Frustrating astro weather up here at the moment, the nights are starting out clear but after a couple of hours the cloud are rolling in of the sea.
Here's a quick capture of Centaurus A between the clouds. 18 X 2min subs at iso 1600 unmodded canon 1100d, 10"4.8 newt guided on HEQ5. Hopefully I can get a few more subs to add to this over the weekend.
Very nice Rick - focus, detail & (to me at least) colour.
I'm been at the same target this week with my newt. I got a few hours of it now, but first look suggests that it won't come up to yours.
Just reading about it - discovered by James Dunlop from his home in Parramatta. So its definitely a Sydney target! How do you see the jet associated with its black hole - is that radio- or x-rays or something?
Thanks guys, I was surprised at how well resolved the dust lane was, certainly my best one on that target. It was just one of those nights where everything was happening just right, guiding, focus and the seeing was crisp. I would have kept going but those pesky clouds appeared. I agree the colour is not quite right but my processing skills aren't either (but heaps better than last year).
Thanks Rowland, Lindon and Kevin and Kevin. I did manage to get a couple of hours worth of subs last night, just gotta muck around with a bit of processing, first go with more subs is definitely reducing the noise, but last nights seeing wasn't as crisp.
"Such great detail in the dust lane for 36min of subs. I tried imaging that with a 100mm refractor and didn't come close."
This is why I love big fat newts for imaging everything is just that much brighter so even though newt's are harder to work with it's worth the effort, especially on a tight budget. That night was also exceptionally clear as well, the next night the dust lane was very soft.
Kevin, I would love to go to the ABC night but I'll be in Adelaide that week, but we'll have to catch up when I get back. Elise is keen to go so I'll have to get her up to speed with one of my scopes, maybe the 180mm Mac and HEQ5, seeing that the nights objects will be the moon and Jupiter and maybe a few brighter clusters.