My attempt at the Trifid

[Terry B]

Dear All
This is my first attempt at the triffid in colour.
Taken through my VC200L with a KAF0401E CCD guided with my qguider.
Exposures were
lum 20 x 2 mins and 1 x 5 min
red/green 3 x 2min binned 2x2 each colour
blue 6 x 2min binned 2x2
Processing with Iris and AIP for win. Still needs more fiddling though.
My field is pretty small with this configuration. Maybe I should try an image through the guide scope instead.:)

[bloodhound31]

Quite Stunning Terry!:eyepop:

I like the detail down the bottom of the picture, where the light from the central source reflects off the dense part of the nebula.

I wonder if you can bring out just that part alone as a challenge one day?

Top shot!

Baz.:thumbsup:

[ballaratdragons]

Wow Terry! That's getting up close and personal! :eyepop:

The Globule shines nicely :thumbsup:

Yes, try a shot through the guidescope and see how the FOV is.
Go ahead, I'll sit here and wait for you to post it in about half an hour :lol:

[Terry B]

Ha Ha. Too much ice on the ground. Maybe tonight instead.

[jase]

I like it Terry. The KAF401E is a small chip so I think you'd benefit with a shorter focal length or focal reducer. Resolution is certainly good with the 9u pixel size. What was the reason for the 1 x 5 min exposure and was this simply combined with the 20 x 2min exposures?

[Terry B]

The reason for the 5 min exposure was that I had decided that I had enough images but wanted to try a different setting on my guider. I changed the setting and took the exposure as a test. It had perfect round stars so I kept it and just added it into the stack.
I had been using the shorter exposures because the centre of the image is very saturated and was starting to bloom with longer exposures. The blooming wasn't too bad with the one 5 min exposure.
I agree that a focal reducer would be good but the vixen one is pretty expensive. I also have problems with infocus as I use a slider to centre the CCD and this taked up length and a focal reducer might make me unable to achieve focus. It would be nice to trial on before I spent the dollars.

[Dr Nick]

Nice shot! ;)

[Garyh]

Boy thats a closeup Terry! but you have done a nice job of it!!
very detailed and nice natural colors! and round stars!