We had a great weekend at Wiruna this new moon. Clear nights from dusk 'till dawn ensured that we were all sleep deprived but nobody seemed to mind. A gusty Westerly kept us all alert.
Here's my first ever attempt at the Horsehead, 6 x 10-minute subs, captured between 3am and 4:30am. I'm surprised at the result.
I welcome comment from the experienced imagers here. I feel my data capture rig is improving, with still a few tweaks needed. I really need some advice on processing... how to highlight faint details while preserving star colour for example. I think a lot more is possible with the data I have here.
QHY8, 127mm APO, EQ6, guided with a QHY5 and ED80 via PHD Ascom pulseguide.
Cheers,
Rob
Last edited by Astrod00d; 05-10-2008 at 12:00 PM.
Reason: Add link to larger image
A very nice horsehead and flame there Rob.
The resolution provided by the 127mm scope tops the ED80 I used for my attempts at this area - markedly so.
I like the colour balance too between the Flame nebula, the blue wispy nebulosity in the centre and that 'blanket' of red behind the Horsehead itself.
Only distraction is the large halo around the bright star, but that too seems to fit!
I like this one - the QYH8 with your scope is a winner.
Cheers
Doug
Only distraction is the large halo around the bright star,
Yes, the halo is interesting and I've seen the same thing sometimes with other refractor set-ups.
I think the halo is a reflection off the QHY8 UV/IR filter, in turn being reflected back off the telescope objective. It's only an issue in extremely high contrast situations, such as this one with the bright star in amongst diffuse objects.
I'd like to eliminate it if possible... does anyone here have any advice?
I'd like to eliminate it if possible... does anyone here have any advice?
Cheers,
Rob
Hi Rob, in your case because you don't have diffraction spikes going all over the place I think you could make a circular mask around the halo, then composite another sub with less DDP without the halo if possible then blend them in and bump up the levels back to the original picture. That could work.
Rob that's a beautiful shot !
My only suggestion would be to lift the black point slightly to brighten the background.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Astrod00d
I think the halo is a reflection off the QHY8 UV/IR filter, in turn being reflected back off the telescope objective. It's only an issue in extremely high contrast situations, such as this one with the bright star in amongst diffuse objects.
... does anyone here have any advice?
I agree, it looks like internal reflection off the camera filter.
Probably try reducing your subs if there's high contrast objects.
I wonder... If you were to use the clear glass window on the QHY8, then use a T-adapter with a higher quality (baader/astronomik) UV/IR block, if that would fix the problem...
I had a problem similar to this when I used my UHC filter stacked on the UV/IR on my QHY8 imaging Antares.... Although my reflection was much more prominent than that...
Must be due to the internal reflections within the QHY8 as same scope with 20D gives a different pattern and different extent of flare. See this link http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/a...se.php?a=48481
What has always amazed me is the off - centered blue halos seen with WO scopes which is definately NOT the case with the 127mm scopes here. A bright star can be off-centered but still give a symetrical halo. Sign of good even optics.
PS Great image.
I love the green and blue stuff.
Stunning image. I really like the halo around the star.
