Deep Tarantula 2.5 hours

[tornado33]

Hi.
Just a few hours earlier I did my deepest ever astrophoto session.I started doing 15 minute images of the Tarantula Nebula, sky was unusually dark acording to the histogram so I kept going till I got 10 done!
10x15mins ISO 400, UHCS filter MPCC, 10inch f5.6 newtonian, modded 350D. All hand guided albeit while sitting down. Darks, flats offsets, aligning stacking all done in Iris as well as dynamic and colour stretching. Finished off in Photoshop.
Scott

[Dennis]

Hi Scott

What a fantastic image and what a marathon guiding effort – well done.

Cheers

Dennis

[gbeal]

Another stunner Scott. I am concerned though, and have floated the idea of passing the hat around to buy you an autoguiding system.
Keep at it.
Gary

[jjjnettie]

I've never seen better.
Will you be submitting it to one of the magazines?

[Phil]

Geat shot

[venus]

Amazing image Scott. I looked up at the sky last night so clear thinking "I wonder what photos I'll see tomorrow in IIS" and yes you did it again.
Thanks for the amazing pic!

[h0ughy]

yeah it was a different night last night, I went out at 10 to find i could easily see the LMC and the SMC and M45 naked eye, which usually never happens. the easterly was still blowing hard though, but I know you are protected near the house. Excellent image mate!

[iceman]

Stunning, Scott! Just beautiful. Welld one.

[Garyh]

Yep thats a beaut image Scott well done and over 2 hours handguided!! Done a 1-1/2 hour run myself last night and had to quit as my eyes were getting just to tired..
Marathon effort!! I agree but worth every photon!!
Cheers Gary

[sheeny]

Excellent work Scott!!!:thumbsup:

That's an impressive image! Congratulations!

Al.

[tornado33]

Thanks all.
Yes I guess I should send it off to some of the magazines for them to consider :)
The LMC's position worked out well, as once Id located a guidestar, the guiding eyepiece was at a comfortable height while sitting in a garden chair. As the imaging wore on the eyepiece got higher, I sat on a pillow then still higher, so I got my gas lift bar stool. The last image was taken with the stool fully extended.

Indeed Id love an autoguider system, but Id need a new mount. (if I won lotto Id be ordering a Losmandy G11 in a flash :)
Scott

[Doug]

Thanks for posting that image Scott. I don't know how you manage to hand guide so well.
is your camera moded to remove the IR filter? Comparing the colour of your image to the one recently posted by John, shows significanr colour difference, yet I do not believe there is anyrthing wrong with either image.

I see you have taken 15min exposures whereas John took 3 min exposures.
When we look visually, we see no colours. This might explain why John's image lacked red; nothing wrong whatsoever with his camera or processing, just not enough red photons.

thanks again for sharing your image scott.

cheers,
Doug

[RB]

Magnificent image Scott. :eyepop:
One of the best !

Fantastic work on hand guiding too, are you available for hire ? :lol:

[PhotonCollector]

:eyepop:

Well that's just fantastic Scott - didn't realise you had access to the Hubble Space Telescope - oh! you did this with your telescope ?

Absolutely well done - another fantastic image with great guiding and focus.

clear skies
Paul M

[FOOTPRINT]

Hi Scott,
That is one very nice picture, I admire your paitence, the stars are nice and round, better than some of my autoguided ones, you must have a steady hand, keep em coming.


cheers....Jim

[avandonk]

Really good image Scott. Shows how good your mirror is corrected by the MPCC. Have you tried RL deconvolution? The other thing to try is stacking the odd and even frames separately and then SUM them. I think the data is easily good enough so not a lot of noise creeps in. I have been doing this to some of my data and it works. Too long an exposure and image rotation becomes a problem no matter how well you have polar alignment etc. especially with wide fields so summing is an option.


Beautiful result.

Bert

[Striker]

Nicely done Scott.

Look at all that nebulosity.....I have only seen this on Eddies and Brads shots..well done.

[Lester]

Great image Scott

[Lee]

Another gem Scott.... excellent stuff :thumbsup:

[Ric]

Wonderful image Scott, you must be very satisfied to get an image like that with hand guiding. A testament to your powers of concentration.

great work

[tornado33]

Thanks again everyone :)
Yes the camera was bought from Hutech, the IR filter replaced by clear glass. I could have got one with an extended IR filter that still allows in all the HA light, but thought Id go the clear glass option so as to experiment with infra red work. To stop unwanted IR light during astrophotography, I use a screw in 2 inch Idas uv/ir filter, in addition to the UHC-S nebula filter.

I must try the odd and even summing and see how the noise goes too, good idia :) Also the
Deconvoloution.

I didnt think a strong noreaster would bring about such a dark sky, but both magellinic clouds were readily naked eye visible, some times none can be easily seen even at max height.
Scott

[spearo]

Hi Scott,
great image! I love the detail and talk about a steady hand at guiding!
well done. In fact it's given some good guidelines for exposure times and ISO settings to try myself. You're an inspiration with manual guiding!
keep em' coming
frank

[RayOfLight]

Hi Scott,

Stunning image you have there!! Did you had issues with any gradients? If yes, how did you remove them? Thanks!

[andrew]

Scott, simply brilliant image, thanks for sharing :)

[2020BC]

Sensational, Scott.:thumbsup:

[tornado33]

Thanks.
I was expecting to have to fiddle to remove a gradient but oddly enough none was greatly apparent. The lmc wasnt very high when I started imaging, and expected I might get a bad gradient due to light pollution in the south getting brighter the lower down you go.
Ive worked on a masked version with more colour stretching, and a small amount of unsharp masking. Noiseware also used.
bigger version here
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/uploads/tarantula%2010x15minsiso400uhcs%20d ark%20sky%20colourmasked_filtered.j pg
Scott

[iceman]

Wow, even better than the original!

First class, Scott! Send it to the mags!

[spearo]

Mate! I am soooo itching to give it a go now too...
what a beautiful image
top notch for sure
frank

[alan meehan]

one of the best you have done scott,send it in to one of the magazines,you have got to be pleased with that.merry christmas..cheers Alan

[atalas]

Very nice work Scott ! the contrast and detail in the second one is very good.

[tornado33]

Thanks everyone :)
Scott