Fighting Dragons of Ara

[RyanJones]

Hi all,

I’ve been working on this project for a while, 5 session in fact. I collected over 22hrs of data in total. Some of the data had issues, high FWHM, high sky brightness so I only stacked the best 2/3rds roughly.

I still need to do better with my stars but I’m generally pretty happy with this one.

275 x 180sec subs
Canon 350d modified @iso400
STC Duo filter
200mm f/4 imaging newtonian
HEQ5 pro
Bortle 8 skies

Thanks for looking

[Mickoid (Michael)]

A mammoth effort there Ryan. A great result from such light polluted skies and those 275 subs @ 400iso certainly tamed the noise. You are obviously really enjoying getting out there and your dedication and skills are showing in the shots you are posting. Hats off to you!

[RyanJones]

Thank you Michael. I do enjoy getting out there trying new things to improve my images. This particular image was a bit of a tester to see where the line of diminishing returns was a far as noise goes. Around 10 hours is the line for me with this setup the extra few were added basically because I had them.

With 5 sessions all taken across similar hours, similar temperatures, almost identical guiding errors and no moon in any of them, I also had the opportunity to assess the vast differences you can get in an image from one night to the next. The best FWHM I achieved was 3.9 and the highest consistent number was around 4.9. One night that looked better than the others and yet the recorded sky brightness was a full 1% higher at 2.5%.

This hobby has so many different variables that affect the quality of the end product that can often be frustrating and yet it keeps things incredibly interesting at the same time.

Again, thank you for your kind words

Cheers

Ryan

[Andy01 (Andy)]

Smooth, Spooky tones & well composed - that's a yes from me!

[Nikolas (Nik)]

Awesome effort Ryan
Another on my target list when I'll be able to

[multiweb (Marc)]

Smooth with good details Ryan.
Not sure if you do calibration frames with your DSLR but if you are in a light polluted environment you'd definitely benefit from doing flat fielding.

[xelasnave]

Nice one Ryan you have inspired me to have a go at it...if I can find it.
Alex

[RyanJones]

Thank you Andy, Nik, Marc and Alex

Andy- It took me a couple of goes to process this one to a point of which I was happy.

Nik- I’m looking forward too seeing your rendition of this target as we both have similar processing styles.

Marc- I used to do calibration frames with my 130mm Newtonian and my C5, but since I upgraded to the 8” newt and C9.25, I haven’t got around to creating a light panel big enough to evenly illuminate the larger apertures.

Alex- I’m looking forward to seeing your image as this target seems to lend itself to some interesting colour palettes.

Cheers,
Ryan

[ChrisV (Chris)]

That's excellent Ryan. The long hours of getting the image was worth it. And nicely processed - I like the way you have coloured it.

[RyanJones]

Thank you Chris,

Still not the level of detail or contrast you achieved in your rendition from last year but I’m pretty happy with how it came out.

Cheers,

Ryan