Barnard33 - Horsehead and NGC2023 Nebula - 3rd Jan 2013

[Screwdriverone (Chris)]

Hi Everyone,

I must have paid off my debts to the bad karma gods as I had a completely different night yesterday, with very little issues in tracking, moon, clouds etc.

After resetting my mind and plonking the scope down, I seemed to fix the dodgy alignment using PHD and then the mount was tracking like a BOSS for almost 4 hours with no hiccups. I have attached the PHD graph just to prove it

I decided to go for something fairly bright after my recent Abell 1060 galaxy cluster and settled on the ol' Horsey.

So, here is my third go with the new ATIK 314L+ (well, posted anyway)

I seem to have picked up a dust bunny, although the window is clear, so I think I may have to check out the secondary to find the culprit. Still no usable flats yet to get rid of it.

I hope you like it, exactly 1.5 hours of exposures (my new record) and countless Megs of processing files and hours today honing and hopefully processing this one OK.

Thanks for stopping by, any tips or critiques are welcome.

Image details:

Target: The Horsehead Nebula and NGC2023
Camera: Atik 314L+ OSC CCD
Scope: Skywatcher BD200N Reflector
Mount: HEQ5Pro
Guide: PHD guiding using EQmod and DBK21AU618 on Orion 50mm guidescope
Total Time: 1 hour and 30 mins
CCD Temp: -5 degrees Celsius
Exposures: 20 x 180 sec and 6 x 300 sec
Darks/Bias/Flats: 20 x 180 sec darks, no flats, 10 x 180 sec bias.
Capture Program: Artemis Capture
Processing: DSS, Startools, Photoshop CS3

Uncompressed Image : Link (5Mb PNG file)

Cheers

Chris

[Stevec35 (Steve)]

Very respectable indeed!

Cheers

Steve

[Screwdriverone (Chris)]

Thanks Steve,

The new camera is running rings around the old DSLR, its nice when a plan comes together.

Cheers

Chris

[Larryp (Laurie)]

Looks good, Chris!

[Screwdriverone (Chris)]

Thanks Laurie, cheers!

[alistairsam]

Nice one Chris.
You must have gotten good PA
If you haven't tried it already, I'd strongly recommend the ccd method for polar alignment.
One of the most easiest and accurate methods I've come across
Cheers

[ourkind (Carlos)]

Nice work Chris, you're getting heaps of detail and the tracking looks spot on. I hope you get more time on this one and collect more data. It's great!

[Screwdriverone (Chris)]

Originally Posted by ourkind

Nice work Chris, you're getting heaps of detail and the tracking looks spot on. I hope you get more time on this one and collect more data. It's great!

Thanks Carlos, yes the details are quite good for only a 1.4Mp camera. I am going to try some more challenging PNs soon.

Cheers

Originally Posted by alistairsam

Nice one Chris.
You must have gotten good PA
If you haven't tried it already, I'd strongly recommend the ccd method for polar alignment.
One of the most easiest and accurate methods I've come across
Cheers

Thats how I got the PA, used PHD for the drift alignment by switching off the output and watching the screen. Hence the almost flat PHD graph.

Cheers

Chris

[Ross G]

Nice capture Steve.

The camera is working well.

Ross.

[Ross G]

Sorry....I meant Chris!

[Screwdriverone (Chris)]

Thanks Dave,

I mean Ross.....

Cheers

Chris

[Peter Ward]

It's mirror reversed...otherwise not too shabby.

[Screwdriverone (Chris)]

LOL, yep, Sean Walker picked me up on that too, on Facebook.

Thanks Peter, I appreciate the comments.

Cheers

Chris

[RB (Andrew)]

I like the detail you've captured Chris, nice colours too.
Well done.
(Would like to see it mirror reversed).

[Screwdriverone (Chris)]

Its surprising how well the colours come out of the Atik Andrew.....

Just for you (and Peter), I have corrected it....

Seems DSS and Nebulosity load the tiffs upside down and back to front, something in the Atik Fits header I think.

Doesnt seem to happen in Dawn (Atik's processing app), I have attached a single sub in Dawn to show you how it decodes it.

Is this better?

Cheers

Chris

[RB (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by Screwdriverone

Its surprising how well the colours come out of the Atik Andrew.....

Just for you (and Peter), I have corrected it....
.....
Is this better?

Cheers

Chris

Love it, thank you.

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

Great shot Chris, and very nice image scale. You should be able to pick out some serious resolution if you added more frames I think.

[Screwdriverone (Chris)]

Thanks Rolf.

Yes, I should get much more data on these, I am simply too keen to see how it performs on multiple targets I haven't been able to see or get results on with the skyglow and noise I got from the DSLR.

Once I get bored with my touring, I will settle down and get lots of subs instead of just an hour or so.

Cheers

Chris

[naskies (Dave)]

Nice work, Chris!

[Screwdriverone (Chris)]

Thanks Dave!, I'm getting there.

Cheers

Chris