Ngc5128

[allan gould]

Managed to get out last night except the dew was horrendous after rain in the afternoon. By the time I finished everything was dripping.
Had an attempt at NGC 5128 with the QSI583wsg doing RGB (5x5 min 2x2 binned each channel) and L (20x10min). Managed to align the colour to the Luminance data after a meridian flip using Registar.
Have to work on the star colour as it looks as if Ive lost some in the processing. Also registration is off a bit.
Comments welcome.

[atalas]

Sounds like you had a few issues to deal with Allan but I have to say that the central detail is wonderful!

[multiweb]

:eyepop: This is excellent Allan. I'd be stoked with that. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[jjjnettie]

I'm with Louie, the detail in the dust lane is flippin' marvelous!

[DavidU]

The detail in the dust ring is exceptional. Great image !

[strongmanmike]

Wow, super level of detail extracted in the dust lane mate!

Can I just suggest you back off on the sharpening a tad though? Currently it looks sharpened, you need to get the sharp look but without the black halos around the stars. I would redo it and for the hard sharpening lasso and feather the the dust lane areas only, avoiding the stars, then apply much less sharpening to the stars...or something along those lines :thumbsup:

Mike

[allan gould]

Good Heavens - are you suggesting a Sidonio??????????? :D
I finished up last night at about 3am and I just hashed the lot together to see if I had the detail I wanted. Will carefully process again tonight.
Thanks for the comments Mike and Happy B'day again :birthday:

[allan gould]

Louie - the dew was amazing and when I went into the observatory this morning everything had a moist coating on it still. It would have been impossible out in the open.


Thanks Marc - appreciate the comments


Thanks Nettie - glad you liked it


David, its all the cameras fault.



Ibid

[h0ughy]

wow very impressive details - man i would be happy with that, Sidonio or not ;)

[allan gould]

Thanks David. Its all a learning process.
By the way I have your tripod - its a big bvgger!!! What are you putting on it?

[h0ughy]

a losmandy MAL adapter then a titan, then a meade 14":D

[Octane]

Oh, wow! The detail in the dusty filaments is superb!

More!

H

[allan gould]

Thanks Humayun its really the 10" scope and the qsi583 chip that gets such detail. Really love what it can do. Tonight I'm going deep for ngc6744 as it's faint but has a lot of detail in it.
Allan

[telemarker]

Great detail in the galaxy dust lane and superb colour in the galaxy too!
Top image :thumbsup:

Regards
Keith

[John Hothersall]

Have to agree the detail is splendidly resolved in the intersection.

John.

[marc4darkskies]

Lovely shot Allan! Fantastic detail too!

I agree with Mike S though about the dark halos. I wouldn't necessarily lessen the sharpening overall, I'd just mask off the stars. I'm sure ONE Sidonio is all it needs though (please! :prey: ;))

Cheers, Marcus

[allan gould]

Thanks for that Keith - I was pleased as to how the first run turned out


John - there is detail there but better processing will be needed to turn it into a good photo



Mark, I had a good laugh at your post and I promise one one Sidonio will be done. Í'll have to learn how to mask out the stars and just work on the rest. More reading to do.

[gregbradley]

As with the other posts - great central dust lane detail.

As Mike pointed out some of those central area stars have suffered in the process and there is also a blue bias in the background. Minor really as the key aspect of your image is the tremendous detail in the dust lane.

I would be happy if I got that level of detail from the CDK17. What scope is this?

Greg.

[allan gould]

Greg
The comments you and others have made are quite valid and the repro will be handled better to bring out the data. I hurried it to see what I had.
Anyway the scope I use is the first one I ever purchased in 1995 after I won a CSIRO medal for science and used the money to purchase a Meade LX50 10"SCT. The mount was crap and frustrated me for years trying to do astrophotography so I took the OTA off, sold the fork arms and put it on an old Losmandy G11 mount that just purrs along. Optically its a great OTA and meshes well with the QSI583 for the detail.
I've just done a few hours on M104 and again good detail but a bad gradient from Brisbane light pollution. ATM I'm trying to image NGC6744 but the light pollution is really washing out the faint details, which is a pity as its a nice galaxy. Ill see what I eventually wind up with.

[Tandum]

Your keen shooting at 6744 from your side of town al. It's a noisey mess from here tonight when it does peak over the roof tops. That's one to do from pmrids I think ;)

[strongmanmike]

RIGHT!..that's it! give him several Allan! :mad2:

:lol:

[SkyViking]

That's an awesome image with some spectacular detail in the dust lane, great work!
it's nice to see what the QSI583wsg is really capable of. I'm looking to get one myself later this year. Can I ask which focal length was this taken at?

[Paul Haese]

Very nice galaxy Allan. I like the colour too. Superb detail and looks really pin sharp. Well done.

[allan gould]

Don't tempt me. I get so involved in doing one thing that I don't see something else taking over and so I have to do it again & again & again.

[allan gould]

It was taken at a focal length of 2500 mm.
The QSI also works very well with short focal length refractors - it's a great camera. The 600 series looks interesting too.

[TrevorW]

Well captured and processed Allan

[allan gould]

Paul - coming from you that's a compliment. Thanks and glad you liked it, but I can process the data far better.

[SkyViking]

I wasn't even aware of their new 600 range :eyepop:Had a glance over at OPT and it looks very interesting. Nicely priced too! Thanks for alerting me to this.

[allan gould]

Thanks Trevor


But remember the 583 was based on scientific instrumentation and hence the slower download time to minimize noise. Darks and bias can be used from night to night as it's so reproducible with this camera - the validity of 1 sec download times in the 600 range may just be a marketing situation as they also have the slower download times open to the user. But they may have retained the ability not to introduce machine noise with such a fast download time.
I must admit that once imaging I find that if you are doing 10-15 min subs then the slower download time doesn't faze me.
Allan

[richardo]

Yes very nice image indeed Allan!
Lots of detail...
I think some times after a good rain, it seems to allow a bit more penetration into nebulas and dusky galaxies.... sometimes not so good for the star scintillation or for the dewy optics though!

Rich

[Lester]

Thanks for the splendid view Allan, the detail is amazing.

[SkyViking]

Yeah good points. Lots to consider really. I'm sure I'd be perfectly happy with the 583, but I did notice that the 683 cools 45 degrees versus the 38 degrees for the 583. The dowload times didn't worry me either, as you say it doesn't matter much when doing longer subs. Guess I will just read some more about both models before I place my order, I still have a few months to go before I'm in a position to do so :)

[allan gould]

I think you are correct and the dew that night was horrendous. Luckily I was in my observatory but it was still dewing up inside to some degree.


Thanks for the kind comments Lester

[allan gould]

Again more cooling ability is good but I always shoot at -20C and I can reach that generally at 80% of cooling ability with the 583.
I'm sure that no matter your choice you will be happy. It's interesting that they listened to the users and made the new series with better cooling, an 8 position filter wheel and better download times to mention a few items. But the downside is that it's physically bigger and heavier.
It only takes me 5 min to change my filter wheels over and thus I have to plan what I'm going to do. Guess it really comes down to what you deem important for your work flow etc.
Either way it's a great camera.

[Hagar]

Very nice Allan, Fantastic detail in the dust without blowing out the galaxy itself. May be a tad sharp overall but still a fantastic image of this galaxy.
One of the best I've seen for dustlane detail.

Well done.

[Paul Haese]

I will defintiely be upgrading. I like this camera and I had a fair bit of consultation with Kevin to get these mods. The 583 will still be manufactured, but for me I want more cooling power and the ability to use all my filters on the one wheel. I have a few images planned with all the spectrum normally employed. Faster download will be nice too. I also agree that it was good they listened. I do wonder when the 700 series will come out though???:question:

[allan gould]

Thanks for the comments Doug. In my defense i quickly processed it to see what I had and was quick to post. I have ONE Sidonio to do on it and I'll take my time to make sure its right.
Allan

[allan gould]

Paul
I knew you would upgrade for the temp, extra filter capacity and download times. I'll upgrade about when the 700 series comes out I reckon and then I'll get your 600 series secondhand :lol:
Ill work this camera to the max and it will probably see me out as I'm really happy with it. Im waiting to see what you think of that 12" before I commit to upgrading from my 10".

[Paul Haese]

I see the upgraded camera as being nearly the ultimate in this size range. Worth the upgrade but I will need to take a look at finances soon as winning work is getting quite hard. I may have to wait for a little while for the 600 yet.

[RobF]

+1 what so many have already said (but worth saying again :P) - I just love the detail you've got coming through in the dust lanes Allan. Really is quite breathtaking, and all from the 'burbs.

[batema]

Great image and the dust lane is amazing. Well done.

Mark

[allan gould]

Thanks for the kind comments - a Sidonio is in progress.

[h0ughy]

A Gouldonio (son of Sidonio) - looking forward to this one ;0

[strongmanmike]

:love2: