#1  
Old 17-02-2019, 06:07 PM
Mickoid (Michael)
Registered User

Mickoid is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 1,439
A spooky night

My first go at NGC 3242 and I wasn't sure how it would turn out. Firstly, this thing is small, very small. I was going to try it with my SW Esprit 100 but I thought 550mm of focal length would be wasting my time, so I shot it at 1000mm focal length instead. Seeing was pretty good early this morning and after the moon had set I started exposing but as per usual about 20 subs into the session high cloud rolled in to spoil the party. So after throwing away 7 of them due to bad tracking ( balance issues I think ), I ended up with 13mins of unguided 1min subs at 800 iso through the 8 inch Newt using a modded Canon 550d.

Despite it's size, it's surprisingly bright and initially when I sent the Heq5 pro mount using GOTO to this object, I thought it ( or me! ) had made a mistake, as all I could see on my test shot was a bright star like object in the middle of a black void.

The photo on the left is the full frame showing how small it is and obviously the one on the right is a cropped version from the full frame.
Attached Thumbnails
Click for full-size image (ngc3234.jpg)
237.7 KB40 views
Click for full-size image (3234Crop.JPG)
188.3 KB53 views

Last edited by Mickoid; 17-02-2019 at 08:09 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 17-02-2019, 06:27 PM
RyanJones
Registered User

RyanJones is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: Melbourne,Australia
Posts: 1,439
Good work Michael,

Isn't that NGC 3242 ( ghost of Jupiter ) ?

I'm not sure where in Melbourne you had these clear skies ( all be it short lived ) but well done. Might be a good first object for the C9.25 I've just aquired
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 17-02-2019, 08:24 PM
Mickoid (Michael)
Registered User

Mickoid is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 1,439
You're right Ryan and I'm not sure where I got the other two numbers from. I obviously didn't pay attention to the golden rules : Read the question carefully and always check your work before handing it in!

This would be a great target for your new scope. More focal length and bright enough to overcome your higher focal ratio. I took this at about 3.30am this morning from my suburban front yard, there were no clouds until about 4.45am when traces of high cloud appeared and thickened by 5.00am. I got to bed at 5.30am.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 18-02-2019, 10:09 AM
Anth10's Avatar
Anth10 (Anthony M)
When its late stay awake

Anth10 is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Briar Hill
Posts: 783
Mick,
Nicely done. Don’t often see planetary nebulas in this forum, you’ve certainly found a very interesting target. It has some interesting detail in the core which has resolved well even at a small size such as this. Planetary nebs are cool space objects and this one is a beauty.
Would be good to capture this with more aperture but you’ve shown that it is achievable with the modest 1000 Focal length Newt.
Good work.
Anth
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 18-02-2019, 01:14 PM
raymo
Registered User

raymo is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: margaret river, western australia
Posts: 6,070
I've always thought this should be "The Cat's Eye Nebula," as it looks more like one than the actual cats eye neb does. With well over 50 yrs of film AP under my belt, you could say that I am experienced, but I haven't been able
to adapt to digital, so I have no idea what causes the "golliwog hair" on your
close up version. I took a snap yrs ago with my 8" 1000mm Newt, and there is no sign of it.
raymo
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 18-02-2019, 02:30 PM
Mickoid (Michael)
Registered User

Mickoid is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 1,439
That's interesting Raymo, I know there is another outer shell that some longer exposures pick up. As I recall you mentioned, yours was a single exposure. To get the core detail you have to go easy on the exposure. As mine was a 13 min exposure, I probably picked up some of the outer shell at the expense of overexposing the core. Or maybe since you photographed it, it's had a hair transplant.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 18-02-2019, 06:16 PM
raymo
Registered User

raymo is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: margaret river, western australia
Posts: 6,070
Yes it was 30secs 8" f/5 ISO 800. Here is the original and a crop. No sign of hair when enlarged further. I have a dim memory of getting hair on something
ages ago, so maybe its a stacking/ processing artifact.
raymo
Attached Thumbnails
Click for full-size image (IMG_6242 irf.jpg)
142.3 KB10 views
Click for full-size image (ngc 3242.jpg)
156.3 KB13 views
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 18-02-2019, 07:41 PM
Anth10's Avatar
Anth10 (Anthony M)
When its late stay awake

Anth10 is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Briar Hill
Posts: 783
Fellas,
On close inspection you will see that in Micks image the stars also have this fringing effect which makes me think that it is likely to be an atmospheric cause. Perhaps high humidity has created this aberration. I don’t think it is just localised to the nebula so this points to the conditions rather than anything else. Roymo’s image is cleaner in this sense. Just my opinion.
Anth
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 18-02-2019, 08:59 PM
Mickoid (Michael)
Registered User

Mickoid is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 1,439
Thanks for your comments Anthony. High cloud stopped me shooting any more subs so perhaps cloud had affected all my subs, it's just that they were so thin I couldn't see them at the start. Excuses, excuses, there's always something to explain why it didn't turn out better. It may have just been bad processing. It was still fun hunting down and photographing something for the first time.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +10. The time is now 01:15 AM.

Powered by vBulletin Version 3.8.7 | Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Advertisement
Testar
Advertisement
Bintel
Advertisement