Around the Flaming Star
This image depicts a region in the Auriga constellation, including multiple deep-sky objects. I aimed for the Flaming Star Nebula (IC 405) and the Tadpole Nebula (IC 410), but the wider framing of the lens includes the star clusters M36, M38, and NGC 1907, as well as the nebulae IC 417, Sh2-235, LdN-1512, LdN-1522, and LdN-1523.
As with my previous DSO images, this image was taken without a tracker but with sporadic manual tracking with a standard DSLR setup with a 105 mm macro lens. This time I used 1360 × 2 s frames, resulting in 45 m 20 s exposure time.
This relatively short integration time is near the limit of what is possible for me, as the large number of frames requires a lot of storage during processing (>700 GB in this case). Details of the nebulae are not obtainable with this method, but the general shape can be seen. It also only works well with larger objects, as the relatively wide tele, noise, and resolution limits do not allow capturing details of smaller DSOs.
Despite the limitations, it is fun to experiment without a tracker and see what is possible.
The workflow included #Siril, #GraXpert, #StarNet, and #GIMP.
Nikon D500, Sigma 105mm EX DG OS HSM, 105 mm, f/2.8, 1360x2 s, ISO 3200, tripod, no tracker
#Nebulae #StarCluster #astrophotography #photography #germany #digikam