Heavy cloud coming in fast, so just 3 x 10 min unbinned subs in H-alpha. We would normally hope for ten times that, so this a tiny bit gritty for us.
The new FLI PL16803 seems magnificent. No more "smudge to the right", and no more ghosting from the previous shot, that we used to get with the old Aspen 16803.
We've kind of forgotten how to do this. It was pretty terrifying. Very rusty on the processing. If we've made any mistakes with the processing, it's probably making the background too black to make up for the very short exposure, and perhaps slightly oversharpening because everyone else has been submitting such razor sharp stuff of late. We hope to be back to our old rhythm soon.
We've turned the swan through 90 degrees. In this pose, you can see that it is yet another phoenix, or firebird, arising from the flames, although it is easy to accidentally think it is one of those spatchcocks you get from Harris Farm.
The "cygnet", a little accompanying nebula of extreme faintness, is mostly out of frame but you can see part of it to top left. If you look very closely you'll see an adorable little fluffy head, with a pair of eyes and a cute beak, looking straight at you. If you instead see a kitten, that is understandable, but it's not, it's a cygnet.
Given the short integration it isn't too gritty but the details are showing some promise even with the low SNR.
Looking forward to the full image when it's completed.
How good is that Pheonix quite striking, well spotted
Welcome back into the imaging game guys....and your new administration wing is not far away either
Hope your experience with the new FLI is a good one
Mike
Thanks for the kind words, Mike. The extensions to the house are proceeding well, but the bathroom renovator used a leaf blower to try to clean up the concrete dust, and the house, the insides of the computers, DVD player, etc are choked with it. Much red wine opened to rinse away the pain.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Atmos
Given the short integration it isn't too gritty but the details are showing some promise even with the low SNR.
Looking forward to the full image when it's completed.
Wise words, Colin. Many more hours at the helm required.
Only on the iphone but welcome back!
I’m also offline imaging wise for a bit while the rig gets pimped, but hopefully not for as long as your recent hiatus - good to see you back on the imaging horse.
Nice one M and T. There is a lot to be said fro monochrome images--they usually look nice and contrasty.
I appreciate your comment about getting rusty with processing--I felt the same way on returning from my OS jaunt.
We are back up and running, albeit rather manually. Some time in the next two weeks the new focusing motor arrives. In the interim, focusing is manual, labour intensive, and only done once at the beginning of the imaging session.
We continue to be very pleased with the FLI PL16803. It is very old technology, but it is working very well.
Good to see you back M&T, i can see the Phoenix, maybe an appropriate image for your return, nicely done
Cheers George, that's kind.
Through a tiny scope it's an omega. Through our 16" dobsonian, it looks exactly and only like a swan. But even 30 mins of exposure changes it quite a lot.
Nice to see you back imaging again Mike. It must be a relief to have such equipment working as it should on every clear night now. The Sensor whilst old tech, will be flawless I am sure with the FLI. If I could have afforded one I would have gone with one of those some time ago. I look forward to your images in the near future.
That’s brilliant MnT. We are very pleased to see you back up and running again (just in time for the new moon as well). Looking forward to many more.
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Originally Posted by codemonkey
Great stuff, guys! Welcome back
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Haese
Nice to see you back imaging again Mike. It must be a relief to have such equipment working as it should on every clear night now. The Sensor whilst old tech, will be flawless I am sure with the FLI. If I could have afforded one I would have gone with one of those some time ago. I look forward to your images in the near future.
Rodney, Lee, Paul,
Thanks for the encouragement.
The lead time for the new focuser was 4 to 6 weeks. We're at 5 weeks now. Once it arrives and is safely installed, we can start doing some longer runs.
In the interim I've been working on the more luxurious bits of the scripting.
quite striking, well spotted 
