TenChain new moon nights

[pmrid]

Sorry I've been a bit slack this month. Saturday nights is looking good. Any takers?

Peter

[RickS]

I'm heading out to Glen Aplin for a couple of nights. Hope we both get some decent conditions!

Cheers,
Rick.

[ozstronomer]

Hi Peter, looks like we should have good skies, so count me in.. I'll be up Saturday arvo.

Cheers Geoff

[Clancy Lane]

Peter,

I'll be there.....maybe 4pm or so.

See you then,

Phil

[pmrid]

Take your woolies Rick. We got down to single digits last night, and just wonderfully clear. Humidity crept up to about 50% so condensation became a bit of an issue after that until ground mist started to form about 3. All in all a terrific night.

Tonight and Saturday should be very similar so good luck to us all!!

Peter

[RobF]

Hoping to get there Peter. Wife not well so fingers crossed - will drop a line tomorrow to confirm if coming. Guide cam has been misbehaving. Have to get a new QHY5II working too before tomorrow - better hop to it - looking good outside

[pmrid]

Rob, I have a QHY5 I'm not using if you need a loaner.
Peter

[RobF]

Thanks so much for the offer Peter. I won't be able to come. Absolute shocker of a night with software/hardware issues. I just don't trust it at all at the moment enough to go bush, and not fair to leave my wife at the moment. Sigh. Was really hoping for my first 10Chain visit of 2013 :(

[ozstronomer]

Thanks for your hospitality last night Peter, skies were great and nice to catch up with Phil and Brett.

Phil, there was a Skyfi cable near where you were setup, I assume it is yours, I left it on Peters OB's desk.



Cheers Geoff

[Clancy Lane]

Thanks Geoff...the cable was on loan from Peter.

and thanks also to Peter and Brett and yourself for a great night of learning some tricks of the trade.

Peter is a great host and made it a very enjoyable night.

regards,

Phil

[ozstronomer]

No worries Phil, glad we found a home for it :)

[Spookyer]

Yes thanks to everyone for sharing their knowledge and gear I learnt a fair bit in just one evening and probably got accurately polar aligned for the first time ever.:lol:

Thanks to Peter for having us over and providing me with some gear to let me try guiding.:thumbsup:

I must say I find classical music playing in the background while looking up at the stars makes one feel quite good about the universe.

Brett

[RickS]

Glad you had a good night, chaps! Sorry I couldn't be in two places at once.

We got two crisp, clear nights. The seeing was a bit iffy on Friday night, at least at 2760mm focal length, but last night was fantastic! I got some LRGB on the Helix Nebula to add to my long running narrowband project and about ten hours on NGC 253 (sorry, yet another one...)

Cheers,
Rick.

[pmrid]

Thanks guys, it was a pretty good night socially and imaging too. Nice to see Brett and Phil on deck too. Even though these cool clear nights are an absolute blessing, I wouldn't mind a bit of rain now to settle the dust. It's been too long.
Peter

[Clancy Lane]

Peter,

Here is the fruit of my labour in between glasses of red.

The Jpeg has stuffed up the stars...In the original Tiff, they have colour and no artefacts.

30x3 min images, stacked in Maxim, a small levels stretch and only a tweak with saturation in CS5.

Quite pleased with this as the STF 8300C has been giving me subs with a lot of background noise.

Maybe the convivial atmosphere made the difference!

Cheers,

Phil

[ozstronomer]

Looking good Phil, plenty of detail. Noise looks ok to me :thumbsup:

[Clancy Lane]

Thanks Geoff!

30 subs seemed to make all the difference.

How did your nights effort turn out?

Phil

[Spookyer]

Phil, looks pretty good to me, well done:)

[Clancy Lane]

Thanks Brett!

Did you get anything that you liked?

You seemed to be going great and really having fun.

Loved your gear!

cheers,

Phil

[pmrid]

Hats off to you Phil. I haven't managed to get back to my images yet. That's looking good ins't it? My gut feeling is that there's room there for a bit more stretching and tweaking. My own prejudice is to try to bring up the blue channel in the Lagoon. That probably comes from too much red ned though.

Peter

[ozstronomer]

Hi Phil,

This is the only image from last weekend. Due to some software issues late in the night I was only able to capture R and G on M31. I'll have to get the B next time.

This is 30 min each RGB on NGC 602, It certainly shows the problems of shooting low and not enough data :( Had to work hard to get rid of the noise.

I hope Peter and Brett had better luck, always next time..

Cheers Geoff

[RickS]

Shame you missed the blue on M31, Geoff. Hope you get clear skies and an opportunity to finish it next new moon!

[Clancy Lane]

Good on you Geoff!

Nice looking result and, as you say, you can get more data later using plate solve to get back to where you were.

I took Peters advice (thanks Peter) and did a little bit more of a stretch and added some blue.

It did tart things up a bit but also brought out some noise....a quick run thru Pixinsight should help.

If it was easy, everybody would be doing it!

cheers,

Phil

[Spookyer]

Okay, here is my best effort for the night. My first image made from subs.


Thanks for your help on the night with advice and gear:thumbsup:

Brett

[pmrid]

G'day Brett. Ripper!! Truly. That scope is spot-on for collimation now and your focus is really bang on. The detail inside the shell of the neb is excellent. So the result is a sharp and vibrant image. I've had a small fiddle with the colour levels (curves in Photoshop mainly) to bring up the red channel a bit and to show you that you have some pretty good data still lurking in that image to play with.

Oh, yes. The guiding is clearly spot-on. Gotta be happy abut that too.

Peter

[ozstronomer]

Good Image Brett, lots of detail in that shot, Well done.

[RickS]

Nice work, Brett. That's better than my first Helix!

[pmrid]

You guys have shamed me into processing some of my stuff from the last new moon night. This is War and Peace (NGC6357) in Ha. It's 6 x 20 minutes worth I think. It loses a fair bit when it has to come down to IIS file sizes but you get the idea I reckon.
I also did 3 hours in Ha on the SMC but although the data is there I am having problems with processing it to retain the bubbles of Ha that are all through it. I'll attach my current effort but do so with the caveat that it's a lot better in larger file sizes. And I haven't yet got my head around how to include links here to the larger files.

Peter

[RickS]

About time you posted some more images, Peter :) They look pretty good despite the IIS image compression.

Cheers,
Rick.

[Spookyer]

Peter, I like your processing of my image better than mine. I will have to fiddle with photoshop. I was mostly focussed on using Pixinsight so didn't actually touch it in Photoshop.

I like your NGC6357 Ha image.

Brett

[Spookyer]

Geoff, hope you get that blue mate, would like to see how it turns out.

Brett

[ozstronomer]

Thanks Brett, I'm looking forward to the next new moon so I can finish off that m31 :)

I did a little adjustment in Pixinsight on your helix, try "Curves Transformation"
It has a preview so you can see the changes before you apply them.
I did a S(saturation), a bit or R(red). (too much red does effect the background) and a bit of L for boost.

Give it a try and see how that goes

Cheers Geoff

[ozstronomer]

+1 on those images Pete, they look fine.

It can be difficult to get decent resolution with a small image.

Sounds like you need an Astrobin account to post those images in large scale. Then you can point the link to the larger pic :thumbsup:

[whzzz28]

Howdy Peter,

New moon this weekend - will the gates be open?

Been on holiday for a month, didn't get much chance to get out before that and as it is a long weekend - i hope to have some luck!

[pmrid]

Hi guys. Am down in Iluka until Thursday but weather permitting, gates will be open thisSaturday.
Peter

[Spookyer]

Hi Peter, I would like to come over again if that is okay.

I got a new guide scope delivered yesterday and I should have my new QHY5Lii guide camera as well by this Thursday.

I hope to test it all out Friday and get everything working but if I run into a snag I might have to seek your wisdom or some of the other attendees Saturday night.


Cheers
Brett

[RickS]

Good luck with the weather, gents! I'm planning a couple of nights at Leyburn.

Cheers,
Rick.

[RobF]

I've got a few days off and doing leyburn too from tomorrow night

[ozstronomer]

Peter,

I don't think I can make Saturday, is Sunday a go?

Geoff

[Spookyer]

Don't want to make a pest of myself Peter but if you do happen to open up Sunday as well because of the long weekend on a new moon I would take the opportunity to leave my stuff setup and image Sunday night as well. I would buzz off an leave you in peace during the day Sunday of course and return around dark.

brett

[whzzz28]

Which ever day is decided upon (or days) i shall be in attendance.
Weather forecast is looking awesome, so is Skippysky.

[pmrid]

Hi again. It hadn't registered with me that Monday was a holiday. So both nights will be on if anyone has the endurance for it.

By the way ISON will be in a position to be imaged on the early mornings of Monday and Tuesdat 14th and 15th. You'd need to be set up the night before and be ready to roll about 3 a.m.. Ron Knight will probably be here for the visuals but it would give any imaging about 60 to 90 minutes I reckon - probably best with a OSC. Visual mag about 9.8 I believe.


Peter

[pmrid]

Hey you blokes - there's a great opportunity sliding towards us on the morning of Saturday 19th. ISON and Mars will be in the same 1 degree FOV and able to be imaged for about half an hour. ISON rises at 2.44 a.m. and should clear the hills to our east (the DÁguilar range) by about 3.00 a.m.. It'll be low of course. Sunrise that day is 5.10 a.m. so astronomical twilight will begin at about 3.50 a.m.. By that time, skyglow will be at it's lowest and with cool night air, atmospheric disturbance at the minimum also. So we will have about a 30 minute window of opportunity for workable imaging and a bit longer for increasingly poor. It would make a great time lapse to image Mars and ISON coming over our eastern horizon and being burned off by the sun.

For basic ISON imaging, the week of 14th to the 19th will probably be our only opportunity to image this comet.

Don't miss it.

Peter

[Spookyer]

Comets to quick for me I think!

See you on Saturday arvo.

cheers
Brett

[Tandum]

I'm still without a filter wheel Peter. Been that way since astrofest, nearly 2 months now :(

What a PITA.

[pmrid]

Robin, you're welcome to borrow one of mine if you want to come up this weekend. The whole 3 days look absolutely terrific weather-wise.

I plan on using the modified 40D on the BabyQ this weekend for a bit of fun, so my matched ATIK 4000/SXFW with 7x filters/SX Lodestar OAG will be available if you want. I can also break out the HEQ5Pro and a 8" Bintel newt (with motorised Moonlite focuser) for you if you don't want to bring any gear at all.

Have a look at he new-look SkippySky and try the new compact and animated versions - it sure puts the picture clearly for the next 48 hours at least.


Peter

[ozstronomer]

Peter,

Skies are brilliant ATM so I better make the most of it. I'll now be able to make it both Sat and Sun nights, I'll catch you and the gang this arvo

Cheers Geoff

[pmrid]

Great. I'm just hitting the sack now. Astro twilight in half an hour anyway. Great night doing the witche's head and a reflection neb NGC6726/7 in Corona Australis. Wohoo!

It's 10 degrees and a wee bit of condensation developing but not much. No wind and great seeing.
Peter

[Spookyer]

Geoff

Realised last night my reticle eyepiece seems to be stuffed (the crosshairs move around inside which kind of defeats the purpose) and I need one for aligning with alignmaster.

I will have to buy another one but can't get one today.

I recall you had one last month, could I borrow yours for aligning Sat night?

Brett

[ozstronomer]

No worries Brett, happy to help. See you this arvo

Geoff

[Spookyer]

Geoff, I was going to try Andromeda tonight and then Triangulum Sunday night, they are both low northerly targets so I will probably setup on the north side of the field. Were you hitting Andromeda again?

brett

[Clancy Lane]

Peter,

I was looking fwd to joining you all again for a great night or two but my son brought the flu up with him and now I've got it as well.

So, best I stay away!

Have a great weekend every one!

cheers,

Phil

[Spookyer]

Hope to see you next time Phil.

[ozstronomer]

Phil, sorry to hear you have the flu hope it passes quickly. Catch you next time

Brett, I'm doing M33 ( just beside Andromeda) but now worries, with the space Peter has I'm sure I'll find a suitable spot :)

Geoff

[pmrid]

G'day Bert. Sorry to hear about the flu. Take care of yourself. We'll raise a glass in your general direction.
peter

[Tandum]

Good to see you all up there Saturday night.
Hope it all goes well for the long week-end.

[pmrid]

Cheers Robin. Some burning-off over near Esk started up late Saturday and smoke haze became a real issue all weekend. And the heat today (Sunday) made for some pretty unstable upper atmospherics. But good company makes up for all that.
Peter

[ozstronomer]

Peter,

It was a great weekend of imaging, even with the smoke and heat it looks like we all have some data to process.

Thanks for the company guys, catch you next time

Pete, I've sent you a PM

Cheers Geoff

[RickS]

I'm looking forward to seeing your images from the weekend!

I had a couple of good nights at Leyburn and I have a new galaxy to process...

Cheers,
Rick.

[Spookyer]

Thanks to all again for the company, advice and bits of borrowed equipment!:thumbsup:

Now to some processing!

Cheers
Brett

[whzzz28]

Thanks again for the weekend peter.

My data is average - Andromeda came out ok, but the poor seeing has led to crappy stars, and more what looks to be filter problems with my M45 data.

Once i get color calibrated properly ill post andromeda.

[whzzz28]

Best i've been able to get my Andromeda.
That pink star is annoying me though. Obviously color calibration isn't there yet.
My red data is strangely shifted.

M45 color data is useless :(

[RickS]

It's hard to get good colour data that low in the sky, Nathan. Extinction is your enemy!

[Tandum]

Nathan, as Rick said, look up Colour Extinction in google. Colours get altered by the atmosphere if you shoot low and each colour is effected to a different degree according to the azimuth of the shoot. What you got is better than anything I ever got but shooting low is an issue you need to be aware of and will have to deal with.

Straight up is best :)

[pmrid]

Pink or not, I like it. My best M31 I had to drive to Longreach to get.
Peter

[ozstronomer]

Nice image Nathan, really worth the effort and heat!

[ozstronomer]

Hi Peter,

Just wondering if you were opening up Saturday night for the new moon?

Cheers Geoff

[pmrid]

HI Geoff. Yes. Brett may come up also. I may be late - not entirely sure yet - coming back from a trip down to Coolangatta for a meeting. But you know where everything is and can go ahead without me, I'm sure.

Peter

[allan gould]

Peter
Would it be possible to include another body for Saturday night?
I'm keen to try out my ioptron tracker for some wide field imaging
Allan

[RickS]

Good luck with the weather guys! I'm heading to Glen Aplin for a couple of nights.

[pmrid]

G'day Allan. Yep, no problem. I'll PM you some directions.
Peter

[pmrid]

Thanks Rick. It's pretty unsettled isn't it? The pattern here has been strong E-NE winds on sunset and a while after and thin high cloud drifting in and out.

If Allan G is going to do some widefield stuff with his iOptron rig, I will probably be motivated to do the same. I have a lot to learn about it, that's for sure.

Peter

[Spookyer]

See everyone there!

Brett

[whzzz28]

Will have to give this month a miss.
Out of surgery earlier this week - not allowed to sit or drive for 2 weeks :mad2:

Good luck fellas.

[pmrid]

Well Nathan, I hope that the bits of you involved in sitting and driving are soon restored to their normal vigor !
Peter

[ozstronomer]

Peter,

I'll bring Allan with me, catch you Tomorrow arvo.

Nathan, I hope you have a speedy recovery.

Cheers Geoff

[ozstronomer]

Great night, not a cloud after 6.30 :D

Thanks for hospitality Peter and to catch up with Allan and Brett

Cheers Geoff

[Spookyer]

Yes thanks for the help again, I managed to salvage some data after a slow start. Weather was co-operative again thankfully. Thanks to Peter for hosting us.

[RickS]

We got clear skies and dodgy seeing on Friday night. Seeing was mostly better last night but there were occasional clouds and murky areas at times. We take what we can get...

Hope it went well for all at 10CH!

Cheers,
Rick.

[pmrid]

Well, the weather for the coming weekend is not promising but at this time of year that's not surprising. BOM forecast for Ipswich (closest point of reference we have for 10CH) is for possible storms for Saturday. Of course there's plenty of time for that to change.

The weekend following (Saturday 7th) is also an option but the weather is a mystery at this stage. All brave souls welcome to try either or both.
Peter

[Spookyer]

Thanks Peter, hopefully the weather improves.

Brett

[whzzz28]

Sadly i wont be attending again.
My filters have deteriorated a lot over the past few weeks. Green filter is now out of action (flaking), lum isn't looking to good either.

Have to order new filters which will take a while.

Good luck all!

[pmrid]

What size filters do you need? And what type. Most of us have usually got spares we could lend you. I have an old Meade LRGB set you can have ( 1 1/4 inch mounted)
Peter

[ozstronomer]

Hi Peter,

I can't make it this weekend, I'll be up Saturday after....weather permitting


Geoff

[RickS]

My social secretary has booked me for a soirée at home this Saturday, unfortunately. Good luck with the weather!

Cheers,
Rick.

[Spookyer]

Hi Peter, looks like a wet wicket, been raining all morning here. The rain is predicted to ease but I think there will still be a lot of cloud around so I won't come up.

Cheers
Brett

[pmrid]

Well, you can't predict these things but it is as clear as a bell up here, still, dark and I'm into what will probably be an all-nighter.
It's"one of those nights".
Peter

[Spookyer]

Bugger, I should have come up. It was quite windy here as well yesterday arvo as well as cloudy which was another reason I thought it would be a no go.

Hope you got some good stuff Peter.

Brett

[pmrid]

Guys, the last few nights have been pretty darned magic up here - blowy at first but settling down nicely by 8 or thereabouts. This Saturday will still be pretty good with a moon 4 days old and well out of the way. Keep an eye on Skippy and cross those fingers.
Peter

[RickS]

Peter,

I have to be back for a lunch on Sunday but I might be able to squeeze a trip in. Would love to catch up and also grab a few more photons before the the end of the year...

Cheers,
Rick.

[pmrid]

Going to be open Friday also - which Skippy says May be the better night.
Peter

[Spookyer]

I will be there.:)

Brett

[RickS]

I can't do Friday but I'll watch the weather for Saturday...

[ozstronomer]

Peter,

Same as Rick, doing my best for Saturday. Will stay in touch...

Cheers geoff

[ozstronomer]

Hi Peter,

Sorry but won't be up today, hope the weather holds.

All the best to the 10CH gang for a happy and safe Christmas :xmas:

Geoff

[Spookyer]

Same to you and the family Geoff.

Brett

[RickS]

I have unexpected visitors for the weekend so I can't make it either :sadeyes: All the best for Xmas, guys! Hope to see you for some clear nights early in the new year.

[RobF]

All the best all and a Happy Xmas. Drove past today on a family day trip and weather looks great. Can't come tonight but looking forward to seeing Peter and the gang when the planets align in 2014.
rob

[pmrid]

Well guys, another year bites the dust. A long coolish winter with heaps of clear skies. Not a lot since except this past few days which have been a delight up here. Thank you for your company and for passing on your skills and knowledge. I hope to see you all next year and wish you plenty of goodness over the festive season.
Peter