The Small Magellanic Cloud and 47 Tuc repro

[gregbradley]

I took this image over the Christmas break.

The FSQ106ED has a cool reducer available that makes it F3.6 (.73X reducer). This gives a super wide field of view and its sharp corner to corner. Pretty amazing.

Rogelio Andrea has used this setup extensively to capture some great images with an STL11. The STL11 does seem particularly well suited to this setup for some reason. I have imaged with that before and really liked it.

The FLI Proline 16803 though has twice the field of view of an STL11 so it means half as many panels if you doa mosaic. I have done a few mosaics this trip which I am working on processing (about 5 times the normal amount of processing time!).

Details are FSQ106ED and reducer, FLI Proline 16803, Tak NJP mount (which gave the lowest tracking errors I have seen on it - do they improve with age?), Astrodon Gen 11 filters.

LRGB 45 25 25 25

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/131791843

larger image:

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/131791843/original

Here's a photo of the setup:

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/131718048/large

Greg.

[h0ughy]

i was going to say where were you in Aus when you took this, but i do now remember we had 3-4 days "clear" after chrissy. what a field of view!

[Stevec35]

Hey that's a good one Greg. If you did some Ha as well then those SMC nebulae would really stand out.

Cheers

Steve

[alexch]

Very nice, Greg! I love the framing.

[multiweb]

Another terrific shot Greg! :thumbsup: You 'sky hogger', leave some clear for us will you? ;)

[renormalised]

Nice shots, Greg. Great composition and colour :)

[gregbradley]

Bigga NSW. A huge town of a general store, a pub and a community hall. On the way between Crookwell and Cowra.

That FOV is the largest you can get from a telescope/camera combo currently on the market with at least 100mm of aperture that I am aware of.



Thanks Steve. I may have some Ha from an earlier time somewhere. I'll check it out.



Thanks Marc.
LOL, Yes I had my fill didn't I? Yum. Especially when 3 of the nights were excellent seeing as well. I levelled the NJP (its pretty close and I don't normally -3mm off) and I got incredible autoguiding as well. Guide errors often 0.0 and often less than 0.05. Best accuracy ever with that mount.

Greg.

[Octane]

Greg,

That is quite something, mate.

I am really, really pleased with the warm hues you've got in this composition.

Typical Small Magellanic Cloud shots are a very cold blue. I don't care if it's scientifically accurate; I'm for pretty pictures which are works of art. And, here, I think you've succeeded.

Well done, sir.

H

[gregbradley]

Thanks Humi. The skies were very good that night as well.

I've also repro'd it a bit. I blended a TEC180 image of 47 Tucannae into it and a bit of minor housekeeping in the image.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Looking good Greg, that FOV is pretty useful huh? Can you get a little more res out of Mr Tuc...?

Yeh the NJP is the Porche 911 of mounts I think? :-)

Mike

[gregbradley]

Thanks Mike.

I have blended in another version I have of 47 Tuc taken with the AP140 at F7.5. It is a better image.

I reworked the image a tad, increasing contrast somewhat.

Same link.

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/131791843 (http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/131791843)

larger image:

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/131791843/original

Greg.

[Octane]

The reprocess is superb, Greg! : )

H

[gregbradley]

Thanks Humi. Yes I felt I improved it considerably. There are very few images around of this object and I have imaged it before a few times but never that well. So I was happy to finally get a decent image of it. Its not always the most photogenic object but with 47 Tuc there it adds some interest to the image.

Greg.

[Octane]

I agree.

Otherwise, it just looks gold and manky. Very difficult to pull off with an aesthetically pleasing bent.

It'll be perfect for the FSQ/STL combo, too, I think

H

[Octane]

Oops, way too big.

H

[gregbradley]

You could do a 2 frame mosaic and probably fit it in.

Greg.

[AG Hybrid]

Phwoar!!!! That is unbelieveable! Brilliant!

[gregbradley]

Thanks very much Adrian.

Cheers,

Greg.