Shapley 1

[Paul Haese]

As they always say proof is in the pudding, or is that in the eating? :shrug:

After the drama's I have had in the last 12 months with the AG12 this is the first image I that I can say is what I expected to produce when I bought this scope. There are still some minor issues that need to be eliminated and very soon I will be using the repaired corrector thanks to Stefan but this is a pretty reasonable image of this target.

Shapley 1 is a true torus planetary nebula. It is facing us square on to our position. It contains a rather faint outer halo which is also quite challenging to capture.

The image contains 620 minutes of Ha and 380 minutes of OIII data. It also contains luminance and RGB data. It am going to try to capture more OIII data to bring out the halo better. Mike Sidonio's image had much more narrow band data which brought out the halo. My impatience with the weather has resulted in my processing the data before I should have done so.

Click here (http://paulhaese.net/Shapley1AG12.html) for larger image.

I have supplied a full resolution image with a very slight crop to show the corners on a scope that has a proper corrector installed. By way of comparison I have included a link of my previous effort with the GSO truss Newtonian here (http://paulhaese.net/Shapley1.html). Clearly the latest image is an improvement over the previous one and would suggest this scope is going to produce excellent images once finally dialed in correctly.

Edit: I have now added a further 8.5 hours of OIII to the image which shows the halo/bowshock better. Also provided another image for comparison purposes.

[strongmanmike]

Very good result there Paul and much better than your GSO effort and yes you are just starting to reveal the very faint outer bow shock...it is FAINT!

Although I am sure you are still feeling disappointed, you must feel somewhat relieved to see good data finally coming from the new scope?

Mike

[Ryderscope]

Gee whiz,what a fascinating PN with those concentric layers. The field is looking nice and flat across the image. A very nice result Paul.

[Joshua Bunn]

Wow! That is a beautiful rendition, nice star colour too!

[Atmos]

Really nice Paul, there is always that temptation to process before you've collected all of the data you want when the weather isn't great :)

You appear to be getting really good stars across your frame now though!

[Paul Haese]

Thanks Mike. Yep that bow shock is very faint. I might double the amount I have collected and see how that lands. This is one nice aspect of this scope, it is fast, I see why you were excited about now. :)

Yeah the disappointment is still there but finally getting results is easing that now. I am also looking forward to seeing how much of a difference Stefan's workmanship will make to the Wynne now too. If that allows me to use a larger sensor I'll be very happy.




Thanks Colin, I usually process out the detail layers and never the colour, so as to prevent me taking it any further.

Yeah nice stars all the way out but not always. I have noted I get some distortion below 55 degrees and think this is the secondary slightly moving. Time to apply a bit move silicone to reduce the movement. It is most likely just movement in the microns.



Thanks Josh, I do like the star colour that is produced by these coatings. Very little manipulation at all.



Thanks Rodney, the interesting thing is there a many of these little objects out there. Lots to image, not all of them as nice as this though.

[willik]

Very unusual image looks great not easy target.
Martin

[rogerg]

A fantastic image of a nice planetary. Great detail nd colour.

I haven't been around much so haven't heard of your AG12 issues, perhaps I'll have to do some digging in past posts on the forum to have a look, as I've often considered an AG12 or AG16 as my next scope.

Regards,
Roger.

[Paul Haese]

Thanks Martin.



Hi Roger, you'll find a review and a few other threads on what has transpired with this scope. Save your money and go to AG Optical or check out Hercules Newtonians. You'll likely get better customer service and a better finished scope. AG optical have a fast scope called a convergent series, it is f5 and reasonably priced. All their scopes have good reviews on CN, so it should be a good deal.

[Slawomir]

A very very nice shot Paul. It must be a satisfying feeling to be imaging with such capable telescope, after so much energy and time you had to invest into tracking down and fixing unexpected issues.

The new image clearly went much deeper - I look forward to more of your great photos of unfamiliar gems :thumbsup:

[topheart]

Excellent! Sharp and detailed.
Cheers,
Tim

[Paul Haese]

Thanks Suavi and Tim for you comments.

I have added a further 8.5 hours of OIII data to the image now which shows the halo/Bowshock better. You can see some separation around parts of it now.

[Placidus]

Wonderful.

The depth is magnificent; the stars are pin-point, and the resultant nebular detail extraordinary.

Beautifully acquired and processed.

[beren]

Well done fantastic image :thumbsup: