The flying saucer

[strongmanmike]

Ok so you knew I would repro...and Houghy told me to! :D :P

In my haste and with tired eyes on a bright screen the first time, I made a few rookey mistakes.

I have dealt with the blue cast and the colour noise and a coupl'a other tweeks.

This is my favourite version and I think this is worth another look :).

The halo really is huge and there are a swarm of globular clusters visible in it too, I will try and post a map to point them out soon.

After the image downloads click on it to see the other versions if you like :thumbsup:

Displayed at 80% full res and sized to fit perfectly in a full screen view (press F11) on a 22" moniter (800K)
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/125685838/original

Cheers

Mike

[DavidU]

Wow !

[rat156]

Hi Mike,

Some of the stars look a bit off colour. There are violet and green ones in there. Time for another Sid?

Cheers
Stuart

[Starkler]

Nice detail in the dust lanes :thumbsup:

[multiweb]

Yeah that's beautiful. You can even see the clusters within the galaxy. Couple of spirals and faint fuzzies in the back too. Nice. :thumbsup:

[DavidTrap]

If you're making rookey mistakes - what hope do mere mortals have? Very nice image all the same Mike.

Put myself of the notification list for an AP refractor (135 & 140) - current waits are >11yrs - my wife laughed and said if you're still interested in the hobby in 11+yrs, why not! I figure 11 years will give me time to work out if the Mach1 will swing a 12.5kg scope and accessories.

There is a 4yo 160 on Astromart, starting price of the auction is USD$16K (twice the current "new" price!). Currently there are no bids and the auction ends in a ~36hrs.

DT

[Peter Ward]

You need more FL for these little suckers.....but nice one just the same :thumbsup:

[Peter Ward]

Really? I'll take offers above $US15,000 for my pristine AP155 with TCC 10:1 feather-touch and 4" field flattener :D

[marki]

Might be a little ambitious considering the the state of the US economy, I noticed no one has placed a bid for it yet.

I like the pic Mike shows great resolution for the image scale.

Mark

[DavidTrap]

I've read that "new" ones can be sold for $2-3000 more than one paid for it. Double the price for a 4yo one is probably a bit rich.

DT

[Tilt]

Yep, that sure is a nice image there Mike, the galaxy has resolved quite well :thumbsup:

Michael

[David Fitz-Henr]

Very nice image Mike!! Good detail in the dust lanes despite the large field, numerous distant galaxies, and good focus across the whole (huge) field!

[strongmanmike]

Yeh? Gee, you are too kind, good luck with that Chinese scope of yours :lol:

[gregbradley]

Very nice Mike. Star colours look fine on my monitor.

That cropped up really well. I notice that is an AP hallmark - the images take cropping really well due to the incredible accuracy of the lens.

No misalign of the stars now.

Are they clusters in that galaxy? Probably not eh? They'd be stars in the outer edges of the Milky Way I reckon. Not sure globs would show up at that image scale or would they?

Greg.

[gregbradley]

Especially when it does not come with the feathertouch microfocuser, a field flattener (AUD$3000) or reducer (160TCC about AUD$2500). And I think it had Parallax rings (yuck, AP rings are superb and the best in the game). It also may not be the greaseless 4 inch focuser - not sure.
I posted on the AP group about 155 versus 160 and the reviews back said you would not be able to tell the difference. Probably why Roland doesn't make these anymore - a lot of extra work for little extra gain.

Greg.

[marc4darkskies]

Looks pretty spot on to me Mike. :thumbsup: Did you use decon to max out the detail in the galaxy?

Cheers, Marcus

[CoolhandJo]

Nice one Mike. Amazing how "used to" we get on these images. Its simply amazing that you get such a wide FOV and still manges to resolve such amazing detail in the galaxy and the other galxies in the region. Thanks for sharing..

[Lester]

beautiful image Mike. Thanks for the view.

[richardo]

Nice come back with the repro Migel.
Yes the first posted was a little:question:..... hurried.
Good job on this one though.
Pretty amazing for a 6" scope to pull the detail the AP did along the dust lane.
I'm immuned to your blue tinted background.. I figure this is your trade mark;). and you like it that way.
I'll say you've got your background much smoother than your first rendition and colours on the stars are fine, no hint of green here.

Nice freezer suit btw.. looks like you needed to be holding a packet of fish fingers.:lol:
And I hear you about having to travel to get to dark site.. with family, family commitments, work and then to muster enough energy to get motivated to drive for an hour or so, setup.. just sometimes can be too hard.
We're getting older unfortunately.
Hope you can sort something out...

All the best
Rich

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Geoff, the seeing was very average so in better seeing it would have been better...der, obviously Mike :rolleyes: :P



Thanks Marc, just posted a map of some of the Globs visible in the image, knocking on the door of Mag 21 :thumbsup:



We all make misstakes, I don't dwell on them....nor am I affraid to reveal them at times :D. I wouldn't bother waiting for an AP, they are the best but a Tak TOA150 would be just as good (ok aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalmost as good :P) and would arrive sooner :thumbsup:



Thanks Peter

Yeh sadly I have only one scope so I gotta settle for less than the absolute, having said that there is as much detail in there as I have seen in many longer focal length shots really :shrug: ...as you have pointed out in the past, long focal lengths need good seeing to pay off in the resolution department.



If you have the money it may be a good investment, getting a 6.5" AP APO may become impossible soon...?

Glad you liked the picture Mark :thumbsup:



Cheers Mike, more focal length and better seeing and the sky would be the limit :D



Thanks David, 1.4"/pix is a very useful imae scale as is a 1.6deg X 1.6deg field :D



Thanks again Greg, I was very happy with how this image turned out in the end, it is always deflatting at the lappie in the field when the subs are coming down blurry and the guide star is a wiggly pom pom....it always amazes me what I am able to extract in the end...ah software, where would we be without it....:love:

Posted a map of the globulars, have a look, yep they are real :thumbsup:



Thanks Marcus I was very happy with the result given the conditions on the night, I was affraid I wouldn't be able to salvage this much. Had I had the seeing you had for your Leo trio, well... we all saw that effort :eyepop:

I upscale the image area around the sombrero and ran a light, medium and strong decon in AA4 creating three seperate images, I then resized and blended the various combinations until I was happy with the sharpness-to-noise ratio then applied unsharpmask in CS3+. It is in the subtlety of blending the various versions and careful use of usm that is the secret :thumbsup:



Your welcome Paul glad you liked it.

Yes well I have always blown the 1300mm FL trumpet (much to Freds discust :lol:) great compromise on FOV and FL, gives you access both Worlds :thumbsup:



Ah yes Richi poo, I did rush it a bit, probably the excitment after not having imaged for TWO MONTHS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG :mad2:

Yes I do like blue in the background generally but when I process at night is the most likely time I will leave too much blue in the background, the screen brightness masks the hue (and larger scale colour noise), during the day the screen brightness is overwhelmed and the hues and noise show through.

Yeh re the portable efforts....I recon I deserve a medal ...or maybe a stint in the "private wing" of a Hospital :screwy: