Christmas Rose (Rosette neb 45mins 450D and 8" Newt)

[RobF]

What do you do when you're in love with the Rosette nebula but your FOV is too small to fit it in?
What do you do when you've have a week of cloud, the forecasts show XMAS and New Year will be cloud, but tonight is predicted to be reasonable?
What do you do then when clouds keep coming over during subs and you collect 1/3 the data you wanted and thought you'd need?

You have a go anyway! ;)

Then you happily nuke as much noise as you think you can get away with and still leave some sort of decent result. I guess its just wispy hydrogen and dust we're talking about here anyway....

So here's my attempt at the Rosette from last Wed.
9 x 5mins ISO 800, 450D + MPCC/LPS on 8" Newt

(taken from my "bright sky site" - aka "the back yard")

[batema]

Hi Rob,

You've got to be happy with that for the amount of data you have. Focus and tracking look razor sharp and the fine details within the nebula look good. we've had good weather and it looks like clearing just as we approach the full moon. Yahoo. Happy new year.

Mark

[AlexN]

beautiful given the trials and tribulations involved in its capture Rob!

I can't wait to see what you can do with the QHY9 when you get it! :D

I agree with mark, guiding and focus look sensational, and considering the short sub exposure duration and overall exposure time you've created a very nice image of the rosette...

I wouldnt hold my breath for clear skies... My new camera is due any day now :D

[TrevorW]

Hey Rob thats not bad give's me something to aim for considering we have similar gear

[CoolhandJo]

Nice colours. Great salvage from the trials you have had! If you didnt tell us we would never of known! Great shot.

[RobF]

Thanks Mark. I've spent a couple of nights over the last month or so tweaking my guiding a bit further when the moon was out, so I decided to risk a dark night I wouldn't usually have bothered with. Glad I did now! Weather patterns still seem to show lots of Lows, but you're right - there's bound to be clear nights come full moon! :rolleyes:



Thanks Alex. I'm just not sure how much extra resolution I'll get what with my average optics and my mount being so heavily loaded. The extra camera/filterwheel weight will be an extra 400g or so hanging off the newt tube too. I've got serious "sensitivity hypersensitivity" at the moment though (as opposed to "aperture fever"). Can't wait to learn something about CCDs. I'm sure there'll be plenty of crazy questions coming up.

Great news the SBIG is close. Terrible news for what it will do to the weather! :lol:



Yes Trevor, you should be able to get some nice shots of the Rosette what with the extra tightness of the RC optics and sensitivity of the modded 350. Go for it!

I'd never heard of the Rosette 20 years ago. I guess its a sign of the times that amateurs can hunt such faint beasties now making them much more commonly discussed/imaged. Its interesting how there are 3 NGC numbers for the nebulosity and another again for the cluster. That also brings home to me how hard it must have been for the original gurus like Herschel et al to spot these things visually even with big scopes.

[RobF]

Thanks Paul - I wasn't really whinging - I somewhat enjoyed the thrill of the chase on this one! I also get a smile and laugh from some of the stories here in the imaging forum, so I probably got a bit carried away with the narrative....:rolleyes:

[AlexN]

You'll find you'll notice the resolution, I wouldn't discount the Skywatcher 8" newt mate.. :) As far as the weight on the mount... Point the focuser of the newt either straight up or straight down to minimize the offset weight of the focuser... As far as lightening the load on the HEQ5, I'd say the first thing you should consider is an off axis guider... Its the best way to drop a few pounds off your setup without sacrificing.. If anything, you'll see better results with an OAG than with the external guide scope...

When the QHY9 shows up, if you have any CCD related questions, don't hesitate to ask mate... If need be you can come up and spend a night under the stars (if we can see them through the clouds) to run over some things...

[RobF]

I do aim the focus in towards the mount pretty much at the moment, but it could rotate some more if I'm desperate I guess. Its convenient where it is currently because the OTA and guidescope just fit in the storage box though. Don't get me started on OAG'ers Alex, or the wife will kick me out I reckon! I"ll have to make do with the QHY9 for quite a while I think.

Thanks for offer re getting together too. I'm looking forward to another fun learning year in 2010 - lets hope the weather behaves before too long. I suspect Barambah will be on us before we blink next.....

[AlexN]

Yep, Barambah will be coming up in April hopefully! :) Looking forward to the black black skies again! :) Every time I get out there, I come back to reality searching for a dark sky property... Alas, Nothing suitable has been found yet... Back to narrowband :D

[Hagar]

Very nice Rob, Nicely resolved. The fix to fit it in is either a new scope or a focal reducer for this scope.

Nice job of guiding, colour and processing.

Well done.

[Garyh]

Very nicely done Rob! Sharp and well guided. Glad you got a break in the clouds to bag this one. Weather is the same here lately, cloud and more cloud! I knew this would happen when I buy a new DSLR!

[RobF]

Thanks Doug. You know I've never really considered a reducer. I suspect I"ve always considered them "refractor stuff". I'd be making the scope quite a bit faster, which might be risky though? (its already F/5)



Cheers Gary. Thanks for the pat on the back. The 20D was pretty awesome - what are you up to now?!

[multiweb]

Really nice pic :thumbsup: The framing works well on this close up shot and the colors are great.

[RobF]

Thanks Marc :)

Must admit I was pleasantly suprised with the final aspect/framing. Luck, not brains, alas - just happens to be my preferred default camera angle - "level" with the tube in its current configuration.