47 Tucanae on a moonlit night

[Startrek]

Second attempt at NGC104 last night with the moon lighting up the whole sky like a torch
6” f6 reflector on HEQ5 unguided
Canon 600D stock
Captured with BYEOS
30 x 40 sec subs @ ISO 1600
15 x darks
No flats
Stacked in DSS
Processed in Startools

[foc]

I do not usually comment on the multitude of stellar DSO work in thisforum but that is a really nice capture of 47 Tuc on a moonlit night:thumbsup:

[Startrek]

Thanks Ross
I surprised myself how well this turned out
Large globular clusters are not easy to get the right balance of exposure time and ISO (unlike nebula) especially when you have a flood light over your head called the moon
I was going to take 60 second subs as my PA and tracking was really good ( unguided)
But I’m glad I stayed with 40 sec as it didn’t blow it out to much
DSS and Startools did the rest

Thanks for the comments
Cheers
Martin

[cometcatcher]

Very nice capture Martin, the 6" F6 did a fine job. Good to see someone else doing many unguided subs. ;)

[Mickoid]

Nice sharpness and contrast in less than ideal conditions, you even managed some star colour, well done Martin. :thumbsup:

[Startrek]

Thanks Michael and Kevin

If you look at some of the local and OS supplier sites for this GSO 6” f6 Scope they mention it’s generally a good visual scope not specifically ideal for astrophotography. Well I’m getting great astrophotography use, can’t fault it and cost me only $299.

I think the 6” reflector is underrated most people go for the 8” and 10” f4s and f5s for Astro work

I’m unguided at the moment but have a 50mm guide scope ,ZWO camera and PHD2 on the laptop ready to give it a go so I can expose more detail in the nebulas and maybe pick up a galaxy or two.

Any tips on guide settings and guiding in general, any advice appreciated
Cheers

[raymo]

Hi Martin,
There is nothing wrong with a 6" Newt for imaging, and I don't
think that they are underrated,[plenty of people use them] but there are several reasons why bigger is better. Because of those reasons many imagers go for the largest scope that their mount and/or budget will allow.
Firstly, and importantly for quality imaging, the larger the diameter of the
mirror/objective, the smaller the features it can resolve. This is particularly
obvious with lunar images; larger scopes show detail that smaller scope owners can only dream of.
Secondly, an 8" has approx. 80% more light gathering power than
a 6", and a 10" has just over 250% more than a 6". This means that
subs of the same length as taken with the 6" will produce[ especially in the case of the 10"] deeper more detailed images.
Thirdly, especially useful for planets and planetary nebulae, a larger scope
can handle higher magnifications.
raymo

[xelasnave]

Hi Martin
Very respectable image and you should be proud and happy.
I notice you have a 10 inch dob maybe you could mount it on the eq5 if you want greater app.

Anyways you are doing great.
Just keep taking stuff as you learn a little each session...also even with great gear etc there will be nights where it just does not work and rather than recognise that fact we think we need a bigger truck☺
Keep imaging and posting.
Good luck.
Alex

[Startrek]

Hi Raymo,
Probably shouldn’t have used the word “underrated” more like “not extremely popular” as every YouTube clip, Astro magazine,astronomy books, cloudy nights profiles, IIS profiles etc... you don’t see many 6” imaging newts discussed or shown , they are mostly 8” and above
And yes relevant points in relation to aperture,magnification and resolving power

Well received and noted
Thanks

[Startrek]

Thanks Alex
You always give encouragement to us newbies to keep trying and give it a go

Unfortunately I have just sold my 10” dob to a family friend and fortunately aperture fever has bitten me on the backside and I have ordered a Sky-Watcher 12” Goto collapsible dob which is due to be picked up next week.Im taking it down the coast to my holiday pad ( semi dark site ) I only have to trolley it out of the garage 6 or 7 metres, plonk it down, plug in , align and start viewing. I really enjoy visual astronomy as much as astrophotography

The only problem with selling the 10” dob is that I promised to include 2 or 3 nights tuition on knowing the night sky , how to collimate, use the finder , focus and use eye pieces etc... I’m not a very good teacher
Cheers

[xelasnave]

I used a six for years and would still use it but it needs a rebuild.
IMine was a Meade with the corrector plate and it seemed to work really well.
I would not be in a hurry to go bigger...so you get the eight ...then you want a 14 and so on...hang it get the 20 inch...but well 22 would be better☺
Enjoy the moment ... or maybe appropriate...never compare yourself with others else you become vain or bitter for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself...good luck with your new scope.
I had a 12 inch but strangely I prefer my 80 mm binos now.
So maybe 12 inch binos is the go..or 16 inch☺
Alex