NGC1499 - California Nebula in Ha

Paramount · #1 05-12-2009, 10:29 PM

Hi All
We had another clear night on Thursday although the moon was full and high again. This is 12x20 minutes with the FSQ106ED and H36 with a 5nm Ha filter. The Lodestar autoguider was playing up so the guiding was done by my M8C camera. I last tried this over a year ago with the TMB115 but only did 2x15 minutes, this can be seen on the nebulae page of the image gallery on my website Imaging The Heavens - Home Page
A full high resolution version of this can be seen at http://www.pbase.com/imaging_the_hea...mage/119992157
Thanks for looking
Best wishes
Gordon

AlexN · #2 05-12-2009, 10:36 PM

Outstanding Gordon!! Great detail and contrast in the processing.
Is that slightly cropped? I would have thought the FOV would have been a bit wider than that?

How do you find the H36? thats the KAI-16000M sensor is it not? Must be a good match with the FSQ106!!

jjjnettie · #3 05-12-2009, 10:42 PM

STunning work!!

Paramount · #4 05-12-2009, 10:42 PM

Hi Alex
Thanks for the comments, the image is full frame with no cropping at all, what is deceiving is that there is quite a bit of faint nebulosity that surrounds the main nebula that fills the full frame. I really like the H36 and as it is English and the manufacturers are on our doorstep so to speak there is never a problem if anything goes wrong with their camera as the turnarond is very quick. The camera is the ideal match for the FSQ except that you have to use 50mm square filters to avoid vignetting
Best wishes
Gordon

CoolhandJo (Paul) · #5 05-12-2009, 11:37 PM

Now thats what I call pin point stars! Nice framing also. Thats a very well done capture. 5nm Ha nailed it.

AlexN · #6 05-12-2009, 11:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paramount

The camera is the ideal match for the FSQ except that you have to use 50mm square filters to avoid vignetting

I would have thought so yes, There are HEAPS of stunning shots from the KAI-11002M sensor + FSQ, and I'd always thought that at 500mm F/L with the 9um pixels in the 11002M, the image would have suffered due to it being under sampled. the 16000M has similar sensor area, but with smaller 7.4um pixels.. much better for wide field refractors..

After having a closer look and comparing to a few other images I've seen, I now see that faint extended nebulosity that causes the deceptive effect of this image