Thor's Helmet

[DiscoDuck (Paul)]

Just testing out some new narrowband filters - Chroma 3nm OIII and 5nm Ha, replacing my ZWO 7nm ones.

An improvement over my previous attempts I think, and the Chroma filters don't seem to generate halos around brighter stars as easily as the ZWO ones did.

This was about 11 hours OIII and 9 hours Ha taken in suburban Adelaide on an RC8 and Mach1 mount with a ZWO 1600MM-C.

Astrobin version is here.

Edit: in response to Marcus' comment below, I remembered I had 6 hours (3x2) RGB on this from last year. I've used that for star colours and updated the Astrobin link above. A slight improvement maybe ... but the big change is that it pushes it over the 24 hours of data mark so I can now make a rubbish pun I was toying with that this is a Thor's Day.

[Andy01 (Andy)]

Looks great, dunno how you managed to dial in the RC8 so well, but it's an awesome result you have there!

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Very nicely done Paul!

Just need to blend in a few hours of RGB and you'd be golden!

[miki63au]

Great pic Paul!

I agree with Andy, the collimation of your RC is great. I just got a Tak collimating scope for my GSO RC6 ... had some progress, but need more time.

Q: I use Baader filters... plan to upgrade. Are you happy with Chroma? Compare to Astrodon? Where did you get it from?


Cheers,
Mik

[DiscoDuck (Paul)]

Originally Posted by Andy01

Looks great, dunno how you managed to dial in the RC8 so well, but it's an awesome result you have there!

Thanks Andy. The RC8 holds its collimation surprisingly well. I think it's 2-3 years since I last collimated, and it's been on numerous trips to dark sky sites in that time.

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

Very nicely done Paul!

Just need to blend in a few hours of RGB and you'd be golden!

Thanks Marcus. I might give that a go. Last time I tried that, the RGB stars were not much better than the HOO ones. But for completeness I should try!

Originally Posted by miki63au

Great pic Paul!

I agree with Andy, the collimation of your RC is great. I just got a Tak collimating scope for my GSO RC6 ... had some progress, but need more time.

Q: I use Baader filters... plan to upgrade. Are you happy with Chroma? Compare to Astrodon? Where did you get it from?

Good luck with your collimation Mik. I used a Glatter laser to do mine. There is no centre spot on the secondary as mine is older - that doesn't help! The "hall of mirrors" trick to align the primary and secondary is useful too.

Re the filters, I'd heard some grumblings about Astrodons since they got taken over. But only good things re Chroma. They seem fine. Not too sure if they'll be a huge upgrade from Baader, but certainly they are from ZWO. I just got them from OPT. I thought I had some halo issue due to them at first (see this thread) but it turned out to be my camera I think.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Pretty deep shot with nice colors and details in the core. Beautiful flat field too.

[DiscoDuck (Paul)]

Thanks Marc.

[Placidus (Mike and Trish)]

That's astonishing, both in terms of depth and clarity.

[DiscoDuck (Paul)]

Thanks Mike and Trish

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

A really good Thor that Paul, its such a cool looking object, no wonder we all like to have a crack at him Enjoyed having a good look, plenty of cool details, well done

Mike

[DiscoDuck (Paul)]

Thanks Mike.

[atalas]

Excellent

[DiscoDuck (Paul)]

Originally Posted by atalas

Excellent

Thanks

[Bart]

Nice work, DD. Looks like your duck science has paid off there! Lovely and smooth, nice deatil in the centre bubble area, good colours.

[petershah (Peter Shah)]

Beautiful detail.... I rather like Chroma filters

[DiscoDuck (Paul)]

Originally Posted by petershah

Beautiful detail.... I rather like Chroma filters

Thanks. Yes, I'm pleased with the Chroma filters....though my wallet is a bit light

Originally Posted by Bart

Nice work, DD. Looks like your duck science has paid off there! Lovely and smooth, nice deatil in the centre bubble area, good colours.

Thanks Bart. Good to know that duck science works and I'm not just a quack