Helix Nebula

[Rod771]

Pulled an almost all nighter last Sat/Sunday night. Went to bed at 1:00am then got up at 4:00am to have a go at Andromeda........Coming soon. (Hopefully)

Here is my first attempt at the Helix Nebula.

Taken between 12:00am and 12:30am with the 60Da and hyperstar lens on the Edge HD C11. I tweaked the collimation on the hyperstar a bit and Im pretty pleased with the stars across the field. They're more evident in the higher rez picture's. I need the get the images up somewhere so they can be viewed.

24 minutes - 15 x 60 sec , 6 x 90 sec subs all at ISO 800. CLS filter used.

Processed in Pixinsight

Cheers

Rod

[RickS]

Nice image, Rod. You should do a few hours of subs. With a system that fast you should be able to get the faint extensions fairly quickly.

Cheers,
Rick.

[LewisM]

Really like that.

I notice a SMALL amount of vignette or other light artefact to the left. Might be worth applying more darks, flats etc.

[Rod771]

Thanks Rick :thumbsup: Yeah your right, I couldn't resist slewing to some other targets :rolleyes: There were another 6 x 90 sec subs that didn't make the cut (only 9 minutes though)



Cheers Lewis :)

Yeah , no matter what setting I had DBE on I couldn't get rid of the light areas. It did remove a huge amount of gradient but left a little. I clipped a little bit of data to darken it up , but didn't want to lose too much in the Helix.

The darks and flats may help ( I do have them). This image has neither applied. I've only had pixinsight for a bit and had just followed "Harry's tutorials", He didnt use darks or flats in his alignment and intergration process? I will have to do some reading I guess.

Cheers

Rod

[rmuhlack]

look for the tutorial on the BatchPreprocessing script in Pixinsight. This is what I use with my 400D and 1000D to calibrate my lights with darks/flats/bias masters.

[Lee]

That's a brilliant Helix, and for a DSLR at 24 minutes.... 11" at f/2 has some serious light grasp...

[Larryp]

Great image, Rod

[multiweb]

:lol: I recognised the equipment straight away even before reading the description from the field. I did a short Ha (https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=6930D3AD12D5044C&id=6930D3AD12D5044C%21863#cid=6930D 3AD12D5044C&id=6930D3AD12D5044C%21927)on it couple of years ago. Cool shot. :thumbsup:

[IanP]

Nice shot, Rod ..

Now, I’ve got this question:
The HyperStar assembly makes you telescope roughly 650mm FL (F/2)
For the price of roughly aud1000 + work associated with changing it over, is it worth the hassle?
:question:

[strongmanmike]

Looks like your collimation tweaking worked a treat :thumbsup: Not bad for a first attempt at the Helix either and as Rick suggests some good exposure time would give you plenty to work with, with that big fast system :)

Mike

[Rod771]

Thanks Richard, found it, I'll watch it and give it a go :thanx:



Thanks lee Cheers:thumbsup:



Thanks Laurie :)



:D "Your insight serves you well, bury your feelings deep down, they do you good but they could be made to serve the emperor" ....Obi Wan Kenobi :lol: Sorry, I'm also a movie nerd :P

Well spotted Marc!

I've had a look at your images, They're very very good :thumbsup:

Cheers Mate





Thanks Mike :) Yeah I was very happy with the change , I've read elsewhere of a lot of people having trouble with their Hyperstar collimation and had given up on it. I love mine , I've just got to slow down and spend more time on one target as Rick and yourself suggest. Thanks for the tip.

Cheers Rod

[Rod771]

Thanks Ian :)

The Celestron OTA manual says the F2 focal length is 587mm but the Hyperstar manual says its 560mm, so one or the other :shrug:

Are you thinking of converting your CPC 9.25 OTA?

If your after the field of view I'd probably stick with your ED80. If your after the speed of F2 then it might be worth it.:question:

When I was purchasing my scope I was told the 9.25 would be the smallest OTA to go for when using a DSLR on the hyperstar but they recommended the 11 for less obstruction.

I was recently chatting with a member who uses the 60Da with the Hyperstar on a normal C11, They weren't too happy with their results and replaced it with a Officina Stellare APO :eyepop: However, that's not to say your OTA wouldn't perform well. After seeing your M20 image at F1O , looks like you've got some good glass in that OTA.

[IanP]

Yes, Rod, I was thinking about this option, but after considerations I decided not to follow this path.
I know F/2-something is very tempting, however for this range I think triplets are better alternative.
The game of taking reasonable images with the CPC925 had changed since I fitted it with the FeatherTouch focuser, also PixInsight is very good software, so both things combined can produce not bad results.
:hi:

[Peter Ward]

Resolution is....well....:question:...with the simple fix being put the camera at the back of the telescope ;)

Colour balance however is most excellent. :thumbsup:

[Rod771]

Thanks Peter :)

I'm planning the move to F7 soon, just saving up the coin for the HD reducer :rolleyes:

Cheers :thumbsup: