Rosette Mosaic from Wiruna

[Astrod00d]

Hi All,

Well, this weekend at Wiruna was just amazing. Had a great time under clear, steady skies...

The Rosette is a large, diffuse object with a cluster of bright stars in the centre. Where I live, the nebulosity gets lost in LP, but this weekend presented a rare opportunity.

My first mosaic!

The attached image is a 2-frame mosaic, the Rosette is way to big for a single frame with the 127mm ED and QHY8. I think this object may benefit from a 4-frame or even 6-frame mosaic in the 'future'.

The attached image is a quick stretch with some contrast enhancement and colour correction. I'm sure I can do better, but I just had to post this for comment :D

127mm North Group 'APO'
EQ6 mount, guided
6x600s subs per frame, QHY8, gain 1, offset 58
Flats and bias applied in DSS.

Cheers,

Rob

[iceman]

WOW! That is absolutely stunning. brilliant work Rob.

[multiweb]

:eyepop:Turned out awesome Rob. Amazing contrast and details. :thumbsup:
Keep'em coming. :)

[gregbradley]

Fantastic.

Greg.

[jase]

Great details on display. Good management of star colours, perhaps needs a subtle amount more blue on the highlights. Really impressive stuff none the less.

[AlexN]

Pwoah!! Nice mosaic!

Teach me Master!! :D

[Astrod00d]

Thanks Mike!


Thanks Marc! It came out better than expected for such a diffuse object. More subs next time yeah!


Thanks Greg.


Thanks Jase, interesting that you mention the blue. I had to drop the green back a fair bit because I've found the QHY8 green channel responds slightly to HII and Ha. I didn't do anything with blue channel, I'll tweak it a bit and see what happens:)


:lol: Thanks for the compliment! I'm not a master yet. Call me grasshopper...

Cheers,

Rob

[leon]

Cool imaging Rob I hope to have a go at this one soon, well done.

Leon

[Matty P]

Awesome image Rob! It has come out very nice indeed.

:thumbsup:

[Craig_L]

Lovely shot and detail Rob. This is an object I can fit in the FOV of my scope. Just waiting for the clouds to go.

[seeker372011]

:thumbsup::eyepop:

[strongmanmike]

Niiiiiiiice!

Agree with Jase re the blue, try it. Still excellent anyway though

So was it reeeeeeally clear at Wiruna last weekend...? :rolleyes:

Mike

[Hagar]

Very nice sharp image Rob. The QHY8 and the 127 seem to work very well together. Great you had nice weather. Almost forgotten what that is.

[Bassnut]

Oh yes, a flawless pic IMO, very well done, could stand a higher res post methinks.

[Lester]

Outstanding image.

[Astrod00d]

I stretched the blue channel a wee bit... perhaps not enough as my monitor makes things look somewhat blue anyway. Lemme know if I need to hit it harder :)

Here's a link to a higher resolution, 2.5MB version of this image...
http://homepages.tig.com.au/~robk/astronomy/images/ngc3327_08113102_hires.jpg

Cheers,

Rob

[multiweb]

I think it looks great. Star colours are nice and soft so you must have got the right tints.

[Omaroo]

Fantastic effort Rob. Great resolution and fine detail.

Images such as yours from your QHY8 are making it really difficult for me to decide which way to go next. I'm tossing up between cooling the 350D (with which I'm becoming very familiar now), getting a QHY8 (and hoping the software doesn't conflict with my QHY5 on the same laptop) or going full hog and SBIG-ing it. The QHY series of cameras is certainly earning its stripes now. :thumbsup:

[multiweb]

If you've got the budget don't hesitate - SBIG it.

[Astrod00d]

I've never used a cooled DSLR so I don't know if condensation would be an issue. You certainly get good resolution for your dollar.
The QHY8 is built down to a price and gets great results when the drivers play nicely with the QHY5. It's good value for a cooled ccd but you'll need to live with a few rough edges.
If I had the money I'd go for an SBIG. In fact I'll probably move up to an an SBIG or an FLI in 2009 if one comes along at the right price.

Cheers,

Rob