NGC2359, Thor's Helmet. RC8 third light...

[cybereye]

Hello everyone!

Well after what seems like an eternity, I actually have something new to post!! Last night, Thursday night, I set up my scope for what would hopefully be a good night of imaging. But it didn't take long for the gremlins to raise their ugly heads!

I had trouble drift aligning, there was some flex in my rig and I was using a new version of EzCap for my QHY8L. No dramas there except that on my very last sub I realised I was using the default Gain/Offset values rather than those that I had calculated. I also hadn't done the auto crop so my images didn't match the size of the darks in my library. In other words, the following image does not have darks applied. However it does have flats and dark flats.

Anyway, enough of the complaints, here's my rendition of NGC2359, Thor's Helmet. I spent some time trying to get rid of what I thought was background red noise, until I checked some images on the web and realised it was nebulosity! This image is 2 hours worth of 10 minute subs taken from my backyard in Brisbane - I've also attached an light pollution map of Brisbane (I'm the red dot) which illustrates how important my UHC-S light pollution filter is!

Stacking in DSS, processing StarTools, final cosmetics in GIMP.

Any hints, tips, thoughts or donations gratefully accepted!!

Cheers,
Mario

[leon]

Nice one Mario, well done indeed, you must live close to the rest of my family, a couple in Belmont and another toward Victoria Point.
In the dark area i believe.

Leon

[jjjnettie]

Beautiful detail within the neb Mario.
There might be a tad too much blue in the back ground. Try setting your black point again and adjust the intensity as needed.

[cybereye]

Thanks Leon! Belmont is about a 20 minute drive from my place and Vic Point a tad further. I found that light image of Brisbane interesting as it seems like I'm in the centre of the light distribution!



Jeanette, thanks for the compliment and for the heads up on the blue tinge to the background. I've gone back and moved the black point up on both the full image and the blue channel and it does look better (the newer version below). I love this hobby/passion of ours - I'm always learning!

Cheers,
Mario

[swannies1983]

Mario, you I must be on the same page as I have been imaging Thor's Helmet with my RC8 over the last month. Always nice to compare what other RC8 users are able to achieve.

This is a dim object so you have brought out quite a bit of detail. Just needs more data to reduce the noise. Colours are good.

[strongmanmike]

Yes, a very good result there Mario :thumbsup:...especially considering your location :eyepop: Am I correct in understanding you used a light pollution filter? If so, I think getting good colour with one of those in place is quite challenging..?

Nice work

Mike

[cybereye]

Dan, Thanks for that! I've been wanting to image this for some time so I went at it like a bull at a gate when the skies were clear on Thursday night. A few issues as mentioned but all in all I'm happy with the result. If I get the chance I'll add to it but the forecast is for showers next week. Not too bad as the Moon is tending to full at the moment anyway.



Mike, it's always a great thrill when one of the "Masters" gives me a compliment - just call me Grasshopper! As for the LP filter, I use a Baader UHC-S to tame the urban light (see the attached filter response) which tends to give a very red result.

Now I do some very odd things with my colour managment - in DSS I multiply the red and blue channels by 1.2 as my camera has a QE of 60% in green and only 50% in the other two. Then in StarTools I use the MaxRGB feature to show me what the dominant colour is for each pixel. Invariably I have to reduce the red channel by about 0.87. Now I know I've increased it in DSS and then reduced it StarTools but for me it's all logical!! Anyway, it's taken a while but I'm now pretty happy with my colour management.

Cheers,
Mario

[strongmanmike]

:)

[cybereye]

Tell me Master Po, did we watch too much television as kids?

I may not be able to snatch the pebbles from the Master's hands but I've reduced the blue in the background a smidge more....

Cheers,
Mario

[Ross G]

Great looking photo Mario.

Impressive processing.


Go the QHY8L!

Ross.

[cybereye]

Thanks Ross - the QHY8L was probably one of the best purchases I've made. It was a camera I could afford and catapulted my images into the realm of acceptability. The Pentax Km was a good terrestrial camera but almost unusable for astrophotography.

As for the processing, again one of the best purchases I made in this regard was StarTools. Here was a dedicated astrophotography processing package I could easily afford and it really shortened my learning curve.

Cheers,
Mario

PS Just for interest sake, attached is a picture of me at the control centre taken by the Pentax last Thursday night - the Km still lives on. As a matter of note, this picture was taken at about 10 at night - note how bright the sky is from a 10s photo!!!

[swannies1983]

Ever thought about a chair? :lol:

[Larryp]

Nice image, Mario!

[marc4darkskies]

That's a very respectable result given your location Mario! :thumbsup: Well done!

That bright star near the bottom of the frame is supposed to be yellow though isn't it?

Cheers, Marcus

[David Fitz-Henr]

Great result Mario, especially considering the light pollution you have to deal with plus the use of a light pollution filter - well done :thumbsup:

[cybereye]

Dan, I was praying to Saint Dominic, the patron saint of astronomers, so that the skies would stay clear!! Once a Catholic, always a Catholic!!!



Thanks Laurie, your thoughts are very much appreciated!



Thanks Marcus - as I said to Mike, it's always a thrill when I get a compliment from one of the "Masters". As for the star that should be yellow, perhaps one day... when I'm imaging from a dark site and/or my processing improves!! :D



Thanks David for the compliment! The photo of me with my setup really surprised me as to how bright the sky is. I was just outside and the clouds are a bright grey, easily distinguishable!! But there's no point complaining too much as I really don't have any other choice at the moment....

Cheers,
Mario

[naskies]

Nice work, Mario!

[cybereye]

Thanks Dave! It may be a couple of weeks before I can get something else because, as you can see when you look outside, the clouds are back here in Brisbane... :sadeyes: Oh well, there might still be a few more repros in this image yet! :D

Cheers,
Mario

[multiweb]

A real tour de force from your location. Great shot in its on right. :thumbsup:

[cybereye]

"A tour de force" - I'll take that any day!! Thanks Marc, very kind words...:)