DARK SKY Astrophotography - Andromeda GALAXY and Witch Head NEBULA
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- čas přidán 12. 11. 2021
- My astrophotography took me to a DARK SKY to photograph the Andromeda Galaxy and Witch Head Nebula. These are challenging to image well from Chicago's light-polluted skies, so I was able to make a trip with my telescope and all my astrophotography gear to the Green River State Wildlife Management Area west of Chicago. It isn't Bortle 1 or 2, but at Bortle 4 it is still dark enough to get some great images!
Witch Head on Astrobin: www.astrobin.com/ijfhtv/
Green River: www2.illinois.gov/dnr/Parks/P...
My Equipment:
Telescope: Celestron RASA 8
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM Pro
Mount: iOptron CEM40
Filters: 2" Baader RGB and f/2 3.5/4nm Narrowband SHO
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI290MM Mini
Guide Scope: Orion 60mm Guide Scope with Helical Focuser
ZWO ASIAir Plus
ZWO EAF (Electronic Automatic Focuser)
Twitter: / nickjlake
Insta: / nickjlake
Astrobin: www.astrobin.com/users/bortle9/
Video shot on Nikon D800 and Pixel 4 XL
Rode Wireless Go microphone system
Astrophotography Atlas: Astrophotography Sky Atlas by Charles Bracken
Websites used in video:
Telescopius: telescopius.com/
Photographs of the universe, with galaxies, stars, nebulae, supernovas, comets, planets, Moon, Sun. Inspiring wonder about the night sky, even from the light pollution of Chicago. - Věda a technologie
![Camera Rotation Assist in ASIAir Version 2.0 [New Feature!]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/UU17Kai_lK0/mqdefault.jpg)
![Camera Rotation Assist in ASIAir Version 2.0 [New Feature!]](/img/tr.png)
![This Astrophoto ALMOST Didn't Happen 😳[Seahorse Nebula]](/img/n.gif)
Hey everyone, thanks for watching! I made a couple Shorts about imaging the Witch Head and the geosynchronous satellites that cross that region from my latitude!
czcams.com/video/0PN4OCGjBsg/video.html
czcams.com/video/eLrqmcuKJkU/video.html
Another well done video Nick! Thanks for taking the time.
Thanks very much! Glad you enjoyed it!
Two really nice images from that session - makes me want to get a RASA. Always nice to get away to a darker sky area to image - a bit of adventure
Thanks very much! Yes, it ups the stakes in a fun way, though I am glad I don't have to rely on dark skies to do imaging. Takes the pressure off a bit 😁
Great Video Nick! I love the B-Roll, and really glad that you are able to get away from those big city lights occasionally !!! Both images are amazing.
Thanks very much! Yes, on those rare occasions when the moon phase, weather, and schedule align I can make it happen 😆 Happy with the Witch Head for now and looking forward to some more TLC for Andromeda
Great images Nick and cool trip out to the dark site!
Many thanks! It is definitely a lot of fun when I get to do it!
Great video Nick. You looked like you really enjoyed the session. Lovely images 👌
Thanks very much! I definitely did; I get pretty giddy whenever I get to a dark sky 😀
You have some beautiful images Nick!! Here in Arizona, we don't see ice on our scopes like that!! Holy hell!! If it gets too cold out there, you can certainly make a trip out here with Jason and I to Alpha Scorpii!!
Thanks very much! Oh I would love to sometime; that is quite the site!
Beautiful work! I’m just north of you under MKE area light dome. Clear skies brother! 🍻
Thanks very much! Hi neighbor! I image occasionally from New Berlin when I am up at my in-laws
Hi Nick! This is Dave from Homewood, IL. Have you ever been to Middle Fork River Forest Preserve by Champaign, IL. This is an official International Dark Site and I see they have a 24 hour parking lot for star gazing. Awesome video and imaging! I can't wait to go to a dark site with my Celestron C6 with HyperStar v4 "Baby RASA" and escape the Chicago night time daylight :-) Clear Skies!!!
Awesome images! I’m going to revisit Andromeda (my first ever DSO capture) the next clear night I can get. This video served as some good inspiration for me. Keep up the great work!
Thanks so much! It is such a great object! Glad you felt inspired 😎
Hey Nick,
You are an inspiration to me. Your way of presenting your video's is very good. The camera seems to love you ;-) Like the story-telling aspect as well. Keep up the good work!
By the way, I was typing this message as I was watching the video and it just occurred to me that the song you used is the same one as I used on my last video ;)
I appreciate that! haha glad to know my theater training has paid off and I have had a lot of practice during the pandemic on the Adler Planetarium youtube channel 😄 Funny thing about the music! Great minds think alike! Someday I will break out of the YT music library, but for now this one was great!
Hey, Nick! Just discovered your videos... very well-produced and informative... thanks for taking the time to create these! I am in Naperville and plan on heading out to Green River in a couple days if weather clears... fingers crossed! :)
Hi Ken, thanks very much! Fantastic if you can get out there, don't want to jinx it but Sunday is looking good...
@@WindyCityAstrophotography Exactly.... as is Monday and potentially Tuesday. :)
Hi Ken! I'm also from Naperville/Aurora area and I love astronomy! I don't have yet a telescope yet but i have pair of 25x100 Orion Binoculars ( really big one). I heard about Middle Fork River forest Preserve and from this video I heard about Green River Park. Do you by any chance know which one is worth driving to?
@@vitalie787 Hello! Nice to meet you. My Illinois dark sky location has been Green River due to slightly closer proximity than Middle Fork. From my location (near downtown Naperville, it is 1 hour 40 minutes. I have been to Middle Fork but it was during the day and so I don't really know how to compare the two. I think Middle Fork might be a bit darker, though. Green River is well worth the drive and a nice place. For astrophotography, it is certainly dark enough for broadband shooting. There are a number of visual observers there during the weekends when the weather is warmer. There is one guy in particular that shows up often with a very large dobsonian and is super generous about letting everyone look through it. :)
@@kenkoskela3357 thank you! I'll definitely try to get to both of them ! From my backyard( 2miles west of Rt59 & 83rd) I can see the glow of the Orion Nebula, very detailed surface of the Moon, Jupiter's moons. I cannot wait to see what I can see in a really dark sky. I hope when I'll decided go to one of the parks it won't get cloudy out of the blue ( you know Chicago weather).
Hi Nick, new to your channel. Looking forward to viewing your other videos.
Thanks very much, Perry! Welcome! What kind of setup do you shoot with?
I've done terrestrial photography for 30 years, even captured Halley's comet. I'm new to astrophotography. I have the nexstar 8se on alt az mount. Just viewing at this point but hope to soon advance. Still learning.
@@perry3928 fantastic! Life-long learning is the way to go!
I was hoping when you said Dark Sky that you meant really dark sky, though Bortle 4 is still much better than the city I guess. Still an incredible image.
Haha yes, when I get to Bortle 1 I will make that a video for sure! But yes, Bortle 4 is dark enough for me, especially for a one-night excursion
@@WindyCityAstrophotography Yeah, I've been out west sooooo many times before I knew what I know now or had the gear I have now, so I'll take the 1:45 minute drive from my high 5 to the local astro park that's a 3.5ish (John Glenn Astronomy Park). But I'm still using my regular DSLR and telephoto lens from my regular landscape photography hobby. Some of the gang there have never been to true dark skies and they try to tell me there really isn't much of a difference... there just plain isn't anything else like it.
Yes I have been in truly dark skies, just never with good gear. Some day 😎
Beautiful, I tried the andromeda galaxy in nyc it did not turn out good at all, I used a dslr with optolong l pro. Do you have any advice on how to capture it?
I think it is definitely doable! What was your total integration time? Double or triple it and see what that does. Also more focal length could help, just enough to frame Andromeda nicely without more sky with urban light gradients. Shooting in mono would help with integration time and also simplify getting rid of gradients, but I realize that may not be an option. What processing software are you using? Pixinsight has incredible gradient removal while might help a lot. Urban galaxy astrophotography is tough, but you have chosen a great target!
@@WindyCityAstrophotography total time is 105 minutes, I used dss and photoshop. It was hard for me to get much data from it, but as I’m new to the hobby I’ll keep trying until I can get to a dark zone. My focal length is 480mm.
Yes I would recommend at least 3 hours, and longer subs if you aren't completely getting blown out by light pollution. I have been amazed in Bortle 9 skies what can he pulled from data that looks like it is almost all light pollution. Focal length should work great 👍