M76

On 2018-10-06 I wanted to make an experiment with the IDAS LPS D2 light pollution and the Baader UHC filters. From under urban skies, 6 or 7 on the Bortle scale, and from the vicinity of two mercury lamps, I chose to image M76. I used the MC 102/1300 with the DSLR and the N 150/750 with the ASI 120 MM to dig out some meaningful data. The IDAS was in front of the DSLR, the UHC in front of the ASI 120 MM. With the DSLR, at almost F/13, two minute frames came out, at ISO 3200, with reasonable data on it, given the sky.

M 76, NGC 650 [planetary nebula in Per] Little Dumbbell Nebula, Barbell Nebula, Butterfly Nebula, Cork Nebula, Kis Súlyzó-köd 10.1^m ø2.7′ [wiki] [simbad] [photo-planner]

(tovább…)

Messier 46

It was a beautiful night, and the first light of my camera battery replacement solution. As a good bye target, as it was already morning, not bothering with guiding, I pointed the telescope towards Messier 46, the famous open cluster that has a planetary nebula superimposed on it, NGC 2438. According to the wikis, the planetary is at around 3k light years away, while the cluster is some 5k. I acquired 18x60s at ISO 3200 with the N 150/750, Baader MPCC Mark III, Canon 1100D mod, HEQ5 setup, with both the Baader UHC and the IDAS LPS D2 filter in place. The filters were not explicitly meant for this target (not even the planetary), but since they were in place and the remaining time was short, I just left the equipment as it was after photographing the nebulae.

(tovább…)