Ngc 5189

[raymo]

Taken years ago, just thought something a bit different might go down well.
8" f/5 Newt 25x 30 secs ISO 1600, and same target using eyepiece
projection. Acquisition details for this image have been lost, but taken during
the same session with the same scope. Something a bit less run of the mill
for newbies to have a go at?
raymo

[ChrisV]

Thanks for this one Raymo. That's one tiny little Planetary Neb and come up really well. It has an interesting spiral structure.

I've never thought of using a bit of magnification to get these little ones - or I don't think my mount could handle it ... I suppose they are relatively bright so long subs aren't necessary

[xelasnave]

Great to see you showing your captures Raymo. Your continued efforts to encourage folk is wonderful.
Alex

[RyanJones]

Very interesting PN Raymo. I looked it up and it’s probably a little late in the year now for me. It’s only at about 28 deg by the time the sun starts going down but certainly and interesting target for next year. Thanks for sharing.

[Startrek]

Lovely images Raymo
It astounds me how you capture great images with very short exposures
I’d like to look at some of your galaxies when you have some time ( if you can please include type of scope, type of camera , exposure length , ISO and any other details )
Cheers
Martin

[raymo]

Thanks for the comments Chris, Alex, Ryan, and Martin.
Martin, I will post a few two at a time. All taken 7 or 8 yrs ago using the same gear and almost exactly the same procedure.
8" f/5 Newt-- 30 or 45 sec subs [depending on the polar alignment on the
particular night]. ISO 1600 [the sweet spot for the camera]. Canon unmodded
1100D. In camera long exposure noise reduction set to strong, and high ISO
noise reduction enabled, therefore no separate darks, no flats or biases.
No filters, and unfortunately no coma corrector at that time.
All stacking and processing [such as it was] carried out in DSS except for a
little sharpening and downsizing for posting here in PS.
I had been APing for about 50 yrs when the digital age arrived, so being
70+ and nearly computer illiterate I opted to stick to basics.
First ones M83 and NGC 1365
cheers raymo

[RyanJones]

Can I ask Raymo, as someone who spent so many years doing film astrophotography then moving to digital, what did you think of the images you were able to produce compared to your film images ?

[raymo]

Hi Ryan, The answer to your question cannot be given in a sentence or two,
as there are facets of both digital and film that can be advantageous or
deleterious, and if you are seriously into AP then you have to take advantage of the former, and work your way around the latter, whichever of the two forms of AP you are using.
The short answer is that in general, better images can obviously be obtained digitally, sometimes spectacularly so, but with some objects the difference is less obvious, M31 for example. In the early days of digital, film was actually superior to digital because early digital cameras couldn't match the resolution of film, and stacking wasn't as developed as it is today.
The two forms of AP are not just two ways of forming images; film was about reproducing as faithfully as possible what the camera saw,
whereas today AP is more like an art form, with practitioners emphasising
one colour or another, to the extent that you could line up images of one object taken by half a dozen APers, and have all quite different from each other, although this is less often apparent in the higher echelons of AP.
In short [again] I actually enjoyed film more [other than the manual guiding] than digital because we didn't have all the bells and whistles,
and didn't spend hours on a b----- laptop.
Sorry for the ramble.
cheers raymo

[Ant0nio]

Hi Raymo, good to see your posts on this forum again. These early images are a credit to you, keep 'em coming.
50 + yrs doing AP, I am in awe :bowdown:
Cheers,
Tony

[Startrek]

Raymo
Tremendous images considering you used just the cameras internal noise reduction
No filters, no dithering, no guiding, no darks, no drizzle, no sophisticated post processing
This is raw AP at its best , just polar align and shoot
You obviously had to put a lot of faith in your camera

Thanks very much for posting
Cheers
Martin

[RyanJones]

Ramble away Raymo. :thumbsup: It’s good to hear the experiences of someone that has done both film and digital.

Cheers

[raymo]

The next two for Martin et al. NGC 253 and NGC 55.
cheers raymo

[Startrek]

Thanks Raymo
Beautiful images with plenty of detail
Martin

[raymo]

Thanks for the comment Tony.
Here are two more Martin.
NGC 5128 and NGC 4945
raymo

[Startrek]

Thanks Raymo
Both superb images again
Centaurus A is one of my favourite targets each year and a joy to post process
Cheers
Martin

[raymo]

Hi Martin, back to my original theme of something a bit different.
NGC 3242 near and far, similar acquisition details to the other images.
The close up is better viewed at about 50% screen.
raymo

[LostInSp_ce]

A lot of great info here Raymo. Thanks for sharing! :thumbsup:

[Startrek]

Thanks Raymo
Very nice images
I’ve yet to Image a planetary Nebula
Hopefully when I’m down at my dark site next week or the week after I’ll tackle the Helix Nebula
Any hints ?
I was going to run 4 to 5 minute dithered guided subs on my 8” f5 and Canon 600D at ISO 800 as this object is quite dim at 7.6 mag. Hopefully I can capture 2 or 3 hours worth before it gets too low
Cheers
Martin

[raymo]

You're welcome LostInSp_ce.
Martin, As the weather is warming up now, noise becomes more prominent
when using a DSLR, so as you are going to use the 8" I would plump for 180 sec subs, but as many of them as you can get, the more the merrier. Did you
follow Cometcatcher [Dunk] when he started his short sub adventures with
his Newt? He produced great images by stacking huge numbers of short
subs [hundreds] using a DSLR, before moving on to a dedicated astro cam.
I would wait for lower ambient temps before taking longer subs to get
at the much fainter portions of the Helix.
Nothing better to do, so I'll post a few more random images for you, all
taken using slight variations on my usual gear and routine.
Here's M20 and M8
raymo

[Startrek]

Thanks Raymo
Yes I’m guilty of long subs with my DSLR but I shot M8 in June this year with 35 x 5 minute subs and the final processed image was a cracker , so much detail exposed but then again the outside air temperature was 9 degrees and the sensor temp on my 600D was 17 degrees
Now the sensor temperature on my 600D in October is running around 25 to 27 degrees when I captured NGC 300 and NGC 253 , a big difference
I did notice though a reduction in noise on 4 minute subs instead of 5 minute subs on NGC 253