One more eagle - Part 2

Tandum (Robin) · #1 16-08-2009, 02:31 AM

M16 - Vixen
Starlight Xpress HX-916 camera, Vixen VC200L @ F6.3 scope, TruTek Filters.
L (18 x 300sec), RGB (12 x 150sec Binned X 2).
Maxim DDP and a touch up in PS.

I had a several individual Red,Green and Blue circles show up in this but I just clone stamped most of them out

not sure yet where they came from and there's a few left, but it looks like I finally have my filter problems sorted

[edit]
M16 - Tak
Starlight Xpress HX-916 camera, Takahashi FS-102 @ F8 scope, TruTek Filters.
L (7x480sec), RGB (4x240sec Binned x 2).
Maxim DDP and a touch up in PS.
Full Frame Image.

Here is M16 from the Tak. I had to up the exposure time to make up for the difference between F6 and F8 and I had usb hub problems at setup which limited exposure time before the flip. Also seeing wasn't as good tonight either, I think Jupiter was twinking and we had a little fog here as well.

Comparing them both here, I like the 2nd one even though I forgot to balance tonight

Octane (Humayun) · #2 16-08-2009, 04:01 AM

Robin,

I never tire of seeing this marvel.

Despite the filter woes this has come up a treat. The colour looks just about right.

What an awesome object, eh?

Well done.

Regards,
Humayun

Tandum (Robin) · #3 16-08-2009, 10:37 AM

I was planning on shooting it again this week with the tak to compare. I would like it to be sharper and maybe the tak can deliver

But not bad for a 1 mega pixel camera though

atalas · #4 16-08-2009, 12:54 PM

Nice work Robin !

marc4darkskies (Marcus) · #5 16-08-2009, 06:11 PM

Hey, top effort there Robin

... well done. Colour balance looks good and detail isn't bad ... although a bit more would be nice (something we all want!). I doubt your Tak will yield the image scale you need to get more detail though.

Cheers, Marcus

Matty P (Matt) · #6 16-08-2009, 07:08 PM

Nice work there Robin. Colours are excellent and some nice detail showing.

Why not get the Tak out and see what you can do?

multiweb (Marc) · #7 16-08-2009, 10:42 PM

Very cool shot Robin. Nice colors and very sharp details. Well done.

Tandum (Robin) · #8 19-08-2009, 01:00 AM

Thanks guys, Finally got the Takahashi outdoors to compare. There's no where near as much data which seems to make it harder to process, but there it is. (see 1st post for details.)

AlexN · #9 19-08-2009, 05:16 AM

given the lower exposure time I dare say the Tak just beat the vixen for comparison... I like the image a lot... Great FOV, resolution is very nice, colour is good.. focus/guiding etc. all great..

Top job for a week night!!

gregbradley · #10 19-08-2009, 11:06 AM

Both are very good but the FS102 shot is more appealing.

Refractors do great at most but the smallest and dimmest of objects like some galaxies. That's where aperture and focal length rule most.
Its too bad refractors are so expensive for their aperture.

Halos in different colours come from reflections off the filter usually.
Masking the chip can also help so less light is bouncing around in case light is reflecting back off the CCD window.

Latest generation filters all seem to be marketing anti-reflection coatings as reflections were a huge issue with the big chip cameras.

They can be worse when a flattener or reducer is used as light bounces off the lens of them and back again into the camera and filters.
Filters usually have one side meant to face the telescope but you could experiment with turning them around and seeing if that helps.

Greg.

Tandum (Robin) · #11 19-08-2009, 03:30 PM

Greg,
What do you mean by masking the chip? I did borrow a set of astronomik type2c filters and still had my star bloat problem but only in blue instead of green and blue as with these trutek filters. Putting an idas filter on the nose of the wheel instead of my astronomiks I/R filter seems to have fixed it, except when plugged into the little WO70ED. I still get some halos with that scope. I never thought about turning the wheel around, I'll give it a go. It's just so time consuming to try all the options and there's only so many hours in a night

And yes I still have a bit of aperture fever, we'll see what happens there

RobF (Rob) · #12 19-08-2009, 07:51 PM

Great work Robin! I just love the creamy smoothness of the TAK view. Beautiful......!

Tandum (Robin) · #13 21-08-2009, 08:57 AM

Cheers Rob, it has taken a while to get decent images from the camera. I bought it in March

Now how do ya do an 8 panel mosaic

RB (Andrew) · #14 21-08-2009, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobF

Great work Robin! I just love the creamy smoothness of the TAK view. Beautiful......!

Have to agree, I love the Tak view.

Well done Robin.