Eta Carina Nebula

[rat156]

Hi All,

Testing the new equipment on some "standard candles", Eta Carina is a popular target at this time of year, for obvious reasons. This image is HaRGB (5 hours, 10, 10, 10 minutes), using an ASA N12 scope, Paramount MX scope and Sbig STT8300 camera.

Larger image on my website.

Cheers
Stuart

[Larryp]

Looks very nice, Stuart!

[rat156]

Hi Laurie,

I had uploaded the wrong image, try again now, this one is bigger, but at lower jpg quality.

Cheers
Stuart

[Larryp]

Haven't changed my opinion, Stuart-its a nice image!:thumbsup:

[MrB]

Mount? ;)

I only get the message "The image was not found."
But the thumbnail looks good!

Edit: ignore above ;)
Image looks great Stuart!

[gregbradley]

Holy Cow Stuart that is a gorgeous image!:eyepop:

That is a seriously good image with fabulous sharpness and resolution and terrific colour and depth.

You must be stoked. I wondered how ASA scopes were these days after Mikes debacle with one. Do you think the focuser would handle a heavier 16803 chipped camera? The 8300 seems very well matched to it.

Greg.

[jjjnettie]

Beautifully rich.

[RobF]

Happy for you Stuart - great work there for early days. Thanks for sharing.

[rat156]

Hi All,

Thanks for the kind comments.

Yeah, I was quite worried until I finally got some images out of the scope. I had some problems with ASA, they made the wrong adapter for the camera, but the information on the Sbig website was not correct, so it wasn't to bad. They did take three months to replace it, even then it was still wrong. I got one from Precise parts in the US in about a week. A fortnight after that I got an email from their distributor in Aus that the adapter had arrived, after we had cancelled it. So there are still ASA eccentricities to deal with.

Having said all that, I was after images like this, so I'd have to say that I'm happy so far. The fact that they have a distributor in Aus was the reason I went ASA vs Orion Optics at the time, but that's a moot point now as both have Aus distributors.

I chose the 8300 based camera because I have had scopes that are supposed to cover the big sensors and have had lots of trouble with them. Sometimes the devil is in the fine print, conditions have to be perfect for the coverage to be flat, so a smaller chipped camera easily fits into the field of the scope. Also the scope/camera combo images at 1"/pixel.

Cheers
Stuart

[gregbradley]

Yeah, I was quite worried until I finally got some images out of the scope. I had some problems with ASA, they made the wrong adapter for the camera, but the information on the Sbig website was not correct, so it wasn't to bad. They did take three months to replace it, even then it was still wrong. I got one from Precise parts in the US in about a week. A fortnight after that I got an email from their distributor in Aus that the adapter had arrived, after we had cancelled it. So there are still ASA eccentricities to deal with.

Having said all that, I was after images like this, so I'd have to say that I'm happy so far. The fact that they have a distributor in Aus was the reason I went ASA vs Orion Optics at the time, but that's a moot point now as both have Aus distributors.

I chose the 8300 based camera because I have had scopes that are supposed to cover the big sensors and have had lots of trouble with them. Sometimes the devil is in the fine print, conditions have to be perfect for the coverage to be flat, so a smaller chipped camera easily fits into the field of the scope. Also the scope/camera combo images at 1"/pixel.

Cheers
Stuart[/QUOTE]

The camera/scope combo seems to be a winner. 16803 chip is very demanding and I think if the camera is heavy (which most 16803 cameras are) that's when the flex problems arise. Microline 16803 though is not heavy so that would be an exception but yeah orthogonality sensitivity is still there with that.

Greg

[strongmanmike]

Nice result indeed Stu, you must be relieved and I am happy for you :thumbsup:

I'd like to see the pure Ha version myself, from your colour combine I can see the Ha looks pretty good, what band width filter was in use?

Interesting how the ASA's create those dotted line diffraction spikes, very cool :thumbsup:

Mike

[Meru]

Wow this is amazing Stuart! I had no idea that only 10min subs for RGB would give so much colour. Good work

[rat156]

Hi Meru,

I probably should have clarified that that's 5 x 2minute subs for each R, G & B. The nebula is pretty bright at f/3.6. The Ha was in 15 minute subs as there's virtually no light pollution to deal with.

Cheers
Stuart

[rat156]

Hi Mike,

Yes, relieved is the word I think.

Tha Ha is attached, the filter is the standard Baader Ha 36mm filter (7nm).

The dotted diffraction spikes only happens with the Ha filter, though I suspect it will happen with the SII and OIII filters as well but haven't tried them yet.

Cheers
Stuart

[Meru]

Ah right, I knew that you meant 10 minutes all up for each channel but I wasn't sure how you did the subs. The joys of a fast optical train! Also yes the dotted diffraction spikes only happens with NB filters since the diffraction only really occurs at one wavelength. I observe this with my Bahtinov mask whenever I focus using any of my NB filters

[strongmanmike]

Niiice, looks a bit high contrast perhaps :question: the blacks are very abrupt on my screen?... but nothing wrong with that result otherwise :)

Mike

[Octane]

You have /got/ to be happy with that. What incredible resolution. :O

Congratulations, on your new baby. :)

H

[RickS]

Looks fantastic, Stuart! Glad to see the new scope is working so well.