Imaging with pre loved equipment from the burbs

[TR]

Hello,

This is my first light shot using the pre-loved equipment I have picked up on various forums (most off IIS). The data was acquired on the nights of the 14th and 15th August 2014, 15 km from Melbourne CBD. The image is a quick 4 hour exposure of M16 captured in Ha, composed of 600 sec subs. All processing with Photoshop. I'm fairly pleased with the results.

Full Res Link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qa6zqnlq6kzb4qg/M16-4Hr-Ha.jpg

I just had a look on the dropbox link - looks like you have to download it to see the full res, otherwise it's low res in the browser.


Terry

[RickS]

That's really nice, Terry, and excellent for a first light! What gear did you use?

Cheers,
Rick.

[Octane]

Looks wonderful to me.

H

[marc4darkskies]

The level of detail in that image is extraordinary Terry! :thumbsup::thumbsup: Tell us more!

Cheers, Marcus

PS: Your dropbox image is not full res.

[TR]

Sorry about the resolution, looks like you have to download the image to get the full res version. I guess it's all about saving bits on the wire.

Terry

[marc4darkskies]

Doh! ... of course, thanks Terry.

Really like to know what equipment you used!

[multiweb]

:eyepop: This is really good. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[alistairsam]

That is superb Terry. amazing,


Cheers
Alistair

[LewisM]

Really first rate!

Actually, thinking about it, I have only ever bought second hand stuff that I have kept. All the new stuff seems to get sold :D I must like letting others break my stuff in before I get it :) (my excuse)

Actually, judging by the really faint spider vane spike, can I assume this MAY have been taken with the VC-200L I sold you? :D Or maybe the R200SS?

[PeterEde]

Very nice but yes the dropbox strips out a lot of data. Hated it so much I deleted the app.

[blink138]

wow the pillars are extraordinary!
pat

[DJScotty]

Absolutely superb!
:thumbsup:

[pluto]

That looks great!
Are you going to take SII and OIII too? I'd love to see what you get!
I find SII really difficult to acquire through intense light pollution (I often image from my balcony 3kms from Sydney city, which is a bit of a lost cause sometimes...).

What bandwidth is your Ha filter?

[E_ri_k]

That's great:thumbsup: Stunning amount of detail you have captured there!
Erik

[Joshua Bunn]

That's very clean and crisp Terry. Love the resolution.

[Tony_]

Amazing detail - great image!

[alpal]

Why won't Terry tell us?
I want to know too.
How did he take such a sharp shot?

[DavidU]

Awesome ! I also want to know what equipment was used.

[TR]

Hi Guys and Gals, sorry for the delay in my response. As I indicated earlier, all the gear I am using is second hand stuff with the exception of my AP-900 mount. The camera is an early STL-11000 from what I can tell. The subs look really scary, but clean up ok after calibration. I shoot at -15 so I can use the same darks year round or until new hot pixels start to peak out. It struggles to go any further than this in the summer, so -15 is my target all year round. Filters are installed in the internal 5 filter wheel. I have R, G, B, Lum and Ha in there. I was using the on board “Self Guiding” chip. In this image, I was guiding on a 9.2 mag star using 10 second exposures using the built in internal guide chip through the Ha filter. Man, that Ha filter really cuts the light down for guiding purposes. With good alignment, the 10 second exposures on the internal guide chip doesn’t seem to bother the tracking with the current mount. PEC is turned off on the mount. The scope is a 10 inch RCOS with a focal length of f9. I love the build quality, very strong. Focus seems very repeatable and stable with initial testing. In fact, I didn’t refocus at all with the M16 shot. In all the excitement – I forgot and didn’t realise until later. Typically, I used to refocus every 1 degree of temperature change. And, it’s still very scary to move around. It's the largest aperture I am prepared to move around and take to dark sky sites. The rest is pretty generic stuff really. I’d like to thank everyone for your kind replies and comments about the image. I couldn’t find a cloud removal mechanism anywhere. But if anyone knows of an eight position filter wheel for an STL-11000, I am very interested :thumbsup:.

Terry

[phobos27]

Great Photo Terry! Lots of very nice detail coming out, especially being so close to the CBD!

[Octane]

Terry,

I picked one up on Astromart a month back for $900. Brand new, never been used. It was still in its plastic wrapping.

They pop up quite often. Put a wanted ad on there and someone will contact you. :)

H

[Paul Haese]

Very nice image Terry. The detail in the pillars are extraordinary.

[marc4darkskies]

Wow, by my reckoning then you're resolving detail down to just under 2 arcsec. Seeing must have been excellent for those nights - darned impressive from suburbia!! Looks like that RCOS 10 is a keeper!

[andyc]

That's really remarkably sharp. A wander across the "pillars of creation", lovely work!

[alpal]

10 inch RCOS with a focal length of f9 -

say no more - nudge nudge wink wink. :)

[gvanhau]

That's really sharp.
Excelent shot.

Geert

[Rex]

WOW! Top rate Terry. Amazing detail and clarity. Nothing else really can be said.

[NOMH]

With image detail like this who needs a billion dollar space telescope!

JB

[TR]

I am really overwhelmed by all your kind comments. Thank you all for that. I am really hoping that we get favourable weather for imaging in the future. The skies over Melbourne have been overcast for an eternity. Once again, thank you for your feedback.

Terry

[David Fitz-Henr]

Just caught up with this one; really first rate work Terry :thumbsup: Superb resolution!

[lazjen]

Excellent image.

I found trying to get a guide star through the filters to be a bit painful at times, so I sorted out the bits to get my OAG working again. With it in front of the filter I could guide much easier. Maybe this might be useful for you as well Terry?