Horsehead Nebula Luminance

[gregbradley]

I got this on the 2nd night after I used Tpoint to tune the polar alignment of the mount.

Seeing was OK to poor.

Astrophysics 140 scope and MMOAG with a Lodestar guide cam on a Paramount MX mount and FLI Proline 16803 camera.

11 x 10 minutes.
http://upload.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/141799866/large regular

http://upload.pbase.com/image/141799866 large

Hopefully the weather will clear and I can get the Ha and colour for this.

Greg.

[casstony]

That horsey looks to have a 3D appearance, rising out of the page towards me. Very nice.

[RickS]

Yes, very nice indeed, Greg. What causes the spikes on the bright stars? I see that with my FSQ-106 sometimes too. Is it the microlenses on the sensor?

Cheers,
Rick.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Tony.

I was very happy with it and was hoping to get enough data over the following 2 nights to finish it. But the weather turned.



The short single diagonal spike? That is some sort of reflection artifact from the Proline. I don't see them in the Microline. Not sure what it is exactly about the Proline but there is some sort of reflection going on there. It doesn't bother me luckily but there's probably not a lot I can do about it. I suppose I could try an aperture mask.

Greg.

[RickS]

The diagonal spike is the most visible, but I think I can see smaller ones as well. I don't think they detract from the image at all. I'm just curious about what causes them.

[marco]

Very nice one Greg, perhaps looks a veeery little out of focus or the seeing indeed played its (bad) part..

I have the same reflections with my setup (TEC140+Proline) but only when using my Astrodon narrowband filters. Don't have it with my broadband filters (Baader) so I tend to believe these maybe due to reflections inside the border of the filter, not sure about it. I use square filters in my setup.

Clear skies
Marco

[stardust steve]

as i was opening the first image and as it was loading onto my screen(bit by bit) and saw all those stars, i was like yeah this is going to be good. And i wasnt disappointed when it loaded up. Fanstastic:thumbsup: looking forward to seeing the colour and HA.

[multiweb]

An excellent shot. Loads of faint stars around the HH neck and main not often seen. :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Great vista Greg it's great as is but has the potential to be a cracker :thumbsup:

I see what Marco is saying :confuse3: not sure what it is though - maybe like Steve Crouch feels with my close up Eta :question: and if so, I recon it's just the seeing :shrug: I can't imagine you neglecting perfect focus ;)

Mike

[gregbradley]

Yes I would like to nail it down as well.



I'd say it was the seeing. The night before the seeing was great but I took too long to get the polar alignment (I should have used T-point as it is relatively fast). The 2nd night was windy and the stars were twinkling quite a bit. I was surprised the image was that sharp considering the conditions.

I'll check to see if I have had those reflections before as I have some Baaders as well. I have seen the same with Mike's Proline and he uses Astronomiks so I am pretty sure its the Proline. I have seen Microline 16803 images with none of those spikes.



Thanks Steve. Its a fantastic area and I want to exploit the sharpness of the AP scope.



Thanks Marc. My dark site is really dark. Virtually no light pollution.



I think its seeing. It wasn't the best night. But 2 out of 4 nights were clear then the clouds came back so I never got to finish it. There was a sucker hole the next night which lasted for less than an hour.

Its good to put the AP through its paces.

Greg.

[richardo]

Wow, now that is a rip stoinker Greg....
Love the way you've really pushed the data and it's payed off imo..
There's lots of very faint stuff coming through that is not often seen.
Perhaps a tweak with a layer to bring a bit more contrast back without ruining the faint stuff....??

With a swag of colour added to this and it'll be just excellent!

Nice going.

All the best
Rich

[Octane]

My goodness, this is insanely good.

Your framing is perfection, Greg.

I can't wait to see this one win a Malin.

H

[mswhin63]

Great image and lots of Illumination :)

[COSMOPARADISE]

I always admire your subs Greg.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Rich. Good point, when you make the faint stuff brighter you tend to lose a bit of contrast. I'll work on that when I get the rest of the data before I blend it. Cheers.



Thanks Humi. It was a bit frustrating that the next 2 nights were cloudy and rainy. I was banking on my site's clear weather record. Oh well.
Not sure about a Malin as last year's winner in Deep Space was a Horsehead.



Thanks for that. Its quite dark where I image so it allows the chance to capture a lot.




Why thank you!

Greg.

[Ross G]

An amazing monochrome photo Greg.

Great detail and composition.

Thanks.

Ross.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Ross.

Hopefully we'll get some clear weather next no moon weekend and I'll be able to finish it.

Greg.

[marc4darkskies]

That'll be a corker with some crisp Ha and some colour Greg!

Cheers, Marcus

[RickC]

Hi Greg, thats a great ha shot, I never get tired of looking at the horse!
Richard

[LucasB]

Beautiful shot Greg. It has fantastic depth. :thumbsup:
Lucas

[gregbradley]

Thanks Marcus. As usual these last several months, its a waiting game for the opportunity to get some images.



Yes it is a classic. I was surprised by a recent post linking a graphic showing relative sizes of objects. The Horsehead is huge.



Thanks Lucas. The AP is a magic scope.

Greg.

[SkyViking]

Wonderfull image, the horsehead is really popping. This will look great with some colour, looking forward to it already.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Rolf. Hopefully in 2 weeks time.

Greg.

[Stevec35]

Looking good Greg. H alpha and colour will make it a real classic I reckon.

Cheers

Steve

[gregbradley]

Thanks Steve. I am looking forward to completing it before its gone for the year.

Greg.

[Peter Ward]

Excellent top shelf data. :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Thanks Peter. It was a bit frustrating to not get the lot. That's the way imaging goes at the moment though.

Greg.