2nd Attempt at Thor`s Helmet

[Garyh]

Well it`s been a little while since a have posted a image, have taken plenty of subs but have found little time too sit down and actually process them. Still have 50-60 subs on the camera from a fortnight ago.

Here`s my second attempt at this this season as the first set I had some guiding error which showed up on all the subs. Managed to fix the slop and a few weeks ago managed a few hours between some low patchy cloud.

Imaged with the 8" f/4.5 newt, cooled 40D at 8 degrees and a combination of 24 x 5min subs, 5 darks and no flats.
Image is just a small crop of the full frame. Quiet happy with the results at 915mm FL.. Must have to finish off the camera so can get it below zero for no noise!

Thanks for looking ...
Gary

[lacad01 (Adam)]

Looks mighty good Gary . Can even make out the chin strap hanging down on the left side

[sjastro]

Very good Thor's Helmet Gary.

Steven

[CoolhandJo (Paul)]

Very Very Nice! Colours, framing, detail!

[astroron (Ron)]

Very nice colours, but to me seems just a little soft? could be a little sharper.
Cheers

[iceman (Mike)]

Really nice Gary, very smooth background and lovely colours.

[jase (Jason)]

Lovely work Gary. Thor's helmet is a well suited DSLR target given its OIII rich nature as opposed to the typical Ha targets. I like what you've put together. The image has a balanced feel. Will be interesting to see what the additional subs will do to the end result. Well done.

[spearo (Frank)]

great shot
I love this target and its not that easy to capture
you've done well and the tracking is clearly spot on
well done
frank

[browndog (Ian)]

A really nice image - well done.
Great colour and well presented...
(Thor's Helmet is of my favourite DSO - and you have captured it nicely.)

[Garyh]

Originally Posted by lacad01

Looks mighty good Gary . Can even make out the chin strap hanging down on the left side

Thanks Adam, you think he would have done his strap up going so high!

Originally Posted by sjastro

Very good Thor's Helmet Gary.

Steven

Thanks Steve, two nights of subs would have been better, but still I got it this season!

Originally Posted by CoolhandJo

Very Very Nice! Colours, framing, detail!

Thanks Dr Paul! Had a bit of color balance prob with this one! seemed to come out rather greener than usual? but PS fixed that!

Originally Posted by astroron

Very nice colours, but to me seems just a little soft? could be a little sharper.
Cheers

Cheers Ron, focus and seeing could have been a little better, ex the seeing has been on the poor side. Next time

Originally Posted by iceman

Really nice Gary, very smooth background and lovely colours.

Thanks Mike! I find getting the background nice and smooth is much easier with the cooling although still does so a little. I shall work on that one!

Originally Posted by jase

Lovely work Gary. Thor's helmet is a well suited DSLR target given its OIII rich nature as opposed to the typical Ha targets. I like what you've put together. The image has a balanced feel. Will be interesting to see what the additional subs will do to the end result. Well done.

Thanks Jase! It does show up nicely with the DSLR, must be all those extra green bayer matrix pixels we have . The first night lot of subs are not much good and shall only degrade the better lot..Oh well, least I didn`t leave the scopes cap on (done that before too)..
Thanks for the comments

Originally Posted by spearo

great shot
I love this target and its not that easy to capture
you've done well and the tracking is clearly spot on
well done
frank

Thankyou Frank, yes managed to get the guiding much better after some tweaks! cheers Mate.

Originally Posted by browndog

A really nice image - well done.
Great colour and well presented...
(Thor's Helmet is of my favourite DSO - and you have captured it nicely.)

Ian, it is a interesting object isn`t it, much different than your normal Ha targets and PN..

Thanks again for the feedback !
Now for the wind and rain to go away! Mind you good to see a little rain!
cheers Gary

[multiweb (Marc)]

Really nice shot. Smooth as and I love the colors. The processing is also very natural. Top work indeed.

[Octane (Humayun)]

Gary,

Sorry for looking and commenting so late, but, this is a wonderful effort!

Glad to see you're sticking to the nice sweet spot of 5 minutes per sub-exposure. What ISO are you shooting at these days?

I'd suggest taking a bunch more darks (two or three times as many) and also some critical flats to top off what is already a lovely image.

I'll attempt this one in a widefield next season.

H

[Garyh]

Thanks Marc and H! Most appreciated!
H, used iso 800 and iso 1000, can`t remember which for this lot?
Yes more darks needed, must make a dark library on the HD since I can regulate the temp now!
I find that I really don`t need flats as I have nearly 95% illumination in the corners and even with stretching, it`s hardly visible. With my 20D I did need them as there was minor mechanical vignetting but none with the 40D.