Capture Details
Canon 1200D (modified) w/ Astronomic UHC-E clip-in filter.
SW ED80 w/ 0.85x focal reducer/corrector
HEQ5 with belt mod
ZWO 60/280 guidescope with ASI120MC-S camera
28x 30s @ ISO800 (a couple of the subs were ditched)
25 x Dark & 25 x Flats
EQMOD, Cartes du Ciel, BackyardEos, PHD2, DSS, PS CC
Description
It had been awhile between imaging opportunities due to a continual poor weather and hazy skies here in central Jakarta. Finally the clouds cleared on Dec 10 allowing me to break the gear out and brush off a few cobwebs. This was also going to be the first chance to try out the new modified 1200D DSLR. Due to the length of time between sessions and my main target was going to be M42 i chose to go with the ED80 as the focal reducer connection and distancing is much simpler on this scope than the 6’RC.
Once setup and aligned, as it was early in the session and M42 was not yet in good position, I thought to try some of the targets I had been blocked from trying for the past several weeks. First I tried targeting NGC253, the Sculptor Galaxy, and then M33, the Triangulum Galaxy, however while the Sculptor could be made out, the level of light pollution made the image unusable. The Triangulum galaxy, being in an even heavier light pollution region of the sky could not be made out at all. Giving up on those fainter targets I decided to start the dark library for the 1200D while I waited.
Finally M42 rose to a position where it was worth starting to take images. I started with taking a 30s sub frame at ISO 800 and it looked to be a good deal of data in the image so I set that as the first run and took a set of 30 frames. This was followed up with a set of 30 60s exposures also at ISO800 in the hope that it would bring out more of the fainter nebulosity in the outer regions of the nebula. Unfortunately after stacking and editing this turned out not to be the case as the limiting factor is not the exposure time but rather the level of light pollution which is brighter than this faint nebulosity therefore drowns it out.
Unfortunately the clouds rolled in again at this point so it was time to run of some Flats using the light box I had made previously – which was also a first run for this bit of kit as well 🙂 – and pack everything away, which was probably just as well as it was an early start for work in the morning.
