My Aurora Flatfield Panel arrived during the week so I managed to gather flats for all filters when I was out on Sunday night, so I decided to reprocess the whole first light data set from the start...and they have made a difference.
With the excitement of the new scope under control and armed with the flats, this time I was more careful and controlled in my processing, kept the colour saturated halos at bay, improved the registration, used no sharpening (just DDP), noise reduction or gradient removal and yes, I reflected on the fluro blue ... with the view to produce a more natural, cleaner and more subtle LRGB image
SMC and 47 Tuc (18meg full resolution, full 4096pix X 4096pix frame)..try zooming out in your browser to fit more on your screen.
Mike
Last edited by strongmanmike; 31-10-2017 at 12:10 AM.
One could spend a lifetime looking at this image and not see everything.
For me, one of the most stunning I have ever seen.
Thanks a lot Pete... and I think your email proposal sounds great (will respond when I get home tonight), however, I am in the middle of hitting the LMC now and wow!! from the first sessions data... I recon this will be the one to print
Is your new shiny wide-field setup faster than your Newtonian-SX camera combo? I know resolution and image scales are completely different, but I am curious which one gets a clean image more quickly?
Is your new shiny wide-field setup faster than your Newtonian-SX camera combo? I know resolution and image scales are completely different, but I am curious which one gets a clean image more quickly?
Thanks Suavi
That's a difficult question, my 12" is F3.8 while the 4.2" FSQ is F5, so technically the FSQ is slower but it is hard to compare depth and cleanliness of an image, as wide field imaging can reveal extended objects quite well and give the impression of going deeper than the narrow field instrument because the extended object looks more compact and can appear brighter. Both systems get clean images quickly and both cameras are low noise (the SXH694 ridiculously so) but I am no Ray Shiraz on the comparative technicalities of this....Hopefully he chimes in, make an interesting discussion
That's a difficult question, my 12" is F3.8 while the 4.2" FSQ is F5, so technically the FSQ is slower but it is hard to compare depth and cleanliness of an image, as wide field imaging can reveal extended objects quite well and give the impression of going deeper than the narrow field instrument because the extended object looks more compact and can appear brighter. Both systems get clean images quickly and both cameras are low noise (the SXH694 ridiculously so) but I am no Ray Shiraz on the comparative technicalities of this....Hopefully he chimes in, make an interesting discussion
Mike
It really boils down to aperture rules. The Newt for sure is faster. My Honders is undoubtedly faster than an FSQ. FSQ is plenty fast though Most widefield scenes are fairly bright to begin with. But the 694 sensor is only receiving a small part of the total illuminated circle the scope is capable of so to that degree the large sensor is receiving most of the light gathered by the FSQ whereas the 694 is missing large amounts of the gathered light.
Even so the 694 has higher QE especially in the narrowbands where its around 50% more sensitive.
Greg
Last edited by gregbradley; 01-11-2017 at 08:54 AM.
Thank you Mike and Greg for your explanations. I do not mean to change the topic of this thread, but I am curious about this. I feel the FSQ may not be as much slower than the Newton as we may first think, because of some light loss in mirrors and the central obstruction. But 9micron pixels are no doubt much more sensitive that 4.54micron pixels, so I feel your wide-field setup should be faster in getting high SNR.
As for the first light, Iam really impressed again and again how good the optical alignment is out of the box
It really boils down to aperture rules. The Newt for sure is faster. My Honders is undoubtedly faster than an FSQ. FSQ is plenty fast though Most widefield scenes are fairly bright to begin with. But the 694 sensor is only receiving a small part of the total illuminated circle the scope is capable of so to that degree the large sensor is receiving most of the light gathered by the FSQ whereas the 694 is missing large amounts of the gathered light.
Even so the 694 has higher QE especially in the narrowbands where its around 50% more sensitive.
Greg
Yeah, maybe Greg, maybe....
Quote:
Originally Posted by SimmoW
Bloody big field that thing captures! And so crisp.
I notice some heavy Decon artefacts though
Just kidding.
Huh?...Idon't get it ...and you know very well that I have no sense of humour .......what's Decon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slawomir
Thank you Mike and Greg for your explanations. I do not mean to change the topic of this thread, but I am curious about this. I feel the FSQ may not be as much slower than the Newton as we may first think, because of some light loss in mirrors and the central obstruction. But 9micron pixels are no doubt much more sensitive that 4.54micron pixels, so I feel your wide-field setup should be faster in getting high SNR.
As for the first light, Iam really impressed again and again how good the optical alignment is out of the box
Quote:
Originally Posted by Retrograde
Stunning image Mike.
Congratulations on the new wide-field setup.
No problem at all Suavi and I think I could even agree with you and
Thanks Pete, wait till ya both see the LMC shot I am working on ...the Ha is simply mind blowing, highly detailed and perfect pin point stars corner to corner...this scope is bloody amazing, it has rekindled (or perhaps inflated?) my enthusiasm for this caper for sure
Quote:
Originally Posted by Regulus
Well worth a look at the Hi-Res.
Nice colour, composition, and detail. Just a great photo.
Trev
Thnak you so much Trevor, see comments to Suavi and Pete re the next image
Hi Mike,
It is great to see this!!
Congratulations on your new setup!
I see a very flat field all the way across the image - a fantastic optical setup there!!
BTW, I must apologise to the whole forum for not posting lately...work and life has been beyond hectic lately. Hopefully things will settle down as the year winds up.
Hi Mike,
It is great to see this!!
Congratulations on your new setup!
I see a very flat field all the way across the image - a fantastic optical setup there!!
BTW, I must apologise to the whole forum for not posting lately...work and life has been beyond hectic lately. Hopefully things will settle down as the year winds up.
Cheers,
Tim
Cheers Timmy it is indeed a flabbergasting piece of glass and I can't wait for the next clear night, although full moon is coming up and we are away next week for Riley's graduation as a JBAC in the RAAF, so I will be chomping at the bit then
Because I am in such a good mood and on behalf of IIS, you are formally forgiven for not posting images, amen
Mike
ps looking forward to your Canberra visit in Jan
Great first light effort! Looks much better than the quickie you posted first.
Seeing this makes me pine for a 16803-based sensor, so bad!
And, yep, I can testify, even with my slow 11002 chip that the Tarantula/LMC region looks incredible in hydrogen alpha -- posted my image a couple of months back. I can only imagine how much nicer it'd look with newer, more sensitive equipment.
Great first light effort! Looks much better than the quickie you posted first.
Seeing this makes me pine for a 16803-based sensor, so bad!
And, yep, I can testify, even with my slow 11002 chip that the Tarantula/LMC region looks incredible in hydrogen alpha -- posted my image a couple of months back. I can only imagine how much nicer it'd look with newer, more sensitive equipment.
H
Thanks H, yeah the first version was a bit rushed
After 4 years I had forgotten what the big 16803 chip can do in the FLI it's like an astroimaging rebirth
Now you're talkin" - the redprocess is a now a crackerjack image Mike - looking forward to seeing more widefields from this combo
Thanks Andy, well the first was done with no sleep and way too rushed. Since I had no flats I was really just looking at the basics...still, it was not a great process The latest is much better, I am glad the replacement Aurora flat field panel worked perfectly and flats corrected the data well....all there is left to do now is..?..image everything
and armed with the flats, this time I was more careful and controlled in my processing, kept the colour saturated halos at bay, improved the registration, used no sharpening (just DDP), noise reduction or gradient removal and yes, I reflected on the fluro blue 
... with the view to produce a more natural, cleaner and more subtle LRGB image 
...and you know very well that I have no sense of humour 
....
...what's Decon? 
...the Ha is simply mind blowing, highly detailed and perfect pin point stars corner to corner...this scope is bloody amazing, it has rekindled (or perhaps inflated?) my enthusiasm for this caper for sure 
