Another Eta Carinae - TOA150

[robgreaves]

I have tried to upload this one to the web, but I'm limited on image size. The full size image looks great though ;) and has been professionally printed in A3+ and is hanging on our living room wall.

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn201/warboysastro/MedianEtascaledjpg.jpg

Also, I've tried to upload a 1:1 crop of the central region. These .jpg's lose definition though over the original .tif file. Here's the crop:

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn201/warboysastro/EtaCarinaheart.jpg

Taken at the SPSP '08 with my TOA150, 1hr 40mins Ha exposure, on my AP1200GTO with SBIG STL11000M.

When viewing the original at 'actual pixels' there is incredible detail to be seen. Sorry this one is shrunk!

Regards,
Rob.

[iceman]

Wow, now that is nice. Loads of intricate detail there.

That's a beauty Rob, definitely deserving a spot on the mantle :)

[strongmanmike]

Lovely view Rob

I love Ha images and Eta is always a great target in Ha!

The 100% crop does look just a tad soft though, I know it wasn't the scopes fault that's for sure :D ....was the seeing poor? Maybe focus? Perhaps it could handle a bit of sharpening..?

What's the seeing like at Wiruna generally?

I am going to Wiruna next weekend and have allocated myself 3 nights to hopefully get lucky as far as the weather goess..? Looking outside at the moment and reflecting on the last 2 weeks....I'm scared :scared:

You going to Wiruna?

Mike

[Ric]

MMMM Ha, a wonderful image Rob the A3 must be spectacular.

Just love all those pinpoint stars.

Cheers

[robgreaves]

Hi Mike

Can't do Wiruna this time - will be elsewhere. Hope you get some clear nights there.

Yes, the image does start to look a little soft but I think this is down to re-openings/savings of the .jpg file, and the compression that photobucket puts on it when it does whatever it does to make it a tiny file size.

You'll have to take my word that the original 16 bit .tif looks great :)

Regards,
Rob

[Alchemy]

very nice the B/W image shows the cloud detail well. really good contrast

[strongmanmike]

Sometimes if refocusing isn't performed enough over 1.5hrs focus can shift and blur the final combine slightly...? Your kit is to die for so I'll believe you :thumbsup:

Shame you wont be at Wiruna, nice to see your kit in action...or even to just pull up a chair and sit admiring it while sinking a cold one :)

I actually druuuuuuled all over your setup at SPSP when you weren't there :D

Mike

[robgreaves]

Hi Mike

Yes - I did notice the stars were ever so slightly bigger at the end of the run than at the start. I tried another reprocess using the sharpest image as the base for the align in CCDStack, and it's certainly sharpened it up slightly again. A bit of a shame as I'd just spent $35 bucks on a print :rolleyes: ...but it still looks nice printed.

I have a temperature compensated robofocus here... might one day adapt it to the Tak focuser and see about re-focus runs if I'm doing a long sequence. I'm just a bit loathe to add "even more cables" just now :P

Will hopefully be back at Wiruna for the June get-together.

Let me know how you go there - I hope it stays clear for you.

Regards,
Rob

[winensky]

Sharper than anything I could dream of especially across that wide field. Everything curves out for me. Lovely Ha image.