Milkyway from Astrofest

[multiweb]

Here's my main pic from this astrofest. Did 4 panels of the milkyway at the zenith across 4 nights with a Pentax 150mm lens and a QHY8 guided with a lodestar on a G11. Panels are ~10x600s each, some more, some less depending on the conditions on the night. Also added a pic of the rig.

Couple of different higher res versions:

[4428x1824 - 11.3MB ] (http://www.astropic.space/astro/mw_150mm_fff.jpg)

[1920X791 HD 2.2MB] (http://www.astropic.space/astro/mw_150mm_HD.jpg)

The bright star to the right is Saturn. The field is a slice of the central part East/West. North is up.

Registered in Prometheus, stacked and calibrated in CCD Stack and colour balanced in Goodlook. Registar used to do the mosaic scaffold then blended panels in PS.

Enjoy the view. :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Wow Marc!....that looks bloody great, loved surfing around it, well executed, good job... what a great project for a star party like Astro Fest with its good weather record :thumbsup:

Mike

[Ryderscope]

Very impressive Marc. Love the home brew configuration with the mount set up as well.

[Placidus]

Awesome!

The big version shows so much detail - Bigfoot, fine detail in the Pipe nebula, the Snake, and above the Snake, a back-to-front "3", all crisp and crunchy.

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Glad to see you back in the saddle, too.

[multiweb]

Thanks Mike. :thumbsup: Yeah weather turned out alright overall. I haven't had a bad astrofest to date actually.


Thanks Rod. :thumbsup: It was a very messy setup but I made it work in the end. Last time I imaged with this config was well over 4 years ago. First night I got the balance and the guider offset wrong, second night I had forgotten the cut filter behind the lens and didn't stop it far enough. Third night I realised I had binned 2x2 over 3h of subs. Maybe it was the wine. :question:



Thanks Mike. :thumbsup: I had a great time catching up with all the blokes. Good break from work and the smoke.

[atalas]

:eyepop: great work Marc :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: the resolution is excellent and a great choice of region to pic for the 4 panels.

APOD worthy!

[Camelopardalis]

That's a cracker Marc, well done :thumbsup:

[RB]

Marc, that is stunning my friend !!!

:cheers:

[gregbradley]

A fantastic widefield Marc. I like how mono CCD cameras show the dense star fields more white than the DSLR type very yellow.

Greg.

[multiweb]

Thanks a lot Louie. :thumbsup:


Thanks Dunk. :thumbsup:


Thanks mate. :drink:


Thanks Greg.:thumbsup: It's an OSC but I did color balance carefully and pixel math all the panels to make sure they weren't too green. ;)

[troypiggo]

Lovely mate. Always enjoy looking at the wider fields of view and seeing objects in context and relative to each other.

[Atmos]

Really nice Marc, that higher red version is great to view around :) I've always found colour balance with a DSLR a bit irritating as green likes to seep its way through.

That Pentax lens is a beaut!

[Retrograde]

That's a stunning wide-field Marc. Beautiful!

[JA]

Beautiful Image Marc :thumbsup:

Best
JA

[RickS]

That's great, Marc! So much to see in the big version. Nice work on the colour and also the cheese/wine balance :lol:

[multiweb]

No worries mate. So glad you approve. :P


Thanks Colin. :thumbsup: I actually paid maybe $60 for it off eBay. I did some Ha with it in the past and it was sharp so I ventured in colour and it turned out ok. Need two stops down and a fringe killer though. I got a green problem as well but it's not the DSLR type of issue (ask Troy) . :lol:


Thanks a lot Pete. Glad you like it :thumbsup:


Thanks mate. :thumbsup:

[multiweb]

That's what I had in mind when I packed the car up but I was told you can get done for drink driving with an open bottle of wine in the car in QLD.

[troypiggo]

Hahahahhahaha.

[Camelopardalis]

Yes, in QLD it's always best to finish the bottle before jumping in the car ;)

[multiweb]

3 crownies and half a bottle of Shiraz left. I don't think I could have held my breath long enough to cross the border. :driving:

[batema]

Beautiful Marc and a great set up. Did the weather hold?

Mark

[RickS]

That bottle looks like it has a light leak. Got a spare sock?

[multiweb]

Thanks Mark. :thumbsup: Yeah it was alright. We did a bit every night. The only night I didn't image was Wednesday. But all other nights were ok. Some very good ones by the end. Thursday was the best.



:lol: That was a bit harsh wasn't it? Making fun of my astro imaging integrated dew prevention system (AIIDPS) :question:

[peter_4059]

Great wide field image Marc. What's the white smudge on the tent though?

[multiweb]

Thanks Peter. :thumbsup:
One of these guys...

[Camelopardalis]

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Atmos]

With all of the drinking, was this astro fest or Oktoberfest? ;)

[RickS]

We stopped when the sky was clear :lol:

[Atmos]

I just envisage a large group of people stumbling around in the dark TRYING to keep their eyes steady in an eye piece :lol:

[ozstronomer]

Great wide field Marc, nicely stitched together

Well done :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Cheers Geoff

[multiweb]

Very carefully...


Thanks a lot Geoff. Good catching up with Allan and yourself. :thumbsup: Figured out this PI thing. It's all built-in now in the drizzle integration process under CFA. Will email you shortly.

[Camelopardalis]

I think you were more or less alone in that strategy Rick :lol:

[multiweb]

I can think of a couple of wingmen. No man was left behind.

[Camelopardalis]

:lol: