Hi guys,
Here is a fresh new luminance image mosaic (2-panels) of Tarantula Nebula straight from the Melbourne CBD. Although this is not the first imaging session from the balcony, this image represents a fresh set of luminance data, after a more thorough drift alignment process and conscientious focusing. Autoguiding seems pretty good this time round, and the seeing was a tad better than previous sessions. Despite the almost full moon around, I was quite surprised that the luminance captures are still manageable, probably because the moon seldom (in fact never?) traverses pas zenith point unlike in equatorial countries. The following is a 2-panel mosaic of Tarantula. I am still thinking if I should proceed with colour data as colour tends to be quite weak and granulated when taken from light polluted locations, but it could be worth a try if there are more clear sky periods. Last night was fine, except for the occasional interruption of passing clouds where some of the subs had to be prematurely halted. Each panel is a combination of about 8 sub-exposures each 5 minutes in duration. I have yet to go cooler than 0 degrees, but it would be worth a try on cooler nights, which should get the noise lowered by almost half if the difference is 6 degrees lower (but with the camera working harder!).
Image Capture Details:
Instrument: Vixen FL80S
Camera: SBIG ST2KXM
Exposures: 8x5 minutes per panel
Location: Melbourne CBD
http://www.celestialportraits.com/te...070mosaic3.jpg