Sights set on Sadr - Intersection of the Northern Cross

Round one: Sadr 1, Trevor 0

If you follow me on twitter, you may have noticed that I was poking around in the middle of the constellation Cygnus last weekend. I really wanted to post a really snazzy wide field photo of this region on this blog, but I was unhappy with my results. I set my mount and telescope up for imaging in the South, at the far edge of my backyard. This spot was a poor location for shooting straight up overhead at the constellation Cygnus for me, as I ran into trees by 1:30am.  The result, only 1 hour of total exposure on a hot night. Even the stacked final image including 15 darks was noisy after stretching! I was already sad about the trees, but after seeing my noisy photo, I was Sadr. (anyone?) Clearly, I need more time on it.

The night was not a complete waste.  Aside from the mosquito bites and the ever constant worry from my neighbours "what is he doing out there!?", I was able to snap this neat little photo of the Summer Triangle.  The stars that make up this giant asterism are Altair, Vega and Deneb.  For this shot, I used my Canon 70D and 17-40mm lens, riding on the Sky-Watcher mount.  15 - 40 second shots were stacked together for the final image.

Tonight's the Night!

With the almost first-quarter moon setting tonight around midnight, and clear, cool skies in the forecast for the Niagara region, it looks like I am set for round 2 tonight. Tomorrow night looks clear as well, will this be the weekend of Sadr? That might be the nerdiest thing I have ever said.  That's not true.

Tonight, I will position the mount for an all-night-long session in Cygnus. My plan is to frame Gamma Cygni directly in the centre. From the other images of this area, it looks like I should pick up a lot of nebulosity throughout the frame.

My 30-day trial of Backyard EOS is still in effect, so I am happy to use it's handy imaging features for another free night before shelling out the $50 US for the full version. A fair price for this impressive software. See the star map to the left for an idea of where I will be shooting tonight. If all goes well, my next post will be a portrait of the intersection of the Northern Cross.