Rosette Nebula with 80mm Telescope and Stock Canon Xsi

Wide-field image taken with my unmodded DSLR

Above: Caldwell 49 - The Rosette Nebula 

Imaged Monday, February 3, 2014

 38 subs, 3.5 Minutes Each totaling 2 Hours 13 Minutes 

PHOTO DETAILS

Scope: Explore Scientific ED80 with WO Flat III 0.8x FR/FF
Mount: Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro Synscan
Guiding: Meade DSI Pro II and PHD Guiding
Guide Scope: Orion Mini 50mm
Camera: Canon EOS 450D (Stock)
ISO: 1600
Exposure: 2 hours 13 Minutes (38 x 210s)
Processing Software: Calibration and Stacking in Deep Sky Stacker, Levels/Curves/Enhancements in Photoshop CC
Support Files: 12 darks

Happy New Year! I was finally graced with some clear skies that showcased the beautiful winter milky way on Monday. The moon was about 19% lit, and didn't set until about 10:30pm, so about half of data in the photo above was captured with the moon still out.  The sky conditions were so fantastic on Monday, it was a shame I had to leave early to get a good nights sleep for work the next morning.

The Rosette Nebula (Caldwell 49) is a large circular HII region. The open cluster NGC 2244 (Caldwell 50) is closely associated with the nebulosity, the stars of the cluster having been formed from the nebula's matter.

I used the 80ED for this photo because the size of this object is quite large.  I am quite happy with my end result, although I plan on processing the photo several more times to try and pull out as much detail as possible.

I highly recommend Noel Caboni's "Astronomy Tools" action set for Photoshop.  I found it very helpful when processing this image, and every other image I have taken. For the price of a cheap filter, you can drastically improve your astrophotos. Well worth it!

You can review the equipment I used to acquire this photo on the EQUIPMENT section of my website. I hope that the camera settings and details listed above will give you an idea of the kind of results you can expect with similar gear!