Moon and high cloud no barrier to insane Astroimager!

[strongmanmike]

Well being observatory-less my standards for what constitutes a useable night has changed since moving to Newcastle. Compared to Canberra the astronomical weather here is..?..well? ****e!! I'm starting to setup even if there is a near full moon and stay at it even as thick high cloud smothers the sky :sadeyes: :( :mad2: see attached image :eyepop:

Never the less I soldiered on and worsened my cold in the process :sadeyes:

Still in the testing phase really and testing a recently acquired set of Astronomik LRGB typeIIc 50mm filters to match my Ha filter was on the agenda but alas t'was not to be :(

Here is what I salvaged from the night of giving myself a day off work the next day with a worsened cold :sadeyes:

I first went for a HII region as far from the moon as possible so decided on NGC 3576 in Carina, cloud came over half way through and it was low, started at around 32deg altitude and finished at about 24deg so the seeing was average to poor and it was over the dome of Newcastle......:doh:

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/82896567/original

Then even as the cloud worsened I thought ah stuff it I'm here setup and I'm gunna IMAGE! :mad2:

The Helix Nebula

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/82896846/original

No prize winners I know but I can't believe both the brighter outer loop above left of the main Helix as well as the fainter extensions below right are vissible..?? I was seriously doubting my sanity while I integrated this, the high cloud with moonlight shining off it was mad :P :P

My mount needs re polar aligning too as there is a little field rotation in these images.

Here is the setup last night :)

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/81003751/original

I also reprocessed my recent Trifid just a tad to better display the true colour differences between the mix of HII, HBeta emissions, Rayleigh scattered blue light and intervening dust absorbtion redening.

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/82479275/original

Clear, windless....cloudless..?..and steady skies...?..:sadeyes: to you all!

Mike :)

[little col]

love that reprocess of the trifid mike , you seem very capable any chance of coming to the uk to image through my clouds :lol:

[Bassnut]

WOW, your back in fine form Mike, they are awesome.

Ive heard you ***** in the background about refractors, but sheesh, them pics are classics!!, why would you even bother with other tricky, foriegn optics ???? ;-).

Cheers

[Bassnut]

And, stop banging on about cloud/setup, uneccassary, the pics speak for themselves, excellent work.

[jase]

Well, well Mike. “Keen” is an understatement for your efforts. …and talk about efforts, you’ve obtained marvellously rich data on the Helix neb considering the "environmental conditions"* you describe. I really enjoy the structure presented in NGC3576 as well. Unfortunately you couldn’t escape the effects of the high-level cloud with small halos present around the brighter stars. None the less, they do not detract from this great double acquisition. Very crisp.

Watch out for ghosting; -35 degrees cooling is getting down there. So you didn’t achieve your primary goal of testing your new LRGB filter set… I look forward to seeing Ha(L)RGB versions of these images.

* I agree with Fred, you’re going to have to stop bantering on about the clouds, weather and crap like that. You sound like a dinner party chef apologising for the cold food, full moon, political actions, flu and other illness, blah, blah etc. Just eat it and enjoy mate.

Magnificent work:thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

:lol:

Sorry Fred and Jase

It's alright for both of you cause you have observatories but it's just that I'm SOOOOOOOOOO frustrated at the situation I am in these days.

Apart from the equipment "issues" this year, when I had an observatory in Canberra life was just so good, then I sold the property and moved back into the city, so no more dark skies or observatory sure but the skies over Canberra were very predictable and we enjoyed many clear nights and most were at least average seeing with mostly good to excellent seeing so the setup and pulldown task were quite acceptable to fathom. Now I think, hey if I set up I may no sooner be pulling down when the clouds roll in :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: and the seeing will most likely be crap....?...

..?..err was that the dinner chef again...? :D Well, when I get a good night you'll know about it..ok?

Thanks for the kind words of sympathy. I know the images are pretty ordinary but I do "like" imaging and even mediocre images make me happy these days :)

Oh and Jase I'm not sure where those halo like rings are coming from? They may be the CCD window or the KAI11002 cover slip..? But I need a good clear night to really get to the bottom of them. Like you say they don't bother me that much and may just be something I have to live with like reflector imagers put up with diffraction spikes..?

Mike
Now I know how those UK imagers must feel :sadeyes:

[rat156]

Hi Mike,

Great pics, but what's happening with the ASA???????

I'm getting pretty desperate as well, even half decent nights and I'm out in the observatory in a flash.

I even took some Jupiter images last night, while I was cooking dinner, but chickened out on leaving it running while I was eating, closed it up. Just as well as it started raining about half an hour later.

Other than that the seeing down here has been terrible, watching the guide star get splattered by the atmosphere doesn't fill me with confidence for getting good pics.

Keep it up, just know that there's at least one other "lunatic" out there!

Cheers
Stuart

[sheeny]

There's no doubt about it Mike - you do some great work!

Al.

[strongmanmike]

On this Jase, FLI have implimented a fix for this and all FLI cameras from now will have the fix as part of the build. I have been offered it as a free upgade but I have only experienced the "Residule Bulk Image" or RBI phenomenon on one occassion when I was aligning the mount on Alpha Centaurus with 3 sec exposures then when I went to Omega Cen there was the residule bulk image in the form of patches of what looked like fog on the chip and some brighter more condensed fog patches here and there. I was running at -30C and once I had identified the cause I warmed the camera back up to 0C and then cooled down again to -25C and the problem dissapeared. The KAI11002 was thought to be RBI free since it is interline but seems this is not the case?

I have since taken to aligning the mount without cooling the chip and afterwards goto my object then cool the chip and even at -35C there is has been no sign of the RBI since..? :shrug: .

The ProLine can cool to 60C below ambient which will be great for the warmer summer months here, that's for sure! The cooling is pretty fast too (2-3 min for delta 50C). Kodak have asured FLI that thermal shock is no problem with the KAI11002 but FLI will slow down the cooling from now on in cameras anyway just to make sure and again have offerde this change to me as well.

Mike

[jase]

Possibly Mike. Though the CCD will have a MAR (multi-layer anti-reflective) cover glass, then above the chip is the cover slip which also has an anti-reflective coating. However, it doesn’t always stop internal reflections. If your Ha filter has a matt and reflective side, I would recommend pointing the reflective side towards the telescope (dull side to the chip). You probably already know all this.

If you really want to know where the halos are coming from, you need to measure the diameter of the halo and know the mechanical measurements of the CCD. In particular distance between the CCD chip and MAR, MAR thickness, MAR to cover slip, cover slip thickness, distance from cover slip to filter and then finally filter thickness. Other than the halo diameter, the above are not used in the formula – you just reference them once you’ve obtained result X.

HD = Halo Diameter in pixels
P = Pixel size in microns
FR = Focal Ratio

(HD * P * FR) / 2 = a distance of X mm from the chip.

Having stated all this, I usually image process them out. I seriously think yours are thin high-level cloud rather than reflections. They are rather small. More tests will prove this.

[jase]

Mike, thanks for the update regarding RBI. Am pleased FLI have a fix for it (firmware?). Indeed rather strange it is occurring on the interline chip.

Cheers

[ballaratdragons]

:eyepop: Hooly Dooly Mike!!!!

Those cloud Filters work good don't they :lol:

Excellent work mate :thumbsup:

[Garyh]

Welcome to the crappy weather of the coast!!!..:sadeyes:
But that starfire and FLI have cut right through it all!!
very nice...:thumbsup: Helix shows heaps of detail!!
The seeing has been good the last few days besides the moon and the clouds...typical...:P
cheers

[bird]

Mike your images are amazing as always, seriously makes me think about doing deep sky work...

Keep up the good work, perseverance is worth it. It'll probably take you a year to understand the new climate at your place.

cheers, Bird

[Dr Nick]

Great images as allways! Keep it up! ;)

[Ric]

Hi Mike, considering your sky conditions they are wonderful images, great stuff :thumbsup:

The Trifid is a real stunner, great work.

Cheers

[richardo]

Hey there Mikey the Man,
welcome to coastal imaging:doh:;).

Seriously, this years winter has been very poor for imaging anywhere.
Last year was the one!
When ever farmers have a good year, you can almost bet money astro imaging will be poor...
When there's good imaging conditions, the farmers have a mediocre to poor year..
A man has to eat, but then again, a man needs what a man needs... mmmmm
We could try to live on beer:D and be happy:shrug:

This year I've walked out setup and packed it in more times than I've actually imaged...
So I can understand you going.."stuff you Houghy", that's the Rain god not IIS's Houghy.... when you have to lug all the gear out the back!

Good going for such conditions.... look forward to the colour versions..

Jeez, I love that sexy setup of yours, makes a man slobber at the mouth.

Keep persevering Mike, I'm sure things will get better weather wise.

All the best
Rich