Bunyip looks at R Corona Australis

[David Fitz-Henr]

I haven't processed the colour version yet but couldn't resist posting this luminance only image (2.5 hours - 10 x 15m subs) to show how well the new scope is performing. It was also excellent seeing on the night so everything just came together nicely - I used some artistic licence to place the globular hugging the upper edge of the frame. Apart from the detail in the various nebulae and globular, have a look at the detail in the small spiral galaxy at lower left, and also at another spiral less than half the size of that one at the mid upper right (you'll need to open the large image to appreciate these).

Large Image:
http://www.pbase.com/david_fitz_henry/image/146373474/original
Small Image:
http://www.pbase.com/david_fitz_henry/image/146373474/large

I'm still doing some final tweaks to the scope, but it is performing quite well so far. I would have posted a colour version, but unfortunatealy I took the green data on a later date when R Corona Australis and nebula had obviously brightened, and so skewed all my green data.

[RickS]

Very nice level of detail. Looks like that setup will be a winner!

[marc4darkskies]

Pin prick stars :eyepop: ... marvellous! Look forward to the colour David! Sure wish you'd rotated the camera by 90 deg or so though!

Cheers, Marcus

[gregbradley]

Superb resolution. So much detail. That glob is the most detailed I've seen it and you caught a lovely spiral galaxy to the left there.

Greg.

[multiweb]

THE best corona australis LUM I've ever seen. That face on spiral galaxy at 2 o'clock shows amazing details and structure. A corker of a shot and a corker of a scope. Hard to believe it's a DIY rig. You should start the Bunyip brand and make a grand entrance on the market. :thumbsup:

[dcalleja]

Dave
How the devil are you? Absolutely amzing image

[h0ughy]

wow the detail is amazing - the colour version of this when finished will be monumental. the background galaxies and inner detail set this shot apart from all the others i have seen

[David Fitz-Henr]

Thanks Rick - after all the effort building it, I sure hope so!


Thanks Marcus! Hopefully I'll be able to get the colour this season. Also hopefully I'll only need to re-image the green if the variable star/nebula is now at the same brightness as when I took the red/blue! Your various tips on processing have also helped me realise the scope's potential here.

Rotate by 90 degrees? Nah ... everyone's done that one - sometimes you just gotta let your artistic side out and not be so prescriptive ;)


Thanks Greg - that's a great compliment!


And thanks Marc!! I should note that I used some of your processing tips from your tutorial for this as well !!


Thanks Dan - good to hear from you!!


Thanks David, although that assumes that my colour processing skills will be up to the task!

Well, this feedback has been great and much appreciated! It hasn't been a great year up to now, what with a major back operation interrupting things and just recently being retrenched after they shut our department down; at least the latter has given me some spare time now to fine tune the scope! I have it pulled down at the moment (during full moon) for some adjustments and hopefully will be able to gather that colour data in a few days time.

[Regulus]

That's impressive. A really wonderfull photograph.
Trevor

[David Fitz-Henr]

Thanks Trevor! It has certainly helped make all the days / weeks / months / years spent building this scope now feel worthwhile!

[dvj]

Wow, stunning. That little spiral galaxy tops it off nicely. Color will be amazing, but this grayscale is a thing of beauty.
Congrats,

j

[Octane]

:prey2:

H

[ourkind]

Stunning! Add that to my list of wallpapers!

[strongmanmike]

Yeh, that's pretty incredible...the colour version should be a corker!

Clearly a great scope but the seeing looks like it was indeed excellent.

Perfect evidence that when constructed and tweeked right it is hard to beat a good Newtonian.

Mike

[Larryp]

Magnificent!

[Lester]

Very nice detailed sharp image David. Looking forward to the colour version. All the best.

[multiweb]

Keep coming back to this shot. I'm floored. The details in the highres are truly outstanding. Never seen before. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[bratislav]

I didn't even know there are so many galaxies in this area! Epic detail!

Bratislav

[strongmanmike]

I'm with you on this Marc...fantastic Lum David :thumbsup:

Mike

[MrB]

Absolutely Sublime.
A truly inspiring image.

[David Fitz-Henr]

Thanks John.


Thanks also Humayun!


Thanks Carlos!


Thanks Mike; yes, hoping to complete the colour soon or may need to wait till next season. Yep, I've always had a fondness for the simple Newtonian!


Thanks Laurie!


Thanks Lester - me too!


Thanks again Marc! I've shown this whole thread to my wife as it helps me now justify two years of weekends building it (and neglecting the house ... well, priorities right!)


Thanks Bratislav!


Thanks again Mike ... now I just gotta make sure I don't botch the colour version ....


Thanks Simon!

[Ross G]

What an amazing photo David.

The detail is fantatstic.

Ross.

[strongmanmike]

Yes, will be a challenge...but I have faith in you :thumbsup:

Mike

[David Fitz-Henr]

Thanks Ross - very happy with the scope so far!


Heh, heh - thanks Mike ... I think ...
It's clear today so I'm going to try for the green data tonight (and hope that the brightness now of R Corona Australis matches the red & blue data I already have) - the rest of the week looks iffy according to the weather forecasts.

[iceman]

Wow, I really enjoyed this image!
Stunning and so sharp!

I can't wait for the colour verison.

This is now IOTW (http://www.iceinspace.com.au).

[SkyViking]

That's simply fantastic, amazing detail and those background galaxies really pop.
What's the resolution with your setup? STL-11000 with 12.5" f/5 gives around 1.16"/pixel, is that about right?

[SouthPoll]

I could look for hours and still not find all the galaxies in this image.......awesome :thumbsup:

[alpal]

Hi David,
Amazing tight stars across the whole frame -
what coma corrector are you using?

[multiweb]

Congrats on IOTW mate. One of many to come. :thumbsup:

[Greg Bock]

wow, the detail is astonishing....Congrats on a great image David.

[stardust steve]

another image i got lost in!
Congrats for IOTW:thumbsup:

[MrB]

Congratulations on the IOTW David, very deserved.



3" Keller corrector from ASA.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=64882

[alpal]

Thanks Simon,
That explains it - a superb corrector:
http://www.optcorp.com/product.aspx?pid=11488

& even though the short back focus of 57mm would most likely preclude an OAG
being used the separate guide scope seems to have no flexure.

That is a really nice result with 15 minute subframes.

[whzzz28]

Looks amazing.

Sadly once you see that satellite trail, you can't unsee it :rofl:

[Stevec35]

I'm late in commenting but that's downright excellent!

Cheers

Steve

[David Fitz-Henr]

Thanks very much for that Mike! I'm still trying to get the colour data, but the weather is not co-operating ...


Thanks Rolf! The native focal length is 1605mm which puts the f/ratio at about f/5.05. However, the corrector has a reduction factor of 0.95x so the effective focal ratio is around f/4.8, giving 1.22 arcsecs/pixel.



Thanks Dallas!


Thanks, as per Simon's reply below, a 3" Keller corrector.


Thanks mate!


Thanks Greg!


And thanks Steve!



Thanks Simon! Yes, that's the corrector I used.


Thanks Alpal - but actually I used the inbuilt guider chip in the STL-11000M for this. I'm still tweaking the scope to facilitate the use of the guidescope for at least the RGB frames, but it is quite challenging to maintain pixel level consistency between the two optical systems. I did do a test the other evening in which I used the guidescope for a 20min sub with no star elongation which is encouraging, but I need to try different declination / elevations, etc before I can say how true that is across the sky.


Thanks Nathan! But actually, that's not a satellite trail (in the upper right) - it's a diffraction spike from a bright star that is just off the image frame. Any such satellite / meteor trails have been removed in the stacking / data rejection process (in CCDSTack - there were a couple of meteors in the raw frames). One hint - look at the orientation of the spike; it lines up with the other star spikes in the image.


... and thanks Steve!

[alpal]

David,



Hi David,
Thanks for the update -
I could only find mention in your article about a guide scope.
Good luck with different parts of the sky.
From a quick read of the article it looks like you've
sorted out any flexure - it is possible to do.
When I tried with my older setup without an OAG
I wasn't getting consistent subframes & one night had to delete half of them.
I found that pointing North was great but anywhere South was bad.
My TS9 OAG was short enough to solve the problem with it's short 9mm back focus.

I am looking forward to some colour images from your system
- they should be real eye candy.

cheers
Allan

[David Fitz-Henr]

Thanks Allan. I had mentioned the guidescope in my DIY post as it is one of the things I had been concentrating on; however I use the guide chip where possible as it guarantees consistency.
Alas, the clouds have been plaguing me this week ...

[Paul Haese]

Goes to show what resolving power does for gathering detail. Very nice smooth data and great 3D detail in the dust clouds. Awesome luminence.

[Jo41]

looks great and so does yr observatory.

[David Fitz-Henr]

Thanks Paul!


Thanks Jo!