The Trifid Nebula TEC180FL

gregbradley · #1 03-06-2009, 08:47 PM

Its been a long time between images with a lot of cloudy rainy weather at my dark site on new moon weekends since Feb.

I managed finally to get 2 clear nights last week. One was excellent seeing the other was very good seeing.

The Trifid Nebula, a very well imaged object and deservedly so as it is
one of the most beautiful of all the nebulas.

TEC 180 fluorite triplet F7 1260mm focal length, flattener, FLI Microline 8300, Astronomik LRGB filters, Astrodon 5nm Ha filter, Tak NJP mount, Astrotech 66Ed guide scope and ST402ME guide camera.

HaLRGB 60 90 40 60 50 all 10 minute subs, Ha and Luminance 1x1 binning, colour 2x2.

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/ima...85563/original

Greg.

Lester · #2 03-06-2009, 09:01 PM

Outstanding image.

Well done Greg.

sjastro · #3 03-06-2009, 09:50 PM

Excellent image Greg.

Steven

h0ughy (David) · #4 03-06-2009, 10:05 PM

looks like a very nice result, that scope must be a treat

Alchemy (Clive) · #5 04-06-2009, 06:25 AM

one of the if not the nicest amatuer image of this object ive seen, not overdone in the colors, some nice streamer detail in the reflection nebulosity ( now you dont see that in most images), just a beauty all over

well done.

All these great images coming out just at the time of the malin entries to be submitted

. hope you put it in.

avandonk · #6 04-06-2009, 09:43 AM

Fantastic detail in the nebs and dust Greg. I'd like to see what this optic could do with more clear skies. Greg is it possible to put up an image where none of the bright stars are saturated? Even a jpg would do. I want to try an experiment.

Bert

iceman (Mike) · #7 04-06-2009, 09:59 AM

Beautiful, stunning image Greg.
Great to see more from you.

lacad01 (Adam) · #8 04-06-2009, 11:39 AM

Very nice indeed

bluescope · #9 04-06-2009, 12:43 PM

Emission neb is a little too bright pink for my taste Greg and there appear to be some elongated stars around the top right ... do you have a flattener in your imaging chain for this scope ?

Still a nice image .... just being picky !

p.s. Just read your thread again and it seems you did have a flattener attached ..... mmmmmmmmm

Bassnut (Fred) · #10 04-06-2009, 01:50 PM

Nice one Greg.

And I see you blended Ha and Lum to good effect. I used just Ha as lum on this one, and the blue neb all but dissappeared.

gregbradley · #11 04-06-2009, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lester

Outstanding image.

Well done Greg.

Thanks Lester.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sjastro

Excellent image Greg.

Steven

Thank you Stephen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by h0ughy

looks like a very nice result, that scope must be a treat

The scope is awesome. Its a bit undermounted and pushing the NJP to the limit though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alchemy

one of the if not the nicest amatuer image of this object ive seen, not overdone in the colors, some nice streamer detail in the reflection nebulosity ( now you dont see that in most images), just a beauty all over

well done.

All these great images coming out just at the time of the malin entries to be submitted

. hope you put it in.

Thanks for that nice compliment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by avandonk

Fantastic detail in the nebs and dust Greg. I'd like to see what this optic could do with more clear skies. Greg is it possible to put up an image where none of the bright stars are saturated? Even a jpg would do. I want to try an experiment.

Bert

Thanks Bert. I'll look through the subs to see if any have that. Perhaps the green filter.The small well depth of the 8300 tends to mean there are saturated stars - that is the price of this chip but it performs so well in other ways that I can live with that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by iceman

Beautiful, stunning image Greg.
Great to see more from you.

Thanks Mike, kind of you to say so.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lacad01

Very nice indeed

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluescope

Emission neb is a little too bright pink for my taste Greg and there appear to be some elongated stars around the top right ... do you have a flattener in your imaging chain for this scope ?

Still a nice image .... just being picky !

Yeah there is a bit of elongation there. The scope is a tad undermounted on the NJP but I usually get round stars on most subs but occassionally I don't, especially at odd angles. Perhaps it was tracking in some subs, perhaps its a bit of flex in something. I'll check the subs to see if it is a pattern or only in some.

With the too pink I pushed th ered to the point where it brought up some red in the surrounding background in some areas. It could be a preference thing but I know what you mean. That is the judgement call on mixing Ha - how red or shade thereof do you want it?

p.s. Just read your thread again and it seems you did have a flattener attached ..... mmmmmmmmm

Yes that's right and now I think of it I wasn't using the correct adapter I got made for exact spacing although it is pretty close. Perhaps that was it. I'll have to chekc my adapter specs again - I have so many adapters for different combos I labelled them so I didn't get lost. I left the FLI focuser in the lineup and I don't think it should have that. Maybe that is why.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bassnut

Nice one Greg.

And I see you blended Ha and Lum to good effect. I used just Ha as lum on this one, and the blue neb all but dissappeared.

Thanks Fred. I am happy with the formula I have evolved for Ha blending. I thinkin the end I used only a very small amount of Ha as luminosity as it added a nice bit of contrast but too much and as you say it wipes out the blue neb.

multiweb (Marc) · #12 04-06-2009, 06:16 PM

Fantastic picture Greg. The colours and details are simply superb.

gregbradley · #13 04-06-2009, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by multiweb

Fantastic picture Greg. The colours and details are simply superb.

Thanks Marc, much appreciated.

Greg.

Tilt (Michael) · #14 04-06-2009, 08:14 PM

Excellent image Greg, you've captured incredible detail. Well done.

Michael

strongmanmike (Michael) · #15 04-06-2009, 10:27 PM

Looks great Greg

How Steve is noticing elongated stars in that image is beyond me, perhaps he uses a magnifying glass or Jase's starogamatorator? Perhaps at a larger image size they are noticable but boy at the size you have posted ya need a bleedin mother-in-law look to see'em

Mike

Jen · #16 04-06-2009, 10:27 PM

Wow very nice pic Greg the colors are gorgeous

Hagar (Doug) · #17 04-06-2009, 10:33 PM

Time to get away from the Australian dollar thread and talk about something truely beautiful.

Wonderful image Greg. The new scope certainly produces the goods. This is one of the nicest Trifids I have seen.
Great work.

bluescope · #18 04-06-2009, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Looks great Greg

How Steve is noticing elongated stars in that image is beyond me, perhaps he uses a magnifying glass or Jase's starogamatorator? Perhaps at a larger image size they are noticable but boy at the size you have posted ya need a bleedin mother-in-law look to see'em

Mike

I actually think it's quite easy to see them Mike ... and I don't have a mother-in-law anymore

she's still alive just nothing to do with me anymore

gregbradley · #19 04-06-2009, 11:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tilt

Excellent image Greg, you've captured incredible detail. Well done.

Michael

Thanks Michael, it was nice to be imaging again. I imaged a few other objects but this one ended up the complete set of Ha LRGB. The others are missing blue etc. LRGB imaging makes you a bit vulnerable as you need those 4 sets of images at a minimum to make an image. I have a Ha Eagle, part of an Omega Centauri, most of a nice NGC 6121 (quite a nice Glob, also called M4). I was all set to use the 180 with the Apogee U16M camera on the 3rd night which weatherwise promised so much and delivered so little! It seemed to be mostly clear all day and the clouds rolled in after dark which is unusual, often the opposite at my site.

I was thinking NGC6188 or Rho area, perhaps concentrating more on the blue nebula region or even Corona Australis.

Greg

Quote:

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Looks great Greg

Mike

Thanks Mike, its been a while between images. I am hoping the weather improves plus I am moving in the next few months and it should have dark skies so I will be imaging from home more.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jen

Wow very nice pic Greg the colors are gorgeous

Thanks Jen. It is a pretty part of the sky.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hagar

Time to get away from the Australian dollar thread and talk about something truely beautiful.

Wonderful image Greg. The new scope certainly produces the goods. This is one of the nicest Trifids I have seen.
Great work.

Thanks Doug. I'd say the Aussie dollar is likely to conitnue to go up overall (my 2c).

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluescope

I actually think it's quite easy to see them Mike ... and I don't have a mother-in-law anymore

she's still alive just nothing to do with me anymore

I checked some other subs and I don't see that elongation. So I am thinking it may have been tracking errors.

I did trash a couple of hours of subs because of poor focus and tracking errors.

Greg.

Peter Ward · #20 05-06-2009, 11:46 AM

I still have reservations about the TEC/ KAF8300 combo as a system. CCDInspector indicates stars with FWHM's of around 5 arc sec.

The brighter stars are a little boated and certainly do not look as tight as images produced by your AP. There is a little, and I do mean *little* elongation top left and right edges of frame, which is surprising given the KAF8300 is not exactly CCD acreage.

I'd be experimenting with aperture masks (spherical error check) and different sensors (substrate scattering) but...but that's just me

None-the-less a M20 to be proud of to be sure.