The Ghostly Tower - AG12

strongmanmike (Michael) · #1 15-05-2011, 08:45 PM

These clear skies are nice...

Here is a 6.25hr exposure with the Mclaren Scope

This is a deep narrowband image processed to resemble an HaRGB image.

Friggin SH*T seeing

...I was begining to think it was local seeing in the OTA until I had a brief 1hr or so of good seeing - unfortunately this happened while I was doing the RGB which of course contributes zip to the resolution

...the guide scope star was balooning in and out too so it ain't the Mclaren Scope (thank god)

Here's the whole album, click on the thumbnail you want to look at and then scroll to the very bottom of the image page and select "original" size.

The Ghostly Tower

Feedback welcome

Mike

Bassnut (Fred) · #2 15-05-2011, 09:08 PM

whoa, the full frame "50%" res is just awesome (50%? whys that, dont get that), but well done right there. Tight as and full of detail. Top work Mike.
Mclaren scope?, geeze, really?, and the scope pic is a bit of overwhelming advertising, messy.

coldlegs (Stephen) · #3 15-05-2011, 09:15 PM

Mike
Love the 50% frame. Heck they are all great! Couldn't help noticing the "truck differential" weight on the mount. What's the all up weight of that lot??
Cheers
Stephen

strongmanmike (Michael) · #4 15-05-2011, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bassnut

whoa, the full frame "50%" res is just awesome (50%? whys that, dont get that), but well done right there. Tight as and full of detail. Top work Mike.
Mclaren scope?, geeze, really?, and the scope pic is a bit of overwhelming advertising, messy.

He he..always wanted a fast scope (seriously..you don't get that little F1 humour then?).

I display the full frame at 50% res ie approx 2000 X 2000pix just for the convenience of the viewer ie less download time and not as much scrolling required, hence the addition of the various crops

Mike

strongmanmike (Michael) · #5 15-05-2011, 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coldlegs

Mike
Love the 50% frame. Heck they are all great! Couldn't help noticing the "truck differential" weight on the mount. What's the all up weight of that lot??
Cheers
Stephen

You know what?...I don't know the weight exactly, I must weight it some time, suffice to say there is about 40kg of counterweight on there (I need some nicer weights to add huh?

). Still turned laser guided autoguiding even in a stiff breeze at times and poor seeing with a fat Newt on board too!...The NJP is an amazing performer!

Glad you liked it Stephen

Mike

RobF (Rob) · #6 15-05-2011, 09:35 PM

Great work Mike. Glad to hear the beast has been for another spin around the track. I'd be interested to hear more about how you managed to get false colour NB to look so close to RGB too if you could? Nice result, even if you were frustrated by conditions - looks fab to us mere mortals.

Cool bumper stickers by the way too...

atalas · #7 15-05-2011, 09:39 PM

Very nice Mike.

Lester · #8 15-05-2011, 09:40 PM

Wonderful image Mike, but still looking forward to what you will get with good seeing. All the best.

h0ughy (David) · #9 15-05-2011, 09:58 PM

A Mclaren scope - does it look good in a kilt ?- no dont go there i know you have one....... but you certainly have the advertising for it. Are you selling space on your freezer suit for the smaller sponsers

Except for the bloom around the very bright stars its a cracker of an image. I have to say that the seeing over us has been horrible, the other night i saw Rigel twinkle from blue to red - overhead. Love the work - impresses me no end - oh goodness i see that figure in a kilt again....

multiweb (Marc) · #10 15-05-2011, 10:31 PM

Pretty awesome field Mike. You've got the beast ticking now.

Peter Ward · #11 15-05-2011, 10:49 PM

Mclaren make some cool cars.

But so do the mob from Maranello....I think I like them better

Nice piccy by the way

strongmanmike (Michael) · #12 15-05-2011, 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobF

Great work Mike. Glad to hear the beast has been for another spin around the track. I'd be interested to hear more about how you managed to get false colour NB to look so close to RGB too if you could? Nice result, even if you were frustrated by conditions - looks fab to us mere mortals.

Cool bumper stickers by the way too...

Cheers Rob

The final colour balance is pretty cool huh...? Not sure I could describe teh steps in an orderly fashon taht would make sense, suffice to say a lot of blending went on (like a good Scotch blend) - It was a spaghetti Bolognese recipe in PSCS3+

..I process like I cook, as long as the flavour ends up nice the route there is almost black magic at times

Hopefully the "fast" scope connection and the fact that she was made in England will make sense of naming her McLaren Scope ..

Quote:

Originally Posted by atalas

Very nice Mike.

Cheers Big Louie

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lester

Wonderful image Mike, but still looking forward to what you will get with good seeing. All the best.

You and I both

Quote:

Originally Posted by h0ughy

A Mclaren scope - does it look good in a kilt ?- no dont go there i know you have one....... but you certainly have the advertising for it. Are you selling space on your freezer suit for the smaller sponsers

Except for the bloom around the very bright stars its a cracker of an image. I have to say that the seeing over us has been horrible, the other night i saw Rigel twinkle from blue to red - overhead. Love the work - impresses me no end - oh goodness i see that figure in a kilt again....

Good to hear that I wasn't the only oen with poor seeing (not good for you, I didn't mean that) as I sadi I was starting to think it was the scope and the fan/heater arangement

..when I saw the colour frames coming down tight-as I though man, where was this when I was taking the OIII - it was like blur city for those subs

..but I breathed a sigh of relief knowing that the scope can see things quite sharp after all...phew

Kilt?...I haven'tworn the kilt for a number of years now...don't have one anymore either

Quote:

Originally Posted by multiweb

Pretty awesome field Mike. You've got the beast ticking now.

Cheers Marc, it's ticking for sure but it should be able to purrrrrr and I am getting closer

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

Mclaren make some cool cars.

But so do the mob from Maranello....I think I like them better

Nice piccy by the way

Yeh well she's British so I thought McLaren (although I think they started out in NZ

) more appropriate than calling her a Ferrari

...of course I would like an Officina Stellare scope for sure ...theeen I would call it a Ferrari

zooom

Cheers

Mike

David Fitz-Henr · #13 15-05-2011, 11:24 PM

Very nice image Mike, especially considering the poor seeing; good stars right to the corners! 40kg of counterweights!!??!! Really? Given that the scope weighs about 16kg and the camera is hanging in line with the polar axis I guess then that the guidescope must be quite weighty? Just looking at the setup - with the guidescope on one side of the scope and no corresponding counterweight on the other it must give you a few balance problems at times?

Edit: Actually looking more closely I can see that you have offset the saddle to one side so the lateral balance is not an issue!

strongmanmike (Michael) · #14 15-05-2011, 11:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Fitz-Henr

Very nice image Mike, especially considering the poor seeing; good stars right to the corners! 40kg of counterweights!!??!! Really? Given that the scope weighs about 16kg and the camera is hanging in line with the polar axis I guess then that the guidescope must be quite weighty? Just looking at the setup - with the guidescope on one side of the scope and no corresponding counterweight on the other it must give you a few balance problems at times?

Edit: Actually looking more closely I can see that you have offset the saddle to one side so the lateral balance is not an issue!

Hi Dave

I'm getting there...

I use an Orion ED80 refractor and SXV-H9 guide camera.

The ProLine and CFW-5-7 and corrector weigh a bit too

Yes the OTA is off set and so is the camera a bit (rotated about 10deg), I moved the guide scope forward too so it would be held more centrally and rigidly and doing this meant the scope became front heavy (can't move the scope back in the cradle anymore or the CFW will hit the NJP head) so I had to velcro and tape some weights to the back of the mirror cell back plate so this meant more counter weights...

I just want some good seeing

Mike

gregbradley · #15 16-05-2011, 01:26 AM

That's a very good image Mike. Stars look pretty close to perfect now. The small distortions are very minor indeed now. As you say perhaps a little bit of flex. One way to tell would be to take an image and then move the camera around so the flex would be in the opposite direction and take another image and compare them.

Your fast scope seems to have picked up a river inside the river of Ha. Like a slightly golder orangy nebula in the middle of the stream. Also a slight golden glow at the edge of the dark tower.

Your stars are nice and bright and colourful.

A very nice image.

Greg.

marc4darkskies (Marcus) · #16 16-05-2011, 08:03 AM

Mmmmmm ... beautiful shot Mike!! Stars look good to the corners too - top stuff!! That black beauty of yours is starting to hit her stride!

My only small critique (and maybe this is personal preference), is I don't much like the bold reflection halos around the bright stars.

Cheers, Marcus

strongmanmike (Michael) · #17 16-05-2011, 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregbradley

That's a very good image Mike. Stars look pretty close to perfect now. The small distortions are very minor indeed now. As you say perhaps a little bit of flex. One way to tell would be to take an image and then move the camera around so the flex would be in the opposite direction and take another image and compare them.

Your fast scope seems to have picked up a river inside the river of Ha. Like a slightly golder orangy nebula in the middle of the stream. Also a slight golden glow at the edge of the dark tower.

Your stars are nice and bright and colourful.

A very nice image.

Greg.

Cheers Greg

Some work to do, but going on the results and experiences of others with these fast newts and big cameras, it is able to be nailed down so I have faith

Quote:

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

Mmmmmm ... beautiful shot Mike!! Stars look good to the corners too - top stuff!! That black beauty of yours is starting to hit her stride!

My only small critique (and maybe this is personal preference), is I don't much like the bold reflection halos around the bright stars.

Cheers, Marcus

Thanks Marcus

Yes I'm still improving

As for the Halos...nuttin I can do about that mate

..It's all about compromise I guess, besides...it's like I have my very own little UK Schmidt camera!

Mike

prokyon (Werner Probst) · #18 16-05-2011, 09:29 AM

Hi Mike,

great shot of a fascinating (and spooky

) object. Did not know it before. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers

Werner

Hagar (Doug) · #19 16-05-2011, 09:32 AM

Very nice Mike. A new scope takes some time to come to terms with it's intracacies such as focus and balance. I am sure given some time it will all become a lot easier.
Looks like it is a solid performer and just what you were after. So far the results speak for themselves and I'm sure your results will improve with better seeing etc.
Lovely work as usual.

iceman (Mike) · #20 16-05-2011, 09:37 AM

Really nice Mike, a very busy area!