NGC 5128 Ha (brief test)

[Atmos]

Wanted to do some testing with my QHY163M (QHY version of the ASI1600) and as we've had nothing but clouds and fog... I decided to image through the fog and near full moon over two nights.
At the moment I am trying to figure out where I am getting some tilt, not yet sure whether it is in the focuser or camera (different screw connections than I was using with the ASI1600). Looks like it'll be at least a week before I'll be able to do any more testing so I'll just leave this where it is at the moment. Wanted to shoot something in the middle of the Milky Way but the moon has been sitting right dead centre in that field!

This is 23x400s at Unity Gain. All subs were fog effected, didn't look too bad in the back yard but could see it as I looked at the lights next door. Relativity humidity must have been something shocking as my scope cover was wet by 5:45pm!
Culled most of the subs taken, used the Subframe Selector and just the ones that had the most stars. Kept all with 2,600-2,000 and culled everything with less than 2,000 :)

Mostly just wanted to see if I could get the jets to show, didn't think I'd get much of anything with the fog!

[glend]

Looking good Colin, despite the haze. Coincidence, i am shooting 5128 in narrowband as well. Just grabbed 24 x300s Oiii tonight before the moon came up. Also grabbed about 50 lum subs. I have some Ha from last year. I was not expecting much signal from Oiii but was pleasantly surprised by what showed up. If it stays clear through tomorrow night i might have enough to process.
I suffer with dew as well, and had the heaters going on the MN190 corrector for an hour before i started. Being on the lake here winter is always wet wet wet, but being in a raised floor observatory helps. I keep a hair dryer in the obs and give the corrector a blast every half and hour on low heat setting, it seems to work ok.
Your QHY has a heater doesn't it? I am running the ZWO sensor window heater on the 1600, a great $19 addon.

[strongmanmike]

Cool Colin, good use of fog and Moon, I can see the jets :)

Yes, I have let a good lookin clear night go here tonight too cause the Moon is sitting pretty much smack in the middle of my three possibles on my list, a frustrating 30 deg from all three (too close) :rolleyes: so not worth the effort IMO, even with Ha...stayed home and watched tellie with my wife instead :)

Mike

[Placidus]

That outer jet at the left is amazing!

[Atmos]

Thanks Mike and Trish, I was quite surprised what showed up. I think I need to take some more dark frames to fix some apparent calibration issues (some banding that shows with extreme stretching).



Thanks Mike. You should have done some Ha over the north/south! You can spend time with your wife every other cloudy night ;) :lol:



Quite interested in what shows up in OIII. Ha was my only testing option; fog, moon and hours of 5s L subs didn't interest me!
It does have a heater yes, went over to the QHY mostly because they've released some adapters that allow it to be bolted to the CFW (still waiting for them) which is better than a screw connection and allows me to put it in an orientation that I prefer :)

[RickS]

Good use of poor conditions, Colin :)

[strongmanmike]

Yeah yeah I know, don't make me feel more guilty that I already do :( :sad: had organised staffing to cover me at work so I could have today off too...but couldn't think of anything I wanted to image in the far from Moon areas :shrug: ....I have another little beauty planned in Sagittarius actually :evil:

Mike

[Atmos]

Do what Hubble does, pick some random un-assuming patch of sky that you can image from near horizon to horizon for a night or three and see what comes up :thumbsup:



If I wasn't hell bent on doing some testing I wouldn't have even bothered setting up :P