Horsehead CDK17 at F4.5

[gregbradley]

A work in progress really and clouds cut short an imaging run last night but what I got so far is very encouraging.

CDK17 with Planewave .66X reducer, SX Trius 694, Astrodon 5nm Ha filter and PME, Vixen 95 VMC guide scope with SBIG STi guider. 10 minute subs. 90 minutes only. Each sub is quite bright and a few had minor thin cloud to contend with. Seeing was not bad. 17 inches of aperture at F4.5 really slams down the photons. To get an image this bright with my refractors would have taken close to 8 hours.

http://upload.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/153698147/large regular size

http://upload.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/153698147/original large size

Greg.

[Stevec35]

Certainly looking good so far Greg.

Cheers

Steve

[gregbradley]

Thanks Steve. The weather forecast looks better in a few days.

Greg.

[alpal]

Wow - that is so detailed - great shot.

[gregbradley]

Thanks for that. I know this camera is sensitive in the Ha (66% same as KAF6303e) but I did not expect it to be so bright so quickly.

Greg.

[RickS]

Excellent, Greg!

[gregbradley]

Thanks Rick. I am pleased with this setup's performance now. Its close to optimum on this scope.

Greg.

[IanP]

Greg,
the CDK17 is a big beast, but the Horse looks really great :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

:lol: Yes, good analogy!

Greg.

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Can't argue with that result!

Awesome detail Greg :thumbsup:.

Cheers,

Justin.

[dvj]

Exceptional shot Greg! Who needs an RHA when you can shoot a 17" at f/4.5?

jg

[Peter Ward]

An excellent result, super scale with tight FWHM's. Gotta be happy with that :thumbsup:

[Bassnut]

gee thats pretty good for 10min Ha subs. The SX Trius 694 looks tricky, nice QE at Ha for an ABG. And a fast 17" of course. Imagine what you could do with 30min subs at that QE and F ;-).

[strongmanmike]

Yeah not bad I guess Greg :question:... but..maaate that NGC 1365 on your web site is showing signs of being a killer image!...and fiiiinally looks like a true 17" long FL result ;)

Mike

[gregbradley]

Cheer Justin. Bad weather is now forecast for the rest of the week so I won't be able to add to it to next week it seems like.



It certainly is a good setup but the RHA has its excellent place as well.




Thanks Peter. Yes I am happy with it. I would prefer an AO and an OAG in the imaging train though.



The downside Fred is the 47mm backfocus requirement of the reducer which means very few cameras can match that distance when you factor in filter wheel and some sort of guiding device. I don't know how long it might go with this setup. 10 minutes is fine so 20 might be also.
10 minutes though at 17 inches and F4.5 will burn out the core of Spiral Galaxy NGC1097 though!

I am thinking of setting up the AP67CCDT reducer and an AO unit with OAG. More money, more adapters. What a familiar story!

Greg.

[gregbradley]

Cheers Mike. Yes 1365 is shaping up nicely. Processing is still not quite there though.

Greg.

[Rod771]

Very smooth Greg! Its looking very good :thumbsup:

[Shiraz]

cooking with gas at f4.5 Greg - really impressive result. regards Ray

[marc4darkskies]

Oh yes! Very nice Greg! Definitely looking forward to seeing this one finished!

Cheers, Marcus

[RobF]

What a wonderful result. Definitely hoping to see more of this one Greg.

[gregbradley]

Cheers Rod. A project for next week if the weather forecast is true.



Thanks Ray. The reducer is good but tricky with only 47mm of backfocus.



Thanks Marcus. I was happy to get such a bright image with only 90 minutes of data.



Thanks Rob. Looking like next week (full moon week) or the week after with the current weather forecast.

Greg.

[multiweb]

Great close-up. Very smooth. :thumbsup:

[cazza132]

Wow, that's fantastic Greg! Well done. When I retire and get some land out in the sticks away from any light pollution - I'll have to get one of those! In the meantime, I'll keep dreaming :)

[gregbradley]

Cheers Marc. I am shooting some more data tonight. Weather is unexpectedly clear - yah!



Cheers, thanks for the nice compliment. Dark skies, enjoying Australias great vast open spaces with some astrophotography is a great activity.

Greg.

[Ross G]

Great photo Greg.

Sharp, detailed and so close!

Ross.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Ross. I've been accumulating data on this one over the last few nights. Got some colour too but the moon is a bit bright now so the rest of the colour will have to wait until the moon goes.

Greg.

[Paul Haese]

Nice Greg. Colour edition will be nice.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Paul. I have imaged more Ha and some RGB but need the new moon to get enough RGB to be noiseless enough.

Greg.

[Paul Haese]

Yes waiting for new moon myself to start getting the data on this object. Planning on 15 hours of colour and 10 or so hours of Lum to add to the 17 hours of Ha I have.

[gregbradley]

Sounds good.

Greg.

[marco]

What a lovely close up Greg! Can't wait to see the colored version :thumbsup:

Clear skies
Marco

[DavidNg]

Love the detail revealed in your system. Did you have to process much ?

Regards
David

[gregbradley]

Thanks Marco. I have taken another 3 hours or so of Ha. I took some RGB but I don't think its enough. So now I am waiting for the new moon to get the rgb.



Hi David. This image has hardly any processing at all. Practically zip.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Yeah same with the Ha in my version, ddp stretch, slight curve to return some brightness to the brightest parts of the curtain highlights and that was about it....ah the Horsehead...a crowd favourite..like (a very young) Pavarotti (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z79Wrd7rS_A) (check out 4min:15) of the skies.....

:lol:

[DJT]

Lovely image Greg. As I work my way through this field of runners it's only fair to say why..

The Framing. Spot on. Works very well.

[gregbradley]

The SX camera's low read noise can mean sometimes processing is very simple. If all cameras were that clean it would make astrophotography a whole lot easier.




Thanks very much David. A nice compliment.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Yeah, yeah blah blah...but did you listen to Pav??? :love:

[gregbradley]

Yeah blah blah I did. Quite a powerful note there. I saw him live in Sydney about 6 years ago or so.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Yeah me too, at the Super Dome in 1999 before the Olympics...ah sigh....what a voice

:thumbsup:

[tornado33]

I was commenting on Mike's Horsehead on how one can see the faint background galaxies above the Horsehead, and now I can see them in this image too. Just look for stars that look slightly diffuse. You used to need 2 or 3 metre class scope to capture those. Well done !

[gregbradley]

Thanks. This is good setup for this scope.

Greg.

[SkyViking]

What a wonderful image Greg, really nice and crisp. The colour version will be fantastic I reckon. Well done!

[gregbradley]

Thanks Rolf. I am looking forward to getting more data after the moon goes.

Greg,