Rival to Mars - first light for Mount Glasgow Observatory

[Phil Hart]

Here's some eye candy for you.. Mars easily outshining its rival in magnitude:

High Res on SmugMug (https://philhart.smugmug.com/DeepSkyAstrophotography/Nebula/i-HP5wwr7)

This also happens to be first light for my observatory. As evidenced by the 80m extension lead out to the dome and the mess on the floor inside, I got it limping along just in time to get this image. Hopefully power and (sketchy) rural internet will be connected Friday next week. I don't even know what I'm going to call it :shrug:.

More info here: http://philhart.com/content/rival-to-mars

Phil

[rustigsmed]

Excellent as usual Phil!!
Beautiful image and Mars adds that extra dimension.
Not temped for a HDR shot showing some Martian detail? ;)

[Atmos]

Looks really nice Phil, Mars looks reminiscent of Antares :P

[astroron]

Mars Observatory. ;)
Cheers:thumbsup:

[bugeater]

Very nice

[Peter Ward]

Humm...very pretty indeed :thumbsup:

[Phil Hart]

Thanks Russell, Colin, Ron, Marty and Peter!

I'll add Mars Observatory to the list of possible names..

cheers
Phil

[Peter Ward]

Clas Myrddin

(Merlin's enclosure ;) )

[Paul Haese]

A lovely splash of colour Phil. The field of view really sets the scene well. Very nice and a fitting start to your first use of the observatory. Are you planning on going fully automated (re the installation of internet)?

[multiweb]

Very nice composition indeed. Great colors. One for the cool wall. :thumbsup:

[Slawomir]

Wow, really beautiful image Phil, thank you for sharing :thumbsup:

[RickS]

Very dramatic, Phil!

[SimmoW]

That's a stunning picture Phil, really unique as well, well done.

May I ask what 200mm Canon lens you used?

Naming an obs must be a very personal thing, I'm not sure I could even attempt to suggest. Especially as it may well become quite well known ;)

[Phil Hart]

Full automation is certainly the intent.. I don't have time to be babysitting the scope and I don't work well with lack of sleep these days. But it's taken more than two years to get to this stage so full automation might be a while down the track. I'm also a bit daunted about the amount of data I could generate once that's going.. I won't have time to deal with it all!



The Canon 200mm f2.8 lens. Have had it for about 15 years and it is a gem of lens (and good value). It used to be perfect but it appears though that the lens has been damaged some time ago as there now appears to be image tilt with poor star quality on the left side. I used to use it at f3.5 but used f5 for this shot to limit the impact on image quality. Will try to get it repaired.

Phil

[Camelopardalis]

Wow...stunning Phil, well done :thumbsup:

[zardos123]

love the processing phil, a great detailed image and a corker to open the account at the new dome :thumbsup:

[cazza132]

Very nice work Phil! Nice colour, solid details and tight stars. One of favourite areas of the sky :)

[Kunama]

Great work Phil, looking forward to more images from Mt Glasgow.
Tried the FSQ yet?

[Ryderscope]

Stunning work Phil. Love the video of the observatory construction.

R

[lazjen]

Very nice image.

As for a name, you could switch it around for Observatory Mount Glasgow and abbreviate: OMG. :)

[gregbradley]

A fantastic first light image Phil. Congrats on the new observatory.

Greg.

[topheart]

Hi Phil,
An awesome composition.

Very well done!

I wish you all the best with your observatory and look forward to the output from it.

Regards,
Tim

[strongmanmike]

Yeah that's a cracker Phil :thumbsup:...you've done this area a few times now, haven't you?...I'm yet to have a go :rolleyes: but hopefully that will change for next years appearance :)

Mike

[Phil Hart]

Not yet but hopefully very soon!



hmm.. OMG is a good one.. but then I'd end up saying OMG Observatory but I hate tautology ;)



You're not wrong.. you could easily have said "I haven't done anything but this region"! With Mars there I couldn't resist.. and I'll probably still be coming back to it. Hopefully will branch out soon :lol:

Phil

[Ross G]

A beautiful wide photo Phil....love the composition.

Rich colours and very sharp.

I like the diffraction spikes. What f stop did you use?

Ross.

[Phil Hart]

oops.. forgot to include that in the details. It was shot at f5.. but as in an earlier comment I have a problem with the lens at the moment. In the past I would have used it at f3.5 but had to stop down to reduce some issues due to tilt (lens has been bumped/damaged at some point). So f5 has accentuated the diffraction spikes.

Phil

[Geoff45]

Beautiful colours there Phil and nicely composed.
Geoff

[astronobob]

Fantastical :thumbsup: beautiful colours :thumbsup: