M104 lum

[richardo]

Hi all,
another hiatus from having decent nights, but this is what is standard in my neck of the woods this time of year.
As this is so, generally M104 is a hard one for me to get anything decent on due to conditions... but this one night, transparency was just plain good.

As I'm still waiting for a good night to get some colour, lum is all I have to offer.

SX H916/ clr astronomik filter/ 10" F4 Newtonian
3minute subs, 114mins.
Here's a link if your interested
http://www.baytop-observatory.com/ccdimages/Winprogress/m104lumnewt.jpg

Have decided to upgrade my stepper motors to a servo system which will be a treat for this old CI700... should make my life a lot easier as well.:D
So looks like I'll have to way lay my camera upgrade till mid year... :doh:
Oh well, such is life :rolleyes:, bit by bit up into the 21st century.

Any way,
All the best for now
Rich

[Bassnut]

Thats pretty spectacular, some nice detail on the outer ring, well done.

[strongmanmike]

Really nice work Richard, it has a real "solid" look to it, like you could reach in and grab it like a dinner plate.

I would have thought seeing, rather than transparency was the thing to have luck with when imaging M104? Getting the detail out in the dust lane seems to be the challenge with this baby and great seeing is what you need here.

Mike

[h0ughy]

wow, never really seen that before, look forward to the final image

[desler]

Wow, very nice!


Darren

[Peter Ward]

Rich. Looks like you have some great data there!

Looks a little too aggressively sharpened to me. I'd back off the processing just a tad so the sky background shows a subtle grain rather than a rough texture.

Guiding focus etc. is spot on.

To do M104 well is a real challenge. Stick with it :thumbsup:

[Craig_L]

Jumps out at you. Lovely work.

[richardo]

Thanks Fred for having a look and for the nice comments!



Hey yo Mike,
thanks there man!

As I've thought and through many nights out over the years in various conditions, on those slightly moist nights, usually the seeing is iffy (star scintillation, crap in the air) but the transparency into say nebs and galaxies can be pretty good with bringing out fine structure. Not all the time though. So it's hit and miss.... crank it all up and get your feet wet. It was pretty much this way the night I took this run of lums. Quite moist, iffy seeing.
I guess if both seeing and transparency were above average then things can only be better hey!
Any, here's a link (scroll down to 'weather charts and forecasts') with an explanation to what I've pretty much thought/ read/ understood.:shrug: Hell, I may have misunderstood, not the first time:whistle: not the last;)
http://astronomy.libsyn.com/?search=1&search_string=spumans




Thanks Houghy for checking it out.
Hopefully the weather will play ball when the moon takes a hike!



Cheers for that Darren!




Thanks Peter.
My 24" lcd native screen res is way too high for the actual full size image I work with in PS. (tiny chips you know) Since I've had this monitor It seems I tend to over sharpen due to the smallish nature of the image.
Might drop back the res when doing astro images in future, until I get a larger chip.
Thanks for the heads up.





thanks Craig.
Hopefully the colour data will help do this more.

Thanks folks for all your comments and stuff.
Always appreciated.;)
Cheers for now.
Rich .:thumbsup:

[Tilt]

Plenty of detail there! Fantastic work.

Michael

[multiweb]

Wow! :eyepop: Superb picture. You nailed it! Great contrast and details.
You can even see some background galaxies around. Neat. :thumbsup:

[Garyh]

Beautifully done Rich! Have brought out some very nice detail in the dust lane as well as the spiral disk as well. Not usually seen as well in other closeups. Shall be very nice once the color is added!
Top work! :thumbsup:

[peter_4059]

Great work Rich. Fantastic detail captured.

Peter

[bluescope]

Nice to see a post from you again Rich ... it's been a while !

Nice 104 ... although I tend to agree with Peter about the sharpening perhaps a tad too much but hey it's better than any image I've ever done of the Sombrero ... well done.

:thumbsup:

[aworley]

Hi Rich,

ooh...that's good....I agree with the others it jumps off the screen...

Alex

[JD2439975]

Many a beautiful galaxy in the universe but M104 is a long time favourite.

Love this image, can't wait to see it in full colour glory...one to be proud of.

Viewing this on a 26" LCD TV myself and it doesn't seem oversharpened...but by god it looks good!!

JD

[hickny]

Faboulous

[jase]

A grand image indeed Rich. Don't be shy on the RGB, collect plenty of it. Looking forward to seeing the finished result.

[gregbradley]

A sensational luminance there Rich.

Wow, to get detail like that in the dust lane usually requires tons of aperture.

F4 is so cool.

Greg.

[alan meehan]

HEY RICH,very good image well done nice skys down there in steaky bay i,am jealous ,brilliant
Alan

[KenGee]

Rich well done I too hate this time of year at least your getting a bit of rain the clouds go over the top here.

[richardo]

Thanks Michael!



Thanks for the comments Marc...
With a bit more lum I'd be able to really bring out those back ground galaxies.



Cheers for that Gaz.
Must admit when the down loads began from the observatory to inside, and I setup my work flow, was very happy with the detail that came through with just the subs.



Thank you Peter!



Thanks Steve, taken me years to get the right night, no work the next day and have the gear behave.



Thanks for the comments Alex!



Thanks Justin....
hopefully I'll have some good nights in the coming dark period to finish off my colour.



Cheers Pete !



Hey Jase,
thank you!
I won't skimp on the rgb, promise!



Hi Greg, thanks for that!
Have been very very happy with this scope since I built it. Been some mods to get things right though.
But really it's the fine mirrors in it.
Certainly does shine on those rare great nights.



Thanks Alan for the nice comments.
s/Bay can put out some good skies, just this time of year is really very fickle.



Thanks Kenny.
Yeah had about an 1" last week and really settled the skies down. Well, apart from the clouds that is.
Sorry to hear you've had none in your area.


Thanks again to you guys for taking a look and your nice comments.
Hope the new moon brings some great images out of your scopes.
Look forward to it!

All the best for now
Rich:thumbsup:

[pgc hunter]

that's quite an image!

[atalas]

Wonderful work Rich!

[richardo]

Thanks Peter!

Hope you're not tainting your taste buds drinking crap beer since you've been over here!
The best beer in Australia ? Coopers ale of course.
There's red ale, pale ale, dark ale, stout, brown ale..... all natural and not carbonated preservative wank in a can like many.
If not, you must!



Thanks Louie!
Hopefully colour coming real soon.

Cheers guys:drink:
Rich

[renormalised]

Fantastic L shot there, Rich....great detail. Can't wait for the RGB combine:)

[richardo]

Thanks Carl!
Hopefully the rgb's won't be too far away.

All the best
Rich

[Octane]

Rich,

That is outstanding. The final composite is going to something worthy of being put on the wall in large format.

Can't wait for it!

Regards,
Humayun

[Jen]

:eyepop::eyepop:
:hi: Hi there Rich :) that is a beautiful pic

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[richardo]

Hi Humayan,
thanks for checking it out!
Just one night, and I struck it lucky for a change with this object!
Hasn't been anything much since.




Hi Jen,
thanks for the really nice comments.
Hopefully have some colour soon to publish it properly.

Thanks again to you both.
All the best
Rich