I've seen that in my LMC images from the FSQ-106ED, Dave. It's a very interesting object close up like that. Nice going! I look forward to the final version.
Thanks Hugh. I forgot to mention that guiding was with a SX adaptive optics unit, so long subs are easy. Best part of all... the imaging was done while I was sound asleep
Quote:
Originally Posted by RickS
I've seen that in my LMC images from the FSQ-106ED, Dave. It's a very interesting object close up like that. Nice going! I look forward to the final version.
Thanks Rick! Funny that you say that, because I "found" this target while browsing a wide field LMC image recently.
Quote:
Originally Posted by multiweb
Nice one Dave. Great effort.
Thanks Marc!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stevec35
Looks great already Dave. I'll look forward to the final version.
Thanks Hugh. I forgot to mention that guiding was with a SX adaptive optics unit, so long subs are easy. Best part of all... the imaging was done while I was sound asleep
Nice
Great to see also as I'm thinking the STT-8300+AO and RC8 might be my next major purchase and I'm glad that I shouldn't have to upgrade from my EQ6.
Lots of things can happen, or go wrong in an hour sub, even with AO running, so top effort with a nice result.
Steve
Thanks Steve!
Quote:
Originally Posted by glenc
Thanks Dave, a great image of one of my favourite nebula.
Thanks Glen! I came across a few of your posts on here while trawling the archives for reference images. I think I've accidentally stumbled across it through the eyepiece while hunting for the Tarantula and going "whoa".
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ross G
Great looking closeup photo Dave.
Smooth and sharp.
60 minute exposures....wow!
Ross.
Cheers Ross! A bit of a tough target at Brisbane's latitude and early in the season - the Ha subs were taken between 20 and 45 deg altitude. I tried for some RGB stars but they were a mess, so I'll wait until it's near the meridian over summer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tilbrook@rbe.ne
Impressive Dave!
It's got that 3D look to it.
60 minute subs!! You must have that mount humming.
Cheers,
Justin.
Thanks Justin! I actually "upgraded" to Greg Bock's former mount, and run far less weight on it than he did so I actually get pretty good stars at 1625 mm focal length even without AO. My original EQ6 (which I still have) is so bad that it needs AO at > 5 Hz to do the same
Quote:
Originally Posted by pluto
Nice
Great to see also as I'm thinking the STT-8300+AO and RC8 might be my next major purchase and I'm glad that I shouldn't have to upgrade from my EQ6.
Yes, that set up would be capable of excellent results. Note that I only use 2x2 binning now because of the long focal length (including for the 60 min NB subs) - 1x1 is just too insensitive (slow), but it's good to have the option there for tiny planetaries.
I'd also recommend getting a quality refractor around 300 - 600 mm focal length for larger nebulae (Triffid + Lagoon, Orion + Running Man, Horsehead + Flame, etc).
Impressive given the sub length. Heaps of detail. Maybe a bit dark in the background, but I will keeping an eye out for the further developments. How did you happen upon the notion to image for 60 minutes per sub? Did you find that 30 minutes was not producing enough signal?
SX adaptive optics unit & RC scope, sounds a very practical combo for going deep Dave, great result I can imagine your auto set-up working and you inside studying skin cells what-have-you, , Lol !
Great Effort and awesome result
I'd also recommend getting a quality refractor around 300 - 600 mm focal length for larger nebulae (Triffid + Lagoon, Orion + Running Man, Horsehead + Flame, etc).
I have a SW ED80, which I love, but I have been tossing up between the RC or a nice WO 110 f7 triplet or similar. I just have to decide whether I want to chase those smaller objects, and deal with the extra challenges a long FL brings, or whether I want to image the same kinds of objects that I am now but with better glass. Unfortunately my budget demands that I not make the decision any time soon
Either way it's good to know that I'm free to choose without having to worry about the extra outlay on a better mount!
Thanks for the advice
Impressive given the sub length. Heaps of detail. Maybe a bit dark in the background, but I will keeping an eye out for the further developments. How did you happen upon the notion to image for 60 minutes per sub? Did you find that 30 minutes was not producing enough signal?
Thanks Paul. I agree about the background - this is just a quick process, and needs a bit of dynamic range compression for the bright central blobs.
I've just been following two principles for exposure length: expose-to-the-right and use ideal exposures when sky limited (overwhelm the read noise with sky background). The Astrodon filters really suppress both stars and sky background, so even with 60 min subs all the nebulosity is bunched up on the left side of the histogram with minimal sky background.
I did start with 20 min subs and while the bright areas of nebulosity came through fine, the background was very noisy and didn't improve even with long integration times such as 36x20 min (12 hours). With 12x60 mins, I noticed the background was much cleaner but I have a lot more thermal noise and hot pixels. I'd prefer a larger aperture scope and/or more sensitive camera, but for now longer subs are free
I think I read on here that you've ordered Astrodon filters? I think you'll find that with the same length subs as before, your histogram will be bunched up to the left compared to the wider filters.
Quote:
Originally Posted by astronobob
SX adaptive optics unit & RC scope, sounds a very practical combo for going deep Dave, great result I can imagine your auto set-up working and you inside studying skin cells what-have-you, , Lol !
Great Effort and awesome result
Thanks Bob! Back to learning about macules, papules, plaques, patches, nodules, pustules, vesicles, ...
Quote:
Originally Posted by pluto
I have a SW ED80, which I love, but I have been tossing up between the RC or a nice WO 110 f7 triplet or similar. I just have to decide whether I want to chase those smaller objects, and deal with the extra challenges a long FL brings, or whether I want to image the same kinds of objects that I am now but with better glass. Unfortunately my budget demands that I not make the decision any time soon
Either way it's good to know that I'm free to choose without having to worry about the extra outlay on a better mount!
Thanks for the advice
If you're a galaxy hunter, maybe go for the extra aperture of the RC8 or larger? If it were me, I'd love a WO 110 f/7 triplet. It'd give you great image scale and FOV for nebulae, and throwing in a GSO RC8 for smaller targets would be peanuts ($700-$800 used).
60min subs, wow, pretty good...I'm a 5 and 10min man myself
Impact is what I see here, some processing/blending improvements here and there wouldn't go astray but the sheer Pow factor is pretty cool mate
Mike
Cheers Mike. If I had a 12" f/3.8 scope, I'd be a 5-10 min man too Yep, I agree on the processing - this was just a quick & dirty job, but I also have a lot to learn on that front too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by marco
A great and dramatic image of this object Dave, surely got a kick when looked at it
