[SkyViking (Rolf)]

Hi All, thanks again for your comments. I have completed a new image with new data and created another thread for it here: http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...590#post793590
It's much better than this one so please have a look if you like. I have also written up a lot more details so some of the questions I have been asked should be covered over there I think.

Originally Posted by NorthernLight

Hi Rolf,

I´ve seen it right after X2 on 3 last night and was stunned by your result.

Your dedication is truly inspiring and I wonder what else you are going to unlock from the domains of the MOA and the like.

Are you a member of the Auckland Astro Society?

Thanks very much Max, I'm not a member but I would like to be, need to look into that
I might get involved in microlensing research, it's very interesting and it would be great to contribute to science in that way.

Originally Posted by alistairsam

Rolf,

Very inspiring work. You must be much sought after by the media.
I'm just a beginner, but do work with digital imaging. could you explain the subtraction concept a bit more?

when you overlay images of alpha and beta pictoris, does the visible area around alpha pictoris extend over the dust disc of beta pictoris or is it just the black area in the middle of your image?

what I'm curious to understand is whether the dust disc became visible as lobes only after subtraction and if so how there are no subtracted or black areas as a result of the subtraction outside your central subtracted area?
would you be posting both images before subtraction?
can the same be done with a dslr?

is the black area in your image roughly the same as in the centre of this ESO image? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Be..._annotated.jpg

congrats again.

Thank you Alistair The black area in the centre corresponds to the saturated are where the signal reaches the well depth of the chip. Even after subtraction there will be no information hidden there. I'm not sure of the scale of the ESO image since there are no reference stars visible, but my guess is it's about the same size as the light blue circle.

Yes the dust disc is only visible after subtraction. In the new thread I'm showing the difference images etc so you can get a better idea about what I did.

Originally Posted by John Hothersall

Just taken a look at your telescope truss design with ultra thin spiders and no mirror clips which is inspired thoughtful improvement as I am getting sick of the clip shadows around bright stars. Beta Pict gives a clear clean image as a result of this.

John.

Thanks John, yes the wire spider made a huge improvement to my star profiles. I don't know if a wire spider is absolutely necessary to see the dust disc, I wouldn't think so, but it certainly helps. It all depends on the combination of scope and camera I suppose. The ToUCam is fairly good at picking up IR light too.

Originally Posted by renormalised

Brilliant bit of work, Rolf. You deserve all the accolades and them some

I was thinking...you know that the GStar mono camera has a very good IR response. I wonder how it would go at attempting such an image?. You might want to have a little look into trying one out and see if it works. A mono Flea would also be good. Speaking of IR pass filters, you could try Astrodon's IR pass filters. They seem to do the trick.

Thank you Carl, glad you enjoyed it. Yes I believe other cameras can do this as well, it's probably just that nobody thought to try before. I'll definitely get an IR pass filter at some stage, probably together with a new CCD camera.

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

Cracking job there Rolf. You always seem to image the way out of left field stuff and it is always of special interest. When people ask me about imaging I always say there are people out there that image things that most people would not think of; and you always come to mind. te point being that pretty pictures is not always the goal of the astro imager. Fantastic achievement and it deserves the accolades you have obtained so far.

Thank you very much Paul I have had to make it my mission to image the more obscure stuff because my little chip cannot compete with the modern ones. But I have learned a lot from it and enjoyed it immensely. When I buy a better camera then I'm sure I'll continue in this direction, there are lots of strange things to image