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Old 21-11-2007, 11:57 AM
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Horsey Autoguided from the night before!

Hi Folks..
Well this is my third attempt at autoguiding with my new goodies and what better subject than the good ol horsehead and friends! Set up as the moon was setting below the mountains got my focus and the autoguiding going and waited for the sky to grow dark..
Used PHD for guiding and with some help and comments from other IIS members.. I tried some longer exposures and more of them.
Half way through some dirty dark clouds paid a visit and PHD was flashing red and not happy about it so I took some darks till the cloud had moved on..Lost 3 exposures out of the session but I am a happy chappy. Out of all the frames only one showed oval stars but was still very usable..
Ok datails are 14 x 7min at iso 800 with 4 DF subtracted, with my 6" newt and canon 300D..I ran out of dark sky with dawn approaching before I could do any more..
Seeing was good as well as transparancy but not cool enough to keep the noise low.
I think this is my best horsehead to date...
All comments most welcome!
cheers and CS Gary
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  #2  
Old 21-11-2007, 12:19 PM
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vash (Ashley)
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wow, thats awesome,
I hope to be able to image this soon using autoguiding, once I get the new laptop and a gpusb
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Old 21-11-2007, 12:31 PM
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browndog (Ian)
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That is a ripper image..! That should go straight into the pool room.
For your 3rd attempt at autoguiding you seem to have mastered the technique very well.
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Old 21-11-2007, 12:51 PM
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get better each time, nice shot
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Old 21-11-2007, 01:08 PM
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Gee that is some horse, very nice, I bet it looks better than the Nags running in the Ballarat Cup in the pouring rain today.

Yesterday it was 35 and red hot, today it is 14 and hasn't stopped raining all day, bugger the cup, we need the rain more.

Leon
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Old 21-11-2007, 01:10 PM
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Gary,

Is this from a reasonably dark site? I'm getting disheartened with my efforts so far. This is only my 3rd night out with autoguiding (PHD is cool), so I appear to be on a similar learning curve also.

I'm struggling against light pollution to get a half decent horsey pic.
I've put an Orion Skyglow filter in the mix now which is helping the images, but obviously requiring longer exposures too.

To give you an idea of what I'm fighting, see the comparison with the filtered image. This is just a RAW converted to JPG and then shrunk down for upload.

My B33 effort is 60 minutes (12 x 5min) with an 80ED and unmodified 350D, using the Skyglow filter.
I think I just need to continue to throw more exposures at it, or go to a dark site.

Turbo
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  #7  
Old 21-11-2007, 01:34 PM
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Wow Gary, that's bloody beautiful. I wish the flame fully fit in the composition though - that'd be an entry for next year's Malins!
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Old 21-11-2007, 01:58 PM
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Lovely image Gary. You've managed the colour tones and balance well. Histogram also looks clean. This image is a real credit to your dedication and processing vision. I would go as far as saying you've raised the bar for other DSLR users to follow. Well done.
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Old 21-11-2007, 02:47 PM
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Top value Gary, you really nailed that one. Lovely colours and detail throughout.

A fine job.
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Old 21-11-2007, 03:27 PM
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Great shot Gary. A 6" scope and unmodded DSLR seems to work pretty well. With my 4" I really have to have ideal conditions to get a decent shot. I agree with Mike about the framing. The head has to go up and to the right, so that the flame gets into the pic. You can use the bright star (zeta orionis) to aid in the framing, now that you know the FOV.
Geoff
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Old 21-11-2007, 07:40 PM
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Beautiful Gary.... belongs in a frame that one
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Old 21-11-2007, 07:55 PM
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That's a fantastic image Gary. You've really nailed it. Settings, exposure and focus are spot on and the processing is just perfect

As Jase has said you've really raised the bar for all DSLR users
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Old 22-11-2007, 12:11 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vash View Post
wow, thats awesome,
I hope to be able to image this soon using autoguiding, once I get the new laptop and a gpusb
Thanks Vash! you will love this autoguiding stuff...

Quote:
Originally Posted by browndog View Post
That is a ripper image..! That should go straight into the pool room.
For your 3rd attempt at autoguiding you seem to have mastered the technique very well.
Thanks browndog! I did some research on settings etc for PHD on the net as well as some help from IIS members to get me close to the mark!
Thanks for looking!!

Quote:
Originally Posted by h0ughy View Post
get better each time, nice shot
Thanks Houghy ... I do try to out do my last attempt sometimes I do and others, well I don`t post those.
cheers

Quote:
Originally Posted by leon View Post
Gee that is some horse, very nice, I bet it looks better than the Nags running in the Ballarat Cup in the pouring rain today.

Yesterday it was 35 and red hot, today it is 14 and hasn't stopped raining all day, bugger the cup, we need the rain more.

Leon
Thanks Leon I am glad that hot break has finally finished and you are getting some rain! One thing is after the rain has stopped and the sky clears you should get some nice clear dark sky...

Quote:
Originally Posted by turbo_pascale View Post
Gary,

Is this from a reasonably dark site? I'm getting disheartened with my efforts so far. This is only my 3rd night out with autoguiding (PHD is cool), so I appear to be on a similar learning curve also.

I'm struggling against light pollution to get a half decent horsey pic.
I've put an Orion Skyglow filter in the mix now which is helping the images, but obviously requiring longer exposures too.

To give you an idea of what I'm fighting, see the comparison with the filtered image. This is just a RAW converted to JPG and then shrunk down for upload.

My B33 effort is 60 minutes (12 x 5min) with an 80ED and unmodified 350D, using the Skyglow filter.
I think I just need to continue to throw more exposures at it, or go to a dark site.

Turbo
Hi Turbo, yes I have a rather dark sky which really helps with such faint object like this region. With my 7 min subs there is only a slight lightening of the background and I don`t use any filters at all. I think a dark sky site would make a lot of difference especially that you are using a unmodded camera which is cutting your Ha down to only 10% or so and you will have to go deep to get good data.. You could always get a Ha filter and use this as your red channel and LP won`t be a bother?
Best of luck..cheers Gary

Quote:
Originally Posted by iceman View Post
Wow Gary, that's bloody beautiful. I wish the flame fully fit in the composition though - that'd be an entry for next year's Malins!
Thanks Mike.. I really didn`t even worry about the flame neb but looking at it now I wish I had framed it a bit better!
cheers

Quote:
Originally Posted by jase View Post
Lovely image Gary. You've managed the colour tones and balance well. Histogram also looks clean. This image is a real credit to your dedication and processing vision. I would go as far as saying you've raised the bar for other DSLR users to follow. Well done.
Thanks Jase! for that lovely comment! I am always learning with the processing side and I hope to keep on improving. I wish I could take the next step and get a nice Sbig ccd or similar but I think I will be stuck with a DSLR for a bit yet, so I shall push it as hard as I can..
Thanks again..

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ric View Post
Top value Gary, you really nailed that one. Lovely colours and detail throughout.

A fine job.
Thanks Ric I am very happy with it...Only wish it was a cold night as there was a bit of noise to remove and that lost the finer details!
Thanks for the comments....

Quote:
Originally Posted by ghsmith45 View Post
Great shot Gary. A 6" scope and unmodded DSLR seems to work pretty well. With my 4" I really have to have ideal conditions to get a decent shot. I agree with Mike about the framing. The head has to go up and to the right, so that the flame gets into the pic. You can use the bright star (zeta orionis) to aid in the framing, now that you know the FOV.
Geoff
Thanks Geoff...next time I shall get them both framed a bit better..

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee View Post
Beautiful Gary.... belongs in a frame that one
cheers Lee I am glad you liked it...hopefully I shall get a chance to do a longer run at it before things warm up too much

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tamtarn View Post
That's a fantastic image Gary. You've really nailed it. Settings, exposure and focus are spot on and the processing is just perfect

As Jase has said you've really raised the bar for all DSLR users
Thanks Barb and Dave.. ..good seeing really helped as well on the night and my nice dark sky really helps with shots like this...
Thanks again....
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  #14  
Old 23-11-2007, 06:17 AM
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Hi Turbo
Don't forget Gary's 300D is modded, so it's going to let in a lot more horsehead light that your unmodded 350D.
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Old 23-11-2007, 07:09 AM
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This incredible image now adorns the IceInSpace Homepage!
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Old 23-11-2007, 11:25 AM
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Wow!
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  #17  
Old 29-11-2007, 10:08 AM
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Great Shot

Great shot
What are you stacking in and are you processing in photoshop?
Keep up the good work

car
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Old 29-11-2007, 01:07 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by turbo_pascale View Post
Gary,

Is this from a reasonably dark site? I'm getting disheartened with my efforts so far. This is only my 3rd night out with autoguiding (PHD is cool), so I appear to be on a similar learning curve also.

I'm struggling against light pollution to get a half decent horsey pic.
I've put an Orion Skyglow filter in the mix now which is helping the images, but obviously requiring longer exposures too.

To give you an idea of what I'm fighting, see the comparison with the filtered image. This is just a RAW converted to JPG and then shrunk down for upload.

My B33 effort is 60 minutes (12 x 5min) with an 80ED and unmodified 350D, using the Skyglow filter.
I think I just need to continue to throw more exposures at it, or go to a dark site.

Turbo
Turbo
Did you add or median add the images?
For dim objects you will get more signal with a simple add.
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Old 29-11-2007, 02:05 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry B View Post
Turbo
Did you add or median add the images?
For dim objects you will get more signal with a simple add.
I tried a few different types of median (sigma reject etc), but didn't really think to try a simple add. Might give it a go to see how it goes. I have to admit that most of my reading discourages this, but then again, some compromises need to be made from a bright suburban site!

Thanks for the pointer!

Turbo
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  #20  
Old 29-11-2007, 03:17 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by g__day View Post
Wow!
Thanks g__day for that.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Carl View Post
Great shot
What are you stacking in and are you processing in photoshop?
Keep up the good work

car
Thanks Carl..., stacked in Deepskystacker (I think it was meridian combined) and the rest of the processing was done in Photoshop..
cheers

Quote:
Originally Posted by turbo_pascale View Post
I tried a few different types of median (sigma reject etc), but didn't really think to try a simple add. Might give it a go to see how it goes. I have to admit that most of my reading discourages this, but then again, some compromises need to be made from a bright suburban site!

Thanks for the pointer!

Turbo
yeap you can certainly add them but your noise will not be reduced...if you can get enough images, say 25 total. what you can do is average stack say 5 images and have 5 stacked images then add them together to get a smoother result.
The best thing you could get is a 2" UHC filter to cut down your LP..
cheers Gary
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