A deep look at the North

[Peter Shah]

Not often photographed, Polaris surrounded by Integrated Flux Nebula. I took this remotely from Spain with 105 f1.4 Sigma lens and ASI2600MC. 53x 300s exposures a total of nearly 4 and a half hours. Processed with Pixinsight and Photoshop.
Thank for looking

Peter

 

[+Bino-viewer]

Amazing level of detail Peter.

So much nebulosity and so many stars !

 

That little cluster top left you've captured appears to be NGC 188 , a 10.0 magnitude open cluster. (aka Caldwell 1, Sir Patricks first catalogued object)

Pretty faint and one i've not seen before. Next time out i'll see if i can spot it 🤞🏼🔭

I regularly look at Polaris as its a beautiful double.

Great image 👍🏼

Edited April 25, 2021 by Bino-viewer

[Clive]

Didn't realise there was so much nebulosity around Polaris ... that could explain why my PA is always out 😊

[Peter Shah]

Thank you so much......I was surprised at the amount of IFN there....I guess its one of those most looked at objects but rarely imaged....

[+Graham]

Very nice too Peter.

Is that straight with the lens or did you have a filter in there too.

[Peter Shah]

23 minutes ago, Graham said:

Very nice too Peter.

Is that straight with the lens or did you have a filter in there too.

Thank you Graham.....No filters on this just one shot colour

[+Graham]

That is even more impressive then 👍

[+Ibbo]

Another question

did you guide ?

[Peter Shah]

18 minutes ago, Ibbo said:

Another question

did you guide ?

Although I fitted a guide camera as a precaution its not used....so no guiding.... the rig is on a Paramount MX, so  I ran a 500 point T-point model that combined with Bisques pro-track and a Cmos there is no need to guide it at all ....I just get it to dither between exposures through the mount rather than a guide camera.

Edited April 25, 2021 by Peter Shah

[+Ibbo]

30 minutes ago, Peter Shah said:

Although I fitted a guide camera as a precaution its not used....so no guiding.... the rig is on a Paramount MX, so  I ran a 500 point T-point model that combined with Bisques pro-track and a Cmos there is no need to guide it at all ....I just get it to dither between exposures through the mount rather than a guide camera.

The reason I asked was because I have hearsd it is very awkward around the pole.

[Peter Shah]

Just now, Ibbo said:

The reason I asked was because I have hearsd it is very awkward around the pole.

It can be....but the camera and lens setup is so compact the safety limits allow it to point pretty much anywhere.... there still will be times it wont point as with any object but this is as good as it gets with a GEM

[+Glafnazur]

Absolutely stunning Peter👍

[Peter Shah]

32 minutes ago, Glafnazur said:

Absolutely stunning Peter👍

Thank you

[BAZ]

That's a belting image Pete, I didn't realise that there was so much round there. That and I guess it's not easy to image the pole.

[Peter Shah]

14 minutes ago, BAZ said:

That's a belting image Pete, I didn't realise that there was so much round there. That and I guess it's not easy to image the pole.

Thanks Martyn....I knew there was some fluff around it but was surprised to see how much....pointing on a longer fl might be problematic for some mounts especially with mount limits and safeties in....I can see guiding would also be tricky....but with the short focal length and Bisques pro-track I am able to run it completely unguided.

[8472]

Amazing image, Peter!

 

That Sigma lens is a bit special, isn't it. Did you use it wide open?

 

Kev

[Guest]

I've done a bit of imaging of the region but not with any driven mount. It is possible to take much longer exposures without star trailing than at the celestial equator but it is easy to over-saturate. I doubt I can get the nebulousity with my kit but, like most of you, I have managed to do a few things that are not theoretically possible. Perhaps I could try a lower ISO.

 

Anyway, you have set a standard that the rest of us will aspire to get near.

 

There is a photo of the region on the NASA APOD: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

[Clive]

With my Canon 100mm at F2 and ISO1600 I can't expose longer than 60s from my location before the skyglow reaches an unacceptable level!

Edited April 28, 2021 by Clive

[Peter Shah]

On 27/04/2021 at 23:13, 8472 said:

Amazing image, Peter!

 

That Sigma lens is a bit special, isn't it. Did you use it wide open?

 

Kev

Thank you.....Its a lovely lens...I do find when I push the process the chromatic aberration will start to show though.....I stop it down from F1.4 to f2.8....I am going to try F3.2 though.

 

 

18 hours ago, Sunny Phil said:

I've done a bit of imaging of the region but not with any driven mount. It is possible to take much longer exposures without star trailing than at the celestial equator but it is easy to over-saturate. I doubt I can get the nebulousity with my kit but, like most of you, I have managed to do a few things that are not theoretically possible. Perhaps I could try a lower ISO.

 

Anyway, you have set a standard that the rest of us will aspire to get near.

 

There is a photo of the region on the NASA APOD: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

Thank you....with Cmos and you can get really good S/N with short exposures I think it would surprise most what is achievable.

Yes the timing of that APOD was a bit freaky....I submitted mine to APOD  a few days earlier....

 

 

17 hours ago, Clive said:

With my Canon 100mm at F2 and ISO1600 I can't expose longer than 60s from my location before the skyglow reaches an unacceptable level!

LP is a massive problem....and it seems to be getting worse. My skies in the UK are just as dark as the location in Spain so I am quite lucky really. 

Edited April 29, 2021 by Peter Shah
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[alis80b]

Wow! Love this! 😊