Rha m8

[Peter Ward]

Still getting to know my RHA-FLI-STX combination, and managed to get a lazy hour of M8 data in, a couple of weeks ago.

Hopefully part of a much bigger project...but now I have some down time, and looking at the weather ...might have to take up knitting :rolleyes: :)

The link is here (http://www.atscope.com.au/BRO/gallery254.html)

[RobF]

The textures coming out in the central region around the hourglass are reminiscent of Fred's starless APOD (http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080715.html) was my initial impression. Lovely 3D feel even with only that much data.

(Marc wil be in heaven :lol:)

[Joshua Bunn]

Nice work Peter, good to see some more data from you and looking forward to the final result.

Josh

[RickS]

You have that set up working well, Peter.

[Peter Ward]

Thanks...nearly..but still a few tweaks to make



Ta...could be bigger than Ben-Hur ;)



As yes, Freddo's starless wonder.

Doing the math 5 hours would be the same flux down the pipe as 20 hours in, say a 6" refractor, then maybe I could claim "uber-deep" status to the data :D..... wonder if it would be worth it :question:

[Larryp]

Lovely detail and pinpoint star images, Peter-great work!

[Peter Ward]

Thanks Laurie.... :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

And you can have one of these (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/141256265/original) too :)

[Peter Ward]

Very cute Mike... not sure about the relevance (if I went 5 hours on M8, I think it would look the same, just with less noise )...:shrug:... plus I already have a perfectly serviceable "finger" image.

For interested bystanders, the attached "finger" enlargement is an oversampled crop from my RCOS14 image (http://www.atscope.com.au/BRO/gallery41.html) from some time ago...

[RobF]

It doesn't matter who has the best finger to give now anyway - unless you've got 100hrs from a 10" ala Rolf you're not being competitive
:fishing: :lol:

[strongmanmike]

Err?..it was the title of the image that was the relevant bit ;)

[Peter Ward]

'aint that the truth :lol:

.... Rolf's efforts are indeed quite innovative and extraordinary :thumbsup:

[batema]

God I wish I could take images like that and process them as well as you do. Beautiful M8 for a lazy 1 hours worth.

Mark

[LewisM]

My lazy 1 hr through a 102mm refractor... might need another 19 :) :) :) or 40...

(that's a 2 minute post-DSS edit... nothin' done, and looks crappy :) )

[Peter Ward]

Thank you very much Mark, but I'm sure you will be doing the same soon enough, it's a bit like computer programming, "learn how to program by programming"

As for the 1 hour exposure...if I said it was 4 hours with my AP155 Starfire
there might be some approving "oh-ah's"... but really it's all about flux and object brightness.

Simple arithmetic can show that my 12" gather's light 4x faster than my 6". So rather than struggle for 4 hours with the smaller scope I can get the same result with a larger one in 1/4 of the time. This point seems lost on some..particularly those with big ego's :)

Professional Astronomers use *very large* telescopes for very similar reasons (ie. lack of observing time)

[marc4darkskies]

Very smooth Peter and you're definitely respecting the light! :) Look forward to the colour. Surprised you don't have an 8300 on that RH.

Cheers, Marcus

[Peter Ward]

Thanks Marcus... the light/shadow is a result of my slow discovery of how to use PixInsight...aye carrumba..heavy stuff...but getting there!

As for the STT8300...not a great match for the Honders, which I think likes deep, rather than small pixels.

The 8300 works better with the FSQ, (and oddly, at much longer focal lengths with the AO-8T) .... I'll put the RCOS back on the mount and do some hi-res galaxy imaging one day...but I'm having too much fun with the Honders at the moment. :)

[DavidTrap]

Impressive results for an hour of imaging Peter.

Are you working on a colour NB image of M8 as part of your bigger project??

I did a Hubble palette version last year. If the young grasshopper may make a suggestion to the Master, I reckon you might get some more definition around the core by using some sort of HDR compression (HDR Multiscale Transform worked for me in PI)

DT

[Peter Ward]

Ta...HDR Multiscale????

Streuth....I've only had the software for 48 hours and was flat-chat getting this (mono) image out :)

When it comes to PI ..I'm very much happy to concede *I'm* the grasshopper here :lol:

[DavidTrap]

You'll be a PI convert in no time. Highly recommend Harry Page's Video Tutorials, as well as Warren Keller's DVD - the info on deconvolution was excellent.

HDRMT has 6 layers as a default, sometimes you need more layers, sometimes less. Haven't worked out why yet??? I think more worked for my M8.

DT

[Peter Ward]

There already.....but it's soooo deep... :thumbsup:

[multiweb]

Uber cool. The contrast is unreal. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: I can feel a mosaic coming up with M20 just next door. Maybe 4 panels? Two other panels on the right side of the field? ;)

[Peter Ward]

Thanks Marc..... Mosaic? Who me? ;)

[David Fitz-Henr]

Very nice Peter; beautiful wide field showing the full extent! At f/3.8, one hour is not really that lazy ...

[Peter Ward]

Thank you David... your excellent work has not gone un-noticed either :thumbsup:

Indeed, as I mentioned earlier, a F3.8 305mm system pulls the photons in at a good rate. I do have a mosaic in mind, but doubt each colour channel will need more than about 40 minutes.... assuming the weather clears!

[Ross G]

Great photo Peter.

The sharpness and detail is amazing!


Ross.