Thread: Third of SMC
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Old 11-02-2017, 01:34 PM
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Atmos (Colin)
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Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Melbourne
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Third of SMC

I had planned a HaOIIILRGB 6 panel mosaic of the Small Magellanic Cloud but I had the bright idea of starting it too late in the season. Then with cloudy new moons and less then ideal seeing on the clear somewhat moonless nights, I only have 3/6 panels of RGB completed.

Transparency was reasonable (for a little while anyway) but the seeing left much to be desired. Each panel consists of 10x120s RGB and a synthetic luminance so three hours in total. I have bits and pieces of Ha and OIII, maybe even some lum but I think they're of various parts and some are in different orientations so I do need to sit down and collate what I've got at some point

Editing from start to finish took 15 minutes, nothing more than a stretch and LRGB Combine for saturation on all three and then stitched.

What I have since discovered (last night) is the focus offset and figured out some of the blue bloat. Although technically my RGB filters are par-focal with my L filter (they fall within the CFZ), they're on either side of it. The R being 3 microns out, G being 28 microns in and B being 23 microns out. As the telescope cools the focus moves in so by the time the B filter starts it's moved out of focus (no temperature stability at all in summer) while the G moves into focus.

I've dropped the resolution by 50% for upload, painful to get up otherwise

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