More QHY9 "sea trials" from Wiruna - Leo triplet and Eye of Jupiter

[RobF]

Found time tonight to finish these 2 off from the SPSP:

2hrs on the Leo triplet (LRGB 45:30:30:30mins - 5mins subs no binning)
NGC 3242 (Eye of Jupiter) (LRGB 300:180:180:180secs - 100sec L, 60sec R,G & B subs 1x1)

Both 8" Newt, QHY9/QHY Filters, MPCC, FL 1000mm (no barlows etc)


Leo triplet in mono (Lum only) and LRGB

Eye of Jupiter shown as unprocessed LRGB stack and again with a touch of deconvolution and HDRwavelets from Pixinsight to spread out the dynamic range. Glad I reduced the exposure times, and this is still without any stretching and seems a bit burnt out. Reasonably happy with the Eye though after comparing past efforts from luminaries such as Fred and Rolf :D
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=57160&highlight=eye+jupiter
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=58242&highlight=eye+jupiter

Thanks for looking

[Moon]

Rob,
I quite like the deconvoluted version of the Eye of Jupiter. :thumbsup:

How did you do the flats for the Leo triplet? There is still a ring visible in the LRGB version - I assume this is a mismatch between the flats and the lights. I'm having a similar problem at the moment with my f/4 newt. I'd be interested to know if anyone has some tips. Could something have moved between lights and flats? Are sky flats better than a light box?:sadeyes:
James

[RobF]

Sorry Marcus
Couldn't resist comparing my best effort to date with your recent Leo Triplet line up versus Hubble....:whistle: :ashamed:

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=61805&highlight=utterly

[RobF]

Thanks James. I've never really tried for planetary nebs - always tried for big faint fuzzies, but amazed when this little blighter appeared reasonably clearly.

Yes, flats are a never ending drama for many of us. I've never noticed vignetting too much with my DSLR on the Newt, but the CCD through the filterwheel and MPCC seems to struggle more, particularly when you stretch hard. I actually didn't take any flats at Wiruna - the reason there is a ring is because I cal'd these pics later against my first feeble flats. What's interesting too is I've just discovered last few days that the Wiruna pics seem so damned dark that I'm better off only correcting for darks (or doing no cal'ing at all!). I almost pushed the black pt a bit further on the Leo triplet to hide the evil ring, but in the end wanted to show the little bit of the faint extension on M66, so stuff it....:D

I probably need to work on the blue channel a bit more on the LRGB. That's another advantage of minimising cal'ing with poor flats etc I've found - you end up with much truer colour - the Eye of J was done that way (no cal'ing at all).

[Garyh]

They are very impressive results Rob!
Beaut detail in the galaxies in the triplet and I am really surprised at how well the The eye of Jupiter actually came out for yoyr FL.. Must give this a burl! :thumbsup:

[davewaldo]

More great work for you Rob!

I can't wait to see more, did you get some good data at astrofest?

[Lester]

Very nice images Rob, thanks for the views.

[multiweb]

Wow! Great Leo triplet. Amazing details. Well done indeed. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[RB]

Lovely results Rob.

:thumbsup:

[Phil Hart]

Nice to see the end results Rob! Jupiter planetary is something new for a change. Good detail there..

the project i started at SPSP is still gathering dust on the hard drive!

cheers
Phil

[RobF]

Thanks Gary. I didn't detail it, but the Eye is obviously cropped right in close - the central star is literally just a hanful of a few bright pixels. I'm thinking it would be fun to put a barlow and the Toucam or DBK sometime and have another go - Rolf's version shows the benefit of high frame rates to "beat the seeing". Nothing wrong with using planetary techniques on a planetary neb :D



Hi Dave. Thanks for looking. I didn't get a huge amount of data - only had 2 clear nights and fog came in early morning. I tried to do an M31 mosaic but don't really have enough data to do it justice. Spent the rest of the time chasing M16, and will have to "develop" that one next. Seemed a shame to look at that though when this data was languishing from May.



Thanks for checking them out Lester



Thanks Marc :)
I was very pleasantly surprised at the resolution boost the mono CCD brought. Some very quick subs on the the Leo T during First Light showed great promise, so was nice to revisit.

[RobF]

Thanks for looking Andrew :)



Hi Phil. Its amazing how fast the time flys by sometimes isn't it! The Eye of J and a few other things were bonus objects for me - I hadn't dared expect 3 great nights from the weather.

Was great to meet you and see all the gear in action :thumbsup:

[CoolhandJo]

Fantastic Leo! All images first class but the Leo is awsome in detail

[RobF]

Cheers Paul. I'm really happy how the Newt and the QHY9 are working together - looking forward to exploring the sky in deeper detail than before once I get a bit more time later in the year, particularly all the summer objects missed in the past while learning new gear....:)

Its easy to forget how amazing these 3 galaxies are. Any one of them on their own would have us frothing at the mouth, let alone together as a smorgasbord as they are! Nice to be able to make out some structure.

[Alchemy]

Really sharp detail in the galaxies. Very impressive for 2 hours work

[RobF]

Thanks Clive. I'm having lots of fun learning to come to grips with filters and CCDs. :)
Lots and lots to learn still obviously.

[strongmanmike]

The Leo galaxies look great, they are a fantastic grouping, probably the finest in the sky..?

The B&W looks great, not so sure about the colour version though :question:

The Ghost looks super too with some great vibrant colour there.

Nice work

Mike

[RobF]

Yep, agree totally Mike. The colour rendition of the triplet hasn't come together too well. Ah well, must be an opportunity to learn some more then. I figured I was best going for a few objects each night - I still only know enough to be dangerous, so you never quite know what's going to work out sometimes :P

Appreciate the advice on what needs attention though.