NGC 253 work in progress

[marc4darkskies]

I'll get some colour data and finish this off during the next lunar cycle for sure but here is were I'm at right now. 3 hours of luminance during good seeing and cropped for effect only.
Extremely happy with resolution the OS360 achieves! :2thumbs:

Full resolution (as always = 0.59"/pixel):
http://www.pbase.com/gailmarc/image/157683280/original

Cheers, Marcus

[multiweb]

Outstanding details. You win! :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Phug me......bah! Puft..an easy target though

Mortgage well spent :thumbsup:

:lol:

[Amaranthus]

Simply superb detail. Stunning.

[strongmanmike]

:lol:

[RickS]

+1 :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[alpal]

Hi Marcus,
wow - you'd have to be happy with that - that OS360 is razor sharp.
What is you elevation at Grose Vale, NSW?
It must be a good dark location & not far from Bowen Mountain.
What did you measure as your best FWHM for this pic?

cheers
Allan

[LightningNZ]

That level of detail is staggering. Hat's off to you sir!

[Octane]

Mind. Blown.

H

[Shiraz]

:bowdown: woohoo, how good is that. really looking forward to the final result.

[Bassnut]

Whoa, this is getting serious, jaw dropping gear right there :thumbsup:. Damn, I knew this would happen :mad2:

[DJT]

Oh my..the detail is awesome. :eyepop:

Looking forward to seeing the finished article. Well done.

[DavidU]

Wow !

[marc4darkskies]

:lol: Thanks Marc! And this wasn't even the best seeing! :P



Cheers Mike - Yeah nice & bright but needed to demonstrate to myself once and for all that I was going to be able to achieve my imaging goals. Resting easy now! :D



Thanks a lot Barry



Cheers Rick



Thanks Allan. I'm only at 64m here - practically sea level. Big light dome to my SE from Sydney but overhead & to the west is reasonably dark. Best FWHM for the set of subs was 1.79.



Cheers Cam - pretty chuffed myself!



Thanks H - More to come! :D



Thanks Ray, me too. Third time lucky with works in progress. Heaps of time left to gather the colour so watch this space!



Thanks Fred. Yes, very serious business dropping a bundle on a toy - but worth it now. Lots of up close & personal shots to come.



Thanks a lot David



Cheers Dave

[Geoff45]

Exquisite detail Marcus. Seeing must have been top-notch.
Geoff

[Peter Ward]

Damm...now therein lies some serious motivation for me to re-mount the RCOS......Fred is not incorrect by suggesting narrow field rules!

Very tidy indeed. :thumbsup:

[dvj]

As good as anything I have seen from any instrument. Your processing is exceptional. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[LewisM]

Yawn.....


Oooops, sorry, got fatigued TRYING to count all the background galaxies. Lost count...

:D

[marc4darkskies]

Thank you kindly Geoff.



Come back Peter! ... Come back from the Schwarz side of the Schwartz!



Hi praise John - thank you!



Hehe ... you should see the full frame Lewis!

[Paul Haese]

Nice Marcus. Your full frame image is sharper than mine, I can assure you of that. Your stars are also perfectly round too. My guiding in RA is still not quite there. An impressive image Marcus. I look forward to the colour.

[marc4darkskies]

Cheers Paul! This is a crop (for dramatic effect), not the full frame. I'll post the full frame as well when I'm finished with a colour version

[Joshua Bunn]

Stunning Marc! Looking forward to the colour version. Very impressive detail in the dust lanes there. What was the sub length?

Josh

[Rac]

Wow. Very very nice!

[marc4darkskies]

Cheers Josh! 15 min subs.



Thanks Raymond!

[Placidus]

Marcus,

The clarity and detail is utterly stunning.

Congratulations,
Mike.

[gregbradley]

That's gorgeous Marcus. I can see why you are thrilled. Great going.

Greg.

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks very much Mike!



Thanks Greg! It helps when the seeing cooperates!

[marco]

And you should Marcus, exceptional details and it promises to be a cracker with the color added :2thumbs:

Congratulations
Marco

[Paul Haese]

Mine were 20 minutes.

With regard to the guiding, I seem to recall reading you adjusted your guide rate. Though you do connect your camera through the SkyX too I think? I have found I have to over correct on the guide rate and this is now set to 1.2% rather than the default of 0.5%. My RA guiding is the problem where as the Dec just sits on the line and never wanders. Any ideas what is going on? RA wanders about 0.6" up and down the line and is producing elongated stars in RA. Irritating at best. Anyway thought you might have some ideas about how to solve this long focal length guide issue.

[marc4darkskies]

I cheated Paul. I used an AO-L. :D I did mess around with mount guide settings a while back but I recall that I reduced the guide rate for smoother results because I believed a correction was causing a very slight oscillation. I haven't bothered to follow up with mount guiding only tests lately because I have the AO-L attached. In any case I never had the symptoms you describe.

Cheers, Marcus

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks a lot Marco! glad you liked it!

[alpal]

Marcus,
Hi Marcus,
Wow - I am surprised that you got such good seeing at almost sea level.
I can't wait to see the colour added.
Some Ha would be interesting too.
That OS360 is a real premium scope - superb results - which I suppose was expected.

cheers
Allan.

[SkyViking]

That's incredibly detailed, I can see why you are happy Marcus! :D The colour version will be spectacular for sure. Excellent work, and very inspiring :thumbsup:
I'm tempted to swing mine over on NGC253 some time soon just to see what a good old Newt can deliver in comparison.:P

[astronobob]

Fantastic details & resolution Mark, extraordinary image :thumbsup:

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks Allan. I get good seeing reasonably regularly here..... You can never get enough though! :D



Thanks a lot Rolf. That old newt of yours is heck of a performer too so go for it! :)



Cheers Bob!

[E_ri_k]

:eyepop: Amazing detail! Incredible. Bring on the final version, I'm sure it will be stunning!

Erik

[SimmoW]

Yes an incredible image, and it's only on mono!!!! Can't wait for the colour version too

[Ross G]

What an amazing photo Marcus.

So sharp.

So detailed.

Outstanding work.

Ross.

[marc4darkskies]

Cheers Erik! Yep, dead keen to get colour data this coming cycle!



Thanks Simmo!



Thanks a lot Ross!

[alpal]

Marcus,


Hi Marcus,
I look forward to your pics with that kind of seeing.

cheers
Allan

[andyc]

Marc, that's stunning. If I took your shrunken image, then blurred it by a factor of 4, I'd be overjoyed by the result. What you've got is really good, am looking forward to seeing more from your set-up. As someone said, you win!

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks Allan!



Hehe ... Much appreciated Andy! :)


21/10/14: THIS IMAGE HAS NOW BEEN COMPLETED (COLOUR ADDED)