M46 and ngc2438

[[1ponders]]

I thought I'd catch up on a couple of lost opportunities the other night. One was M46 and another ngc2438 from the MOC the other month (two birds with one stone). Plus I was impressed with Scott's shots, so I wanted to try it myself.

So with a brief parting of the clouds on the 7th of Feb I took camera, mount and scope in hand and gave it a go.

Canon 300D (unmodded) focused with DSLR Focus, Orion 80ED, Autoguided with K3ccdtools V2 and ToUcam on Carton 60mm f/7 refractor, autoguiding interface and automatic capture with Star-mate, on Losmandy G11,

ISO800, 8X2min, dark calibrated, aligned and combined in ImagesPlus.Cropped then levels and curves using adjustment layers in PS CS. I've probably taken the black point a bit to far, but I liked the colour of the PN.

[RB]

Very nice Paul.
I really like your work flow, thanks for including the steps taken.
It's this sort of workflow that I'm trying to achieve too and would like to follow these steps.
I like the equipment that you used too.

Well done.

Are you going to get the camera modded soon?

[Itchy]

Nice work Paul.

[iceman]

Nice shot Paul.. is focus slightly off, or is there a slight bit of trailing? (or is it abberation in the lens?)

The stars off-axis appear to be slightly out of round..

I love the PN, looks great.

[h0ughy]

well done Paul, has Scott converted you to faint fuzzies?

[[1ponders]]

Not sure wha's going on there. I re-upload the shot later. It looks terrible here. On the original on my screen the stars are nice and sharp and the contrast is much better :shrug:



Not complete h0ughy :lol:

[Dennis]

Very nice image Paul; one of my favourite celestial sights, ngc2438 nestling amongst the sparkling stars of M46.

Cheers

Dennis

[Robby]

Very nice Paul... Do a photoshop trick & add diffraction spikes to the stars.. That should keep the critics at bay!! :poke:
I have noticed that the eye seems ignore bloaty stars if the shot has diffraction spikes. The spikes make the stars "seem" sharper....
It has been long time between drinks for you... Here's hoping for some better weather next new moon.
Cheers

[[1ponders]]

I know Robby. I don't know where the boys from Bris Vegas are getting their clear skies from and gettting them to hang around long enough to get some imaging done, but I want some.

[atalas]

Nice shot Paul !

[seeker372011]

:thumbsup:

nice shot!

i think we are all due some good weather-and not exclusively on moonlit nights

[sheeny]

Very nice! I'd like to take photos like that when I grow up...

Al.

[matt]

i like it Paul. The neb's very nice, and that's what I'm paying the cover charge to see when I'm looking in that direction of the sky:lol:

You're doing me no favours, by the way. I'm feeling seriously tempted to start dabbling in widefield refractor astropixing:scared:

[[1ponders]]

:wink2: