180mm Ha Vela SNR results

[astroboy]

Took a couple of shots of the Vela SNR last night , the object shows up ok but seems to have a lot of problems , I don't think the exposures were long enough ( 5 min X 10 at F4 ) and looks like a gradiant problem as well ( full moon ) .
Shot with a Sbig ST8i and 6nm Ha filter .
May try F2.8 and darker skies next time.
Any input would be welcome.:help:

Zane

[atalas]

They still look good Zane ! with the moon out probably shorter exposures and more of them mate .

[avandonk]

If you are getting that with a near full moon, when it gets dark the result will be spectacular.It's like trying to take a picture of a candle illuminated by a searchlight.
What is the size of Sbig ST8i ,it should work nicely with the all manual 300mm F2.8 Fluorite.
Bert

[astroboy]

Hi Louie

I think the short exposures are the reason it has that strange noise , I thought with the Ha filter I wouldn't need to worry about the moon but looks like it needs somone a lot better than me to process it and make it stand out more.
only did some basic stuff in PS
I guess when you think that its a lot fainter than the horse head it shouldn't be too easy.
I think I'll try F2.8 even though its not quite as sharp ( still good though ) and up the exposure to 10 min each , may need the moon to bugger off though.

Zane

[astroboy]

Hi Bert
I thought the Ha filter would take care of the moon and I guess it does to a point.
The ST8i is 1500 by 1000 ish with 9um pixcels
I have thought about a 300mm 2.8 ED , some of the Nikons are going quite cheap ( $1500 ish ) but usualy get stopped down to F4 . I have a Mandel wide field adaptor plate for the Sbig stuff which allows me to use Nikon lenses with SBig colour filter wheels . Also have the adaptor to fit them to Canon DSLRs , saves buying everything twice.
I have a 300 F4.5 ED and Borg keep saying they will bring out a F2.8 compessor for my 5" .
So I dont know if getting a 300 F2.8 will be worth it particulary if I just stop it down to F4.

Thanks
Zane

[xelasnave]

I would be very happy for such a catch full Moon and all, good job that is a decent set up to pull that off really.
alex