Firstlight RC8 QHY9 H-alpha (colour added)

[zipdrive]

Only just managed to put all the new bits together, RC8+QHY9.
Took awhile to sort out some tilt issues and getting use to the new scope and camera, but here is my first light.

4 x 20min H-alpha of NGC3324.
No darks or flats applied, just DDP and some deconvolution.

And I can confirm that the stock GSO focuser(revised version) is definitely no no even for a relativey light QHY9+filterwheel.
Still need to work on obtaining a replacement focuser.
it's my 1st 20mins subs too :D my guiding and alignment will need to improve i think.

dave

[pvelez]

Thats a great looking shot for a first time with a new rig. I'd be thrilled with that

Pete

[telecasterguru]

Dave,

To get 20 minute subs is fantastic. The image looks prety good to me.

Moonlight do a focuser for this scope that is not too expensive.

Frank

[strongmanmike]

Excellent Dave, a great piece of neulosity that. At the size you have posted the issues you refer to are not noticable.

Good luck with finding the new focuser, you are lucky you ain't using an FLI ProLine or SBIG STX, now those would flex your focuser :eyepop:

Nice job

Mike

[AlexN]

Excellent indeed! The guiding looks pretty sweet to me..

20mins through the RC8 with a KAF8300 sensor is pretty unforgiving. if even the slightest thing goes wrong you will know about it..

As for the focuser, Moonlite and Feathertouch options exist, the FT is the better of the two focusers in my opinion, however the moonlite is a more cost effective focuser.. I'm yet to try my current, heavy camera setup in a moonlite, but I know it sags my FT... The joys of having a 3kg camera setup in a 3.1kg telescope I guess.. :)

Great work.. I'm really looking forward to seeing what you can achieve with this setup... So far it looks sensational.

[TrevorW]

Nice

other options is see if you can get a Toadloader to fit

they are one rugged focuser


I have a Moonlite they are cheaper the the FT but solid

[mill]

That is one sweet looking nebula, I modified my GSO focusser and it holds the QHY9 with filterwheel very nicely.

[dugnsuz]

Beautiful detailed image.
Hope you sort out the focuser problem.
Doug

[AlexN]

VSI will make you an adapter if you wanted to use a toadloader focuser.. They aren't a bad unit.. they just look a little bit industrial.. :) haha

[zipdrive]

Thanks guys! :)
Looks like there's a good selection of focusers available, thanks for all the suggestions. The moonlite sounds good so far.

[Bassnut]

Nice detail there, and I see no problems ppl bang on about with 8300 chips and long exposures (Ha rocks ;-). Whatever focuser you pick, make sure its auto, youll be glad you did and never look back ;-).

[AlexN]

With a scope like the RC8, I would really recommend getting something motorized too.. makes life tons easier man.. The moonlite motor options are all pretty good, and relatively cheap too... The Stepper is awesome, but the DC motor combined with a Shoestring Astronomy FCUSB focus controller makes very accurate, computer controlled focus movements, and allows you automatically focus the scope with a click of a button.... Definitely better than guesstimating and walking back and forth to adjust the focuser..

[AlexN]

Fred - You beat me to it :)

[Moon]

Dave,

As already mentioned, at that resolution is looks pretty good to me.

What did you mean by this:


e.g. difficulty lifting the camera or flex during / between exposures? etc..

James

[zipdrive]

My GSO drawtube sags under the weight of the camera.
The tilt angle present is dependent on which knob you tighten and which part of the sky the scope is pointing at.
Also the fine focus knob isn't able to shift the weight of the camera against the gravity.
For now, I took it apart to tighten few things up and the problem is manageable to some extent, but it isn't staying on my scope for very long that's for sure...

Dave

[multiweb]

:eyepop: That's nice! Very 3 Dimensional. Ha rocks! :thumbsup:

[Paul Haese]

You arn't referring to me are you Fred???:eyepop: Yep Ha is easy in that regard, it is just all the other colours that are problematic and bloating appears.:)

Lovely looking Ha image Dave. Being conversant with this scope and sensor I can see where you are having problems. Left hand corner is the worst but the nebula looks really nice. I reckon though if I was going to buy another FT focusor I would go the 2.5" and not the 1.5. The 1.5 is fine but the 2.5 should hold more weight. I don't know if they make the adapter for that model though.

Real nice start.

[zipdrive]

I've added some colour to it now.
Well this now my 1st RGB image, so many variables, so much to learn.
Funny thing is I haven't calibrated the subs with darks or flats and it still seems ok..well compared to DSLR that is.

Cropped a little, Ha as luminance from above and 30mins each RGB.

Dave

[AlexN]

Mate that has come up trumps with colour! :)

How did you go about blending the Ha/RGB data?

[strongmanmike]

Yep Dave, that looks quite nice :thumbsup:

It is a very small image and things always look better at small size :whistle: ....but still, the stars look nice and tight and clean, something that some other RC8 images haven't quite nailed, and the overall look is smooth and natural, great job!

Mike

[Paul Haese]

Star colours look nice and the overal look is quite pleasing. If it were me though I would be trying to reduce the pink look to the background and nebula. I found using Ha as luminence can be a hard ask but it you set the blue to 1.2 this helps to reduce the pink look.

All up though nice image, should try to look for this myself and put my mouth where my money is.;)

[Paul Haese]

Hey, I resemble that remark.:D

[Bassnut]

Not bad at all for a 1st attempt. Star colour is particularly nice, neb could do with some punch though.

Paul. Was expecting some star colour fringing with the RGB added (bloating) actually, as you mentioned previously, specially with Ha as Lum, but it looks fine.

Interesting, some carefull processing there perhaps. I only get star results like this with Ha lum (well, 3nm) with masking and star RGB insertion.

I dont know how you did it Dave, given the 8300 reservations, but you largely nailed HaRGB in one hit, impressive. What duration were the RGB subs?.

[zipdrive]

Thanks guys! 1st time luck I think.
I've updated the images with slightly larger res and colour correction as suggested by Paul, thanks:).

I followed Russ Croman's blending instructions on his website. Will have to run through it again fewtimes, each iteration will most likely produce different results for beginners like me no doubt...

As for blooming, I've ran deconvolution on RGB before blending may be that helped? :shrug: there's so much to learn......

Oh and 10min RGB subs.

[Bassnut]

Ahh yes, thats a good trick, deconvolute RGB untill the stars are the same size as Ha, your a quick learner :) :thumbsup:

[AlexN]

Good gear, good processing and a great image.. :) The updated colour shot is very nice indeed.. some of the finer detail in the image is good fun to look at..