Thanks Rob and Glen for your comments. Top image again Rob, good to see. I did a seperate stack of the 1600 and 800 ISO exposures from last night and the results were no different. So double the exposure time for ISO 800 IMO isn't worth it, better to get more images at ISO 1600.
Thanks Justin for your comments. Yes the only trick I may have up my sleeve is the 5D MK ll that has just arrived, but only a standard camera. It may be able to shoot at higher ISO with less grain than the 40D.
I think Rob uses a standard 400D, which goes to show the skill of the man.
Rob, thats amazing!
Is your camera cooled? if not even more so.
Not cooled, modded or anything Justin, just the basic 400D with 18-55mm kit lens. It was quite warm last night too. I do have pretty good dark skies although last night it looked a tad milky to me so I was surprised that I got anything.
Excellent work Lester and Justin. The region near the head seems to still have a bit more brightness and would problably show up well with a longer lens. We have had close to 400mm of rain here last couple of days with rain/cloud on the forecast for the next week, so no chance of follow up observations here for a while So its great you guys are still giving it coverage.
Yes Liz I even think it may be better than the Astro 40D that can easily fog the frame if exposures are too long. The 5D didn't show any sign of fogging the frame at 150 seconds at ISO 6400. That would be equal to 600 seconds at ISO 1600, and at half that the 40D was fogging the frame.
Fantastic work Lester & Justin! Very murky sky here tonight, doesn't look like I'll be getting a shot.
Lester, I 'operated' a bit on yours (26th) and it seems to show the tail pretty much into the Milky Way, or 31 degrees. The 5D seems to be working a treat!
Thanks Justin and Rob for your comments. Just waiting for my wife to get home from her pub crawl with girl friend, so she can keep an ear out for the grandchildren as they sleep.
I am keen to try even longer exposures at ISO 6400 as there was no sign of fogging the frame at 150 seconds.