ST8300 first light - nb Gaby Mistral

[Bolts_Tweed]

Gday

Just a quick and nasty nb composite of Gabriel Mistral taken between clouds at Leyburn on Fri night.

Found the ST8300 to be very sensitive (although i mucked up by taking the Ha for this binned 2x2 after playing around with a UHC filter before exposing Ha). Sensitivity at first use appears to beat my ST10 - nothing measured just a gut feeling. Used an Astronomik 6nm Ha and took a 6 minute Ha and it was way overexposed so I knocked it back to 3 minutes and it still needed a bit of processing to bring down her overexposed forehead. Took some SII (5 x 6 min)and OIII (6 x 6 min)between clouds but nowhere near enough. I enhanced the SII and OIII as much as I could to get something for all the trouble - but I know they are weak.

Anyway it shows potential (even at a quarter of the resolution).

Scope - ED120 Black Diamond
Composed as Ha (10 x 3), Ha (10 x 3), SII (5 x 6) and OIII (6 x6)

Waiting for the Astrodon LRGB to arrive to try it agin.

M

[AlexN]

Very sharp and clear looking image despite being binned 2x2.. Resolution seems good...

As they say in the classics - more data needed. (yes, they do say that in the classics :D) Looks like you're off to a good start with it Mark, Just got to keep fingers crossed for more clear skies in the coming weeks to stretch its legs a little bit.. :)

[TrevorW]

Looking good the camera appears to be a winner

[CoolhandJo]

Nice. The new SBIG looks to be the camera of choice for me next!

[richardo]

Very nice test image/ 1st light Mark!
Natural looking processing and shows the depth and detail that this ccd is going to do for you.
Looks like a winner for narrow band.

Have fun
Rich

[rogerg]

Nice image, very sharp apart from some apparent JPG artifact I think.

That ridge of condensed gas in the "bubble" in the centre of the FOV captures my imagination. I like it when pictures are of a good enough quality and interest of content for that to happen :)

[multiweb]

Beautiful crisp details for such short exposures. Coming along real nice. :thumbsup:

[spearo]

Great detail!
well done
frank

[dugnsuz]

That is so nice Mark.
Top work.
Doug.

[Bolts_Tweed]

TRhx to all. It was a worthwhile test.

Roger - I have to admit that ridge that forms Gabriels profile was a bit of smoke and mirrors from about her eye up. Below about her eyeline it is as imaged. The 3 minute subs were even overexposed in this region. Ive included one Ha sub below for example. This absolutely blows me away sensitivity wise - Gaby isnt that faint but to get this in 3 minutes with a 6nm Ha filter is new to me even after the ST10.

The Astrdon type E LRGBs turned up today so I am thinking about testing them out this weekend - the moon sets about 10pm of Friday and what with me going to catch the flu on Monday (I wonder what % of the workforce will be extending the weekend) - it may be worth a trip out to Leyburn.

Thanks for the comments. Also thx Alex for the processing page - I might even do a repro and see if I can enhance the SII and OII and do a Hubble Palette,

Mark

[allan gould]

Really nice image. The 8300 looks a very nice camera and you have mailed focus and guiding very well. It will be nice to see the shot after using your new filters

[Omaroo]

I'm amazed at the resolution even at 2x2 Mark. Very nice indeed, and sensitive as you say. I can't wait for mine.