Well being observatory-less my standards for what constitutes a useable night has changed since moving to Newcastle. Compared to Canberra the astronomical weather here is..?..well? ****e!! I'm starting to setup even if there is a near full moon and stay at it even as thick high cloud smothers the sky
see attached image
Never the less I soldiered on and worsened my cold in the process
Still in the testing phase really and testing a recently acquired set of Astronomik LRGB typeIIc 50mm filters to match my Ha filter was on the agenda but alas t'was not to be
Here is what I salvaged from the night of giving myself a day off work the next day with a worsened cold
I first went for a HII region as far from the moon as possible so decided on NGC 3576 in Carina, cloud came over half way through and it was low, started at around 32deg altitude and finished at about 24deg so the seeing was average to poor and it was over the dome of Newcastle......
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike20...96567/original
Then even as the cloud worsened I thought ah stuff it I'm here setup and I'm gunna IMAGE!
The Helix Nebula
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike20...96846/original
No prize winners I know but I can't believe both the brighter outer loop above left of the main Helix as well as the fainter extensions below right are vissible..?? I was seriously doubting my sanity while I integrated this, the high cloud with moonlight shining off it was mad
My mount needs re polar aligning too as there is a little field rotation in these images.
Here is the setup last night
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike20...03751/original
I also reprocessed my recent Trifid just a tad to better display the true colour differences between the mix of HII, HBeta emissions, Rayleigh scattered blue light and intervening dust absorbtion redening.
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike20...79275/original
Clear, windless....cloudless..?..and steady skies...?..
to you all!
Mike