Tag Archives: NGC2024

Horsehead Nebula Exposure Time Comparison

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I am working on figuring out how much exposure time I need for astrophotography.  The answer from my Bortle 7-8 driveway is generally: More.  

Here I’ve got three example to show how adding time adds detail to the images.  In one minute, with a lot of processing, I can get the flame nebula to be barely visible, but the horsehead nebula … might be there, maybe, if you squint and know where to look.  With 155 minutes … like magic … you can see both, but they’re grainy.  Going up to 334 minutes, and the image is getting less grainy.  But more time is still needed to get a really nice picture.

Camera geek info:

  • Canon EOS 60D in manual mode, ISO 400, 1 minute exposure
  • Williams Optics Zenith Star 73 III APO telescope
  • Williams Optics Flat 73A
  • SkyTech 2” LPRO-MAX CCD Filter
  • iOptron CEM40
  • Friendswood, Texas Bortle 7-8 suburban skies

Frames:

  • March 3, 2023
    • 155 1 minute lights
    • 20 0.2 second flats
    • 20 0.2 second flat darks
    • 28 1 minute darks
  • March 4, 2023
    • 179 1 minute lights
    • 21 0.5 second flats
    • 21 0.5 second flat darks
    • 26 1 minute darks

Processing geek info:

  • PixInsight
  • StarXterminator
  • Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch

Making the Invisible Visible – IC434 Horsehead Nebula and NGC2024 Flame Nebula

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Last weekend I did magic with my camera.  In a single one minute image, I could only see stars.  No signs of nebulosity at all, even zoomed in and brightened on my laptop.  But when I stacked 334 images together (5 hours and 34 minutes, taken over two nights), viola!  IC434 the Horsehead Nebula and NGC2024 the Flame Nebula were both visible.  How cool is that?

Camera geek info:

  • Canon EOS 60D in manual mode, 60 second exposure, ISO 400, custom white balance 3500K
  • Williams Optics Zenith Star 73 III APO telescope
  • Williams Optics Flat 73A
  • iOptron CEM40
  • Friendswood, Texas Bortle 7-8 suburban skies

Processing geek info:

  • PixInsight
  • 344 1 minute lights
  • 28 1 minute darks day 1, 26 1 minute darks day 2
  • 21 0.5 sec flat darks day 1, 20 0.2 sec flat darks day 2
  • 21 0.5 sec flats day 1, 20 0.2 sec flats day 2