First Image of 2009 on IIS!

[AlexN]

After opting out of a new years party due to very clear skies, I am happy to post up the first deep sky image for the forums during the International Year of Astronomy!

The Shot:
M42 and the Running Man.
8x600 seconds + 10x30sec in 13nm Ha.
Megrez 102 guided by ZS66
Processed in Photoshop CS4 and DeepSkyStacker.

Cheers for looking,
Happy New Year!

Alex.

_____________
EDIT: Version 2 Added. Better and worse I guess...

[leinad]

Great image Alex!
Hope to see more good pictures from you in in this new year '09!

[Jen]

:clap::clap: happy new year Alex :)
nice work all the best for some awsome pics in 2009 cheers :thumbsup:

[multiweb]

Real nice alex. Well done. :thumbsup:

[TrevorW]

Nice one Alex really shows the extent of the nebula

HNY

:thumbsup:

[bluescope]

Nice wide field Alex .... slightly eggy stars would be my only negative on the pic .... do you have a field flattener in your imaging train mate ?

:thumbsup:

HAPPY NEW YEAR

[AlexN]

Thanks for the comments guys :)

[AlexN]

Steve, I do have a flattener, I dont think its at the right distance from the chip though... more experimentation needed...

[Hagar]

Looks good Alex but it looks like it was a bit rushed to be the first for 2009. Did you take and use flat frames with this one?

[AlexN]

Doug... I completely intended to... And then when I brought the scopes back inside, started packing them away, and right after I removed the camera, I said to myself "IDIOT!!! FLATS!!!" and so no...

It did have bias frames... which was the first time i've used calibration of any kind... but flats would have made it a lot nicer!

[bluescope]

There's always something to do ay ! That's the fun !

:thumbsup:

[Matty P]

Nice image Alex. A great way to start the new year. :)

Nice details showing up but the uneven field is quite disappointing. Looking forward to more.

Well done. :thumbsup:

[AlexN]

ok... after looking at it for a couple of hours wondering what could be done to better this image...

LR deconvolution, a bit of contrast and a very slight tweak to the curves produced this...

Still heavily flawed due to lack of flats....


I was wondering... Could I take a set of flats now (camera angle will have changed a few mm, but it was at 0 degree rotation from the rings, so im sure I can get it close.. take 10 flats, then apply them to the image (I also know the focus point of the scope So I can get that pretty spot on..)

I know that might not remove the couple of dust spots in there, but it should remove the vignetting... Worth the effort?

Alex.

[RB]

Hi Alex, nice work.
Personally I prefer the first one, the second one looks too cooked.

I couldn't believe how clear it was last night !

HNY

:thumbsup:

[Hagar]

Bored waiting for an imaging run to finish. Hope you don't mind.

[AlexN]

I dont mind at all doug.. Ps.. Why are you not in the chat room?? Hrmm???

Heres Round 3.. Dougie... Just for you.. I took some flats... :)

They are not perfect, as the rotation of the camera may have changed slightly (+/- <.5°), but focus distance was exact (digital readout on motorfocus)

I decided I'd just use my PC monitor, Put the refractor on a chair, with the dewshield just off the panel (Didnt want anything touching my 52" monitor....) took 10 flats with 25k ADU, 10 flats with 20k, 10 with 15K and 10 with 10k ADU. The 25K ADU flats worked best.. and heres the result. :)

Hooray... Flat fielded image!! :D

[Hagar]

Looks much better with some Flats. Funny you used flats with such a high ADU count as the full well on the QHY8 is only 27K. I use flats of 9K and always use bias frames as the flats don't do too good without Bias or darks.

[AlexN]

I did bias frames... 20 of.. No darks..

I didnt try the lower ADU flats out.. but I figure, those worked fine... will be a better test when the camera is in the exact position...

[jjjnettie]

Nice one Alex.
I too wished to not to go to a NYE party because it was such a nice night, but I went anyway.
Got home at 2am and set up just in time for the clouds to roll on in. Damnation.