Finding the Dolphin Head RA and Dec Center to export to NINA

Acquisition Deep Sky Sharpless Catalog
6 replies•433 views
gbarr56 avatar
gbarr56 avatar
I am trying to frame the Dolphin Head Nebula.  I am not able to see how to frame it in Telescopious or NINA.  I see the bright star but no outline of the nebula. I have an Askar 500 so will have a 500mm FOV. Any suggestions on rotation and coordinates.  OR, is there any web app to actually see the outline of the nebula so I can export these to NINA?

It was suggested in Cloudy Nights for me to just get the RA and DEC center for SH–308 in Astrobin.  How can I do that? I am looking at all the Dolphin Head Nebula shots but  not sure how to get the coordinates  and rotation I need to plug into NINA.
Ruediger avatar
Ruediger avatar
Hello gbarr56,

if it is only to get the coordinates and a rough framing you can use Stellarium and fetch them in the framing assistant vie the "pin" (?) Symbol.
Remarks: You have to configure that in NINA and Stellarium




Since the Dolphin is only O3, it is hardly visible in the RGB standard catalogues. I have seen a slight improvement if you switch the catalogue to HIPS. There is is slightly visible.



CS and happy Christmas.
Rüdiger
Helpful Concise Supportive
gbarr56 avatar
gbarr56 avatar
Ruediger:
Hello gbarr56,

if it is only to get the coordinates and a rough framing you can use Stellarium and fetch them in the framing assistant vie the "pin" (?) Symbol.
Remarks: You have to configure that in NINA and Stellarium




Since the Dolphin is only O3, it is hardly visible in the RGB standard catalogues. I have seen a slight improvement if you switch the catalogue to HIPS. There is is slightly visible.



CS and happy Christmas.
Rüdiger

Thanks so much....Merry Christmas.  I'll give it a try.
Well Written Respectful
Scott Horton avatar
Scott Horton avatar
I dont use NINA - but is there a framing assistant or way to plate solve and slew / frame from an exisitng image like in ASIAIR? If so, that would be the easiest. Just upload a photo with similar focal length that you like. 

https://nighttime-imaging.eu/docs/master/site/tabs/framing/
Scott Badger avatar
Scott Badger avatar
Also, every image in AB lists the center coordinates as part of the Aqusition Details section, so just pick one where the dolphin head is centered how you want it and use those coordinates.

Cheers,
Scott
Concise
Arun H avatar
Arun H avatar
Scott Badger:
Also, every image in AB lists the center coordinates as part of the Aqusition Details section, so just pick one where the dolphin head is centered how you want it and use those coordinates.

Cheers,
Scott

This is what I do when I want to frame something that isn’t visible in a catalog.
Monty Chandler avatar
Monty Chandler avatar
Consider using Stellarium?  It's free and it's an awesome planning tool.  Dolphin Head (sh2-308) shows up there.  Use the DSS Color sky survey.  Load your landscape in and you can see when anything is visible to you in your sky.  Important when you live in a forest.
Helpful
Related discussions
Another useful ChatGPT use: Compute RA and DEC offset for a comet image
With the short window we have for Comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon right now, I don’t have time to fiddle with trying to frame the comet in such a way that the comet nucleus is on the corner and the tail runs diagonally across the frame so I can get as much co...
Computing RA/DEC coordinates for deep-sky objects similar to author's need.
Nov 9, 2025
Nightcrawler Rotator & NINA
I am trying to figure out how to get the 0 position in NINA's framing setup (see image) so that ZERO on NINA's rotation scale matches ZERO on the rotator. Do I need to use the Nightcrawler software to do this or can I do it all in NINA (prefe...
NINA framing and rotation setup directly relevant to author's framing problem.
Jun 8, 2025
Question about Rotator
Because of the length of my refractor, to avoid any collisions I'm going to have to limit my rotation on my WR3.5 to between 0 & - 90 degrees. It's not a big deal, as I can do any other necessary rotation in software. However, Nina's ...
Rotator constraints and rotation angles relevant to author's rotation questions.
Jun 3, 2025