I think we were shooting this object around the same time - Great minds think alike! I agree with you on LP filters - great for emission nebulae (duo narrowband even better, but with the tradeoff of worse star color). For everything else (all broadband objects), just the IR-cut is better. The sub-exposures may look worse and 'over-exposed', but the final result with careful processing will always be better. The discussion on the new streetlights was interesting too - I agree, it's not all bad. The new fixtures are typically better shielded, and I think my backyard at my old place near downtown Boston actually got slightly better while living there (Bortle 9 -> 8).
Hey Nico!! Superb to hear we feel so similarly about this stuff my friend! :-D I'm so glad to have finally given this another go, the power of a simple UV/ir cut has knocked my socks off three times in a row now :-D I could really do with clearing out my filter collection a bit with this new approach in mind haha! Re: the streetlights, it's been such a welcome change for us here, I really was worried about it beforehand as I expected us to get the cheapest of the cheap units - but luckily the local council has done a fine job! Super pleased that you found the same at your old place too, things may be going in the right direction :-) Thank you for taking the time to watch and comment Nico, and as always thank you for your support too. I appreciate you mate! Clear skies 👍👍
Spectacular! Glad your light situation has improved. I have LED street lights down my street, but sodium lights in the park behind my house. The lights in the park are supposed to provide a more relaxing vibe, or something. It does make filtering difficult, have both sources to deal with.
Ah that's rough mate aye, having a mix like that can't be good! Hopefully they'll get changed soon enough and be well shielded units - it's made such a nice difference around here! Cheers for watching!
Thanks so much mate! :-D I'm stoked by it haha, I can't wait to see the next satellite light pollution map after the upgrade to LED's around here, it should be a noticeable difference I bet! Clear skies :-D
Hey Luke, Great image. I and I'm sure others would love to see one of your start to finish processing videos on this project!... Here's thanking you in advance.
You've outdone yourself once again Luke! I agree with your assessment on light pollution, the LED lights aren't the best, but the light cone they produce is quite narrow with very little light reflected up into the atmosphere. When the local village had its lights upgraded I initially thought there was a powercut as the usual orange glow wasn't there, it wasn't until I drove through the village that I realised the lights had been changed. The difference it made was actually quite astonishing. There are still a lot of sodium lights around, but the situation does seem to be improving.
Hey Pete! - That's really cool to hear your situation has improved too regarding LP, - these new lamps are streets ahead of the old ones for sure! (if you'll excuse the crappy pun) Hope you're enjoying clear skies my friend :-)
The images of these dark nebulae are really coming up nicely. The LED light thing is certainly a double edged sword when it comes to light pollution. We had LED lights installed in our street about one and half years ago and they are certainly more directional than the old sodium lamps. The problem is that the poles they are on vary considerable when it comes to how much the LED is facing downwards. We have one right across the street which was leaning backwards and therefore lighting up our property and bedroom window quite a lot (and more importantly, shining right into the obsy). I wrote a letter to the council asking if they could shield it better, totally expecting no response, but a few weeks later they turned up, put a less bright LED in and added a shield and now it's darker than ever in the front yard. So I totally, depending how they are installed, agree they can actually massively improves the light pollution situation. I understand (from our local astronomical society) there are different LEDS than can be installed and whilst they were hoping for the more expensive but "better for reducing light pollution" types, the council went cheap.... of course. Enjoy your darker skies.
Hey Logan! - That's a nice bit of info there mate, the type & quality of installation can vary massively I'd guess aye! I heard a story from a chap in the comments who said they'd basically just took out the old sodium lamp bulbs and put totally unshielded LED units into the same old heads, so that absolutely sucked for him! (and anyone driving at night being dazzled) Hopefully more lights in our area are changed, the difference is notable - glad to hear your own situation was well resolved by the way!
I agree with you Luke. I’ve noticed with our LED lights on the street now I only use my L extreme out on moony nights. I’m just using IR cut with my Stella Mira 90ED and the C8 HD. Clear skies to you. Keep it going.
I saw this when you first posted and I have yet to come up with a decent response. The image is amazing to say the least and It has rekindled my interest in astrophotography for sure. I’m going to dust off the Radian and the HEQ5 for an imaging session. I apologize if I missed it but what type of ‘UV/IR cut dual narrowband filter’ you are using? I know our telescope setups are vastly different but I’m in basically a Bortle 7 myself with similar lighting. I have had great results in the past with the Optolong L Extreme but the city has installed a new LED street lamp in my front yard and I’m hoping it doesn’t cause any issues with my current setup. I tried a LP filter in the past but I seem to recall it caused a lot of purple fringing (yep, that) and vignetting.
Hey mate!! Hope you're keeping well 👍👍 I'm chuffed to hear you're liking the image so much mate, that's awesome :-D Re: which filter, just an old baader UV/ir cut for the whole thing 👍👍 That sucks to hear an LP filter was giving you fringing mate, damn :-( hopefully you get the chance to give it a go with just a standard UV/ir cut and see what you get from your location hey! Thanks for watching and giving your support man, as always it's appreciated 🙏 Clear skies!
Nice composition Luke, it’s especially sweet. Been lucky to get LED lights here in this Bartle7/8 area in Oregon. Just happened to skip broadband after reading mixed comments on Cloudynights and went straight to dualband and UV/IR as the moon allows.
Hey there mate! Glad to hear you've had LEDs installed too, hopefully they've been a major help for you too 👍 That's basically my filter loadout now too, a dual-nb filter and UV/ir cut - it works! :-D
Good for you Luke! Thats awesome that you are able to capture these objects from where you are and the results are pretty striking! It's nearly impossible to image dark nebula from where I am and yes the constant forest fires have not helped at all. I hope these clear nights keep happening for you and awesome final image, well done! Clear skies!
Hey Dave mate! - Thanks so much for the kind words my friend! :-D I really hope those fires give everyone a break soon, it must be hell in Canada itself jeez! Hopefully getting some more clear on the way mate! Best, Luke
In Switzerland we have/had the Sodium lights as well. With the changes to LEDs they startet to shield the lamps better. Some regions have now laws to ensure a more useful use of light. But the topic is sometimes difficult 'cause many people still only see the "safety" by street lights and not the issues with them for nature. For me a good way is to shut off the lights after 1 AM on weekdays. The community I used to live in does this for many years now.
Hey Joshua! - I'd love if they started shutting our lights off after 1AM, that's a really good measure I think! Very glad to hear Switzerland has laws around preventing silly amounts of lighting, it's good news for astronomers, but great news for nature in general haha! :-D Clear skies my friend!
Luke, thanks for another great video. I followed your lead in capturing NGC 6914 and the Cocoon with just the UV/IR filter and got excellent results (though I didn't quite match your RASA's performance). Now I'm following your lead again and adding VDB 152 to my list too! I really appreciate your comments on the LED lights. My neighborhood switched to them recently as well, and I'm still assessing their impact on my astrophotography workflow. Clear skies!
Hey there Matt! Hope you've been well mate, so glad to hear the recent videos have been a source of inspiration!! :-D I'm genuinely chuffed to hear you've been getting some excellent captures from your own experiments, hearing other people having success really makes my day! I hope that the LED's in your neighborhood end up being a positive thing after evaluation, - I'll be honest I didn't quite believe my eyes at first, I was near certain something else was at play causing my yard to be darker haha, but the more I looked the happier I became about it! Clear skies my friend!
Fantastic image Luke.. repeatedly impressed by the images you manage to get. Inspires me to keep going on my journey. Thanks for the consistently great videos.👍
Out here in Colorado, I've been seeing these dark purple/ violet street lights. I've only seen 2 or 3 of these around Colorado Springs and Denver but they do alluminate the ground decently but they are dark. If governments are going to start using these, we may never need a filter
Hey Adam! - that's really weird to see I bet, haha! I had a quick look around on google and it appears that the purple lights are probably just partially defective, the phosphor coating on the led's can delaminate apparently, sending them into that purple hue! I never knew about it myself so thanks for the heads up! Clear (and hopefully not purple) skies my friend :-)
I've seen those dark ones. Someone told me they are bad LEDs and will be replaced. I can't confirm or deny that though. Just wanted to share. Keep an eye on those and let us know if they do get replaced.
Splendid image. Out here in my Bortle 2 backyard I tried shooting the Dark Shark Nebula, LDN1235 with my small William Optics 61. Processing is definitively a challenge. Need to brush up on my PI stretching skills! Unfortunately, there were so many Starlink satellites buzzing through my frames, I’m not sure if I can use the session at all. Clear skies (and no satellites) Luke! Dr B from Manitoba, Canada 🇨🇦
Hey Brian! :-) Always good to hear from you my friend, I hope you've been keeping well! I'd love to have a go at the dark shark someday, I don't know if it'll be doable but I do intend to find out at some point, haha! I hear you RE: the challenges of processing, this one took a long time to get it where it is (hours), I honestly usually don't spend much more than 30 minutes processing an image. Hope you're getting some clear skies over in Canada mate!
Allways inspire me you do mate. We only ever use a ir uv cut filter,,it's good on the 6 inch doublet refractor but I can't imagine getting out like you do with my 533 one shot colour camera. Fantastic shots 👏
That's really nice of you to say mate, thank you ever so much! :-D Really glad you like the vids! I bet you've had some fun nights out with the 6" refractor by the way! that's a heck of a big scope generally speaking, nice one! Clear skies mate!
@@lukomatico cheers Luke 🍻,,yea,,it's a bit heavy,,it's been boxed up in me bedroom since I started work full time again 9 months ago,,,I sure miss my free time,,,but I need the cash . Lol ,,I'll dust the cobwebs off it soon I hope. Clear skys buddy
Amazing shot Luke. I am sure its a combination of all you mentioned but I know I could not get Dark nebula from my old location that was a bortle6/7. It was just too difficult. Its great that your conditions have improved and not worsened, look forward to many more great images mate, clear skies.
Thank you Glenn mate!! :-D Really hope to continue on with these experiments & shots going forwards, it's been tons of fun! - hopefully as more of my area is changed over to the newer lamps we'll experience a further reduction in LP levels, that'd be really nice! Clear skies!
Something similar is happening here in Ireland, the failing sodium lamps get replaced with LEDs. I've had one replaced outside of the house and the shielding is a lot better but at the same time it is entirely too bright. Hopefully at some point in the future these can be tuned by the council to make them dimmer.
Glad to hear it's really rolling out widespread now mate! I agree that they should be dimmer overall for sure, it wouldn't hurt to have them turned off past 1am too like they do in some places! :-D
Staggeringly beautiful image Luke! Sadly, living just outside of the Manhattan sky dome, orange skies make it feel like Mars here in New Jersey. Your optimism is contagious. I started this hobby in the early 90’s and I’ve since seen nothing less then magic as our filters, scopes, and post processing has evolved. I hope I live long enough to see more innovations come down the pike. Perhaps one day, traveling to a dark site won’t be necessary (my lips to God’s ears, huh?)
Hey Joe! - Great to hear from you mate, as always! :-) Really hope they get around to changing all the lights for you also soon enough mate, hopefully in a place like Manhattan they'll budget for the good units and have proper shielding! Amazing to think of the innovations we've seen in relatively a short timespan - imagine what the next 10 years will hold :-) Clear skies!
I had a similar experience. The sodium street lamp at the top of my road was so bright I built a black cloth shield to shade my scope. About a year ago it was switched to LED and what a difference - much more downlighting and less lateral pollution. Don’t need my shield any more. Now if fewer people used security lights… ‘
Oh mate that's great to hear! I totally understand where you're coming from RE: security lights by the way, crikey they are a pain in the backside around here lol. All the best and clear skies!
absolutely fantastic image, 7.5 hours is still less exposure time than i would’ve expected would be necessary for capturing an image of that magnitude, especially from a Bortle 7 if i remember correctly! I’m still trying to get out of bed more often and engage in my hobbies again as i used to, capturing dark nebulae in images like this one is my favourite, so thanks for helping motivate me a little bit further to get shooting again :)
This video comes at a very interesting time as I have been considering ditching the Optolong L-pro as looking back on images my best have been pre filter. This is something I'll be experimenting with using the Uranus-c.
Clucking bell Luke! Every now and again someone pops an image online that takes your breath away. This has just done exactly that. Get it registered for an APOD. Simply brilliant! 👍🏻 Noddy
Amazing image Luke ! I've used the optolong l pro for my broadband images up to now but for sure I'm going to get a uv/ir cut filter. The other thing I noticed in your final image is the star colour that's still present. That definitely wouldn't happen with my l pro. Opens up a plethora of new targets ! Great video mate as always 👍
Hey Paul mate!! I really agree it's a good idea to get a nice uv/ir cut filter, I think it'll be a ton of fun for you compared to the sometimes quite subdued look you get from LP filters! :-) Hope you get some clear skies soon mate!
Nicely done, the local council changed the street lights from normal incandescent lamps to whole new LED fittings with good shielding a couple years back, and my garden is significantly darker now.
That's superb Dave! - I really was worried for the future here, - had no idea when we'd switch over or what we'd end up with lol! one day they just turned up and were swapping the lights over so all I could do was hope for the best, - turns out it was ace! Clear skies my friend :-)
Awesome Luke I agree one of your best I did like your M51 from 12 months ago or so. I am off to wrap up my VDB152 tonight as well going to capture the Ha for that planetary nebula and streak of Ha! Keep up the good work 👏
Beautiful work. I've been meaning to give this same thing a try out where I shoot in a bortle 6 location. I've been really focused on emission nebula tho. I'll have to pick out a good reflection nebula and pop in the ir cut filter and see what I can see. That's for the awesome videos ❤
What a fantastic result, well done Luke! Would you say an IDAS LPS-P2 could take the place of a standard UV IR filter? Cheers and keep the magic coming!
Hey Peter! I'd say you could certainly give it a go and judge from that as your location may be very different to mine in terms of LP levels, but honestly I've never had much success with broadband light pollution filters vs just UV/ir 👍 Cheers and good luck!
You are right. If the LED street lamps chosen are those with a well-designed light cone and have shielding that can deliver it then they are a massive improvement on the old sodium lights. Sadly, there are many LED street lamps on the market with wide light cones and/or poor shielding and they can be a lot worse in terms of light pollution. They are also a lot cheaper than the well-desiged and shielded models. In the current financial climate, some highway authorities are going with the cheaper models which means that some areas (sadly, particularly rural areas where local authority money is tight) are now actually facing an INCREASE in light pollution .... and of a kind that cannot easily be filtered out.
Hey James! :-) I totally hear you, it's certainly true that plenty of folks have been struggling since LED's were installed in their areas, I can totally empathise with them as it really sucks that something out of their control just begins to degrade their skies :-( I hope that future designs for these lamps are just better as a baseline without proper shielding being a more premium feature, but a simple requirement. I'm glad it's worked out for me though, I count myself lucky! Clear skies :-)
I was quite frightened about the change to led lights last year but was quite pleasantly surprised. Im a complete noob compared to you but I wanted to get a filter to enhance my photos. I watched reviews comparing the results of different filters and ended up settling on the baader neodinium moon and skyglow. I was influenced by price as the duel narrowband were qute expensive. But also it seemed to produce quite natural nice images. In comparison shots a lot more stars were appearing which seemed a goid thing to me. Maybe I would have just gone with uv ir cut if I had seen these videos. I just dont see the benifit with cutting such a huge amount of light and altering the colours so much. I really love your outside the box thinking and the results are so compelling.
Hey there mate! - so glad to hear it was a nice surprise for you too, we had no warning when it was due for update here so I just kinda had to hope for the best when they were installing the new lights one day haha! I have a baader neodymium too, I really ought to test it a bit more! cool filter :-) Clear skies!
Well done mate, excellent result! I still hate LEDs here as they're far too bright and so reflect too much from the ground (the glare is crazy), have a super broad spectrum, are tuned to a very blue temperature...
Thanks so much mate! :-D Real glad you like it! I'm sorry to hear the LED situation in Tokyo is less than ideal, that really sucks man - hopefully they will be rectified sooner rather than later! :-)
Hey Luke, I was standing outside just looking at the sky tonight while my scope was imaging and noticed that i can see the milky way from by back garden. I know for a fact that this wasn't possible even a year or two ago, which coincides with my towns streetlamps going LED. It seems as if the sky conditions have improved here too, even with the LED lighting.
Hey Matt! - Honestly mate that's awesome to hear, what an excellent result!!! 😀 I'm inspired haha, I'll try that myself the next time we've got clear skies around a new moon phase!
Cracking image that mate, I don't think I could get anything like that from home & I'm supposed to be in a Bortle 4. They have placed LED lighting where I live & I still think my sky is brighter than it used to be, it shows up more of the glow with heavy cloud cover, years ago in my back garden you could barely see the hand in front of your face but not now. Did you do two sessions one using an IR cut filter for the broadband the other using a dual band for the HA & OIII? I only ask as the Altair OSC cameras already have an IR cut filter fitted so maybe I could attempt more targets like these but I don't think I'd ever get anything half as good as yours lol. Great video as always clear skies
Hey mate! - sorry to hear the LED's have been damaging in your area man, that sucks :-( RE: what did I use, just a baader UV/ir filter for the whole thing, no other filters used :-) it would have been cool to add some HA/OIII from a dual-narrowband filter too, but it would have gone against what I wanted to show for this image. No reason you can't make a capture even better than this mate! I believe in ya! Clear skies!
I wanted to ask about using UV/IR filters, so aren't Astro-dedicated cameras already have UV/IR cut filters in them or it is better to mount additional external UV/IR cut filters to the camera?
They often do have UV/ir cut filters installed yeah 👍 I had to keep a normal 2" UV/ir cut filter in my filter drawer to preserve the RASA's back focus measurement exact though as adding or removing glass from the path throws it out 👍 Hope that explains it mate, cheers!
Hiya Luke . Another awesome Image ! So , does this this simply boil down to having better Bortle Skies than before ? Do you now have the "itch" to move to a Bortle 1 location ? LOL . Fascinating stuff regarding the LED Streetlights . Thanks for the plug for all us poor Canadian Astrophotographers losing another Summer season due to Biblical Level Wildfires and smoke . It's not usual for us to start wishing for snow but it sure would help right now . Cheers !/SRK
Hey Scott! - I think it's a combination really, - I reckon my skies are potentially a high 6 on the bortle scale now, which is a nice improvement for sure, but also my gear has probably never been in a better place - both software and hardware! (to a lesser extent perhaps, my skills have also steadily improved) Really hope those fires calm down mate, unreal from what we've been seeing on the news over here. Clear skies!
I have to say, I've been quite surprised to see your last few images captured using such long exposures with a fast optical system. From my experience in a Bortle 6 suburb imaging at f/2.8 with a broadband LP filter, I start getting concerned about blowing out stars and brighter bits of nebulosity with anything over about 60 seconds. Maybe you are onto something with the new lights in your area. Great results, by the way!
Thank you for the kind comment my friend! :-D I used to be a lot more careful about blowing out highlights etc when I was using other cameras, but the imx571 in my Poseidon from Player One has a very deep fullwell capacity, it's hard to over-expose really! Hope you're getting some clear skies mate, all the best!
Haha!! - I'm sure they are still useful for many folks, but I really do reckon I'm done with broadband light-pollution filters unless something majorly convincing came along! (I'll still keep using dual-narrowband filters though, they are great fun!) Clear skies mate :-D
I appreciate the suggestion duck! :-D I'll certainly have to give the iris a go while it's high up! I'll have a peek at the darkshark sometime too, why not eh! Clear skies mate :-)
You so lucky your light pollution has improved. Right now, I'm organizing a petition to mandate light covers for street lamps, to have store front light off when closed and to have house front/back lights on motion detectors. Even with my antlia 2.5 filters narrowband filters ,which work incredibly, the oxygen is sometimes impossible to get.
Hi Luke. Just a quick question and I hope it is not a stupid one. Camera like the ASI2600 MC have a protect window which I think is a UV/IR filter already - is this correct and does it negate the need for an additional UV/IR filter? As always, great content. CS.
Hey there mate! not a silly question at all, a good one I reckon! :-) they do indeed have a uv/ir cut window over the sensor chamber, the reason I opted to also use an actual 2" filter on top of that is to preserve the backfocus of my RASA :-) every time you add or remove some glass/optical element from the light path, it alters your back focus - so I had to keep a filter in the drawer for that sake. Cheers!
It's all very much dependent on the target as well, I know in Melbourne under bortle 6 skies here certain objects just can't appear well just with the uvIR yet with the L-Ultimate the amount of detail is Chalk and cheese you can't compare. As for streetlamps Melbourne is a real dog's breakfast of lights
Hey mate! :-D Totally agree yeah, I wouldn't want to shoot a faint & purely emission object with just uv/ir cut for sure! That said I've been dead impressed by the performance of the RASA when you just let it throw everything at your sensor haha! :-) I'm thinking this recent change in light pollution here may have moved me from a mid 7 bortle, to perhaps a high 6 so a pretty noticeable change! Clear skies!
Had the city of Tacoma put shields on the street lights around me, big help. Some other entities not so cooperative. IDA indicates below 3000Kelvin and to the orange/yellow is preferred.for LED lighting. Did a ChatGPT inquiry on the impact of light pollution if left uncorrected.... not good.
Hey there Karl! - Really glad to hear your city put shields up for you, that's awesome news man! - hopefully the next time your city refreshes the lamps they'll naturally be shielded units leading to a nice drop in light pollution! Interesting to hear even chatGPT is picking up on the issue, - I worry about the insect population dropping, thus less early pollinators and less food production overall - it's bad news!
The problem is, some of the towns, cities "cheaped out" with the LED. They are re-using the sodium lamp chassis and just screwed in an LED bulb into, so the shielding is the same as it was, except the LED bulb is shooting all over the place, including upward. If you ever replaced the bulb on a car that meant to use a projection headlight and realize how bad it was, this is the same thing. You can tell about these cheaped out lights by even driving at night and getting close to it, and instead of helping to illuminate it blinds the driver from a greater distance on. This is very common where I live and I know even just regular people are complaining that the street light making things worse while driving. It's also dangerous, because the driver is blinded by the light and will not see a pedestrian walking across, because they blend into the darkness. This is the USA I'm talking about, where profit margins rule and everything else suffers. Unfortunately common people are not aware of this and while they also curse about the poor lighting, they won't do a thing. It needs something called a class action lawsuit at the contracted company doing the switch who was more worry about their profits than doing a proper job. The streetlight across me, throws more light directionally at me, then under. How low they can go to save a few pennies.
Oh mate that really sucks, I agree fully that it's a real cheap-out solution, and whoever is to blame ought to feel ashamed if they did it knowingly! Thanks for watching and taking the time to share your thoughts, I appreciate it mate :-) Clear skies!
I bought a used paint ball gun and orange balls and "fixed " the LED street light across my house. The orange color didn't remain but it dulled down the lamp output. It's been 9 months and the grey haze is still there .
Si, if I understand correctly you captured all that data just with a UV/IR filter, no dual narrowband? If I may ask, what bortle level are you? Cause that's amazing. Obviously a F2 RASA helps but with double or triple the data one could get the same result with a slower scope.
@@lukomatico That's actually quite amazing. Makes me consider going OSC for my first dedicated astro cam if it's posible to shoot Broadband now from the city and my place is also a B7 but really new constructions so the street lighting might be new LEDs. Going the Cuiv route with a Hyperstar C6 and the new 2.9µm cameras looks really tempting now (and cheaper than going mono with 7 filters).
Anything from a decent brand really mate! they should all be very similar generally speaking :-) I used a baader 2" 'L' filter that's about 5 years old for this shot, I also own an astronomik L filter too. Cheers!
There is huge literature on benefits for dark location. I checked bortle 3 over bortle 7. It is about 9 fold increase of SNR. What amazed me is difference in images through narrow band filters. Dark location gave 3 fold advantage for Astrodon 3nm filters. Abell 85 was very dim after 5 min exposures in bortle 3. It is gone in bortle 7. I could see nothing even after 8 min O3 subframes. I think there are targets that should not be even attempted in bortle 7. It is just waist of time.
Hey Ana! - I totally agree there's no substitute for darker skies, 100%! :-) I believe my skies here have gone from a mid/high bortle 7 to around a high 6 potentially - just by assessing visually, which is a pretty nice change none the less! :-D Sounds like abell 85 is one tough target in OIII btw, ouch. Clear skies!
Hi Luke, greetings from Glasgow! I just came across a video which shows how to produce a spectrograph of your local light pollution situation using a relatively inexpensive - 3D printed! - spectrometer and it reminded me of this video you posted... th-cam.com/video/MHLHbP1TxvY/w-d-xo.html. Seems like something you'd be into! Thanks for all the inspiring videos, keep up the good work :)
I think we were shooting this object around the same time - Great minds think alike! I agree with you on LP filters - great for emission nebulae (duo narrowband even better, but with the tradeoff of worse star color). For everything else (all broadband objects), just the IR-cut is better. The sub-exposures may look worse and 'over-exposed', but the final result with careful processing will always be better. The discussion on the new streetlights was interesting too - I agree, it's not all bad. The new fixtures are typically better shielded, and I think my backyard at my old place near downtown Boston actually got slightly better while living there (Bortle 9 -> 8).
Hey Nico!!
Superb to hear we feel so similarly about this stuff my friend! :-D
I'm so glad to have finally given this another go, the power of a simple UV/ir cut has knocked my socks off three times in a row now :-D
I could really do with clearing out my filter collection a bit with this new approach in mind haha!
Re: the streetlights, it's been such a welcome change for us here, I really was worried about it beforehand as I expected us to get the cheapest of the cheap units - but luckily the local council has done a fine job!
Super pleased that you found the same at your old place too, things may be going in the right direction :-)
Thank you for taking the time to watch and comment Nico, and as always thank you for your support too. I appreciate you mate!
Clear skies 👍👍
Spectacular! Glad your light situation has improved.
I have LED street lights down my street, but sodium lights in the park behind my house. The lights in the park are supposed to provide a more relaxing vibe, or something. It does make filtering difficult, have both sources to deal with.
Ah that's rough mate aye, having a mix like that can't be good!
Hopefully they'll get changed soon enough and be well shielded units - it's made such a nice difference around here!
Cheers for watching!
So awesome to hear about the improving light pollution situation and the opportunities it's creating. The images are looking great! CS!
Thanks so much mate! :-D I'm stoked by it haha, I can't wait to see the next satellite light pollution map after the upgrade to LED's around here, it should be a noticeable difference I bet! Clear skies :-D
Hey Luke,
Great image.
I and I'm sure others would love to see one of your start to finish processing videos on this project!...
Here's thanking you in advance.
Thank you mate!! :-D I'd have to set aside a few hours for a processing tutorial on this one haha, it was a real labour!
Clear skies to you my friend!
You've outdone yourself once again Luke! I agree with your assessment on light pollution, the LED lights aren't the best, but the light cone they produce is quite narrow with very little light reflected up into the atmosphere. When the local village had its lights upgraded I initially thought there was a powercut as the usual orange glow wasn't there, it wasn't until I drove through the village that I realised the lights had been changed. The difference it made was actually quite astonishing. There are still a lot of sodium lights around, but the situation does seem to be improving.
Hey Pete! - That's really cool to hear your situation has improved too regarding LP, - these new lamps are streets ahead of the old ones for sure! (if you'll excuse the crappy pun)
Hope you're enjoying clear skies my friend :-)
The images of these dark nebulae are really coming up nicely. The LED light thing is certainly a double edged sword when it comes to light pollution. We had LED lights installed in our street about one and half years ago and they are certainly more directional than the old sodium lamps. The problem is that the poles they are on vary considerable when it comes to how much the LED is facing downwards. We have one right across the street which was leaning backwards and therefore lighting up our property and bedroom window quite a lot (and more importantly, shining right into the obsy). I wrote a letter to the council asking if they could shield it better, totally expecting no response, but a few weeks later they turned up, put a less bright LED in and added a shield and now it's darker than ever in the front yard. So I totally, depending how they are installed, agree they can actually massively improves the light pollution situation. I understand (from our local astronomical society) there are different LEDS than can be installed and whilst they were hoping for the more expensive but "better for reducing light pollution" types, the council went cheap.... of course. Enjoy your darker skies.
Hey Logan! - That's a nice bit of info there mate, the type & quality of installation can vary massively I'd guess aye!
I heard a story from a chap in the comments who said they'd basically just took out the old sodium lamp bulbs and put totally unshielded LED units into the same old heads, so that absolutely sucked for him! (and anyone driving at night being dazzled)
Hopefully more lights in our area are changed, the difference is notable - glad to hear your own situation was well resolved by the way!
Lovely image of a challenging target. Very well done. Congratulations on the capture and processing!
Thank you so much 😀 that's kind of you to say mate 👍👍
That's definitely a stunner, mate! Nicely done!
Thank you! Cheers mate!! :-)
I agree with you Luke. I’ve noticed with our LED lights on the street now I only use my L extreme out on moony nights. I’m just using IR cut with my Stella Mira 90ED and the C8 HD.
Clear skies to you. Keep it going.
Awesome to hear you've been having success too mate, I couldn't believe the change it's made for us! :-) Nice setup you've got there by the way!
I saw this when you first posted and I have yet to come up with a decent response. The image is amazing to say the least and It has rekindled my interest in astrophotography for sure. I’m going to dust off the Radian and the HEQ5 for an imaging session.
I apologize if I missed it but what type of ‘UV/IR cut dual narrowband filter’ you are using?
I know our telescope setups are vastly different but I’m in basically a Bortle 7 myself with similar lighting.
I have had great results in the past with the Optolong L Extreme but the city has installed a new LED street lamp in my front yard and I’m hoping it doesn’t cause any issues with my current setup. I tried a LP filter in the past but I seem to recall it caused a lot of purple fringing (yep, that) and vignetting.
Hey mate!! Hope you're keeping well 👍👍
I'm chuffed to hear you're liking the image so much mate, that's awesome :-D
Re: which filter, just an old baader UV/ir cut for the whole thing 👍👍
That sucks to hear an LP filter was giving you fringing mate, damn :-( hopefully you get the chance to give it a go with just a standard UV/ir cut and see what you get from your location hey!
Thanks for watching and giving your support man, as always it's appreciated 🙏
Clear skies!
Nice composition Luke, it’s especially sweet. Been lucky to get LED lights here in this Bartle7/8 area in Oregon. Just happened to skip broadband after reading mixed comments on Cloudynights and went straight to dualband and UV/IR as the moon allows.
Hey there mate! Glad to hear you've had LEDs installed too, hopefully they've been a major help for you too 👍
That's basically my filter loadout now too, a dual-nb filter and UV/ir cut - it works! :-D
Good for you Luke! Thats awesome that you are able to capture these objects from where you are and the results are pretty striking! It's nearly impossible to image dark nebula from where I am and yes the constant forest fires have not helped at all. I hope these clear nights keep happening for you and awesome final image, well done! Clear skies!
Hey Dave mate! - Thanks so much for the kind words my friend! :-D I really hope those fires give everyone a break soon, it must be hell in Canada itself jeez!
Hopefully getting some more clear on the way mate!
Best,
Luke
In Switzerland we have/had the Sodium lights as well. With the changes to LEDs they startet to shield the lamps better. Some regions have now laws to ensure a more useful use of light.
But the topic is sometimes difficult 'cause many people still only see the "safety" by street lights and not the issues with them for nature.
For me a good way is to shut off the lights after 1 AM on weekdays. The community I used to live in does this for many years now.
Hey Joshua! - I'd love if they started shutting our lights off after 1AM, that's a really good measure I think!
Very glad to hear Switzerland has laws around preventing silly amounts of lighting, it's good news for astronomers, but great news for nature in general haha! :-D
Clear skies my friend!
Luke, thanks for another great video. I followed your lead in capturing NGC 6914 and the Cocoon with just the UV/IR filter and got excellent results (though I didn't quite match your RASA's performance). Now I'm following your lead again and adding VDB 152 to my list too! I really appreciate your comments on the LED lights. My neighborhood switched to them recently as well, and I'm still assessing their impact on my astrophotography workflow. Clear skies!
Hey there Matt! Hope you've been well mate, so glad to hear the recent videos have been a source of inspiration!! :-D I'm genuinely chuffed to hear you've been getting some excellent captures from your own experiments, hearing other people having success really makes my day!
I hope that the LED's in your neighborhood end up being a positive thing after evaluation, - I'll be honest I didn't quite believe my eyes at first, I was near certain something else was at play causing my yard to be darker haha, but the more I looked the happier I became about it!
Clear skies my friend!
You are correct, the UV/IR cut is the perfect filter. I live under Bortle 3 Skies and need nothing else for huge wide scape star fields.
That's superb to hear, I would love to see b3 skies someday! 👍
Fantastic image Luke.. repeatedly impressed by the images you manage to get.
Inspires me to keep going on my journey.
Thanks for the consistently great videos.👍
That's lovely to hear mate, thank you so much for that! :-)
Hoping for plenty of clear skies for you my friend!
Another fabulous image Luke, you're on a roll ! Three cheers for the humble UV-IR filter !
Hip-Hip Hooray (x3) for the UV/IR cut filter!! :-D Thanks so much matey!
Out here in Colorado, I've been seeing these dark purple/ violet street lights. I've only seen 2 or 3 of these around Colorado Springs and Denver but they do alluminate the ground decently but they are dark. If governments are going to start using these, we may never need a filter
Hey Adam! - that's really weird to see I bet, haha! I had a quick look around on google and it appears that the purple lights are probably just partially defective, the phosphor coating on the led's can delaminate apparently, sending them into that purple hue! I never knew about it myself so thanks for the heads up!
Clear (and hopefully not purple) skies my friend :-)
I've seen those dark ones. Someone told me they are bad LEDs and will be replaced. I can't confirm or deny that though. Just wanted to share. Keep an eye on those and let us know if they do get replaced.
Splendid image. Out here in my Bortle 2 backyard I tried shooting the Dark Shark Nebula, LDN1235 with my small William Optics 61. Processing is definitively a challenge. Need to brush up on my PI stretching skills! Unfortunately, there were so many Starlink satellites buzzing through my frames, I’m not sure if I can use the session at all. Clear skies (and no satellites) Luke! Dr B from Manitoba, Canada 🇨🇦
Hey Brian! :-) Always good to hear from you my friend, I hope you've been keeping well!
I'd love to have a go at the dark shark someday, I don't know if it'll be doable but I do intend to find out at some point, haha!
I hear you RE: the challenges of processing, this one took a long time to get it where it is (hours), I honestly usually don't spend much more than 30 minutes processing an image.
Hope you're getting some clear skies over in Canada mate!
Allways inspire me you do mate. We only ever use a ir uv cut filter,,it's good on the 6 inch doublet refractor but I can't imagine getting out like you do with my 533 one shot colour camera. Fantastic shots 👏
That's really nice of you to say mate, thank you ever so much! :-D Really glad you like the vids!
I bet you've had some fun nights out with the 6" refractor by the way! that's a heck of a big scope generally speaking, nice one!
Clear skies mate!
@@lukomatico cheers Luke 🍻,,yea,,it's a bit heavy,,it's been boxed up in me bedroom since I started work full time again 9 months ago,,,I sure miss my free time,,,but I need the cash . Lol ,,I'll dust the cobwebs off it soon I hope. Clear skys buddy
Lovely image, Luke! That RASA with the P1 camera is treating you very well :)
It really is mate! - Thanks so much for watching and taking the time to comment bud, it's appreciated :-)
Amazing shot Luke. I am sure its a combination of all you mentioned but I know I could not get Dark nebula from my old location that was a bortle6/7. It was just too difficult. Its great that your conditions have improved and not worsened, look forward to many more great images mate, clear skies.
Thank you Glenn mate!! :-D Really hope to continue on with these experiments & shots going forwards, it's been tons of fun! - hopefully as more of my area is changed over to the newer lamps we'll experience a further reduction in LP levels, that'd be really nice!
Clear skies!
Absolutely beautiful!
Thank you so much my friend, I really appreciate that!
Clear skies to you 🙏
Something similar is happening here in Ireland, the failing sodium lamps get replaced with LEDs. I've had one replaced outside of the house and the shielding is a lot better but at the same time it is entirely too bright. Hopefully at some point in the future these can be tuned by the council to make them dimmer.
Glad to hear it's really rolling out widespread now mate! I agree that they should be dimmer overall for sure, it wouldn't hurt to have them turned off past 1am too like they do in some places! :-D
Staggeringly beautiful image Luke! Sadly, living just outside of the Manhattan sky dome, orange skies make it feel like Mars here in New Jersey. Your optimism is contagious. I started this hobby in the early 90’s and I’ve since seen nothing less then magic as our filters, scopes, and post processing has evolved. I hope I live long enough to see more innovations come down the pike. Perhaps one day, traveling to a dark site won’t be necessary (my lips to God’s ears, huh?)
Hey Joe! - Great to hear from you mate, as always! :-)
Really hope they get around to changing all the lights for you also soon enough mate, hopefully in a place like Manhattan they'll budget for the good units and have proper shielding!
Amazing to think of the innovations we've seen in relatively a short timespan - imagine what the next 10 years will hold :-)
Clear skies!
Absolutely stunning Luke. To be honest mate , never seen anything like that before. This is a real masterpiece. Cheers mate 🍻😜
Ah you're too kind Dan mate!! :-D Really happy you like it buddy!
Clear skies!
Wow! That thing is beautiful. Congrats and I am becoming a great fan of Player One by the way. 😀
That's awesome to hear mate!! :-D Really glad to hear you like the shot!
I'm loving P1 equipment too, so good!
Clear skies :-)
Thank you Luke, Appreciate you too! Really incredible and the Ghost is looking amazing!
Thanks so much mate!! :-D So glad for your support!
Clear skies!
I had a similar experience. The sodium street lamp at the top of my road was so bright I built a black cloth shield to shade my scope. About a year ago it was switched to LED and what a difference - much more downlighting and less lateral pollution. Don’t need my shield any more. Now if fewer people used security lights… ‘
Oh mate that's great to hear! I totally understand where you're coming from RE: security lights by the way, crikey they are a pain in the backside around here lol.
All the best and clear skies!
Beautiful results Luko.....❤
Thank you! 😊 really appreciate it bud :-)
absolutely fantastic image, 7.5 hours is still less exposure time than i would’ve expected would be necessary for capturing an image of that magnitude, especially from a Bortle 7 if i remember correctly! I’m still trying to get out of bed more often and engage in my hobbies again as i used to, capturing dark nebulae in images like this one is my favourite, so thanks for helping motivate me a little bit further to get shooting again :)
That's wonderful to hear Gabe! So glad you've found a little inspiration from my efforts 👍👍
Hoping for some clear skies for you my friend!
This video comes at a very interesting time as I have been considering ditching the Optolong L-pro as looking back on images my best have been pre filter. This is something I'll be experimenting with using the Uranus-c.
100% worth experimenting mate yeah! I know some folk had luck with the l-pro but I never enjoyed my own back when I had one.
Clear skies to you!
Man what a such a beautiful image that is insane 😳!!! Loved amassing, excellent job👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Thank you very much my friend!! :-D Hope you are doing well!
Clucking bell Luke! Every now and again someone pops an image online that takes your breath away. This has just done exactly that. Get it registered for an APOD. Simply brilliant! 👍🏻 Noddy
Thank you ever so much Noddy!! - That's extremely nice of you to say mate! :-)
Clear skies to you my friend!
Amazing image Luke ! I've used the optolong l pro for my broadband images up to now but for sure I'm going to get a uv/ir cut filter. The other thing I noticed in your final image is the star colour that's still present. That definitely wouldn't happen with my l pro. Opens up a plethora of new targets ! Great video mate as always 👍
Hey Paul mate!! I really agree it's a good idea to get a nice uv/ir cut filter, I think it'll be a ton of fun for you compared to the sometimes quite subdued look you get from LP filters! :-)
Hope you get some clear skies soon mate!
Nicely done, the local council changed the street lights from normal incandescent lamps to whole new LED fittings with good shielding a couple years back, and my garden is significantly darker now.
That's superb Dave! - I really was worried for the future here, - had no idea when we'd switch over or what we'd end up with lol! one day they just turned up and were swapping the lights over so all I could do was hope for the best, - turns out it was ace!
Clear skies my friend :-)
This looks amazing Luke ! A job well done indeed.
Thanks ever so much Derek! :-D
@@lukomatico 👊
Awesome Luke I agree one of your best I did like your M51 from 12 months ago or so. I am off to wrap up my VDB152 tonight as well going to capture the Ha for that planetary nebula and streak of Ha! Keep up the good work 👏
Thanks so much Simon!! :-D Hope you get a fully clear night for that VDB152 finish mate, good on ya! :-)
Clear skies my friend!
Very interesting finding! I think im going to try it
Thanks so much and good luck for your capture! :-D
That's a pretty interesting and compelling wee vid you've put out Luke. Look forward to seeing what others say in the comments.
Cheers dude!
Chuffed to hear you like the vid mate! :-D Hope the chef life has been treating you kind lately!
Best,
Luke
Beautiful work. I've been meaning to give this same thing a try out where I shoot in a bortle 6 location. I've been really focused on emission nebula tho. I'll have to pick out a good reflection nebula and pop in the ir cut filter and see what I can see. That's for the awesome videos ❤
Thanks so much for watching and sharing your thoughts mate, I appreciate it! :-) Good luck for your future shoot with the UV/IR!
What a fantastic result, well done Luke! Would you say an IDAS LPS-P2 could take the place of a standard UV IR filter? Cheers and keep the magic coming!
Hey Peter! I'd say you could certainly give it a go and judge from that as your location may be very different to mine in terms of LP levels, but honestly I've never had much success with broadband light pollution filters vs just UV/ir 👍
Cheers and good luck!
Wow, that is absolutely stunning
Thank you very much indeed my friend! :-) Clear skies!
You are right. If the LED street lamps chosen are those with a well-designed light cone and have shielding that can deliver it then they are a massive improvement on the old sodium lights. Sadly, there are many LED street lamps on the market with wide light cones and/or poor shielding and they can be a lot worse in terms of light pollution. They are also a lot cheaper than the well-desiged and shielded models. In the current financial climate, some highway authorities are going with the cheaper models which means that some areas (sadly, particularly rural areas where local authority money is tight) are now actually facing an INCREASE in light pollution .... and of a kind that cannot easily be filtered out.
Hey James! :-)
I totally hear you, it's certainly true that plenty of folks have been struggling since LED's were installed in their areas, I can totally empathise with them as it really sucks that something out of their control just begins to degrade their skies :-(
I hope that future designs for these lamps are just better as a baseline without proper shielding being a more premium feature, but a simple requirement.
I'm glad it's worked out for me though, I count myself lucky!
Clear skies :-)
I was quite frightened about the change to led lights last year but was quite pleasantly surprised. Im a complete noob compared to you but I wanted to get a filter to enhance my photos. I watched reviews comparing the results of different filters and ended up settling on the baader neodinium moon and skyglow. I was influenced by price as the duel narrowband were qute expensive. But also it seemed to produce quite natural nice images. In comparison shots a lot more stars were appearing which seemed a goid thing to me. Maybe I would have just gone with uv ir cut if I had seen these videos. I just dont see the benifit with cutting such a huge amount of light and altering the colours so much. I really love your outside the box thinking and the results are so compelling.
Hey there mate! - so glad to hear it was a nice surprise for you too, we had no warning when it was due for update here so I just kinda had to hope for the best when they were installing the new lights one day haha!
I have a baader neodymium too, I really ought to test it a bit more! cool filter :-)
Clear skies!
Well done mate, excellent result! I still hate LEDs here as they're far too bright and so reflect too much from the ground (the glare is crazy), have a super broad spectrum, are tuned to a very blue temperature...
Thanks so much mate! :-D Real glad you like it!
I'm sorry to hear the LED situation in Tokyo is less than ideal, that really sucks man - hopefully they will be rectified sooner rather than later! :-)
Hey Luke, I was standing outside just looking at the sky tonight while my scope was imaging and noticed that i can see the milky way from by back garden. I know for a fact that this wasn't possible even a year or two ago, which coincides with my towns streetlamps going LED. It seems as if the sky conditions have improved here too, even with the LED lighting.
Hey Matt! - Honestly mate that's awesome to hear, what an excellent result!!! 😀
I'm inspired haha, I'll try that myself the next time we've got clear skies around a new moon phase!
Amazing quality of the final image. I didn 't catch what was the name of the nebula ? Thanks!
Thanks so much mate! It is vdB 152 👍
You're welcome. Amazing. Thank youuu!
Cracking image that mate, I don't think I could get anything like that from home & I'm supposed to be in a Bortle 4. They have placed LED lighting where I live & I still think my sky is brighter than it used to be, it shows up more of the glow with heavy cloud cover, years ago in my back garden you could barely see the hand in front of your face but not now.
Did you do two sessions one using an IR cut filter for the broadband the other using a dual band for the HA & OIII? I only ask as the Altair OSC cameras already have an IR cut filter fitted so maybe I could attempt more targets like these but I don't think I'd ever get anything half as good as yours lol.
Great video as always clear skies
Hey mate! - sorry to hear the LED's have been damaging in your area man, that sucks :-(
RE: what did I use, just a baader UV/ir filter for the whole thing, no other filters used :-) it would have been cool to add some HA/OIII from a dual-narrowband filter too, but it would have gone against what I wanted to show for this image.
No reason you can't make a capture even better than this mate! I believe in ya!
Clear skies!
Cheers mate maybe I'll give it a go sometime but I highly doubt I'll get anything like what you've captured.
I wanted to ask about using UV/IR filters, so aren't Astro-dedicated cameras already have UV/IR cut filters in them or it is better to mount additional external UV/IR cut filters to the camera?
They often do have UV/ir cut filters installed yeah 👍 I had to keep a normal 2" UV/ir cut filter in my filter drawer to preserve the RASA's back focus measurement exact though as adding or removing glass from the path throws it out 👍
Hope that explains it mate, cheers!
Hiya Luke . Another awesome Image ! So , does this this simply boil down to having better Bortle Skies than before ? Do you now have the "itch" to move to a Bortle 1 location ? LOL . Fascinating stuff regarding the LED Streetlights . Thanks for the plug for all us poor Canadian Astrophotographers losing another Summer season due to Biblical Level Wildfires and smoke . It's not usual for us to start wishing for snow but it sure would help right now . Cheers !/SRK
Hey Scott! - I think it's a combination really, - I reckon my skies are potentially a high 6 on the bortle scale now, which is a nice improvement for sure, but also my gear has probably never been in a better place - both software and hardware! (to a lesser extent perhaps, my skills have also steadily improved)
Really hope those fires calm down mate, unreal from what we've been seeing on the news over here.
Clear skies!
I have to say, I've been quite surprised to see your last few images captured using such long exposures with a fast optical system. From my experience in a Bortle 6 suburb imaging at f/2.8 with a broadband LP filter, I start getting concerned about blowing out stars and brighter bits of nebulosity with anything over about 60 seconds. Maybe you are onto something with the new lights in your area. Great results, by the way!
Thank you for the kind comment my friend! :-D I used to be a lot more careful about blowing out highlights etc when I was using other cameras, but the imx571 in my Poseidon from Player One has a very deep fullwell capacity, it's hard to over-expose really!
Hope you're getting some clear skies mate, all the best!
Thats a great image Luke, looks like cloudy nights will soon have a lot of second hand light pollution filters for sale lol
Haha!! - I'm sure they are still useful for many folks, but I really do reckon I'm done with broadband light-pollution filters unless something majorly convincing came along! (I'll still keep using dual-narrowband filters though, they are great fun!)
Clear skies mate :-D
Hmmm, might have to give broadband a go! I've just bought some filters for dark sites, might try them for the more noisy ones 🙂
100% worth a go mate! :-D Thanks so much for taking the time to watch and comment, I appreciate your support!
Clear skies!
You should try dark shark or iris nebula for more dusty broadband objects
I appreciate the suggestion duck! :-D I'll certainly have to give the iris a go while it's high up!
I'll have a peek at the darkshark sometime too, why not eh!
Clear skies mate :-)
Heilung ticket over ther! This band is soooo good OMG man!
Oh mate that's awesome you noticed that, 100% agree haha!! - they were absolutely phenomenal to see live! :-D
Great image!
By the way, @jeffrh just posted a video on how to get rid of those Rasa rings...
Thanks mate! I'll definitely check it out, Jeff was in contact via email but I've had so much on lately I've not had the chance to properly reply! 👍
You so lucky your light pollution has improved. Right now, I'm organizing a petition to mandate light covers for street lamps, to have store front light off when closed and to have house front/back lights on motion detectors. Even with my antlia 2.5 filters narrowband filters ,which work incredibly, the oxygen is sometimes impossible to get.
I really do wish you the best of luck with the petition, good on you for trying to get something done about it!! 🙏
Hi Luke. Just a quick question and I hope it is not a stupid one. Camera like the ASI2600 MC have a protect window which I think is a UV/IR filter already - is this correct and does it negate the need for an additional UV/IR filter? As always, great content. CS.
Hey there mate! not a silly question at all, a good one I reckon! :-)
they do indeed have a uv/ir cut window over the sensor chamber, the reason I opted to also use an actual 2" filter on top of that is to preserve the backfocus of my RASA :-) every time you add or remove some glass/optical element from the light path, it alters your back focus - so I had to keep a filter in the drawer for that sake.
Cheers!
Im not sure you could go unfiltered on slower optics that would require longer exposure?
I'm sure it'd be totally fine mate as long as highlights/stars aren't burning out your data! :-) Clear skies!
It's all very much dependent on the target as well, I know in Melbourne under bortle 6 skies here certain objects just can't appear well just with the uvIR yet with the L-Ultimate the amount of detail is Chalk and cheese you can't compare. As for streetlamps Melbourne is a real dog's breakfast of lights
Hey mate! :-D Totally agree yeah, I wouldn't want to shoot a faint & purely emission object with just uv/ir cut for sure! That said I've been dead impressed by the performance of the RASA when you just let it throw everything at your sensor haha! :-)
I'm thinking this recent change in light pollution here may have moved me from a mid 7 bortle, to perhaps a high 6 so a pretty noticeable change!
Clear skies!
Had the city of Tacoma put shields on the street lights around me, big help. Some other entities not so cooperative. IDA indicates below 3000Kelvin and to the orange/yellow is preferred.for LED lighting. Did a ChatGPT inquiry on the impact of light pollution if left uncorrected.... not good.
Hey there Karl! - Really glad to hear your city put shields up for you, that's awesome news man! - hopefully the next time your city refreshes the lamps they'll naturally be shielded units leading to a nice drop in light pollution!
Interesting to hear even chatGPT is picking up on the issue, - I worry about the insect population dropping, thus less early pollinators and less food production overall - it's bad news!
wow Luke, you really know how to show off a final image. 😃
Haha! I'm glad you think so my friend, thank you!! :-D
So what is brand of UV IR cut filters are you using
Hey mate! - just an old Baader 'L' filter at the moment! I've got one from Astronomik too but that's in use on the other scope.
Cheers!
The problem is, some of the towns, cities "cheaped out" with the LED. They are re-using the sodium lamp chassis and just screwed in an LED bulb into, so the shielding is the same as it was, except the LED bulb is shooting all over the place, including upward. If you ever replaced the bulb on a car that meant to use a projection headlight and realize how bad it was, this is the same thing.
You can tell about these cheaped out lights by even driving at night and getting close to it, and instead of helping to illuminate it blinds the driver from a greater distance on. This is very common where I live and I know even just regular people are complaining that the street light making things worse while driving. It's also dangerous, because the driver is blinded by the light and will not see a pedestrian walking across, because they blend into the darkness. This is the USA I'm talking about, where profit margins rule and everything else suffers. Unfortunately common people are not aware of this and while they also curse about the poor lighting, they won't do a thing. It needs something called a class action lawsuit at the contracted company doing the switch who was more worry about their profits than doing a proper job. The streetlight across me, throws more light directionally at me, then under. How low they can go to save a few pennies.
Oh mate that really sucks, I agree fully that it's a real cheap-out solution, and whoever is to blame ought to feel ashamed if they did it knowingly!
Thanks for watching and taking the time to share your thoughts, I appreciate it mate :-)
Clear skies!
I bought a used paint ball gun and orange balls and "fixed " the LED street light across my house. The orange color didn't remain but it dulled down the lamp output. It's been 9 months and the grey haze is still there .
Haha! well, that's one way to solve the issue mate! good on you for being proactive :-D
Si, if I understand correctly you captured all that data just with a UV/IR filter, no dual narrowband? If I may ask, what bortle level are you? Cause that's amazing. Obviously a F2 RASA helps but with double or triple the data one could get the same result with a slower scope.
Hey there my friend! :-D I made this whole capture with just a uv/ir cut filter from bortle 7 skies, hope that clarifies it! :-) Clear skies!
@@lukomatico That's actually quite amazing. Makes me consider going OSC for my first dedicated astro cam if it's posible to shoot Broadband now from the city and my place is also a B7 but really new constructions so the street lighting might be new LEDs.
Going the Cuiv route with a Hyperstar C6 and the new 2.9µm cameras looks really tempting now (and cheaper than going mono with 7 filters).
what is your recommendation for a good UV/IR filter?
Anything from a decent brand really mate! they should all be very similar generally speaking :-) I used a baader 2" 'L' filter that's about 5 years old for this shot, I also own an astronomik L filter too.
Cheers!
@@lukomatico Thanks I only have the ZWO but I will be looking for the baader to see what results I get thanks 🙏🏻!!!
Fantastic ❤
Thanks so much Stephen! Clear skies my friend :-)
Thanks Luke!
Thanks so much for watching!! :-D
Nice image mate
Glad you like it Bill, thanks mate!
There is huge literature on benefits for dark location. I checked bortle 3 over bortle 7. It is about 9 fold increase of SNR. What amazed me is difference in images through narrow band filters. Dark location gave 3 fold advantage for Astrodon 3nm filters. Abell 85 was very dim after 5 min exposures in bortle 3. It is gone in bortle 7. I could see nothing even after 8 min O3 subframes.
I think there are targets that should not be even attempted in bortle 7. It is just waist of time.
Hey Ana! - I totally agree there's no substitute for darker skies, 100%! :-)
I believe my skies here have gone from a mid/high bortle 7 to around a high 6 potentially - just by assessing visually, which is a pretty nice change none the less! :-D
Sounds like abell 85 is one tough target in OIII btw, ouch.
Clear skies!
@@lukomatico Changes from 7 to 6 is very substantial.
Yeh, Abell 85 is very dim target. I will finish it in Okie-Tex and/or Eldorado star party.
Staggering Luke 😊
Thanks so much Scott! :-D Chuffed you like it mate :-)
Hi Luke, greetings from Glasgow! I just came across a video which shows how to produce a spectrograph of your local light pollution situation using a relatively inexpensive - 3D printed! - spectrometer and it reminded me of this video you posted... th-cam.com/video/MHLHbP1TxvY/w-d-xo.html. Seems like something you'd be into! Thanks for all the inspiring videos, keep up the good work :)
That's awesome mate haha!! Thanks so much for thinking of me and sharing :-D Clear skies!