NGC 456, 460 and 465 in the SMC

[RickS (Rick)]

I missed out on a dark sky night this month so I snatched what I could from home (light polluted inner Brisbane suburb...) The quality of the LRGB data is not great and I could probably have used longer on the Ha as well. Still, at least I got something

Scope: GSO RC10 @ f/6.4 (1600mm FL)
Camera: Starlight Xpress H18, Astrodon filters
Mount: AP900
Guiding: SX OAG and Lodestar

Exposures: 10x5 mins and 10x1 mins Lum, 9x5 mins each R, G, B
11x30 mins Ha in the HaRGB version

NGC 465 is the open cluster near the centre of the FOV. NGC 460 and NGC 456 are the areas of nebulosity to the right (see chart at the excellent Clouds of Magellan web site: http://www.cloudsofmagellan.net.au/page-5.htm)

Larger images are here: http://rickstevenson.smugmug.com/Ast...9904033_QWkBM2

Thanks for looking. Constructive criticism welcome...

Cheers,
Rick.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

These are great Rick, I like that you have composed the two variations too, nice work very clean images

Mike

[sjastro]

Nice images Rick.

Steven

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

These are lovely shots Rick! Star colours and overall colour balance is great. Very nice to look at.

Looks like little coma in the top left though?

Cheers, Marcus

[TrevorW]

Nice tidy shot good star colour

Clear skies

[atalas]

A couple of nice shots Rick.

[gregbradley]

Very nice colour and liveliness of image. I agree with Marcus, you do get the impression the top left stars are larger. Tilt/sag? You can adjust the tilt on an SX camera. Perhaps that needs adjusting. I am not sure which corner of the camera the top left side of an image represents.

Anyone know how that works? Is it upside down and reversed like a Box Brownie camera image?


Greg.

[RickS (Rick)]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

These are great Rick, I like that you have composed the two variations too, nice work very clean images

Mike

Very kind of you, Mike. Not a magnum opus like your Helix, but I think I'm improving

Originally Posted by sjastro

Nice images Rick.

Steven

Thanks, Steven!

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

These are lovely shots Rick! Star colours and overall colour balance is great. Very nice to look at.

Looks like little coma in the top left though?

Cheers, Marcus

Thanks, Marcus. I have a little tilt according to CCD Inspector. I'm installing an Atlas focuser next week and I'm going to work on getting everything solid and orthogonal then.

Originally Posted by TrevorW

Nice tidy shot good star colour

Clear skies

Thanks, Trevor!

Originally Posted by atalas

A couple of nice shots Rick.

Thanks, Louie!

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Very nice colour and liveliness of image. I agree with Marcus, you do get the impression the top left stars are larger. Tilt/sag? You can adjust the tilt on an SX camera. Perhaps that needs adjusting. I am not sure which corner of the camera the top left side of an image represents.

Anyone know how that works? Is it upside down and reversed like a Box Brownie camera image?


Greg.

Thanks, Greg. Once I get the Atlas set up I'll check the tilt and have a play. I don't know exactly how the corners of the image map to the physical sky, but I'll work it out. It's going to vary depending on the type of scope (mirrors vs lenses, etc.) and even the software. With default settings PixInsight displays images differently to Maxim! One assumes the origin is the lower left corner and the other assumes the upper left corner

Cheers,
Rick.

[RobF (Rob)]

Not sure if you're aware Rick, there is a setting in the PI preferences to tell it which corner is which so you get right orientation with your gear. It tends to forget after upgrades which drives me nuts from time to time though.

Love the pics BTW!

[Lester]

Very nice views Rick. Thanks.

[RickS (Rick)]

Originally Posted by RobF

Not sure if you're aware Rick, there is a setting in the PI preferences to tell it which corner is which so you get right orientation with your gear. It tends to forget after upgrades which drives me nuts from time to time though.

Love the pics BTW!

Thanks, Rob. I read about the magic Format Explorer setting on the PI Forum, but I didn't realise it could get reset by an upgrade. That probably explains a confusing episode from a few weeks back...

Originally Posted by Lester

Very nice views Rick. Thanks.

Thanks very much, Lester!

[Tandum (Robin)]

Good to see you got all that stuff working at last Rick. Hard to believe your pulling images from St. Lucia though

Can't you just pinpoint it to get an angle?

[RickS (Rick)]

Originally Posted by Tandum

Good to see you got all that stuff working at last Rick. Hard to believe your pulling images from St. Lucia though

Can't you just pinpoint it to get an angle?

Thanks, Robin. We like living here, but it's certainly not a great location for astro-imaging or for that matter, astro-anything

Good idea using a plate solve to figure out the tilt direction!

Cheers,
Rick.

[midnight (Darrin)]

Really enjoyed the star colours Rick so this really adds to the presentation.

Cheers,
Darrin...

[Stevec35 (Steve)]

Nice Rick! The coma that others have mentioned isn't particularly noticeable to me.

Cheers

Steve

[RickS (Rick)]

Originally Posted by midnight

Really enjoyed the star colours Rick so this really adds to the presentation.

Cheers,
Darrin...

Thanks, Darrin!

Originally Posted by Stevec35

Nice Rick! The coma that others have mentioned isn't particularly noticeable to me.

Cheers

Steve

Thanks, Steve. When I was processing the images I did a web search for the same objects and I think I found a great image that you took. I was envious

Cheers,
Rick.

[Ross G]

Nice shots Rick.

Great colours.

Ross.

[RickS (Rick)]

Thanks, Ross!

[AG Hybrid (Adrian)]

Nice! Looks like there might be a 'little' globular cluster up there in the top right hand corner!

[RickS (Rick)]

Originally Posted by AG Hybrid

Nice! Looks like there might be a 'little' globular cluster up there in the top right hand corner!

Thanks, Adrian! Yes, it does look like it might be a small globular.