Fox Fur and cone

[Peter Ward]

The demise of a rather large Gum tree on my neighbours property has opened up my northern sky quite a bit.

Sitting well within some serious light pollution from Sydney (to my North), this rather dim nebula proved to be challenging.

Much more data needed...but hey, there is only so much you can do in one evening....and of course the weather has changed to rain and cloud...so I'll call it a work in progress :)

Anyway, here is the link (http://www.atscope.com.au/BRO/gallery292.html)

[multiweb]

Sublime. This one is real hard to get in RGB, let alone from ligh polluted skies. Top shelf. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[alistairsam]

That looks amazing Peter, really nice details.
did you have LP gradients in the RGB subs, how do you process it out?
since you've used Ha for L, that would've been straightforward, but RGB usually gets affected by LP.

Cheers
Alistair

[allan gould]

The best I've seen of this region in a long time. Really beautiful
Allan

[alpal]

Top quality picture.
Well done.

[Peter Ward]

Thanks.


Appreciated Allan :thumbsup:



As I live in light pollution central, gradients are something I simply have to deal with constantly. The RGB data was indeed all over the place, but nothing more exposure won't fix...assuming the weather clears...as I'd like to bring out some subtle colour details which are only hinted at in this rendition.



Thanks Marc. :)

[Larryp]

That's superb, Peter. Lovely detail.

[gregbradley]

A remarkable image. It has a kind of transparency and clearness to it you don't often see.

You must be delighted with this world class setup.

Greg.

[Peter Ward]

Ta Greg. I should post a DSLR image of my northern horizon....in fact when the weather clears... I will. I think many would not believe how tragic my skies are.

But the system is now tuned and working really well. With the AO-X guiding at 5Hz my narrowband FWHM's are around 1.6 arc sec.

I'd love to have a dark sky rig.....maybe one day :thumbsup:



Glad you like it Laurie !

[Regulus]

That's among the best I have seen and quite beautiful.
Trevor

[Andy01]

Yowza! Awesome result - well done!

[SkyViking]

Very beautiful image there Peter, and it's such a stunning nebula. A top result for sure, nice! :thumbsup:
What's your visual limiting magnitude btw?

[Peter Ward]

Thanks for the feedback Rolf.... The limiting magnitude in that part of my sky is probably 3-ish... this fisheye view was taken a few years ago (http://www.atscope.com.au/BRO/galleyOS11.html)

Fortunately my neighbour doesn't often use his mini-sun outdoor floodlamp much these days...:rolleyes:...I guess his power-bill was getting out of hand :)





Thanks Guys.

[gregbradley]

[QUOTE=Peter Ward;1055053]Thanks for the feedback Rolf.... The limiting magnitude in that part of my sky is probably 3-ish... this fisheye view was taken a few years ago (http://www.atscope.com.au/BRO/galleyOS11.html)

Fortunately my neighbour doesn't often use his mini-sun outdoor floodlamp much these days...:rolleyes:...I guess his power-bill was getting out of hand :)


That made me laugh - a mini sun floodlamp! I am sure we have all had the pleasure of that experience when imaging!

Greg.

[Stevec35]

Might need more data but what you have seems more than adequate to me. Nice one Peter.

Cheers

Steve

[Paul Haese]

Nice Pete. I am thinking that a RH is going to replace the mighty TSA for imaging wide field. I am looking at the OS version but will not be getting a huge camera and putting it on the scope. Maybe an STXL6303 or STXL11002. This image shows the type of field width I can expect. I am going to say you would maybe on need another 4 hours or so in Ha and maybe even another hour in each colour for it to really smooth out. The TSA would be 40 hours.

[Logieberra]

Oh wow, that's real crisp! And from Sydney!

[bert]

This image makes me hate you. :D

It also makes me want to shoot that area.

[Maurice]

Excellent result Peter!
I find it amazing how smooth your image is considering the (relatively) short total exposure time.
What is your sampling with this setup?

cheers
Maurice

[marc4darkskies]

A lovely image Peter! Especially impressive given only 105 minutes of exposure! :thumbsup: I'll even overlook the fact that it's not full res ... just this once though :D.

Not sure your getting a lot of value from an AO-X at 1160mm (??). I only ever needed to use my AO-L at F11.7 on my Tak.

Cheers, Marcus

PS: And thank you for not giving us another B&W standard candle. :P

[alexch]

Wow, great image with lots of details and all that in under two hours!
Thanks for the lovely view :)
Alex

[Peter Ward]

Provided you can get a 5-10Hz guide star, I find the AO-X does tighten stars up even at 1160mm..

and OK... but are you *sure* you don't want to see the H-alpha version :lol:



Sorry to say, some errant pixels were seriously harmed with Photoshop to smooth out the 1.66 arc/sec per Pixel data. :)

Hey, I'm just the messenger :)



Ta...and yes...it is possible to image with mega light-pollution :thumbsup:



An OS RHA? :question: Aren't they f3.0? Careful what you wish for....



Thanks Steve... the reality will probably be the weather making the extra data decision for me.

[Peter Ward]

Always a pleasure Alex... I figure if you have chimed in, it's probably a keeper :)

[stevous67]

Legendary. :eyepop:

Steve

[Peter Ward]

Legendary :question: Well, not too shabby maybe. Thanks... :)

[Octane]

That is truly astounding, Peter. Considering both the short exposure duration and your light-polluted skies. Something to aspire to!

You're giving me inspiration to move my gear from my dark sky setup (where I just can't get out to nowadays, due to work, life, etc.,) and moving it to my light-polluted Queanbeyan backyard. I might actually get something done from the backyard! The STL/FSQ is sitting there doing nothing. I haven't done any deep sky imaging since my M31 several years ago. *sigh*

H

[Paul Haese]

Yes Pete they are F3.0 I am not going to put something huge on one though. ;) That clearly does not work.




No H, all you need to do is go remote. Very simple in the end, once you bug hunt a few things. Just remember you can image while you sleep out at your dark sky site from your home. IP Switching is the most important tool you will need. I took Freds advice.

[Octane]

The property that my gear on has no Internet. It's not a proper observatory, either; I have to go out there and remove the covers, etc.

One day, when I'm all grown up and have some money, I might look into it. At the moment, it's either sell up or bring it home where it'll get used.

H

[SkyViking]

In that case I'd definitely say bring it home H, it's not all about having dark skies. :)
If it's in your own back yard then you'll get to use the gear, tinker with it, do some imaging = have fun with it. And you can still take great images from light polluted skies as Peter's image shows.

[Peter Ward]

Thanks H. Queanbeyan light polluted?? Nah! :)

The thing to remember with urban imaging is provided you can keep the noise down (read: cooled CCD), deep objects are very attainable...they just need more exposure than a dark sky site.

Also the RHA is going to gather photons over 4x faster that a 100mm refractor...hence to get a similar S/n you'd need 4:1:1:1 hours with the Taka... certainly doable over a couple of nights :thumbsup:

[Octane]

I have no qualms with doing multi-night imaging, Peter! You'll recall my first image with the FSQ/STL combo was Eta Carina captured over 6 nights. :)

I think I might just do this once I get back from my trip.

Thanks for the inspiration!

H

[Peter Ward]

If you are where I think you are (Iceland? ) you'll need no further inspiration ;)

[Octane]

I'll be going next Friday. :D

H

[Peter Ward]

Most excellent!!

Iceland is awesome.

For Aurora, bump up the ISO to 2000.
Use glass that works well at full aperture, keep exposures to 1/2 sec or faster if possible...they move surprisingly quickly :thumbsup:

I'd go there again in a heartbeat.

[iceman]

Gorgeous image, Peter. Lovely.

This is now IOTW (http://www.iceinspace.com.au).

[Peter Ward]

Cool :thumbsup:

[rcheshire]

Really very good. Love that scope.

[Joshua Bunn]

Really smooth and i like the colours Peter. You sure make the most out of your location.

[atalas]

Very good considering only 1.45 hrs and shot from crappy Sydney!

[Peter Ward]

Ta Roland... yep it's a keeper :)


Thanks Josh... cloudy here now...but much more data is on my hit list.



The largely h-alpha component is pretty much immune the Sydney's light dome... and sure, more/better/saturated colours are going to need much more exposure..... but getting back to the H-alpha....as an encore:

Here is a crop of the H-alpha data (http://www.atscope.com.au/BRO/gallery293.html) at close to full res. (sorry Marcus :lol: )

( ...have to say I'm pretty pleased with the RHA + AO star sizes :) )

[Spookyer]

Great shot Peter :eyepop:

Brett

[mbaddah]

Just beautiful :) Thank you for sharing.

[Peter Ward]

Thanks Guys... I personally like the h-alpha version....well at least until I can get serious RGB data :)

[SimmoW]

gorgeous details and colour, must make all the expense and effort worth it! That's definitely a keeper.

[Peter Ward]

Begging, borrowing or stealing gear, could make it less expensive for sure! :lol:

....but I suspect the price-tag really doesn't matter so long as it floats-your-boat :thumbsup:

[Joshua Bunn]

Whooa... too cool. big smiles all round

[dvj]

The RHA has tremendous potential and versatility with a smaller pixel array like the 8300 or that camera that Strongman is using.

[marc4darkskies]

:scared2: ... :doh: ... :rolleyes: ... :shrug: ... :screwy: ... :sad:.............. ;) :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Remarkable. You must have been thrilled when you saw the downloads.

Greg.

[Peter Ward]

Ta Greg. Yep it's pretty cool when you start seeing star sizes that approach that of single pixels at a FL of 1100mm or so. The only processing was a mild DDP filter and some gamma scaling.

[RickS]

Great image from a nice set of gear. Congratulations, Peter!

[Ross G]

A beautiful photo of the Cone Nebula Peter.

Amazing detail and so sharp.

One of the best I've seen.

Congratulations on IOTW.

Ross.

[Peter Ward]

Thank Ross.... While our garden sure can use the rain at the moment...I'd sure like an hour or two more of data to give it a little more snap.



Ta Rick. I suspect Roland at AP will be canonised :)

[LucasB]

That is superb Peter.:thumbsup: I can't even imagine more data, I mean it is top shelf as is. I am sure you will scare us all one day with mega data.
Lucas