Photographing the Horsehead Nebula with Dwarf 2

[@Dwarf-Encounters]

Hi Dianna. I'm just dropping in to say hello. Thanks for the Pixisight and photoshop work. I'm glad to see you work hard to get the right results. I haven't use my Dwarf yet. I'm just a little scared in using it because I don't like the cold and wind in the winter months. Thanks for the great photos. You made my day. Ron & Maryellen 👥

[@yourfavoriteastronerd]

Hi Ron and Maryellen! I am sooooo HAPPY to see you again! I have been photographing a lot with the Skywatcher. I tested the Dwarf in the low 20's and did a great job. It can handle a lot. I have more videos coming up soon. I miss a lot my Dwarf Telescope friends! ❤ Diana

[@Rocker1969-s7o]

Very nice, Diana! It's always fun to watch your videos. Keep up the good work 👏

[@yourfavoriteastronerd]

Glad you enjoy watching me try to capture the universe one nebula at a time! Maybe I'll catch a shooting star next time!

[@MrCornweda]

I am surprised with just a little editing of the stack imaged you have such a good image.

[@yourfavoriteastronerd]

Me too! The original image was not as bad, and BlurXterminator did a good job. It's impressive for a little telescope. Thanks for your comment. Diana ❤️

[@pauliestarman3762]

Hello Diana, another awesome video! I love your enthusiasm and your editing skills are superb. You are the reason I have finally gotten the knack for my Dwarf2. Your teaching skills, that happy smile, and that ever awesome enthusiasm are appreciated by all of us! Could you sometime show us how to do a pano using the Dwarf2? Keep up the good work, God bless you and let's all pray the skies are clear on April 8!!!! 😊

[@pauliestarman3762]

:-) thanks again

[@yourfavoriteastronerd]

Hi Paulie! Thank you! I am very excited to be back with the Dwarf. I have been photographing a lot with the Skywatcher, and I captured the comet tonight! I was just looking for it, and on a lucky shot, I got it on the first attempt and photographed it for 45 minutes before it got behind the trees. Yes, I will work on the panoramic images, just to be sure, are you talking about the photograph mode?

[@pauliestarman3762]

@@yourfavoriteastronerdHow well I remember those days when I found stuff after many hours of star-hopping. To find something with a "lucky" shot, I remember finding M51 for the first time back in the 80's before telescopes had any "Goto" functions. We found objects using a star atlas and lots of hunt and peeks. Yes, I was referring to the "Pano" panoramic function on the Dwarf2. It looks like you need a stitching program to do this. The Dwarf is such a pleasure for an OLD ( 71 years old ) amateur star gazer such as me. I caught the "devil" comet when it was near M42 and thought at first I had a camera anomaly then checked things out and poof, by chance and luck. Thank you for your kindness and teaching all of us!! 🤩

[@yourfavoriteastronerd]

@@pauliestarman3762 , I will look into the Panoramic mode and the stitching program. I have watched some tutorials before. Regarding lucky shots, isn't that the best feel? I also started in Puerto Rico many years ago with a little telescope from the Discovery Channel, OMG. I spent hours and hours trying to find a target, but there was no internet. I did a video about Charles Messier. Now, that guy was a genius, for sure. To find and photograph with a primitive camera so many sky objects is mind-blowing. I am going to look into the Devil Comet, how exciting! Did you edit the images? What camera did you use?

[@pauliestarman3762]

@@yourfavoriteastronerd Yes!!! by all means searching and finally finding an object was such a rush back then for me too. I started with a 6 inch Criterion scope and thought I was in heaven LOL Since then, I have had an 8 inch Meade with a rotating tube, 10 inch Celestron, and last was the Coulter 13.1 inch Dobsonian. Skies were so much darker fifty years ago. I too, always figured Charles Messier a genius to have located all those Mesier objects with a primitive camera. Looking forward to your next video.

[@DB-be9wy]

A hot cougar and astronomy. My two absolute favorite things in life.

[@yourfavoriteastronerd]

Hi DB, OMG you made me laugh! Thanks for your spectacular comment. I am glad you liked my video and the cougar! Diana

[@Dwarf-Encounters]

Right now, I'm taking violin lessons as I want to expand my levels of sight and sound. I'm a piano person and want to challenge my 47 years of playing a musical instrument. 🎻 Telescopes are part of my sights! Ron 😊

[@yourfavoriteastronerd]

Ron, I am also a professional latin percussionist. I play with 2 fantastic bands in Nashville, mostly classic rock and lots of Santana. I just played a great show last Friday and had a blast. We have a great keyboardist; he used to play with KC and the Sunshine Band, among others. What kind of music do you play?

[@pauliestarman3762]

Dwarf-Encounters you have some really nice videos, thank you for sharing with us :-)

[@yourfavoriteastronerd]

Your welcome my Dear@@pauliestarman3762

[@pauliestarman3762]

@@yourfavoriteastronerd You are most welcome my friend.

[@tonywood2408]

Hi Dianna, great insight to what the dwarf 2 is capable of, contemplating whether to purchase one or not🤔 I'm definitely a noobie at this kind of stuff though, just wondering did you use any calibration pics, darks flats etc? Thanks for your great vids ❤

[@yourfavoriteastronerd]

Hi Tony! For these images, I only used dark frames as the Dwarf 2 is all it can produce, for the Dwarf 3, we will be able to do Flats, Darks and Bias. I have a new video showing the features, it is called Photographing the Milky Way with Dwarf 3. Thanks for watching my video, I have many short tutorials to start with the Dwarf 2 and soon with Dwarf 3. Diana

[@tonywood2408]

Thanks Diannai will definitely check that out👍

[@tonywood2408]

Sorry for misspelling your name Dianna

[@joelbaker1401]

This is fantastic information thankyou ,I'm out tonight ,I'll let you know how I get on 😊

[@tooter5250]

Great job. I agree with other commenter re. how good a picture you got with just a little editing of the stacked image. That made this a really informative video. It would have been nice to see that picture side-by-side with the one that you spent so much time editing to see whether there are diminishing returns. Anyway, thanks again.

[@yourfavoriteastronerd]

Hi Tooter! Thanks for watching my videos and for your comment. Yes, I need to put the images side by side. When I do these videos, I like to record them in real time so my reactions are genuine, and I forget about that. I have several videos in the process, so stay tuned.

[@astronomy-NGC]

Hi Diana! Well well, I just photographed the same subject (Horsehead Neb.) with my Dwarf 2 last weekend. Didn't made editing yet. So when I saw your subject I was very curious to see the result! And WOW! Very nice result! This is such a nice nebula. And you show good techniques, with emotions and laughs.😊 And by the way, nice ending too!😊 Ho and good luck with the eclipse. I'm lucky because I won't have to travel to see it. Bye Bye Diana. Nice work!

[@yourfavoriteastronerd]

Hey!!! So nice to see you again! So... How did the imaging session go? I had a lot of fun with this one. Editing got more complicated than I thought, but I remembered older techniques, and that's what I used. I am glad you liked the video and laughed with me! Thanks for your support!

[@denisbombardier8820]

@@yourfavoriteastronerd Well, I was quite surprised to see the details of the Horse nebula in the very first pictures taken with my D2! WOW! What a nice nebula! And a very nice little machine! I applied a simple curve modification directly from the app and got a nice color result, still have grain but nice tough. I didn't edit it yet, having some other shots waiting. And I still have to struggle a little with Siril learning curve. 🤔 I never took so many pictures of the heavens since I got my Dwarf 2 and surely don't regret buying that telescope. So, keep looking up Diana. You can be proud of your editing and pictures! Bye my friend! Good luck with the eclipse! 🤩

[@yourfavoriteastronerd]

@@denisbombardier8820 How exciting, Denis! So, if you make changes to the histogram, does it show in the photos? I asked this question before, and someone said no. If so, I will use it too! Tonight, I captured the Comet with Dwarf and found it immediately in the center of the screen. Can't wait to look at the images tomorrow. I want to see your pictures! Diana

[@denisbombardier8820]

@@yourfavoriteastronerd Diana, when I make changes in the Curves in the Dwarflabs app, I just push on the Save button over the Curve (as I'm sure you know) and it saves a JPG picture on my tablet with the applied corrections. That JPG stays on the display until I push on the RESET button to the right. This resets the curves to linear mode (/). It doesn't change the FITS files tough. It would be interesting! As for the comet 12P/Pons Brooks, I wanted to give it a try last night too, but clouds came in after sunset and I couln't. And for the quality of my pictures, I do my editing with Siril, Topaz Denoise and Photoshop Elements. I don't get the results you get with PixInsight tough, but I'm satisfied. Yours are way better! ;-) I'll make a short video to show my edited pictures soon and I'll let you know! Bye Bye Diana. Always nice to talk to you. 🤩

[@yourfavoriteastronerd]

@@denisbombardier8820 Hi Denis! Thanks for all the information! I am working now but will look at it later. I didn't know the curve/ save mode 😳 I am glad that you are teaching me. We'll be back later.

[@markattardo]

Enjoyed seeing your process👍👍

[@yourfavoriteastronerd]

Hi Mark, how are you doing? thanks for watching my crazy videos.

[@markattardo]

Thanks for sharing your sessions@@yourfavoriteastronerd

[@stevehauser7486]

Hi Dianna, thanks for sharing. I was wondering if you have used the dual band filters with the dwarf. Namely the 1 1/4" L enhance Ha/ Hb and S3. Seems this would be a good target for it. maybe more contrast. Thanks for your support of the Dwarf

[@yourfavoriteastronerd]

Hi Steve! I haven't use those filters but I am going to check them out. I would love to get more contrast. Thanks for the info and comment. Diana ❤️

[@lesrobot01]

Enjoyed watching your live video, yesterday. We have only had a few clear nights, so have been limited in targets for the D2, but did get a pretty nice session with M81/M82 last week. Was wondering if you know the bortal level for your location? I am in bortal 5.9.

[@yourfavoriteastronerd]

Hi lesrobot! I am curious to see how the galaxy images look! I live in the country, but this tourist area has many billboards and attractions. My Bortle level is 6. This is why I use an Optolong L Pro filter. Thanks for watching and for your support. Diana

[@lesrobot01]

Hi Diana, What is the best way to send you a copy of my pic of M81/M82? Thanks, Les

[@pauliestarman3762]

Hi Dianna, I caught the Devil comet using the Dwarf. If I am not mistaken it appeared on one of my images as a "smudge" I did some checking online and am fairly certain it was the object my Dwarf caught. I could be wrong too 🙂

[@yourfavoriteastronerd]

That sounds great Paulie, what's the catalog number of the Devil Comet?

[@pauliestarman3762]

@@yourfavoriteastronerd Hi Dianna, I only know it as: Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks :-) I hope that helps

[@yourfavoriteastronerd]

@@pauliestarman3762 Ohhhh! it is the 12 P pons, I didn't know it is also the Devil Comet. I captured pretty well for 45 mins. I am right now, trying to figure out the editing.

[@pauliestarman3762]

I'm sure that that will turn out very nice for you to do such great work. We will all be looking forward to the video for that. Thank you again for all your wonderful videos and your teaching😊

[@kevinwright7713]

Hi Dianna ,great video. Which Optolong L-Pro filter did you use . Apologies if you said in the video.. 👍