Gear
- Telescope – Meades 70mm Series 6000 Refractor
- Main Camera – ZWO ASI294MC Pro
- Filter – Optolong 2″ L-Enhance
- Mount – HEQ5
- Guide Scope – ZWO 30mm f/4 mini guide scope
- Guide Camera – ZWO ASI290MM
- Controller – ZWO ASIAir Pro
Acquisition
- 20 Light Images at 120 gain, 180s exposure
- 40 Dark Images
- 200 Bias Images
- No Flats
The California Nebula. AKA. NGC 1499. About 1000 light years away.
This is my first photo of a nebula. When I saw a preview of it from the ASIAir Pro app I was floored at what I was seeing. A week ago or so I was taking an image of a galaxy and now I’m capturing the California Nebula from my backyard. This whole things is pretty rad in my opinion. Overall, I have no regrets getting into astrophotography. It really is one cool hobby.
I showed the pic to my son who is 7. Without telling him what it was he says,” Oh cool! The California Nebula!.”
Kids are sponges for knowledge if you allow them to be. Of course, it has to be the good kind of knowledge. You just gotta keep feeding them.
I was able to capture the emission of the nebula with the help of the Optolong L-Enhance filter. It’s a dual band filter that helped in light pollution while allowing H-Alpha, H-Beta and Oxygen III emission lines to come through in the photo. I recently got it and was pretty psyched to see what I could capture. It’s pretty easy to say I am not disappointed with the purchase.
I was originally trying to get my hands on the Optolong L-eXtreme but that was sold out everywhere. Damn Covid. I really did not want to wait another month or two for it to come in. I waited a month and half for all my gear to finally be fulfilled. So, I looked at the next filter on my list, the Optolong L-Enhance. Now, this was also sold out at all the usual telescope shops online except for one place, Agena Astro. No hesitation I pulled the trigger.
The Optolong L-Enhance is my first filter and it is definitely not my last. More nebulas and other deep space objects to come!