Why did the chicken cross the nebula? ...

[marc4darkskies]

... to amuse his owner whose mount is in Japan being repaired!! :sadeyes::sad::mad2:

I guess there is nothing left to do but reprocess then! :D.

This is not a pure Sid though because I haven't reprocessed ALL the data from the original full frame here (http://www.pbase.com/gailmarc/image/122872808/large). I've zoomed in on the chicken (yes, THAT'S the chicken!) and reduced the depth of the image in favour of colour richness and impact.

Full Res: http://www.pbase.com/gailmarc/image/126533998/original (http://www.pbase.com/gailmarc/image/126533998/original)

Yes I know, to do this properly I'd need to re-image at a longer FL (the original full field is only at F5.5 - 825mm) ... but you get the idea. In fact, I think this area deserves a re-image next year at F11.7! It's quite pretty!

Cheers, Marcus

PS: And, for those who STILL can't see a chicken, see below :P ...

[troypiggo]

Is it just me, or is there a guy riding a surfboard on the back of the chicken's head??

[strongmanmike]

Nup, that's deffinitely not the chicken...she doesn't really look like she's running..?

I see the surfer though :thumbsup:

Mike

[RB]

Not the EM400?
What happened Marcus?



Yep it's Joe Satriani. :P




I see chickens wherever I go. :confused2:

[RB]

Lovely repro BTW Marcus !
I like the closeup view.

[marc4darkskies]

Yeah, I broke it's leg while using the Puppet Warp tool in CS5 :lol: ... but yep, that IS the chicken!



Afraid so - blown RA encoder! I've had a couple of power blackouts while imaging and I suspect a surge accompanied one of them. I plan to run from battery in future. I must say though that Takahashi in Japan have been very helpful and responsive!

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks mate!

[gregbradley]

Lovely shot of the surfboard rider!

Greg.

[Bolts_Tweed]

Really nice image Marcus

I've been trying to answer your original question re crossing the nebula and I came up with

He found the H too foul?
He was reddy
He asked the lamb da go too
Im trying to think of something for Centaurus but just cant get anything G rated

Thats all I got

Mark

[marc4darkskies]

Must admit, the surfboard rider is pretty clear! Cheers Greg.



Thanks Mark

[h0ughy]

Marcus,

get a computer UPS i have mine on it and if the power goes it will keep it going for a few minutes while you can shut everythng down. they are around 200 dollars worth every penny.

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks Dave - is that what you use?

I was actually thinking of a DIY online or dual conversion UPS. Just need a power supply connected to a deep cycle battery and an inverter). I already have a 300w sine wave inverter and I figure the battery (around 50Ah) and at least a 25A power supply would cost around $500. More expensive for sure but you don't have to stop your observing session if the power goes out AND you're always isolated from mains power.

[h0ughy]

Marcus,
The ups has a battery backup inbuilt lead acid battery. It also has a sine wave conversion to make it a clean supply leaving the unit from 240V power and protects from surges and brownouts. Don’t go the battery method – been there doesn’t work.

[marc4darkskies]

No, I'm building my own simple dual conversion UPS - the principle is the same as a commercial UPS. A 12V regulated power supply (beefy - 25A min) connected to the mains drives a 300W DC/AC (sinewave) inverter AND simultaneously maintains an AGM battery at full charge. The inverter is connected to the battery so when there's a power outage the inverter just runs off the battery rather than the power supply. I connect all equipment to the inverter of course. The benefit is I can put as large a battery as I like into the system so I can keep ruunning during an outage. Voila, isolated power to the scope and continued running during an outage.

Hmmm, rather OT this ... what did you think of my repro? :D

[renormalised]

Need an UPS and an inverter :)

Definitely a guy surfing on the back of the chook's head :):P

[h0ughy]

Love the Bok Glob's:thumbsup:, nice detail in the neb

[Hagar]

Nice image Marcus, but as for the chicken, I think you all make good cartoon animators cause I can't see a chook no matter which way you hold the egg.

[marc4darkskies]

Cheers mate! :)



Thanks Doug ... but I'll bet you don't see shapes in clouds either! :);)

[Bassnut]

Yeah duh, always, thats the pure definition of a "telescope" image. I like the original though, very dynamic, the repro seems just a zoom in :shrug:.

You have to be carefull of charlitans of the likes of Mike Sidonio, dodgy zoom-ins are no substitute for FL , thats a slippery slope to ordinary hell that is :P.

[h0ughy]

Fred, you may wake up one morning with Mike's face smiling near you :rofl: at IISAC with comments like that;)

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks Fred! Missed you at the DMs! :)

Nup, not just a zoom ... reduced luminance, improved colour contrast, reduced star sizes plus pinch of high pass filtering at several radii. You process for what's in the frame. In the cropped area, with its high signal, I don't need to process and balance for high dynamic range so I can wind back the luminance to show detail a bit better. If I processed the original frame like this you wouldn't see the fainter neb extensions. If I layered in this crop on the original frame it would look unnaturally dark IMO.