Couple of pics from Ilford last wednesday

[multiweb]

Given last new moon week-end cloud coverage I got really frustrated and decided to pick my night rather than the other way round, so I did a mid-week trip to Wiruna for one perfect night. It was much needed, overdue and I loved it :) Bit lonely but for the two occasional wallabies and the regular possum. The moon set at about 12:30am and everything froze up very fast.

I pretty much shot 1-2h of anything bright enough I knew where to find easily to test my barlowed newt. I did M8, M20, M16, NGC2070, M42. Just posting what I've processed so far. M8 turned out nice, there's a higher res shot at: http://www.multiweb.com.au/astro/M8x2_nf.jpg [1.2MB]

M20's bit grainy (more data required). I chose to shoot a lot more on M16 as it was going down fast. Tarentula was a bit low to shoot at. But I was happy to image anything at last. Will post a bit more when I've processed the rest. Enjoy the shots. :thumbsup:

PS: Big thanks to Peter Ward helping me sorting out some tracking problems. :hi:

[renormalised]

Nice shots there, Marc:). A bit more data for all piccies wouldn't go astray:)

[DavidU]

You are doing amazing things with that little Newt.Great processing skills too.:thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Ah yes, imaging in the darkness with nobody around...you either get tired or you get lots done :)

All three are nice images Marc and yes the Lagoon is very spetacala, you must be sick of that object by now :whistle:

Mike

[multiweb]

Tanks Carl - for sure. But that night was more about shooting as many different DSO as I could as I wanted to check how known targets looked with the new rig and compare.


Thank you David. Processing's getting there. I had to push the data real hard though as I had not quite enough and some pics are still grainy.


Thanks Mike. Get Sick of it? Nah...The hour glass region is one of my favourite. Beautiful object. Haven't you heard? It's the new Centaurus A! :whistle: Maybe not as spectacala but nonetheless byoudeeful :poke::thumbsup:

[prokyon]

A very great session, indeed! My favorite is the Trifid Nebula.
If you would make only one object per night you would get perfect results.

cheers

werner

[tlgerdes]

Wiruna, mid-week on a half moon, I think you have crossed from hobby to obsessive.:screwy:

Still, it looked like it was a fun night for you. I take it the mount didnt freeze up?

[strongmanmike]

Ah yes Centaurus A :scared:....err?..ummm? :doh:...nup, all will be revealed soon :whistle: ;)

I am very happy to see images of the Lagoon, particularly if they are showing different aspects or progresssion in technical presentation...yes or even.. with no stars? :screwy: :rofl:

Mike

[multiweb]

Thanks Werner. That's my best trifid to date with that scope but I reckon I'll need the C11 to separate those 6 central stars and resolve the gas jets in the middle.


Nup Trev - not obsession, only desperation :) Yes it was fun and I needed my "me" time badly. Have you seen the weather records for new moon periods lately? :whistle:


:lol: Nah .. only kidding, I love repros too. But you have to admit Fred's starless rendition got a well deserved APOD.

[AlexN]

Awesome images Marc, The optics in that little newt of yours are really holding up to the magnification well.. I've got to say the high res M8 looks incredibly detailed... Would love to see it with the addition of another few hours exposure!

It does however look like there is some field curvature in there...

Still waiting to see you put that C11 to use mate! Get into it!!

[marc4darkskies]

All three are great shots Marc! Very nice! :thumbsup: M8 is my favourite though. Wish I had Wiruna skies over my obs!! :sadeyes:

Understand why you shot multiple targets, but go for a single target next time - the extra data will pay big dividends.

Cheers, Marcus

[bokglob]

very professional mark. high quality images.love your work!:thumbsup:

[anthony.tony]

Great Shots.

[multiweb]

Thanks Alex. :thumbsup: Well all this stuffing around with the newt at high magnification taught me a lot about tightening up guiding and other things so by the time I put the C11 on the mount I'll be ready to go. That was the plan anyway. :whistle: Yes there is field curvature (and coma). Why do you think I heavily cropped the field? :lol: I think the barlow cell distance from the CCD plane and MPCC needs tweaking. I reckon the cell is too far from the camera plane. So I'm actually magnifying more than 2x. I'm pretty close to 2m FL at the moment. I have finally received my custom made "telescopic" adapter so I can test different distances for my MPCC. I posted a pic to this reply so you can check it out.


Thanks Marcus. :thumbsup: Yeah that night was more meant at shooting as many as possible to compare. Not serious imaging. I posted coz some still turned out ok.


Professional? :eyepop: I'm still a noob with a QHY8 mate. Glad you like them though :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Great images Marc. Great effort to go out there and get some images
midweek. I know the feeling well.

Greg

[strongmanmike]

Oh yes, it was very nice and looked pretty good printed A3 for the DM's too.

Russ Croman did this starless version of the Lagoon too aaaand yes see?.... it was also NASA's APOD back in Aug 2006 :rolleyes:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060825.html

I think those guys at NASA don't like stars :lol:

Mike

[Hagar]

Very nice collection Marc, I do like the core of Lagoon, it shows real depth in the field and adds an almost 3D effect to the image.

Well done. Dark sky without clouds what's that?

[cookie8]

Well done Marc. So many objects in one night. I like the Tarentula the best.Exposure just right to show the "legs" Very scarry:scared3:

[multiweb]

Thanks Vincent. It's scary alright :):whistle:


Thanks Doug. Yeah that turned out alright hey? I think because there's enough light to capture the data and it's easier to process given the short total amount of exposures.


Thanks Greg. :) As I'm flexible with work I decided to pick my nights from now on. I've had it up to here with this ^&*^$#^ weather and that's since the SPSP which wasn't exactly a benchmark either. :windy:

[Octane]

Marc,

Beautiful. Great detail all the way to the core of the spider, and some pretty star colours sprinkled throughout.

The high resolution version of M8 gets my pick for the night. Top shelf. :thumbsup:

Regards,
Humayun

[RB]

hmmm don't know how I missed these Marc.
All very well done.

Must have been a hoot being up there all alone in the dark :P

onya mate
:thumbsup:

[multiweb]

Thanks H. Yeah the core turned out alright :thumbsup:


Thanks Andrew. :thumbsup: Bit scary yeah. :scared: Usually with the crowd and alcohool I'm not "that self conscious" :whistle: