0.52 arc sec/pixel shot of the Blue Planatary

[tornado33]

Howdy.
I put on a 2x converter, boosting focal length of my 10 inch scope to 2800mm. I took several shots, this is the best one, even with the off axis guider its hard to get sharp star images as such a big magnification. Its a 2 minute shot at ISO 200. A little Levels strectching and unsharp masking done in Photoshop.
http://www.users.on.net/~josiah/temp...lanatary2x.jpg
Its a full resoloution crop of the center of the image.
No dark subtraction, hence the few coloured pixels. Image scale works out at 0.52 arc seconds per pixel. Thats about the diffraction limitation of the telescope!

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Wow, that came out really clear considering you've only used ISO200 for 2 min. Especially at f/28.

Another one on the list to do.

[tornado33]

many thanks.
Actually the true focal ratio of that shot would be around F11, still quite "slow" for deep sky work, but that nebula has such high surface brightness and its blue light near the sensitivity peak of the eos 300D, that fairly short exposures will do.
Had to concentrate hard guiding, little margin for errors, and guide stars come out as short lines due to their being so far off axis in a standard newtonian.

[iceman (Mike)]

Nice planetary Scott, some good detail around the edge of it.

What are the red spots? Hot pixels?

[iceman (Mike)]

Oh nevermind I just read all of your first post

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

As you said "boosting my ...." (I shouldn't do anything in the morning till I've had my third cup of tea)

[h0ughy (David)]

scott, has anyone ever photgraphed this one before you? You do indeed go for the obscure and undetectable!