[Placidus (Mike and Trish)]

Originally Posted by topheart

They were cheating then weren't they!!
Tim

Thanks, Tim. We don't think we could do much better without going to altitude.

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

I particularly like very faint red stars in your data.

Beautifully done.

Thrilled you like it. Just had a check round a representative area, comparing the faint red fellows with the ESO shot. The vast majority seem to be real, though there's the odd hot pixel.

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

Cool colours and great resolution Mike and Trish. Processing looks very good.

Just one thing you might not be seeing is that stars away from the glob at the top and bottom of the image appear to have faint tails pointing downward. Can you see that? They appear to be in line with the diffraction spikes but very thick directly underneath.

All in all a fab image. One of your best in my opinion.

We're delighted that you like it Paul. Those little vertical drips are a great puzzle. They've been there ever since we bought the Aspen. Weren't there before with the STL-11000M. It's not classical blooming, because they occur on faint stars as much as on bright ones. We really ought to try taking the camera off and bolting it back on at 90 degrees, to see if its optics or chip, but mechanically that would be a nightmare.

Originally Posted by Atmos

As a quick glance, they look almost identical! You both have done a fantastic job with that shot, well done! Champagne all round

Cheers!

Originally Posted by gregbradley

That's a ripper M and T. Its an amazing scene really, all those stars. Its a bit overwhelming.

Greg.

Thanks, Greg. The 20" isn't especially sharp, but it's good at catching photons.

Originally Posted by multiweb

Whoah! Now you need a poolroom. No excuses.

Cheers, Marc! We'd done a brief 3 minute-per-channel shot last year, to test focusing. That told us we weren't going to burn out. Last night we had a couple hours to spare before the Eagle was out of the mirk, but Omega was just about straight up, and seeing was good, so it was the perfect opportunity.