I have managed to image the Triangulum Galaxy from my backyard for multiple nights over the course of nearly a week. I can't remember the last time we have had such a long stretch of clear night skies in the Niagara region. Mind you, these clear nights occurred during weekdays, and I have to be up early for work (and to walk the dog) early each morning. Needless to say, I haven't been getting much sleep lately.
My first imaging session was on the night of September 16th.
Smack-dab in the middle of the work week. I didn't originally intend to
shoot the Triangulum galaxy that night, I started with IC1396. The
Elephant's Trunk nebula is a concentration of interstellar gas and dust
within IC 1396, located in the constellation Cepheus.
This
area of the night sky is in a perfect spot for imaging at this time of
year from my location, almost directly overhead. I captured 38 frames on
this DSO on Wednesday night. The subs were 4 minutes each using ISO 800 on my aging modified Canon Xsi.
IC 1396 - Including the Elephant's Trunk nebula
IC 1396 - Photo Details
Telescope: 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 (Modified)
ISO: 800
Total Exposure: 2 Hours, 24 Minutes (36 x 240 seconds)
Processing Software: Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop CC
Support Files: 15 dark frames
The Elephant's Trunk nebula can be seen in the top center-right of the
photo above. It is a dark patch with a bright, sinuous rim. The rim is
the surface of a dense cloud that is being illuminated and ionized by a
very bright, massive star. Faint objects like this are difficult to image from light-polluted skies in the city. I found myself battling with horrible gradients and noise when processing this image. I will likely add more time to the Elephant's Trunk Nebula during the weeks that surround the new moon in October. Another 4 hours should help me pull out more detail with less noise.
 |
| Canon xsi attached to my telescope for astrophotography - lit by a red headlamp |
After achieving a steady graph in PHD guiding, and a tight-focus on my reference star (Alderamin) I set BackyardEOS
to take 50 frames, and I headed to bed. I set my alarm for 2:00am, and
managed to stumble back out to the patio to check on my results. The
Elephant's trunk nebula was too far west, and my telescope would soon by
aiming directly at my garage! Because the sky was still crisp and
clear, I figured I would add some time a second object for the night. I
imaged M33 back in 2012, but that was before I self-modded my 450D for astrophotography. The Triangulum Galaxy contains some beautiful pink nebulousity within it that I knew I could now capture.
The
following 2 nights of the week were also clear, and I took full
advantage. This time, I shelved my plans for the Elephant's trunk, and
focused all of my efforts on Messier 33. I captured an impressive 49
subs the following night at 5 minutes each, and then I added another 17
light frames the night after that!
My total number of frames on this object was now over 100! That's a lot
of imaging in one week. All that was left now was to stack and process
all of the data acquired. I set Deep sky stacker to use "the best 90% of
frames" to register and stack, which resulted in a final stack of 84
images total, or exactly 7 hours. I even had success with my creation of
flat and bias frames. I shot the bias frames through the telescope with
the lens cap on, at the fastest shutter speed my camera allows (1/4000
of a second). The flat frames were created by shooting through the
telescope, pointed at the early morning blue sky. These were shot with
the camera in Av mode. I shot separate bias and flat frames for each
night, except the first. Only dark frames were used for that imaging
session.
Processing a photo with 7 hours worth of data is quite enjoyable. There is less noise, and more detail than I am used to. As with all of my astrophotography images, I am sure I will re-process my photo of Messier 33 several times until I feel like I have done the galaxy justice. Everyone has their own taste, and at the end of the day, you have to be happy with it.
BackyardEOS 3.1
I finally purchased a copy of BackyardEOS
3.1 Classic Edition. My trial period has ended, and I am very happy
with the software. The focus and framing tab, dithering control, and
file organization features are my favourite, and make me wish I had
upgraded to this software a lot sooner. I always had a hard time getting accurate focus using the live-view function of my DSLR. The focusing function built-in to BackyardEOS allow you to view a digital readout of the star size in real-time as you focus your telescope. The lower number you see on-screen, the better your focus! The filename
for each sub lists the ISO, object name, exposure time, date and even the temperature! This is
extremely handy when stacking a large number of frames from multiple
nights.
I would love to here what you think of my results for this galaxy image. You can also follow me on twitter to see more of the "behind-the-scenes" stuff from the backyard. As always, if you have any questions about the equipment I used, or my processing techniques, please leave a comment below. Thank you so much for visiting my website.
M33: Triangulum Galaxy - Photo Details
Telescope: 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 (Modified)
ISO: 800
Total Exposure: 7 Hours (84 x 300 seconds)
Processing Software: Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop CC
Support Files: 20 darks, 20 flats, 20 bias
Labels: 80mm, Astrophotography, Canon Xsi, Deep Sky Stacker, DSS, Elephant's Trunk Nebula, Galaxy, IC 1396, Light-Pollution, M33, Messier 33, Modified, Nebula, Photoshop, Telescope, Triangulum
