Wide-field Helix.

[SpaceNoob (Chris)]

Hi All,

This is the first image produced from my new Observatory. The collected data was initially intended to test the setup but I continued to grab more subs over the following clear nights.

Imaging from a permanent setup is a breath of fresh air.... no more stuffing around!

Image details:

Telescope: FSQ106EDXIII @ f/5
Camera: STT-8300M
Ha 5nm 21x900, Oiii 3nm 27x900, RGB 12x300, all binned 1x1.
Darks, Flats, Bias applied.
Composition: Ha/Oiii/Oiii with RGB stars added.

Longer subs would have been better but I'll save going deeper on this target for the CDK at a later date.

http://www.astrobin.com/full/133122/0/

[Joshua Bunn (Joshua)]

lovely shot Chris!

[Placidus (Mike and Trish)]

Sharp as a pin, and you can see the first faint outer chevron at the top.
No stopping you now that the observatory is up and running.

[SpaceNoob (Chris)]

Originally Posted by Joshua Bunn

lovely shot Chris!

Thanks Joshua

Originally Posted by Placidus

Sharp as a pin, and you can see the first faint outer chevron at the top.
No stopping you now that the observatory is up and running.

Cheers Mike, I was surprised at the detail revealed by the 4". I did not apply any sharpening to the image, mostly because I don't know how to without trashing it. Still figuring out the narrowband processing stuff, this is my first true narrowband attempt and I've found that I'd rather be sky-limited than read-noise limited.... Even with 100 bias frames I couldn't quite tame it. There's plenty more detail present in the subs, the chevron you mention is very obvious in the stretched subs along with some other faint shockwaves, I just can't push it without revealing what appears to be remnant read-noise structures. I may have to look into over-scanning or whatever it was that I read in a few posts recently.

Either way, I am happy to be imaging again. Back at the start of the year I thought I'd be throwing this hobby away due to an eye injury, instead I persisted and started planning the observatory.

[Ross G]

Great looking photo Chris.

Sharp and very detailed.

Good luck.

Ross.

[johnnyt123 (John)]

I love the colour depth on this capture.

Great work

John

[Amaranthus (Barry)]

Extremely sharp detail - the nebula really stands out above the 'eye'. Nice contrast too. Excellent!