First light AP130EDT +ST8300

[Bolts_Tweed]

Seeing I was going to publish first light weeks ago for the set up and we've had absolutely no sky - I thought i'd show that the scope is ok. Always a worry buying a good scope second hand. A little curvature bu that can be overcome with AP gear.

It is about 2hrs of 6nm Ha straight out the camera, stacked in DSS and levels adjusted in PS only - no calibration applied yet. Yeah - more data definately some processing after that and hopefully I can grab more Ha data and RGB tonight if it stays fine. Focus is a tad soft as well - damn manual focusers - i've been spoilt by Moonlite autofocus - have to get one for the AP.

Anyway the set up works and looks like it was worth the money. Could be the start of a loving relationship.

Also got the web page up and running but it's still under construction at the moment. Most images are rubbish (Daves images are lot better than they look on the site) and I hope to update over the weekend. www.leyburnastronomy.net.au (http://www.leyburnastronomy.net.au)


Mark Bolton

[CoolhandJo]

Great detail. Looks very very promising. nice image..

[telecasterguru]

Great amount of nebulosity, Is this a crop?

Frank

[AlexN]

Telescope Envy... :)

Good going Mark... Happy to see the AP has delivered the goods for you!

[multiweb]

That looks very promising indeed. Killer rig you got there. :thumbsup:

[mill]

That looks very nice with plenty of good detail :thumbsup:

[Bolts_Tweed]

Gday Guys

Yeah happy with it but hopefully can turn it into something tonite. Clouds are clearing here at the moment and it is looking promising. Have played with the image today a bit and adjusted mid contrast etc and with some red should able to get a Luminosity out of it.

No Frank its pretty well full frame. A small registration error margin was chopped of the top (really quite small). The AP is the f8 model so the field is a bit smaller than the Gran Tourismo would be.

Mark Bolton

[AlexN]

Mark.. If your skies up there have ended up anywhere near as nice as they are here tonight it should be a ripper... I'm aiming to get another 4hrs L for my HMSTG195 image, and 3hrs (2hr 15min L, 45min RGB) of M104 tonight.. I can only hope it stays this clear all night.. :)

[gregbradley]

You're off to a flying start.

You'll make many great images with that setup.

Congrats.

Greg.

[Peter Ward]

AP130F8 and ST83000...way cool. :cool2:

[AlexN]

Thats what I was thinking... :P

[Bolts_Tweed]

Thx guys -

yeah the set up just goes together fantastically - Im really happy with the AP but I expect it to be good regarding optical quality but coupled with the ST8300 the resolution capability blows me away.

I put some colour under the HaR Lum today and im not ecstatic with it but i am onlytaking formative stepsinto LRGB - this is myfirst real go at it. Colour balance worries me a bit but i am pretty happy with detail (a fair bit lost in this jpg). I also have to master not losing Lum detail in the final LRGB - i'll keep practising. For a first process on first light with this set up on my first LRGB I am pretty happy

60 min of 10min subs RGB plus the HaR from before (All calibated this time), Ran a full MLDB to bring out the cloud edge detail. Will keep playing - just reporting progress with the gear .

Looks pretty good again tonite so i'll keep playing.

Mark

[AlexN]

Not bad Mark... Shows a ton of potential.. the colour balance looks a little pinky to me, but im colour blind so what the hell would I know :P

Progress with the gear seems to be powering along nicely mate.. Happy hunting tonight!

Alex.

[Bolts_Tweed]

Yeah I agree mate - thats part of ym concern - im on a pretty crappy monitor at the observatory so i'll do final processing at home next week. Crazy really - can spend a mint on gear and im driving it all on a 2 bob old monitor - just another thing for the shopping list

M

[pvelez]

Now thats looking really nice - can't wait for my FW to turn up

Pete