NGC 3576...no complaining this time

[strongmanmike]

Ok, ok, no complaining this time :P (...even if the seeing wasn't as good the second night :tasdevil:)

4.5 hours of Ha now....will try and get the SII soon and then the OIII when the moon buggers off :)

NGC 3576 Ha (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/163216861/original)

Mike

[gregbradley]

Great resolution there Mike.

Maybe you got some good seeing after all.

Greg.

[Atmos]

I don't see any not so good seeing ;)

Very nice Mike!

[strongmanmike]

Well, the three or four 5min frames from Sat night were great. Last night however,although perfectly clear, t'was obvious the seeing was down on the night before and this was supported by the visual views through my 12" dob. Throughout the night though, it did vary with some periods of not too bad seeing coming and going. In the end I think we are back to the old conundrum, do we use less frames of good seeing with less sharpening or more frames of less than good seeing which enables one to sharpen more...?

That is the question...? answer?..move to the Atacama :D

Mike

[strongmanmike]

What I said to Greggles :)

[Placidus]

Another awesome image. Magnificent control of local contrast in the fine details.

Very best,
Mike

[RickS]

Excellent details, Mike. Glad you're back in your happy place :lol:

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Mike, only decided on this on a whim...gotta finish it now.

Mike

[strongmanmike]

:)

[rustigsmed]

looking really good mike, did you say only 5 min subs??

[strongmanmike]

Yup! :D I considered it a bright NB object...the SXH694 is incredibly sensitive and low noise, even in NB (no darks required) :thumbsup:...may up it to 10min for OIII/SII though :question:

Mike

[gregbradley]

Gee that mirror in your scope is good. Such great fine detail. You are spoilt as several years ago you wouldn't've seen all that fine detail to even know the seeing was off!

My personal opinion is to remove the really bad ones and do a stack and see. I sometimes do a few stacks to see what it looks like with the not so good left in and a stack with them taken out. Often I like the ones with the not so good taken out. Its less important with the colour and more important for the luminance.

That's why we opted for 12 inch F3.8 scopes with sensitive cameras and good tracking to get the maximum amount of signal in the least amount of available time. Think of the other poor souls imaging at F8 and beyond - ouch!

12 inch F3.8 imaging is definitely a luxury once you get all the alignments/flex all good.

Perhaps one of these ZWO ASI1600 and 60 second lucky imaging
to grab the moments of good seeing is in your future. Its taking the ICX694 and 12 inch F3.6 to the next logical step forward.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Yeah, I think it is ok..? (definitely for imaging anyway :))

Certainly not in THESE (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/in_the_begining) days :lol:

Agree and this is essentially what I usually do too and yes colour can be taken in poor seeing, wind and even through some cloud and while it can't then be used in the Lum stack, it is perfectly ok for the RGB. Only a couple of times has the seeing been so bad that it affected the RGB combine and that was only for one colour each time. If the seeing is looking bad I often revert to grabbing some RGB...just not as cool seeing this come down at those times :sadeyes:

Some still think that 30min subs (or more) are a must but this is only because the camera they use, plus often coupled with the F ratio and/or small aperture, requires it :) (Just ask Ray ;))

Yes, I have not had to fiddle with the AG12 since purchased in 2011, in fact I have not adjusted anything nor collimated it since Aug 2014 when it went into to the current observatory! (nor have I had to tweak the PA!)....only thing that has occurred since was one tiny grub screw came lose on the small brass transfer gear one night on the NJP and the hex head had rounded so I couldn't tighten it hard enough with an Allen key...a 30c fix the next day :D

Well actually, I did do essentially this for THIS (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/159445895/original) image

Mike :thumbsup:

[codemonkey]

Can't complain too much about that one Mike. Nice work! Looking forward to the finished product.

You say you won't capture OIII or SII until the moon buggers off... I'm surprised by that. Isn't that what moonlit nights are for? Capturing nebula in narrowband because you can't capture the most interesting things (galaxies, of course)...?

Pretty much the only time I do narrowband is when the moon is getting large.

[strongmanmike]

Ha ha yeah probably cant..and tonight the seeing is currently fantastic!!! The current ave guide errors are under 0.1 pix and stars are tiny little dots :D . I am doing the SII tonight, I find the contrast reduction caused by the moon is greatest when imaging in OIII (even with 6nm filters) so i try to do that with little or no Moon. :)

Mike

[strongmanmike]

Well i managed to get 4hrs of SII so i said what tha heck..Moons getting a bit lower now, sky not toooo bright and seeing still excellent even at 45deg alt...so meah!..grabbing some OIII now :D :thumbsup: might manage 2hrs before the low altitude ruins the show...so Lee, fingers crossed :prey: :thumbsup:

Mike

[andyc]

That's a beauty Mike, super texture. Part of it almost looks like a tornado lowered and whirling out of a shelf cloud, maybe that's too much imagination, but it's an image to explore. You've really got the details on those thin spidery bits you mentioned previously. The final image should be something!

[strongmanmike]

Thanks for the comments, I grabbed the rest of the data last night so should be able to cobble something together soon (may wait and get some more OIII though?)...and nope, a good imagination and sense of humour is an integral part of this hobby in my opinion, if it gets too serious it is no fun any more :)

Mike

[codemonkey]

Awesome! Makes sense, re the OIII, I try to do the same by starting with OIII when the moon's getting a bit large and doing SII / Ha as it gets even more full.



Well don't keep us hanging, Mike! :p

[Placidus]

I want to learn to get high-contrast natural-looking detail like that.
MBJ

[strongmanmike]

Ok Ok...sheesh :lol:

I was going to go out and grab some more OIII and some RGB tonight but the Moon is now 95% full and I know the data wont be as good as if I wait for the moon to lessen :question:...oooor I could just be impatient and put together what I already have :D..may not need the RGB, sometimes it doesn't bring much to a narrowband image anyway..aaand I could always add it later :question: (see? so easy to convince myself to be impatient :P )



:lol: Thanks Mike but I think your processing skills are pretty damn good already, certainly your programming skills are!!! :eyepop: :computer:

Mike

[Slawomir]

Hi Mike,

Well, I really like how in your photo you managed to show complex nebulosity "below" the statue - it looks very dynamic!

As for narrowband imaging and full moon, I found that my 3nm OIII produces more noisy data around full moon, in particular that OIII is usually/always? much weaker than Ha, and if I would like to blend it with Ha for Luminance, I need to wait for darker nights with OIII. I must add, that my site is a short stroll from Suncorp and less than 10 minutes drive from Brisbane's CBD, so anyway I need to expose for much longer to reduce noise in my photos...