy lately trying new techniques with the ZWO ASI1600mm-c camera. I decided to change from the GSO coma corrector to a Baader MPCC MarkIII coma corrector. It's shorter and is more 'purpose built' for astrophotography. It has made a major difference in my images! Included in this post is one of the first images taken with the new coma corrector. From Wikipedia: The Dumbbell Nebula (also known as Apple Core Nebula, Messier 27, M 27, or NGC 6853) is a planetary nebula in the constellation Vulpecula, at a distance of about 1,360 light-years. This object was the first planetary nebula to be discovered; by Charles Messier in 1764. At its brightness of visual magnitude 7.5 and its diameter of about 8 arcminutes, it is easily visible in binoculars,[5] and a popular observing target in amateur telescopes.

M42 Orion Nebula with ZWO ASI1600mm-c

We finally had enough clear sky that I could play with the new Astrophotography camera. This is my image taken last night. M42 Orion Nebula.

Camera: ZWO ASI1600mm-C
Telescope: Skywatcher 10 inch Newtonian
Mount: Orion EQ6g
Guider: Orion Starshoot
Software: Sequence Generator Pro, EQMOD, Carte Du Ciel, PHD2, Deep Sky Stacker, and final processing in StarTools.

Lum = 45 each @ 3 seconds
Red = 40 each @ 12 seconds
Blue = 40 each @ 9 seconds
Green = 40 each @ 11 seconds
Gain = 200 Offset = 60

Horse Head with new camera

I purchased a new astrophotography camera a few months ago. (In addition to a new observatory laptop!). The new camera is a ZWO ASI1600mm-c with filters. So it's a brand new world learning all of the secrets of imaging in mono and adding colors. It has been cloudy pretty much everyday since I purchased the camera! This was my first attempt using filters combined with Ha (hydrogen alpha). Hopefully I will get some clear skies and can do some more soon!!!

Telescope: SkyWatcher 254N

Mount: Orion Atlas EQ6g

Guided

Camera: ZWO ASI1600mm-c