May DSO imaging!

[iceman (Mike)]

C'mon guys, lets see some more images of the May challenge objects!

Don't wait too long, the moon is only going to get brighter in the next 2 weeks so get into it now!

Can't wait to see some images of the open and glob clusters, as well as the planetary and multiple star.. and of course more of M104 and NGC2359.

They can be any standard, so don't be shy!

It's all about practise, that's the whole idea of the monthly challenge objects.

[EddieT (Eddie)]

Mike, is it intended that the monthly challenge objects be imaged in that month?

[rumples riot]

Hey Mike some of us have to sleep during the month. Wanted to go out last night but was to too tired from the weekend. Starting to think that the only thing that happens in my life is to do with Astronomy. Roll on Winter, plenty of rain and a reason to do other things.

But I will try to get out tonight. Some of these targets are hard to get to though. But you never know.

[iceman (Mike)]

Mike, is it intended that the monthly challenge objects be imaged in that month?

Good question Eddie.. It's really up to the individual.. In an ideal world, the idea of the monthly challenge is that the viewing reports, sketches and DSO imaging are all done in that month..

It's designed to get people out there observing with a purpose, taking notes and sketches, and for those that have DSO imaging equipment, to take some images of what the rest of us are viewing through the eyepiece. The objects are chosen for their favourable viewing position that month, and are bright enough that those with smaller scopes can still get in on the action.
For those still learning DSO imaging, it's a good way to learn off others who are taking images of the same objects in that month.

However I understand how much time and effort can be involved in DSO imaging so it just may not be possible to acquire the photons required..

So having said all that, ideally captured in that month, but no problems whatsoever in posting images taken in the past.

[iceman (Mike)]

Hey Mike some of us have to sleep during the month

Understand completely Paul, just giving a gentle reminder

[EddieT (Eddie)]

Thanks Mike, I wasn't sure if i had been doing the right thing or not. I think some of my images have been oversized too. Even at 600 across at medium quality they are over 60kb. I wasn't paying attention to the byte size, only the dimensions. I'll try and be good from now on

[iceman (Mike)]

No probs Eddie, I know noone likes to reduce the quality so far that it makes the image look bad, so there's been a bit of leway given

Hopefully in the near future, the forum system will be upgraded to vB 3.0.7, and attachments are stored on the filesystem instead of the database so we'll be able to increase the image size guidelines to 100k.

[rumples riot]

Ok Mike I did three images for you tonight. Did the Ghost of Jupiter, M104 and the Globular. I tried for Thors helmut but could not find it in the glare of the Adelaide lights. So that one is out of the question.

Something occurred to me while imaging tonight. Most of these targets I would never have imaged this year, so I am very glad that this challenge has been put forth. I actually enjoyed imaging the glob and planetary.

Cool.

[astro_south (Andrew)]

I might field this one Mike........

Paul, I am pleased to read your last paragraph above. It is exactly what Mike and myself were hoping for when we discussed the idea a few months ago. Within the target objects are some old favourites that people are liekly to have stumbled across before, as well as some more "obscure" targets that people (especially realitively new to the hobby) may not have bothered to chase down.

Now....any suggestions for next month's targets can be PM'd to me for consideration

[iceman (Mike)]

Exactly right Andrew! And Paul thanks for taking the challenge!