Nearly 5 hours of NGC3324, NGC3293 and NGC3372

madwayne (Wayne) · #1 01-02-2009, 12:31 PM

Well it has been a while coming between a lack of motivation due to some really bad weather over the past 3 or 4 months, but here is 290 minutes of a pretty busy part of Carina. The image has been acquired over three nights in two different locations. The first batch of data was taken at Wollondilly River (Southern Highlands) last Sunday night and the balance was taken at SASI's semi dark site at Waterfall in far Southern Sydney over the past two nights. The frames were taken as 6x10 and 46x5 minute lights with flats, darks and bias frames.

EQ6 Pro, prime focus Orion Star Shoot Pro/Tak FSQ106N, guided with QHY5 mono/ED80. Images acquired, guided and stacked in Maxim DL with some post processing, levels and curves, in PS CS2.

This is by far the deepest image I have taken and I'm pretty happy with the way it has turned out and I welcome feedback, particularly on the post processing side of things as I really struggle in that department.

Regards
Wayne

RB (Andrew) · #2 01-02-2009, 12:52 PM

Very nicely captured mate !
It's good to see some more images from you.

I know how terrible it's been lately with the weather, it seems like it's been an eternity between sessions.

Wow, almost 5 hours of capture !

There's really no substitute for longer exposures and more of them, is there?

Perhaps my only suggestion would be to shift the histogram slightly to the right.

renormalised (Carl) · #3 01-02-2009, 01:01 PM

Very nice image

peterau (Peter) · #4 01-02-2009, 06:16 PM

Nice

Clarry (Clayton) · #5 01-02-2009, 06:26 PM

Looks great Wayne, an amazing difference from the individual frames on your laptop when you were taking it at Waterfall.
Thanks for the invite along, I really enjoyed myself & got to use some pretty impressive eye pieces on my dob.

madwayne (Wayne) · #6 01-02-2009, 07:14 PM

Thanks for the kind words all.

Clayton - good to meet you on Friday night too. It turned in to a long night, got home around 4:30 Sat morning and then backed it up Sat night with another one but gee it was worth it.

Wayne

Hagar (Doug) · #7 01-02-2009, 08:34 PM

A lot of exposure to capture this faint little object. Very nice

gregbradley · #8 04-02-2009, 05:51 PM

Sweeet image Wayne! 5 hours - way to go.

What an excellent telescope you have there! Wow, you must be happy with that little Tak fluorite quadruplet! Just imagine - not one but 2 fluorite elements. Hehehe.

Greg.

strongmanmike (Michael) · #9 04-02-2009, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by madwayne

This is by far the deepest image I have taken and I'm pretty happy with the way it has turned out and I welcome feedback, particularly on the post processing side of things as I really struggle in that department.

Regards
Wayne

You should be happy with this Wayne it is a very nice image

Not sure if there is any obvious useful advice necessary, seems you are on the right track to me....?

An interesting framing option too, I like it. Amazing how well known objects look almost unrecognisable when not framed centered?

Mike

madwayne (Wayne) · #10 04-02-2009, 06:16 PM

Thanks Doug, Mike and Greg. Your words mean alot to me as your images, among others, have been inspiration for me and I am so glad to hear you say I am on the right track.

Yes Greg the FSQ is a great telescope, it is alot like the one you used to own

. It has been performing flawlessly except for a problem with a jammed up focuser, which after a pull down, clean and regrease is now working as it should.

On to my next object I think. I don't have a permanent setup so it is a case getting out there when I can. So the decision is would another couple of hours be well spent adding some more 10 minute frames to this or the time better spent starting on the next project with 10 minute subs as my starting point.....decisions decisions.

Thanks again one and all.

Wayne

PS - RB haven't had a chance to tweak the histogram but I will give that a go as I think it might be time to print this one.

gregbradley · #11 04-02-2009, 06:25 PM

On to my next object I think. I don't have a permanent setup so it is a case getting out there when I can. So the decision is would another couple of hours be well spent adding some more 10 minute frames to this or the time better spent starting on the next project with 10 minute subs as my starting point.....decisions decisions.

Thanks again one and all.

Wayne

I think its a wrap Wayne. The only thing you could do is take a bit of Ha as the Carina area comes up nice in Ha. But then that will make the subtle colours darker which would be a different look and perhaps not what you are after.

Greg.