Eta Carina and NGC253 with the QHY8L

[DJ N]

I had another quick session last night. It ended up being a clear night in Adelaide, albeit quite breezy, so managed to get out there.

My initial target was NGC253, but only managed to capture 3 subs before it became obscured by the neighbours trees. I was going to have an "early" night, but I noticed Eta above the other neighbours roof line so had a quick go at her.

NGC253 - 3x8min exposures (at minus 12) with the QHY8L and ED120 (plus dark, bias and flat).

Eta Carina - 4x8min exposures with the QHY8L (at minus 16) and ED120 (plus dark, bias and flat).

Thanks for looking!

Cheers,

Daniel

[Hagar]

Nice Starting images Daniel but you do need some more exposure to do them justice.

Keep at it. In this case more is better.

[Astroman]

Very clean images, as Doug said a little more exposure wouldn't hurt... Glad the camera is working for you.. What do you use (software wise) to capture and process the images from this camera?

[DJ N]

Hi Andrew,

Still coming to terms with exposures and everything else with this camera. From metro Adelaide, when I had the 400D, I could not go past 8 minutes with the Hutech IDAS filter. With the QHY8L, I am at 8 minutes with no pollution filter, and has been mentioned, could go a bit further (I am also checking ADU etc to try and determine optimal exposure).

In terms of software, I am using EZYCAP to control the camera. This software is supplied by QHY. At first I found it a bit non-intuitive to use, but that could have been more my "hesitation" rather than the software. After using it a few times, I don't find it not too bad indeed.

In terms of processing, I am using Deep Sky Stacker and Photoshop.

All in all, for the money I paid, I think it is a pretty good little unit. In fact probably a bit cheaper than a cooled/modded DSLR.

[Astroman]

Are you going to Pauls on the 4th?

[DJ N]

Was really hoping to give it a whirl there, but I am unable to due to other commitments :(

[Hagar]

Hi Daniel, I am really not suggesting you expose each frame for longer just capture a lot more frames. The longer you expose each frame the deeper you go into an image but the greater the chance of filling the wells for each pixel and then saturating areas of your image. Sometimes shorter subs will give a much better image with better star colour etc.
It is just a bit of a balancing act between each exposure duration and the number of exposures required to lift that magical SNR to great levels.
Remember once any star etc becomes over saturated no amount of software or processing will make it anything but white.

Good luck with it, you are going very well.

[multiweb]

Two great shots. I really like the galaxy. Eta's spot on too. :thumbsup: