Photographic wanderings

• French

September 2010, 10th & 11th – Col du Joly

Plaine Joux (Bogève) is a good place for visual astronomy or astrphotography (SQM at about 21). However, it’s nice to go to see a better skies. It’s not Restefond nor Chili . It’s simply the Col du Joly (SQM at about 21.4) on the slopes of the resort of Les Contamines-Montjoie : as for me, it’s enough far away from my flat.

During two nights, I could make 2 photographs: 

• a large field around Sharpless 170 & 171 (total exposure : 4h40)
• the Galaxie M31 in Andromeda (total exposure : 55min – alas ) pour une pose totale de 55 min (unfortunately, the clouds have rapidly invaded the sky)

The first night began with an evening under the clouds, which fortunately dissipated very quickly to give us a beautiful sky.

The field is located in the constellation Cassiopeia between the famous W and the constellation Cepheus, slightly outside the Milky Way

With these objects in the Milky Way, the image is “invaded” by a myriad of stars : it complicates the processing. He may have had to capture “Luminance” with a UHC or Ha filter: I am not yet ready for that.

The high definition version is HERE

… and the caption:

Technical information:

• Object(s) : Sh2-170, Sh2-171, and a lot of LDN (Lynd Dark Nebulae) dark nebulae
• Place: Col du joly (Contamines-Monjoie – Haute-Savoie – France)
• Date : 10/09/2010
• Constellation : Sh2-170 : Cepheus (Cep) / Sh2-171 : Cassiopeia (Cas)
• Numerical device: Canon EOS 350D Baader
• Lens: ZoomCanon 70-200 2.8 L (set at 200 mm f/3.5)
• Number of shots: 56
• Unit exposure: 5 min at ISO 200 (i.e. total exposure : 4h40 )
• Number of darks/flats/offsets: 20 / 7 / 14
• Mounting: Losmandy G11 + Gemini
• Guiding with LVI Smartguider on a William Optics Zenithstar 66 SD with on a Geoptik dual Vixen / EQ saddle plate
• Pre-processing / Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, Pixinsight LE, Photoshop CS5

During the shooting, I slept a little and at 4am, I’ve somewhat fun: cf “At the Col du Joly under the stars

Alas, the second night was not as beautiful, the clouds have arrived quickly. This weather was forecasted and therefore, in terms of choice of items, I chose the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), which, even with a relatively short exposure, could give something.

Below, the result with a total exposure of 40min.

The high definition version is HERE.

Technical information:

• Object(s) : M31, M32, M110
• Place: Col du joly (Contamines-Monjoie – Haute-Savoie – France)
• Date : 10/09/2010
• Constellation : Andromeda (And)
• Numerical device: Canon EOS 350D Baader
• Lens: Zoom Canon 70-200 2.8 L (set at 200 mm f/3.5)
• Number of shots: 8
• Unit exposure: 5 min at ISO 200 (i.e. total exposure: 40 min )
• Number of darks/flats/offsets: 15 / 6 / 14
• Mounting: Losmandy G11 + Gemini
• Guiding with LVI Smartguider on a William Optics Zenithstar 66 SD with on a Geoptik dual Vixen / EQ saddle plate
• Pre-processing / Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, Pixinsight LE, Photoshop CS5

My astrophotography gallery is HERE

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