View Full Version here: : NGC253 from Astrofest
peter_4059
29-08-2009, 09:21 PM
I took this image over a couple of nights and it is a combination of 15 x 3 min and 10 x 4 min subs (85 mins total) using the 400D, paracorr and 10" Newt. As per the other shots this has ICNR and flats applied.
I've used a few iterations of PS levels and curves followed by a bit of deconvolution to sharpen up the galaxy details.
Comments welcome.
DavidU
29-08-2009, 09:26 PM
Nice ! You got a lot of dust lane detail there. I would love to see the Hi res.
well done
alan meehan
29-08-2009, 09:38 PM
Peter damn fine image well done
peter_4059
29-08-2009, 10:27 PM
Having spent so many hours acquiring and processing these images it sure makes you appreciate the trully amazing images others on this forum produce.
I'm quite pleased with what I achieved in the last couple of weeks at astrofest but the more you get into this the higher you set your standards. There's still a lot of room for improvement. The feedback and encouragement really does help.
Thanks for the comments David and Alan.
Peter
jjjnettie
29-08-2009, 11:10 PM
Tremendous work Peter.
You're going ahead in leaps and bounds.
troypiggo
30-08-2009, 12:19 AM
Very nice again. Great detail in there.
ozstronomer
30-08-2009, 06:48 AM
Great shot Peter, you've captured some fine detail.
multiweb
30-08-2009, 08:23 AM
Very nice details indeed Peter. How do you rate the paracorr vs. the baader MPCC. Is it much different?
peter_4059
30-08-2009, 08:53 AM
Thanks for the feedback JJJ, Troy, Geoff and Marc.
Marc,
I haven't tried a MPCC so can't compare but I am very happy with the Paracorr. Any star elongation in my images is due to some drift caused by differential flexure and despite several attempts and changing out components I've yet to find the cause.
The stars at the edge of the field in my shorter exposures that do not show this drift have very little coma by my reckoning. I don't think I've tried the 400D/newt combination without the paracorr as I originally couldn't achieve focus but have subsequently shortened the OTA so will give it a try some time.
Peter
bokglob
30-08-2009, 09:30 AM
superb detail and colour peter:thumbsup: classy image
AlexN
30-08-2009, 09:33 AM
Spot on mate! Well done!
Love it!
troypiggo
30-08-2009, 12:30 PM
Welcome to try my MPCC any time.
peter_4059
02-09-2009, 05:52 PM
Cheers Darrell and Alex. It's quite a difficult object with the DSLR I'm finding but lends itself well to a monochrome DSI II shot.
Troy - bring the MPCC along next time we hit OATS and we can try a back to back comparison.
Peter
jjjnettie
02-09-2009, 06:09 PM
OATS??
Please explain.
AlexN
02-09-2009, 06:23 PM
what you eat for brekkie during winter Jeanette!! :D
peter_4059
03-09-2009, 06:21 AM
It's a dark sky site the AAQ has been using about an hour SW of Brissie.
jjjnettie
03-09-2009, 08:37 AM
Thanks Peter.
Nosy aren't I.
Paul Haese
03-09-2009, 11:33 AM
Lovely image, very sharp and great detail.
allan gould
03-09-2009, 01:59 PM
Another really great shot, Peter. Can't add more than that
Zubenel
03-09-2009, 03:46 PM
From a visual observers perspective ,great to see a a good image taken off mirrors!!
Hagar
03-09-2009, 07:15 PM
Very nice Peter, Just what I have come to expect from you. Lovely sharp, clean, noise free and detailed image.
Well done again.
Yep - very very nice Peter..... :)
peter_4059
05-09-2009, 08:15 AM
Thanks Paul, Allan, Wes, Doug and Rob.
I found the dew quite challenging this year - especially the primary mirror and this shows in a number of the images I took later in the night/early morning unfortunately.
I've seen dew heaters for the secondary but not for primary mirrors - anyone got a way to avoid this problem when imaging?
jjjnettie
05-09-2009, 08:22 AM
Yeah, I hear you Peter.
What a pain!
I just carefully poke the hairdryer between the vanes and blow it away.
Hopefully we won't have to worry about it again for another 9 months.
AlexN
05-09-2009, 10:40 AM
I've seen people wrap a long heater band around the tube right at the very bottom to warm the area around the primary. I do not know however how effective that would be... If you're not adverse to pulling the scope apart, you could always fit a heater band to the mirror itself and have the cable for it coming out either through the tube or something like that.. The problem would be internal thermal currents then... not to mention that the outer edges of the mirror would be much warmer than the center... Maybe you could make a heat pad that sicks to the bottom of the primary mirror and heats the mirror from the center... This way the temperature would not have to be as high in order to remove dew from the area that your camera sees the most.. it would lessen the internal currents a bit I imagine, but you would still get a boundary layer of warm air on top of the mirror.. Its a tricky prediciment with newts...
Did you have the fan running? I would have thought the fan would create enough positive pressure into the tube to stop the ingress of dew?
peter_4059
05-09-2009, 11:41 AM
I tried with and without the fan but same problem. I think with the fan you are still drawing in wet air and it's going to condense on the mirror. I thought about heater pads on the mirror but you don't see them commercially available - I guess for a good reason. I also tried heating the air going into the fan in an attempt to warm the mirror and remove the dew but the hair drier didn't have enough power to raise the mirror temperature enough.
AlexN
05-09-2009, 12:35 PM
Hmmm.. a difficult situation indeed... Hope you figure something out!! Dew is indeed the enemy...
I've just organised a pair of heater bands for my refractors and a controller... I believe I've now vanquished my main enemy... Now.. How to remove clouds and destroy the moon in one fell swoop.. :)
Octane
06-09-2009, 12:41 AM
Peter,
Wow, lots of dark dusty detail there.
I'd make a suggestion to brighten the image up a little, but, that's a personal preference. :)
Regards,
Humayun
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