Standard Candle

[DavidTrap]

Been MIA for quite some time,

A relatively quick capture to gauge the quality of a recent purchase.

I got an notification email last year and after my wife said, "you'll regret it if you don't", I said yes to an AP130 and reducer. It's been somewhat neglected through the first half of this year while I've been busy with the school observatory (which BTW is humming along nicely - ACP Scheduler is fantastic)

NGC5139 (http://users.tpg.com.au/dctrap/astrophotos/ngc5139.jpg) - link to full resolution image ~ 5mb

10 x 60 second subs of LRGB - QSI 583

I've got some data on another object from a recent trip to Leyburn still to process, but as you can see from this example, my processing is rather rusty. Might need a month off work and some intensive training sessions with Sensei Rick.

Comments welcome,

DT

[cometcatcher]

That's so sharp it poked my eye out!

[DavidTrap]

Thanks Kevin,

This was from the backyard 5km from the Brisbane CBD, so I didn't hold high expectations for colour.

DT

[Placidus]

Welcome back! Sparkling sharp resolution.

You've been very subtle with the colour.

[DavidTrap]

Thanks Mike & Trish,

I will have another go at processing and see what colour can be extracted from the data.

Pleased with the resolution nonetheless.

DT

[RickS]

Nice resolution, David. Congrats on the new addition :) I'm sure there will be colour there. If not, we can add it :lol:

[DavidTrap]

Finally got around to having another go at reprocessing this data - can't rush these things...

Found a bit more colour in this rendition - loving PhotometricColourCalibration in PI!!!

Link (http://users.tpg.com.au/dctrap/astrophotos/NGC5139.jpg) (Link in original post might be dead now...)

DT

[RobF]

Looks amazing!!

[multiweb]

Superb! :thumbsup:

[Peter Ward]

Nothing standard about that candle...very flash indeed :thumbsup:

[Andy01]

Lovely resolution! :)
The red channel is slightly out of register though, needs a nudge upwards to properly align with the others.
Not many AP scopes out there, good to see what they're capable of :thumbsup:

[DavidTrap]

Thanks again Gents,

Red channel might be slightly out of focus Andy??

DT

[Andy01]

No, it’s clearly out of register- you can see more red below the star centres than above. But it’s an easy fix in PS- just select the red channel & nudge it up 1px with the move tool. :)

[Peter Ward]

Really? I can't see it. I loaded the image into MaximCCD and toyed with re-aligning the
RGB planes feature....there are some small and local seeing induced shifts...but globally looks perfect to me. :shrug:

[DavidTrap]

I was just looking at the full res file and zooming in like Peter has - I can see a rim of red, but not an asymmetrical crescent.

DT

[Andy01]

This is what I'm seeing - more red below the centre of the stars than above - not a deal breaker but I'm aware of it simply because it sometimes happens in my images as well :)