Witch with Mak- Newt

[Ken]

After years of wanting to image this object I finally managed to get some of it. Taken on those hot nights a few weeks back, I gave up deleting satellite trails after 6 exposures and added them to the 25x 10 minute stack.
QHY8, 190 Mak- Newt. EQ6 mount
Clear skies Ken

[leon]

Nice one Ken, I too, always wanted to get this broom lady and had many attempts, which in the end finally payed up, you have done well, and this area, as I found certainly attracts heaps of sattelites.

Leon

[Quark]

Nice job Ken,

I have been trying to capture this, wide field, with the only lens available to me, which is a bit to slow really for the job. 11 x 7min subs at ISO 800 barely shows it. Its on my list for next year, around mid Oct when I will be able to get about 3 hrs worth of data in one hit.

Yours is a very nice effort on the major part of the Hag.
Regards
Trevor

[AlexN]

25x10 min is quite the marathon exposure! Well done mate.

Alex.

[Craig_L]

Nice detail and colour Ken. Always seems to be lots of satellites around her.

[Ken]

Thanks for the replies Leon, Alex, Trever & Craig. I tried to image her last year with my Ed80 but I think she put a hex on me with wind and clouds the first two nights and circuit board in the EQ6 dying on the third I gave up
Clear skies Ken

[richardo]

This turned out really well Ken.
Congrats!
Stars look nice and round as well as you've retained some good colour in them.
Needed all of the exposure time to get as good as you've got.
Bet you're pleased you finally bagged the old girl:thumbsup:

All the best
Rich

[strongmanmike]

Very nicely done Ken looks good with some nice fine details coming through.

Isn't the QHY cooled..?

You have a very similar FOV to my ProLine on the AP, it's very versitile huh?

BTW, not sure if you know but I found a suitable locality nearer to home than your place (as I was after), so far it is proving quite good but thanks for the offer again (will come out one day :rolleyes:):

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/107700957/original

Mike

[renormalised]

Well, at least Brunhilde showed you her best side for the happy snap:P:D

[Alchemy]

very nice Ken, tracking is spot on , never had a go at this one.... maybee one day

[gregbradley]

Nice one Ken.

If you use median combine when combining subs the satellite trails should disappear or become very faint.

Greg.

[spearo]

Lovely shot there
frank

[Ken]

Thanks Renormalized, Clive, Frank. Greg I did use the Median combine in stacking but I guess the trails were just to bright and reappeared when the image was stretched.
Rich the guiding worked well with the OAG even if the polar align was a bit off. Mike the QHY8 is cooled but you cant set the temp. it just does its best on the hot nights. Any how I sold the 8 and bought the 9 the smaller 14x18mm sensor will change my FOV a little.:(
Do you mean I cleaned all the junk out of my old observatory for nothing:mad2: glad you found a suitable site closer to home.
Clear skies Ken

[RB]

Absolutely lovely image Ken, of a difficult object to image.

:thumbsup:

[Prickly]

Hi Ken,

Another great effort and nice sharp stars across the field Ken.

Lots of detail there in the nebulosity.

Should be interesting to see how you get on with the QHY9. I'm sure the scope will get the best out of it.

Cheers
David

[renormalised]

Something just clicked about the way you worded the title of this thread Ken...." Witch with Mak-Newt"....sounds like something Brunhilde would say casting a spell:P:D

[strongmanmike]

Are you serious..? a whole observatory???...Thought you said it was full, Geez, maybe I better rethink :doh:

Mike

[Garyh]

Nicely done Ken for such a faint target! Have you tried some sort of focal reducer/flattener on the OTA. Should help alot with these sort of faint ones.
cheers Gary

[Lester]

Excellent image of this very faint object.

[dugnsuz]

"Check out the schnoz on the old bag!!"

Nice detailed image Ken - excellent work.
She is a satellite magnet though - I think one of my subs had 3 tracks through it.
Cheers
Doug

[RB]

Well Doug....you know what they say....."opposites attract !" :lol:

[Jen]

:thumbsup::thumbsup: nice work Ken looks great :)

now where did my broom dissapear too ;)

[Ken]

Thanks for the replies Andrew, Renormalized, Lester, Doug & Jen. David the QHY9 will be a new experience I have forgotten everything I learned on my old cookbook camera many years ago. You can blame me for the bad weather, haven't been able to image since I bought it.
Mike the old observatory would be good on those coooooold winter nights.
Gary not sure if a focal reducer might turn the flat field into a curved one, I have the Ed80 with MPCC for a wider image.
Clear skies Ken

[Tilt]

Ken, when you post images like this it makes it very difficult not to dive into the savings and buy a 190 mak-newt :lol:

Well done mate, can't wait to see this scope and the QHY9 in action :thumbsup:

Michael

[Kevnool]

It was well worth the wait Ken...Great work.... Cheers Kev.

[Paul Haese]

Lovely image, contrast on this difficult object is very good and the blue looks really good. Well done.

[jase]

Nice image Ken. This is a tough target at the best of times. Look forward to seeing more.

[Ken]

Thanks Jase, Paul, Kev & Michael for the feedback. I think this is the faintest object I have ever imaged with not much to see in each of the 10 min subs.
While I'm not keen to spend large chunks of cash on some of this equipment I think the Orion Mak- Newt is pretty good value considering the Aus dollar.
Clear skies Ken

[Prickly]

Hi Ken,

Michael and I were just commenting today how flat and sharp the mak-newt is. Its a fabuluous scope and I think should give some very detailed views with the Qhy9.

Good luck with the new ccd and I hope it gives you some great shots.

Cheers,
David

[Ken]

Thanks David I'm going crazy waiting for this cloud to clear so I can try the QHY9 out. As I can't afford the 2" RGB filters yet I coupled some rings together placing the 1.25" Tru Technology RGB filter in close to the imaging chip. A bit of a pain changing each one during a imaging session but at least it will get me started.
Clear skies ken

[renormalised]

What I can't wait to see is the winter time images you'll be able to take with the mak-newt and the QHY9. Knowing how cold and still the air can get around the Singleton area, your images should be that sharp you'll be able to cut yourself with them!!!

[Prickly]

Sounds good Ken. It'll be worth the effort

There's also the narrowband too - maybe some dual colour split over a couple of nights.

Hope the clouds break soon.

Cheers
David

[Hagar]

Lovely satalites and planes cause me quite a bit of grief when trying to image overhead with the main Melb to Sydney flight path over head. A lot of these can be excluded by using a Sigma reject or median Max Min reject stack.

Very nice image.

[Ric]

Well done Ken, a lovely detailed capture.

This is one I have yet to try for.

[Ken]

Thanks Ric not the easiest thing to image but satisfying when you do.
Hagar thanks for the processing tip, If I had a lot of planes buzzing around I would be imaging at long focal lengths cutting down the field of view.
David yes I do have the Ha filter for those Moonlit nights but don't have the cable to make the filter wheel move.
Renormalised I like those long winter nights also, the skies are dark here but with the rocky hills and Glennies Creek Dam nearby the seeing can be poor. I guess Townsville would be a bit warmer in winter.

[renormalised]

A lot warmer!!!....although it can get down fairly low. I've seen it down around 4-5 degrees C. Yeah, the warm air over the dam water wouldn't do the seeing much good and neither would breezes off the hills.