Yet another go at Rho

[Retrograde (Pete)]

I'm still processing images from SPSP last month. Although I did mostly wide-field lens imaging, I decided to try more of a narrow field version of the Rho Ophiuchi area on the Saturday night using the little Astrotech AT65EDQ.

I originally planned to get 2.5-3 hours worth of data on this but as the object was almost exactly overhead the scope and guide-scope dewed up quite badly before I realised even though I had the dew-heaters on quite high (but not full). Put it down to lack of sleep after a really late night on the night before!

So in the end I ended up with 1.25 hours - 15 x 5 min subs but I'm reasonably happy with the result considering the modest amount of data. Captured as always with the modded Pentax K-5iis.

I still have some tilt in the system (so stars are less than perfect) but it seems a lot less with this image than previous ones which might be due to the fact that the object was nearly overhead.
Comments and critique welcome as always

Larger version here: http://www.astrobin.com/full/301274/0/?real=&mod=

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by Retrograde

Put it down to lack of sleep after a really late night on the night before!

That can definitely play a part

I still have some tilt in the system (so stars are less than perfect) but it seems a lot less with this image than previous ones which might be due to the fact that the object was nearly overhead.

Well....maybe if your goal was to show 100% perfect stars, hey perhaps they are 98% and look ok to me. Your goal was to take a nice image of one of the most beautifully subtle areas of the Milky Way...and this you have certainly done ....and that is the name of the game

Mike

[Slawomir (Suavi)]

Very nice wide field, and beautiful colours. Nice work

[atalas]

That is beautiful Pete.....love this region

[willik (Willik)]

That is a very nice image and taken with a small scope well done
Martin

[multiweb (Marc)]

Beautiful fov. Nicely done.

[graham.hobart (Graham stevens)]

very Nice!!

[Retrograde (Pete)]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

That can definitely play a part

Well....maybe if your goal was to show 100% perfect stars, hey perhaps they are 98% and look ok to me. Your goal was to take a nice image of one of the most beautifully subtle areas of the Milky Way...and this you have certainly done ....and that is the name of the game

Mike

Thanks Mike - I cheated and cropped a tiny bit of the frame (where the worst of the stars were) and did some star-remediation work on some of the others near the edge of frame.

Originally Posted by Slawomir

Very nice wide field, and beautiful colours. Nice work

Thanks Suavi

Originally Posted by atalas

That is beautiful Pete.....love this region

Thanks very much Louie. I always enjoy looking at the version on your website.

Originally Posted by willik

That is a very nice image and taken with a small scope well done
Martin

Cheers Martin

Originally Posted by multiweb

Beautiful fov. Nicely done.

Thanks Marc - great minds think alike eh

Originally Posted by graham.hobart

very Nice!!

Thanks Graham!

[Andy01 (Andy)]

Nice Smooth result there Pete

[Retrograde (Pete)]

Thanks Andy

[gregbradley]

Yeah that turned out really nice Pete. Love the subtle yellow billowing clouds around Antares. Its remarkable isn't it the quantity of "stuff" in just our local part of the Milky Way. I started modifying an Nex 6 which has the same sensor as your K5. I missed something putting it back together and it did not work but I think I know what the problem is. I'll have to give it another go as I'd like a nice modded digital camera.

Greg.

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

An excellent, subtle rendition Pete! Very natural looking.

[Retrograde (Pete)]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Yeah that turned out really nice Pete. Love the subtle yellow billowing clouds around Antares. Its remarkable isn't it the quantity of "stuff" in just our local part of the Milky Way. I started modifying an Nex 6 which has the same sensor as your K5. I missed something putting it back together and it did not work but I think I know what the problem is. I'll have to give it another go as I'd like a nice modded digital camera.

Greg.

Thanks Greg.

Hopefully you'll get the modded Nex 6 up and working.
I chose the Pentax K-5iis as a camera body to be modded (I also have an unmodded Pentax K-5 for terrestrial photography) as it is the model without the anti-aliasing filter. I got mine modded by Kolari Vision in the US (as I didn't have the guts or know-how to try it myself).

The K-5, despite basically being a 5 year-old design now, seems to be quite good overall when it comes to noise:http://www.brendandaveyphotography.c...ensor-testing/
It obviously doesn't have the photon-grabbing pixel size of some of the full-frame cameras out there however.

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

An excellent, subtle rendition Pete! Very natural looking.

Thanks very much Marcus. Natural and subtle aren't usually my strong points but in this case due to the modest amount of data I didn't have much choice.

[gregbradley]

[QUOTE=Retrograde;1319788]Thanks Greg.



The K-5, despite basically being a 5 year-old design now, seems to be quite good overall when it comes to noise:http://www.brendandaveyphotography.c...ensor-testing/
It obviously doesn't have the photon-grabbing pixel size of some of the full-frame cameras out there however.



That 16mp APS Sony Exmor sensor is in quite a few cameras from Nikon to Pentax to Fuji X and was a hugely successful sensor. The latest and greatest is the Sony Exmor 24MP APSc with copper wiring (CMOS sensors typically use Aluminium wiring). As in the A6300, A6500 and Fuji XT2, XPro 2, XT20. Its a nice sensor and slightly better noise performance but not a lot of difference for astro work so no need to upgrade there. The Nex 6 is the same 16mp Sony Exmor sensor.

Greg.

[RickS (Rick)]

An excellent result, especially with modest data, Pete

[zardos123 (Brad)]

Well done thats a very nice rho,very smooth and great colours and yep i agree the k-5 is a really good piece of kit and probably the cheapest way to get a good sensor to get modded with a nice set of controls

[Retrograde (Pete)]

Originally Posted by RickS

An excellent result, especially with modest data, Pete

Thanks Rick!

Originally Posted by zardos123

Well done thats a very nice rho,very smooth and great colours and yep i agree the k-5 is a really good piece of kit and probably the cheapest way to get a good sensor to get modded with a nice set of controls

Cheers Brad - yep modding the K-5/K-5iis was a really good idea - thanks for being the pioneer and putting me on to it.