New moon is less impressive from the suburbs..

[AlexN]

Well, due to family commitments, I couldn't get to dark skies this weekend, however last night I was able to get out with the scopes and do some imaging.... Here's a couple of the later efforts from the wee hours of this morning..

M42 ~ 10x10min, 18x5min, 60x1min - 7nm Ha..
It needs more work, and much more exposure to get all the dim dusty surroundings, but its a start.. :)

Eta Carine (First for the season??) 4x25min - 7nm Ha.
Again, this one could do with more exposure, but I'm liking this a lot. Easily my best eta. I'll get some OSC data for this next weekend from dark skies..


Last night I also got 1.5hrs on the tarantula and 1hr on NGC104.. Both of these are still in the oven.. I'll serve them up as soon as they are ready.

Alex

[multiweb]

Nice one! :thumbsup: I like the V shape neb in the back of M42. See it only in deep images.Eta looks very sharp too. Well done.

[AlexN]

Thanks Marc... At first I thought that dark V shape was an optical issue, or something wrong with my flats etc... I did a search around online and found quite a few shots showing it.. I was impressed after that.. :) I do wish I'd got twice as much exposure to reduce the noise in the dust, however had I done that, I wouldnt have got the Eta Carine shot.. And I'm REALLY happy with that shot! :) I compared it to my shot from december last year, there is NO comparison...

[Dennis]

Hi Alex

Wow – a couple of excellent images; both quite remarkable considering all the debris in the atmosphere due to multiple dust storms and local fires!

Cheers

Dennis

[dpastern]

Alex - these were shot with the TMB?

Both excellent shots!

Dave

[AlexN]

Cheers Dennis, I did think to myself early in the evening whether it was even worth imaging.. Glad I did!

Dave, Yep, shot with the TMB 80/480 @ Prime focus using a Baader MPCC to flatten the field, and a Baader 7nm Ha filter with the Orion Starshoot Pro.

Alex.

[telecasterguru]

Alex,

Very impressed with the early results that you re achieving. Can't wait to see them when you have added more data.

Frank

[strongmanmike]

Nice outcome Alex, yeh a bit of noise there but still looks ok :thumbsup:

Don't want to dissapoint ya either but there ain't no dust in that there image cause it's in Halpha mate, dust doesn't emit Halpha.

Mike

[AlexN]

Frank, Thanks mate.. I hope to add some more data this saturday and sunday mornings! :)

Mike, Yep, noise is a given with such low overall exposure time, I could do a Sidonio, stretch the image less, so you still see all the main nebula, but not the darker wispy bits.. but hey..

Yes as you say, its not "Dust" I just refer to it as dust thanks to its colour in many images, it appears a dirty, dusty brown most of the time, I suppose it would have to be gas... To that end, essentially in images it should be a deep red should it not? Oooh.. look at me rambling on like an old woman.. :D haha..

[AlexN]

Despite my colour blindness.. I've attempted a Ha:OSC (100min:100min) blend of Eta carine..


Ha: 4x25min - taken at 480mm with Orion SS Pro - Yesterday.
OSC : 10x10min - Taken at 714mm with QHY8 - December 08

The OSC data was a lot closer in, so the field of view is heavily reduced, and the OSC data was also taken with no field flattener, so the outter edges show a little coma in the stars, the Ha has worked wonders in bringing out more detail.. I've posted the original OSC shot first for comparison, followed by the Ha Ha+R G B shot..

Cheers for looking..

Alex.

[TheDecepticon]

Fantastic Ha images, love the Orion area!:eyepop:

[dpastern]

That TMB is really doing wonders. Amazing detail for only 80mm of aperture. Your really producing some high quality work now Alex, imho.

Dave

[AlexN]

cheers guys. I agree, some how this scope seems to defy its small aperture. It definitely delivers sharp images, and seems to effortlessly pull detail out of a target..