Thor's Helmet

[spearo (Frank)]

Hi guys and gals,

this isn't a good shot but i had to squeeze in a few lights of Thor's Helmet last Sunday morning as the sun was coming up.

Only 3 frames and some odd green gradient to the left but it got me excited to do lots of light frames next time. I've cropped it a tad to remove the ampglow at the bottom right so it's about 90 percent of the original?

very faint and challenging forn F11 scope with FL of nearly four meters!
and these include a 15 minute shot at ISO 1600 !

cant wait to have another go at it. especially after really really checking my drift alignment next time.

anyways, here it is
cheers
frank

[Kevnool (Kev)]

Great object to view visually with the 0III filter also good capture...cheers Kev.

[Craig_L]

Nice shot Frank.

[spearo (Frank)]

Thanks guys,
as I said this is more of a teaser for me, I'll need to do some work on the drift align and get heaps more exposures of 15 min (if not longer) at ISO 1600 (which I usually avoid like the plague)
cheers
frank

[Kevnool (Kev)]

Still good in my books Frank......cheers Kev.

[winensky]

Looks great regrardless of being a quickie. You will have fun with this one later.

[Ric]

A nice image Frank, the extensions or wings from the helmet area are starting to show up, no doubt a few deeper images will really bring them up.

Cheers

[Dennis]

Hi Frank

For the relatively few frames taken and the short exposures used, especially at F11, I think you have produced a wonderful portrait with some lovely detail – very impressive indeed. The tones look very smooth and the image seems quite free from noise which is remarkable.

On a technical note, I’m also very impressed by the quality of the auto guiding at 3900+ mm!

Cheers

Dennis

[AlexN]

Whats most impressive to me is the quality of the tracking/guiding at 3910mm... Thats utterly amazing Frank...

The image is impressive, but I think everyone who's tackled autoguiding and know how much of a pain it can, know that this is no easy feat! whats more, 15minute sub @ 3910!!

Great!

[spearo (Frank)]

Thanks everyone!
yes indeed I was pretty surprised myself to see the guiding work so well for up to 15 minutes at this FL.
I still sense i need to tweak the drift alignment a touch and will do so next time im setting up. Will use the QHY5 this time as I've always used an illuminated reticule in the past. I'll be making sure i get it just right!

Many thanks again for the encouragement
cheers
frank

[h0ughy (David)]

beautiful shot frank. Scott Alder loves this little gem - he has taken some shots of it, not sure of his exposure lengths though?

[jase (Jason)]

Good job Frank. "Ballsy" comes to mind given your imaging rig specs and the results you're getting. Your patience is paying off. Looking forward to seeing how you progress.

[spearo (Frank)]

Thanks David and Jase,
the date is set for me, weather permitting i'll have another go at it next Thursday! (and Friday and Saturday), Actually technically it will be Friday, Sat, Sun in the wee hours of the morning...
cheers
frank

[RB (Andrew)]

Terrific result Frank, especially for 35min, inc. 15 min frame at that FL.
No wonder you had some amp glow.

Looking forward to more.

[spearo (Frank)]

Thanks Andrew,
hoping for clear skies this weekend coming, I can start imaging around 245 AM i think after the moon sets
frank

[Octane (Humayun)]

Frank,

Great job on such an incredibly faint object.

Would love to give this one a go one day.

Regards,
Humayun

[Hagar (Doug)]

Great image Frank. Lovely whispy detail on a hard target. colour etc look good fconsidering the focal length you are running.

Very well done.

[spearo (Frank)]

Thanks Doug, Humayun
frank