Three Shots

[bluescope]

Hi All

Managed to get out and do some imaging last night from a more protected spot on the paved patio area next to my house ... limited sky view but less wind. Anyway here are the results .... not great but just good to get out again.

M42 - Great Nebula in Orion
Running Man Nebula
LMC ( a chunk of ) DSS clocked nearly 4,000 stars in this shot

They are all 30 minute exposures made up of 5x360sec shots @ -12 degrees.

WO FLT110 F7 Triplet Apo with Flat68
SBIG ST2000XCM ( no filters ) self guided with CCDOPS
SW EQ6 Pro
Stacked in DSS post processing PS CS3

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[strongmanmike]

Some nice simple shots those, the processing results in an 80's film shot look, I like it.

I particularly like the LMC star field shot.

Mike

[renormalised]

Nice shots, Steve. I like the Orion shots. Mr Running Man with his "bling" track shoes:P:D

That field shot of the LMC would be great for nova patrolling and looking for other variables.

[CoolhandJo]

Nice colour range in the Orion and Running man!

[leon]

Some nice capturing there Steve, and at minus 12 you say, :eyepop: bloody hell, wish I could get my chip to fresh, well done.

Leon :thumbsup:

[peeb61]

Great work Steve,
Very refreshing shots, vibrant colours nice and tight stars.

Blowing a gale here last night as well, didn't fancy rolling the roof off in case somebody else got a pergola extension.

Paul

[bluescope]

Thanks Mike ... glad you like them ... I like the starfield as well.

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Thanks mate ... so many stars in the LMC ... on the original at full res it's difficult to find a space between them they appear so tightly packed.

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Cheers Jo !

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Thanks Leon ... it gets hotter than Perth here in the daytime but cooler at night with an average winter minimum temp of 2 degrees ... I can't wait ... the SBIG will be getting down close to minus 30 even without water assist.

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I know all about strong winds since I moved to this location ... better to stay inside as you say. Glad you like the pics Paul.

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By the way all as a footnote .... I made a mistake in the image acquisition details ... the M42 image is comprised of 3x360sec ... 3x60sec and 3x30sec exposures before cloud cover ended my session.

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[richardo]

Steve, looks like you've settled well in with your setup.
These images are all very nice with good colour balance.
Would have liked to see M42 with less burning to the core, but other than that, good to see you getting good results.

Running man looks good and your LMC image is also very good.

Looks as though your local conditions were a little on the soft side. Your focus looks good though, so don't be afraid to apply a little selective sharpening just to the stars.
Some saturation and a touch of contrast can also do wonders applied in the right places as well to give things more dynamics.
All a case of taste.... and all jimo of course!

BTW, your new location, are you near the ocean.?? if so watch out for when the swell is up, this can cause some pretty iffy conditions.

All the best
Rich:thumbsup:

[bluescope]

Thanks Rich ... I suspect there was some high cloud around that night so probably a bit soft but impossible to see with dark skies ay ... except when the stars suddenly dissappear :lol: I was going to do some more shorter exposures for the core of M42 but cloud cover from the west brought the session to an end.
My place is about 90kms inland to the north east of Perth ... the main problem so far has been the strong easterly winds when it is going to be a hot day. Generally the humidity is pretty low out here which is good. I've only been here for 2 months so far so it's all new.

Cheers

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