Just a basic M42

[strongmanmike]

After travelling to my dark sky site for what was forcast to be and indeed was, a perfect Friday night and setting everything up in the heat and mozzies at dusk...my computer failed to boot fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu ...packed everything up and went home with nuttin, second time in three outings that something has ruined an impending perfect night...fast losing patience :mad2:

Any way...

Here is a frustration image. After the inner core region version in my last post, this shot frames the whole main nebula and has been composed from three different data sets taken over the last 4 years. I think it has came to gether "o-k" considering that the main Luminance is still only 5min Ha plus 5min Lum. It is no deep monster but I think as a basic image of the main nebula it represents at least a pleasant view...and retains some of my sanity :screwy:

Hope you like it none the less....the full sword in all its glory is still coming.....sometime...even if it kills me:tasdevil: :rolleyes:

(1meg)
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/119723071/original

Mike

[Hagar]

It is a nice image Mike but I think you have done better and can't wait to see the image you will produce when you finally get everything cooperating.

Imaging can be very frustrating and I can certainly empathise with you on this account. I doubt any of us have outing completely event free, be it guiding, computer or just silly battery failures. Travelling a long way from home only makes it harder to bear.
Keep at it mate, I am sure your image will be worth the wait. I intened to give orion area another go as soon as the weather or at least bad weather clears.

[jjjnettie]

Poor Mike.
It's more a consolation prize than a winner.
You've been through the wringer lately trying to get more data.
Here's hoping that Santa brings us all pristine clear skies and a FU free night for next new moon.

[DavidU]

Oh yes ! A "basic" M42. Jeez:thumbsup:

[multiweb]

Arghh! Don't you hate it when that happens? I remember one very dry night in Ilford every time I'd touch the mount tripod I'd get a static discharge and all the USB hubs would disconnect. I even blue screened the laptop once by touching the Aluminium table. :lol: Sometime I wish I could do without a laptop. Your M42 is coming along real nice. :thumbsup:

[Jen]

BASIC :eyepop: oh my,.. Mike you make it look basic to get nice shots like that (jen keeps on dreaming) Keep em coming cheers ;)

[dpastern]

That was my reaction lol...

I'd be delighted with an image like that Mike!

Dave

[bluescope]

You'll just have to move to live at a dark sky site mate and have a permanent observatory setup ... imagine what you would do then ... I don't mean to upset you with this suggestion Mike but you know it's the answer deep down ;)

By the way the image is as good as one would expect with your situation ... we all know you are capable of much more big guy !

:thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Awesome image for a recovery image.

Imagine what you'll get when it all comes together again.

I think we've all had those nights. Inevitable with complex gear
a lot of which is electronic. I even wasted a couple of hours sorting out stuff when I hadn't even touched the gear from the night before where it worked perfectly???

Is your lappie OK now or is it a hard disk failure?

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Thanks for lookin guys :)

Thing is I have been very lucky with my outfit really, last time it was me who simply forgot the lap top :rolleyes: this time there was actually an error with it. Greg- the lappie is in for repair, took it there the next morning - can't sleep if my rig has issues :screwy: :lol: sounds like a boot up problem they said should be a simple fix :prey:

I have been very lucky as far as equipment goes so far really so I better touch wood :scared: The NJP with FS2 mount control and both FLI and SX cameras and in fact everything else really :question: has been blemish free for some time now...hope I didn't just jinx myself :eyepop:

I know I set my own bar pretty high I guess and while this is a nice shot of M42 it is nothing extrodinary but hey, I am not from the school that needs to work on an image for weeks to make if just right before finally posting it in some grand way, generally I do stuff - I share it with my friends :thumbsup:, if I repro :scared: :whistle:... so be it :P

[strongmanmike]

...well...it's better than this one :P

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/66994020/original

incidentally as crappy as this image looks now, it was actually an award winning image in its day :lol:

Mike

[Hagar]

Not to bad for film, I had some a lot worse than that. I had to get a mate to develop them as the labs would just throw them away. I since have thrown them all away in one of my many house moves.

[Paul Haese]

This will be a cracker of an image once you get all the data you need for it. Lots of detail now but just needs the data to make it really nice.

[AlexN]

Such a pain in the bum... It would be incredible if we could have all the joys of computerized telescopes, CCD's, electronic filter wheels and auto-focus without the need for computers! :) That said, without solitare or Microsoft Pinball, how would we get through those multi hour imaging runs in one piece! :)

[mill]

Yep that is the crappiest M42 i have ever seen :P NOT!!!!!!
Looking good with the data you got Michael :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Oh as I said that was actually an award winning image in 1984 :lol: so at the time it was the bomb and my mate and I loved it...laughable huh? It was better than that originally, the old B&W print I scanned was in poor crinckly condition and the scanning processes has degraded the appearence further.

Did all my own B&W film processing and darkroom printing back then, ah sigh...fun times :thumbsup:

Mike

[strongmanmike]

You are right Alex, after setting all that up and looking at it thinking, man she is a a beauty...but she's useless with no lappie :rolleyes:, plus without a visual scope setup handy = well, a wasted night :sadeyes:

I often listen to the right wing rednecks on late night talkback myself, the ignorant, racist and stupid views make me laugh :lol:

Mike

[AlexN]

I might give that a go next time out! :) sounds like a laugh and a half! I'll occasionally listen to music, or bung on a movie on a different laptop to keep me occupied...

[Garyh]

Did you boot the pc after it didn`t boot!
What a bummer especially after travelling and setting up. Had a same problem here the other week, darm thing would just turn it`self off any old time, grrrrrr
But still your composite image looks pretty good!
Do you use Registar for the different scale images?
cheers Gary

[Tom Davis]

Gorgeous!

The PC in my home observatory died (5 years old) and so I just went through the process of reconfiguring a new one. Pain in the b__t. It happens though, oh well...

Tom

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Gary

No I use Astroart4 for image registration - it's a great program. Unfortunately, like most excellent European products, it is not as well known in the Aust/US market, shame though as it is really great and the only image processing/camera control program I have used since starting CCD imaging back in mid 2003 :).



Thanks Tom glad you liked it :thumbsup:

Yes we have all had these issues, just wish it had happened in my back yard too, rather than an hour from home AND AFTER I had set everything up :mad2:

Mike

[AlexN]

I got $10 says from now on you'll put the table out, and fire up the laptop before even pulling the pier out of the car... Not to mention the spaghetti central cable system! :D

[strongmanmike]

Ahhh...you very smart man (me not :screwy:) :lol:

Just got word from the computer fixers, seems it may be the motherboard, they are running some more tests :scared:

[Kal]

Sorry to hear about the computer failing to boot :( I can sympathise, when I set up last week (only takes me about half an hour in the back yard) I had a problem (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=53506) too, meaning I had to pack up again. It was frustrating wasting that effort from a backyard setup, so I can imagine the frustration with a dark sky site travel/setup with a terminal failure. :bashcomp:

[spearo]

That's a great shot Mike!
frank

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Frank

On the laptop front...well according to the computer repair people it is unrepairable :sadeyes: Seems there is a mjor fault on the motherboard and the parts are unavailable. They are removing the hard drive and putting it in an external casing so I can have all the data from it still.

Sooooo looks like Santa will be getting me a new laptop for Christmas...beforehand hopefully :prey: .

Any suggestions as to the best model (under $1000 would be ideal)?

Mike

[bluescope]

You can get an Acer for under a grand ... as long as you don't want a laptop built like a tank ... I have 2 and they both work fine ... one is a dual core and cost was around $795 plus there was a cash back deal. Actually I ended up getting it for around $450 because it was ex display ... they didn't have a new one in a box so I got a further 20% off :D

:thumbsup:

[AlexN]

As Steve said, The Acer's can be had cheap... I figure you can't go past a Dell myself... their prices, systems, quality and support are all fantastic...

[bluescope]

Here you go Mike ...............


http://www.harveynorman.com.au/m/acer-aspire-one-aod250-netbook-win7.html


:thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Steve and Alex, that ACER Steve may be just a bit too light on..?

I'm leaning toward this:

http://tinyurl.com/yjbrvob (http://tinyurl.com/yjbrvob)

Mike

[bluescope]

The Asus looks good ... and not much difference pricewise anyway. I tend to prefer Intel chips to AMD Athlon but that's just personal choice. Athlons apparently run a bit hotter than Intel. The thing is that you don't really need a ripper, high speed laptop to guide and image with ... reliability is probably the key. Also when you go out in the field make sure you have some sort of protection from the elements for your computer ... even a cardboard box for it to sit in to stop that dew getting all over everything.

:thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Yes but what makes a lappie "reliable" what does one look for? it all sounds so anecdotal? My now dead lappie has been perfectly fine for 4 years and hundreds of images, then one night it decides to pack it in out of the blue :shrug: :screwy:



Yes, well, that was something I never did bother with even in icey Canberra Winters, so perhaps I will from now on :question:..never know, could be important.

Cheers

[bluescope]

This Toshiba looks alright too ............... I only just noticed the Acer only has a 10.1" lcd ... they seem to be going for the smaller sized screens all of a sudden.

http://www.officeworks.com.au/retail/products/Technology/Computers-and-Monitors/Notebooks-and-Laptops/TOL50001K


:thumbsup:

[bluescope]

Yes, well, that was something I never did bother with even in icey Canberra Winters, so perhaps I will from now on :question:..never know, could be important.


Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ......... I think so Mike ...... they aren't water proof :lol:

:thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

I never had trouble with dew on the keyboard keys - I think the natural heat in the base prevented this but the screen often got very dewy and then even ice would form on it when I was in Canberra :question:

I always let it dryout first before storing it away though :P.

[bluescope]

Anyway have fun buying a new laptop .... I just want to get back home to my observatory and do some imaging again .... can't even see the stars here in the city :sadeyes: I had surgery to remove a screw from my ankle last Wednesday and get the staples removed from that wound next Wednesday so hopefully it won't be too long before I am back driving and walking and can go home ;)

Cheers :thumbsup:

[TrevorW]

Hey Mike you might have to do a SID on this one , not !!!

[Bassnut]

gee Mike, I nearly missed this. An M42, wow, thats different, nice work :zzz2: ;).

[strongmanmike]

Doh, I thought I'd made it under the Fredar :rolleyes:

[mswhin63]

I think that is a wonderful image, should call M42 "The big nipper" looks like a claw coming out of the main cloud to grab something.

[strongmanmike]

I agree Malcolm I have always thought that it could be called something to do with a Crab, particullarly based on how it appears in some images :)

Cheers

Mike