M78 Hyperstar

[Rod771]

Merry Christmas everyone! :)

Finally the rain and storms had taken break from showering Sydney allowing some imaging time. I wouldn't normally try at all in December as my street is full of Christmas lights but it had been awhile since the scope was out.

M78, this was a hard one, its not as bright as I thought it was, still I enjoyed the process.

Taken with the Canon 60da using the Hyperstar lens / C11 Edge HD over three nights. Total of 139 x 90 sec subs. 3h 28m total. Darks , Bias and Flats applied.

Processed with Pixinsight.

Large click here (http://astrob.in/full/142435/0/)

Thanks for looking.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a safe new year. :xmas:

Cheers

Rod

[RickS]

Nice work for 3.5 hours, Rod! Merry Christmas to you too.

[rustigsmed]

Awesome shot Rod, merry Christmas.

Rusty

[SimmoW]

Nice FoV too with that HS, thanks for posting and Merry Xmas to you too!

[RB]

Beautiful shot, and a Very Merry Christmas to you too Rod!
Thanks for sharing.

RB

[Camelopardalis]

Very nice Rod, glad to see some Hyperstar action round here :thumbsup:

[Rod771]

Thanks guys :). Rosette is next, clouds are back though :shrug:

[multiweb]

Gorgeous field. Very well corrected. :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Wow, that was taken from Parklea in Sydney??? Ok crazy Christmas lights not withstanding and your northern sky is probably not completely terrible but sheesh great job, wouldn't have thought such a good image of this area including Barnarads Loop :eyepop: possible with a DSLR from where (I think) you are :thumbsup:

Mike

[Rod771]

Thanks Marc! :)



Cheers Mike! :)

Yeah your right, Parklea, Sydney. It's quite bright here in December, I've attached a picture for reference. My northern skies are pretty good, east and south are just full of LP , crapmosphere I call it.:P I started imaging at 11:00pm each night, so most of the Christmas lights had been switched off and M78 was about 45 degrees above the horizon. We even had a blackout on the second night, you should have seen the sky then, wow! Only trouble was the mount stopped tracking. Laptop, camera and Lodestar were fine but the mount was running of AC. :rolleyes: I should have a back up battery.

I was a little disappointed with some of the background noise but I think I'm being a bit harsh on the 60Da, the sensor temp did range from +20c to +29 over the three nights. One day I'll get a CCD.

Cheers

Rod

[RobC]

Great image Rod. Trying to make my mind up about going down the Hyperstar path.

Cheers Rob

[Rod771]

Thanks Rob! :thumbsup: Just make sure your C8 is "fast star" compatible. Some of the older scopes weren't and a secondary mirror housing conversion kit was required for hyperstar use. If yours is labeled "Fast Star" your good to go.

[Ross G]

A beautiful photo Rod.

What a great capture from our light polluted skies.

Ross.

[Rod771]

Thanks Ross! :)

Yeah it was a tough one from home, cant wait to get to some dark sites this year.

[strongmanmike]

Oh wadda'ya mean?...that looks like a pristine dark sky to me :shrug:....:eyepop: :P

+29C?...even more kudos to you then mate :thumbsup:

Mike

[Rod771]

Ta Mike!

Well, that is my sky at its worst, in December. Wish I could pull down the rest of Sydney's street lights after Christmas :P.

Just a few subs were at 29c , thanks goodness for NR.

Cheers

Rod