M17, The Swan

[Zuts]

Hi Guys

This is taken from 100 km out of Sydney, so darker skies

The first of four pictures for the night, here the stars look nice and round. As the night wore on, tracking got worse and worse, so i think my mount was sinking into the dirt. Anyway, i like the orange star :)

12 by 300 sec subs, darks plus flats, UV/IR block
TV85, TV 0.8 reducer on EQ6, self guided with SBIG 2000 XCM
Levels and Curves PS2, Sum combine in Maxim
Reduced to 1200 pixels, 40 % compression.

Thanks for looking, any comments appreciated.

[iceman]

Nice work Paul, you're getting some good colour out of the stars now!

Is this still from the other night? or have you made more road trips?

[Zuts]

Hi Mike,

Same night, took four images, from around 10 pm till 5 am. NGC 55 was the last and definately eggy stars; got to love the dirt. I am reasonably keen but am not sure i am up to re-polar aligning at 4am in the morning :scared:.

Paul

[iceman]

No I can understand that :) How long did you spend on each image? 4 in a night is a lot - perhaps you could spend more time on the one object to really get heaps of data.

How long did it take you to polar/drift align on your roadtrip?

[RB]

Very nice Paul and the colours are very vivid. :thumbsup:


I don't blame you at all.

[Zuts]

Double post :)

[Zuts]

Hi Mike,

I got to the site around 7pm. Just had my hand controller replaced. After polar aligning on slopy ground, by around 10pm i was ready to go. I 3 star aligned on Atares, but after that nothing else was correct. 2nd star may be 40 degrees off. After about an hour i realised it wasnt the new hand controller it was me, i got confused by all the stars, as opposed to Glebe and the orange star wasnt Antares. So by around 12 ish i was ready to go. Fortunately robofocus worked a treat, 35 seconds to focus.

So after, the Swan, Corona Australis, Dumbell and NGC 55 it was about 5am. No dew, the dew had all iced up :), i had two coats on, but still went for the blanket.

It's funny, I got 3 and half hours of data and it took ages, dont know where all the time went. This week if it's not cloudy i will try Glebe skies and the Triffid again, Ha, and OIII to add to an existing image i posted last week.

Still I got some good snaps, and will do it again.

[[1ponders]]

Very nice image Paul. :thumbsup:

Ah ya woose. :lol: c'mon up here and I'll give you a lesson on polar aligning and K3CCDTools. You'll never be caught out again not being able to polar align in under 30 min. :lol: You just talk to my mate Al Sheeny, he'll convince you ;)

[Zuts]

Thanks Paul.

I downloaded and had a look at K3CCD tools but they didnt seem to recognise my SBIG, which is a real pity as i do want to computerise my alignment process. Did I miss something and they do work with SBIG's?

[[1ponders]]

Do you have a ToUcam or any other WDM style webcam? DSI? Any of them will work with K3CCDTools. Unfortunately SBIG don't.

[Zuts]

Unfortunately I sold my DSI. I really should have kept it for just this situation but....

Anyway, I am experimenting with PemPro2 and PolarAlignMax, or will when my EQMOD arrives.

[Garyh]

Very nice Paul!
Very vibrant, reminds me of the older color film shots!
Nice!
cheers Gary

[jase]

Coming ahead in leaps and bounds Paul. Great image. However don't lose sight of the basics. You've worked hard to acquire your data, make sure you maximise its potential. Subtle black clipping is present. I don't think its done much damage to the overall image - however you've still lost data which is never a good thing. As you go through your processing routine, keep a close eye on the histogram. Don't raise the black point too much early on in the routine. Its always good to finish with some "white space" before flattening the image. Then close with linear stretch (levels) bringing the background in check. Looking forward to seeing more. Well done.

[Zuts]

Thanks Gary,

I do like the nice reds I get from the SBIG, a far cry from my unmodded 40D.



Thanks Jase,

I guess I failed at the final hurdle :). I was going OK until the end and then raised the black point, I usually do this to darken the background but maybe should try something else.

This was a different way of processing as well. I produced two images from the data. One pushed not so far so i didnt blow out the center of the neb and then one where i pushed the outer nebulosity. Then i layer merged them. I need to read a bit more about this technique I think.

Paul

[jase]

... but you still crossed the finish line...and that's what counts. Sometimes its good to do a reality check now and then. Go to the search function in the tool bar and check out your previous image posts. It is clearly evident that putting in the hard yards which you've done is starting to pay good dividends. Keep at it.

[Zuts]

Thanks for the encouragement Jase :). I think the next few images I take will be LRGB from Glebe. Also if I can find the time I may take the OTA of the Nexstar 11 and have a go with that.

Paul

[Tamtarn]

Gee Paul we haven't been on line for a while and we see how much your images are coming along. Making great progress.
Seems to be worth the time effort and freeeezing conditions :cold: