NGC6188 with TEC180mm FL

[gregbradley]

After 3 trips to my dark site I managed 1 clear night out of about 11. Oh well thats what it takes sometimes.

TEC180mm fluorite triplet, TEC 3.5 inch dedicated field flattener, Apogee U16M camera at -30C and Apogee filter wheel, Baader filters, Tak NJP mount with AT66ED guide scope and Sbig ST402ME guide camera.

All 10 minute subexposures. Seeing was very good, totally clear, no light pollution,no wind, stable stars and cold (3C).

HaLRGB 120 30 60 60 60 for a total of 5:30.

The 16803 chip goes well with the big refractor.

http://upload.pbase.com/image/115466950

Here's a photo of the setup:

http://www.pbase.com/image/115499554

I have also imaged this area before with an RCOS 12.5 inch and an SBig STL11000XCM one shot colour camera.

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/83117651

And here is a photo of that setup (scope now owned by Lars);

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/92279122

Here is a location shot of the area where I image:

http://www.pbase.com/image/115500209

Greg.

[renormalised]

Both really nice shots, Greg. Although I much prefer your latest one....far less noisy, especially in the neb.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Carl.

The RCOS one was taken with an STL1XCM one shot colour and it was a great camera but it was a lot noisier than a mono especially in the dim areas.

Both shots taken from the same site under similar conditions.

Greg.

[renormalised]

The Apogee cameras are great cameras, but so are the SBIG's. Although, it would've been good to team the Apogee with the RCOS. That would be a sweet setup.

[gregbradley]

Yes I agree Carl. The U16M is a very good camera but could do with more cooling horsepower. But they do offer an upgrade to a different body for $2000 that gives -66C cooling which matches FLI's cooling.So that is good that they offer various products at different price points. So I'll be getting that before summer as strong cooling is a key to easy CCD work.

The STL series are very nice cameras too but are noisy compared to their FLI equivalent and their cooling is lacking in power like the U16M.
Ideally, -35C is the starting point for good cooling in my opinion and I want to be able to achieve that any time of the year so that means -65C cooling ability which currently is only offered by FLI or Apogee Alta D09 body. I would prefer -40C. Its not just thermal noise you want to get rid of with cooling, its residual ghost images or the extra noise if you use the tool to prevent these ghost images (I have never seen them on my U16M but the 09000 chipped cameras often get complaints) , hot pixels, lines from the hot pixels down the image and other cosmetic defects. It also sets you up for easy and trouble free processing.

I saw a recent image from a 12.5 RCOS and the Apogee U16M and it gave me a good idea of what it would do and it looked very good, a nice match up.

Greg.

[renormalised]

Just had a peek at the scopes....great setup, and really nice location!!!. Whereabouts is it??. Wouldn't mind owning a 100acres or so of country like that!!:D:D

[gregbradley]

Between Crookwell and Cowra in NSW. 150kms almost due west from Campbelltown in Sydney.

Greg.

[renormalised]

Ah...I know where that is:D

[Hagar]

Very nice image Greg, so much to take in with the full frame.
I love your collection of imaging equipment, quite spectacular.

[Matty P]

Very nice image Greg. So much to see. Lovely colourings and detail.

:thumbsup:

[TheDecepticon]

Wow, is all I can think of!:thumbsup:

[Peter Ward]

Greg...I'm going to be picky...but figure you are in the A league equipment category and can take it :)

With The TEC, brighter stars look to be bloated...maybe a UV/IR rejection filter is needed.

Stars also seem to be a little eggy from 10 to 4 o'clock...suggest a tighter guide set-up, possibly even a OAG.

The results you are getting are great...it just needs that last tweak to get a serious wow factor.

[sjastro]

Nice image Greg.

Steven

[telecasterguru]

Greg,
I love the Refractor image, it is wonderful.

The RCOS image is fabulous as well but the 180 image is very, very clean.

Frank

[gregbradley]

Thanks Doug. The large chip captures a lot of territory.







Thanks for that.



Thanks Stephen



The TEC sure is a beautiful scope. The best I have used. Its a pleasure to use. I see from your internet name you are into
Telecasters. I used to have a fabulous '57 Telecaster. At one stage I repaired guitars and I did it up. Nice.

[Alchemy]

beautiful location, hope the 180 is locked up securely.... id be taking with me .....
fortunately dark skies are only 30m from my back door here not several hours driving .still with countryside like that plenty to do.

back to the image.... really deep has a nice 3d effect in the curtain, the bottomLH corner is interesting nice shell detail.


clive

[Craig_L]

Very nice Greg. I must try this next now I have a reference.

[gregbradley]

[QUOTE=Alchemy;472509]beautiful location, hope the 180 is locked up securely.... id be taking with me .....
fortunately dark skies are only 30m from my back door here not several hours driving .still with countryside like that plenty to do.

back to the image.... really deep has a nice 3d effect in the curtain, the bottomLH corner is interesting nice shell detail.


clive[/QUOTE
Hi Clive,

I take everything home with me. There is plenty to do and lots of wildlife lately.

I was intrigued by that shockwave also. It came out very clearly.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Craig.

I used Marcus's and Rob Gendler/Martin Pugh image as a guide.

Greg.

[gregbradley]

Ah yes you remind me. I still have the Baader clear filter in the filter wheel instead of the luminance filter. It has no UV/IR block. I meant to change it over. That was more meant for galaxies but I am not sure I am in the camp of clear filter imagers as it can bloat some stars a bit.

The stars were tight and round except on the Ha where I used 15 mins.

I have recently picked up a Paramount ME so perhaps that will help once it is set up. I think there is some flexure from the guide scope but it only kicks in 15 mins or more. I do have a MMOAG but it needed adapters to make it work as it wouldn't come to focus with the guide camera. It might be worth setting it up again at some point.

Cheers,

Greg.

[Bassnut]

Hehe, had to happen, congrats on the PME purchase, youll be stunned by the difference. Lugging that to your dark site is going to be fun, are you up for that ?, its a serious weight.

BTW, nice pic.

[gregbradley]

Hi Fred,

Thanks for that. No it will be used in a new home observatory as I am moving to an area that I think has reasonable dark skies at night.

Greg.

[Paul Haese]

Nice work Greg. There appears to be some slight burn out near the top of the nebula on my screen. That said I like the overall look and real estate of the new sensor. Well done.

[netwolf]

Hey Greg, great image, great setup and fantastic location. Glad to hear it finally cleared up for you out there.

I think there is more nebula detail in the RCOS image but its a bit noisy to enjoy. The TEC image is much better overall but does lack the nebula definition. Would love to see what that camera could do with the RCOS on a PME mount.

Did you do any Planetary work while you were out this time?

The location looks every bit as good as you described it, and better. But even if i had that, i dont imagine i could get out there much. I would really like to live in a place like that though, step out and have dark skies.


Regards
Fahim

[gregbradley]

Thanks Paul.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Fahim. Weather was very patchy and unreliable so only had a small chance to image and to do one setup. Jupiter is in a good position to image at the moment though.

Greg.