Ha NGC2070 with SXVF-H9 Shows promise

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Ok being a relative new comer to Ha imaging (count them on one hand ) I was interested to see what I could do with my new Starlight Xpress H9.

Well I think I'm going to be in for a long and passionate love affair. I REALLY like this little camera. Its compact and light and seems to work really well with my WO72FD. I'm yet to try it with an ED80. I'm hoping to be able to work out an extension for it so I can use my 0.8 WO Flat III FR with it. That would drop the f/6 down to f/4.8

This is a series of 6/15min shots through the WO 72FD, dark and flat calibrated. The temp last night was around 17 deg so the camera was most likely operating around -13. Even so I decided to take darks.

I'm still fumbling when it comes to processing Ha but I think I'm getting the hang of it, but I'm looking forward to the challenge. Especially if i can use Ha images as Luminence for DSLR images.

The second image is a single frame when I was fortunate enough to have a meteor scream through the middle of the image. I quite like the effect. Not stretched so much due to noise.

btw these look great on my processing laptop but way too dark on my desktop monitor Hope they work for you.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

I do love this area of the sky. It's a challenge to ones skills to bring out the depth and the finer nebulosity.
Beautiful work there Paul.

Darn meteors, I must have captured the same one.

[TrevorW]

Paul do you have Maxim DL

I notice some star blooming which could be removed in Maxim

otheriwse nicely done

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Yeah I do Trevor. Its a ABG camera so there shouldn't have been any blooms, most likely processing artifacts or alignment issues. But I might see what Maxim can do with it anyway. Cheers

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Oh yeh Paul, that SXV-H9 is an awesome camera for sure mate! Did you get it new or secondhand?

It doesn't need darks at all, I used mine for nearly 3 yrs and never used darks... not once!

It's small and light, more like an eyepiece than a CCD camera. What CFW and filters are you using? Iused the True Tech FW.

I have the adapter to connect mine to my FLI filterwheel but haven't got round to putting it back on the Starfire since late 2006...must do it sometime as I miss that little bugger sometimes ...but man it is an awesome guide camera too, very sensitive and noise free and a large chip for this purpose too, in over two years and lots of images I have never had to move the guide scope or shift my framing to find a guide star.

Good luck with the SXV-H9 journey mate and from the looks of this iamge you are starting off very well

Mike

[multiweb (Marc)]

Very cool Paul. Starlight gear's great quality. Can't wait to see what you're going to do with it. Cool Ha shots. The res is certainly there.

[AlexN]

Another nice Ha shot from the SX H9 Paul! Definitely have a go at using the Ha shots as Lum layers for your DSLR shots! Will surely give them a real punch!!

Enjoy yourself mate! sounds like you're having a ball with it!

[Paul Haese]

I like the image with the meteor through it. The other one seems clipped and full of artifacts to me. Perhaps a reprocess might help. Ha data can be quite nice as I have discovered recently too.