Horse Head in Ha

[multiweb]

Nobody in their right mind would have been imaging from Sydney last night but I had to make the most of the new moon despite the uncertain weather. Having a new toy also means I'm going through a 'tragic' phase.

I got quite lucky and managed a bit over 2.5h in 5min subs on the HH. Baader 7nm and QHY9 with FSQ106N on G11. My sharpsky pro focuser is now installed and working reliably so I go the focus right without running back and forth to the pier.

Weather didn't play ball too well, high altitude haze on and off, first quarter moon and a bit of LP picked up by the passing clouds conspired to make a lot of sky glow and background noise in some of the subs.

Still reasonably happy with the result. Contrast would have been a lot better with a clearer view and that's the best processing I could come up with. I used Noise ninja to get rid of some of the grain but left a lot of noise in still or the details would be smeared.

I have a bigger one here (http://www.astropic.net/astro/IC434A_FSQ_HD.jpg)with some details. It's a 4MB file.
Enjoy the view. To be revisited very soon. :thumbsup:

[hickny]

No need to revise that image. It's BRILLIANT!!! Well done.

[blink138]

hi mark i like it and wonder how i may get this result, especially since i have similar aperture and the 7nm baader and a new qhy10
what iso on the ha? and do you just convert the very red ha image to b&w in photoshop?
regards and great image
pat

[multiweb]

Thanks Peter, glad you like it. :thumbsup:


Hi Pat, the QHY10 is an OSC so you have the choice of bin2x2 which will give you a mono image or bin 1x1 and debayer to red only.
I use Gain 1 and offset 113 with the QHY9. Might be slightly different for your camera. I did 5min subs but 10min would be better on the HH.(There were a lot of passing clouds so minimising the exposure time helps with discarding bad subs).

When you debayer only one channel or bin2x2 you will get a mono image, depending on the software you're using. If you get a deep red image then just gray scale it. I find it easier to see the details this way.

[DJT]

gotta luurve a new toy, esp. Great image despite conditions. I was at the opera house on the steps for an event last night feeling smug that I wasnt missing any imaging cos the conditions were bad so pretty impressive results.:thumbsup:

[rustigsmed]

yep, awesome work :thumbsup:

[Stevec35]

A very impressive horsehead considering the conditions Marc - well done

Cheers

Steve

[pluto]

Wow that scope+camera combo is really working well!
So sharp with amazing dynamic range and details for a quicky under bad conditions :)

[multiweb]

Thanks David. :thumbsup: Yes the past two imaging nights I've had were a matter of finding which part of the sky would have a 'stable' hole, big enough to fit a few hours. Got an email from John Glossop in Cootamundra who advised me that he had some bad weather and it was heading NE so I packed up around 11:30pm and sure enough it got pretty bad really quickly.

[multiweb]

Thanks guys. :thumbsup: Yes I love that scope. Every time I use it I get good results. In March I'll be able to do some color from Coonabarabran, weather pending. Can't wait.

[gregbradley]

Oh yes that is very nice. Good horsie!
Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Yeah, looks good Marc, nice squeeze in :thumbsup:

Can't wait for M8 mate, should be great :cool:

Mike

[multiweb]

Thanks Greg. :thumbsup:


Yeah, can't wait for M8. :)

[suma126]

Great work....just some colour now 😄

[Rod771]

Well almost nobody. :face: Some guy I know was trying to squeeze a little more data out of the Cone and Christmas tree cluster, it looked clear during set up! :mad2:

Marc, how you pulled that out of last nights sky is quite an achievement, well done! :thumbsup:

Here's a shot of what was around at 9:48pm, very murky.

[multiweb]

Thanks. Color is overrated :)


:lol: Yup, that looks familiar. Hard to fit 5min in between those bands hey? Cone is even fainter. How did you go?

[Rod771]

Yeah ok, I was shooting 60 sec subs with the Hyperstar, managed to get 30 subs which were ok. These will be added to the 150 subs captured in clear conditions on the 18/2 and 22/2.

I've got to say, its hard to accumulate a lot of data with the hyperstar. Yes you can shoot short subs but achieving a high integration total takes a long time due to dithering. My dithers are taking around 30 sec. That means (@ 60 sec subs) for every hour of data there's 30 minutes of dither. :rolleyes:

Yeah 5 min subs would have been very difficult, you've done well Marc.

[Leonardo70]

Great HA Marc.

All the best,
Leo

[SkyViking]

That's a very nice widefield Ha horsehead Marc, and it's interesting to see how NGC2023 almost disappears at this wavelength, while the Flame really lights up! Great work :thumbsup:

[RickS]

Nice result, Marc!

[multiweb]

That's when the hyperstar comes handy. Love mine. But it's a heavy setup. When I have an obs, one day, I'll mount it permanently.


Thank you Leo. :thumbsup:

Thanks Rolf. :thumbsup: Yes, Ha is great but for all the reflection Nebula. Even the trifid looks like a shaved cat in Ha.

Thanks a lot Rick. :thumbsup:

[Placidus]

Very sharp, and already surprisingly deep. A rewarding night.

[atalas]

Nice shot Marc.

[DJScotty]

Beautiful image Marc.
:thumbsup:
DJ Scotty

[Retrograde]

Spectacular!

Yep Sydney weather has been atrocious lately. Well done.

[multiweb]

Thanks Mike. :thumbsup: Yes, rewarding enough, considering conditions. Lucky to walk out with something.

Thanks Louie. :thumbsup:

Thanks a lot mate. :thumbsup:

Thank you. :thumbsup: Yes, it is quite challenging at the moment.

[SkyViking]

Lol, yes I can imagine. I tried the Trifid in NIR last year - let's just say it was not impressive :)

[Bassnut]

Sharp and tight Marc. What noise there is is not intrusive at all.

[multiweb]

Thanks Fred. :thumbsup: Still lots of noise in the raw subs. I also thought you'd like this one because even the stars are not intrusive at all ;)

[Ross G]

Hi Marc, missed this one.

Great shot.
If this is what you get in Sydney with bad weather, I'm really looking forward to what you will produce from a dark site!

Ross.

[Andy01]

Smooth as silk and shows an excellent dynamic range :thumbsup: