Ghost of Jupiter & Antennae

[Dennis]

Hi

Finally got round to processing some deep sky images from the previous night, as follows:

Ghost of Jupiter in Hydra
Planetary Nebula
NGC 3242
Magnitude: 8.60
Size: 25"
Magnitude of central star: 13.3
Pentax *istDS
8 x 30 sec exposures
800 ASA
Cropped from 3008x2006 to 613x483

Antennae/Ring Tail in Corvus
Galaxy
NGC 4038/4039
Magnitude: 10.90
Size: 5.9'x 3.7'
SBIG ST7E
1 x 180 sec exposure

Celestron C9.25
Prime focus
Autoguided with ST7E
Takahashi EM200 mount

Clouds prevented me getting any decent long exposures and the light pollution from Brisbane has degraded the short captures too. After a while I gave up and plugged in the ToUcam and the rest is, well history, due to the superb seeing for planetary imaging.

Not often I get to use a DSLR, SBIG and ToUcam all in one evening :nerd:

Cheers

Dennis

[matt]

Dennis.

Some lovely DSOs there. I particularly like The Ghost. That's a very crisp shot with some very nice range (subtle) of colour.

I'm again very impressed. Not just with the quality of image but the fact you're mixing it up between planetary and DSO. Excellent stuff.

A reminder I'll have to start doing the same with my 9.25

Thanks for posting, mate.

[Hitchhiker]

Very nice, Dennis. Nice detail in the Ghost.

You are an astronomical Jack-of-all-Trades!

[astro_south]

Great shots Dennis. I love the Ghost and the structure shown your pic is visible with some aperture and carefull observing. The shot of the 4038/39 is exactly the same as the eyepiece view I had through a 22" out at Leyburn last weekend. The knots were very prominent and well defined. Well done :thumbsup:

[mickoking]

Fantastic Dennis, thanx for sharing your images with us. I love the colour and form of NGC 3234, brilliant :thumbsup:

[ving]

nice one(s) denis, i like both

[Dennis]

Thanks for all the comments guys. I'll have to rig up my WO 80mm refractor on the C9.25, so I can plug the ST7 into the refractor and then have the DSLR at prime focus in the C9.25.

The Ghost of Jupiter was taken using the Pentax *istDS and some Pentax software on my PC which allowed me to take the 8 x 30 sec images automatically. The maximum exposure is 30 secs using this technique, and then the Pentax automatically takes a 30 sec dark frame and subtracts it, in camera. So, I had to set the interval between exposures to 1 ½ minutes; 30 secs for the exposure, 30 secs for the dark frame and 30 secs for the in camera processing and download onto the computer.

If I can have the WO 80mm and ST7 combo auto guiding, I can then use the bulb setting on the Pentax and take longer exposures. This should hopefully remove the slightly elongated stars you can see in the posted image.

So much to do. So little time.

Cheers

Dennis

[davidpretorius]

thanks for doing what you do!! as the boys have said, a broad range of targets are available to your great skills.

thanks for sharing!

[Starkler]

More top stuff from Dennis :thumbsup:

Only last night I viewed both these targets in an 18" dob, nice :)

[atalas]

Nice work Dennis ,you captured very good detail .

[Dennis]

Thanks for the comments guys. This DSLR stuff is not quite as easy as the late Erwin used to make it look, with his stunning images.

Cheers

Dennis

[Striker]

Nice work Dennis.

I actualy viewed the ghost last night....I plan on doing some exposures next clear night on this target.

[tornado33]

A wealth of detail on both shots. focus and tracking look spot on.
Scott