Thor's Helmet (NGC2359) with 40D

[midnight (Darrin)]

Hi All,

Going through a very busy holiday period where we've had no cloud for about 6 days up until last night.

Had enough of M42 for now so I wanted to do Thor's Helmet and this is my 1st attempt. Certainly not in the same league as Rob's (OzRob) lovelly, recent post but it's a start.

NGC2359 - Thor's Helmet
Canon 40D Modified (Astro)
FLT110 with flattener
17 x 600 seconds ISO 800
19 x Darks.
I took flats but on stacking it was severly warped near the bottom. I guess uneven illumination. This image really needs flat imo.
Stacked with DSS
Processing with CS4. Levels, curves, selective colour, noise reduction, match colour to boost star colours (from Louie's tutorials) and cropping.

This subject really needs a longer FL (probably at least 1500mm)

Thanks for looking and as always, critique/suggestions/improvements most welcome.

Darrin...

[mill (Martin)]

Not bad at all Darrin
I will see if i can nab this one tonight at 1650mm.

[RickS (Rick)]

Yes, nice one Darrin. You've really been cranking out the images! I have been thinking about having a go at this one too, if the sky ever clears...

[CoolhandJo (Paul)]

Nice deep image

[atalas]

Another great effort Darrin! ok,green and blue look too strong so go to curves and pull down the green and blue channel and then even color bias.

You should now start to see a better overall color balance and so now, look at some contrast work....looking washed out at the moment.

[midnight (Darrin)]

Originally Posted by atalas

Another great effort Darrin! ok,green and blue look too strong so go to curves and pull down the green and blue channel and then even color bias.

You should now start to see a better overall color balance and so now, look at some contrast work....looking washed out at the moment.

Many thanks Louie for the pointers!! I'm always on the look out for improvements.

Originally Posted by CoolhandJo

Nice deep image

Cheers Paul. I didn't think my DSLR would obtain as much as it did.

Originally Posted by RickS

Yes, nice one Darrin. You've really been cranking out the images! I have been thinking about having a go at this one too, if the sky ever clears...

Good luck Rick. I tried to have another go last night with my 8"SN and guide with the FLT, I could not get a guide star. I need to re-assess my guiding setup as it is limited at the moment.

Originally Posted by mill

Not bad at all Darrin
I will see if i can nab this one tonight at 1650mm.

Thank Martin. I tried last night with my LXD55 SN (812mm) with a 2 x powermate and the FOV on the 40D sensor was a good match but I couldn't find a guide star as I got lazy again and left my FLT110 on the mount which is fixed in place and the Nexguide is showing its limitations (max 4sec exposure with no gain adjustment). Time to get the DBK out and try something different.

Darrin...

[Lester]

Very nice view Darrin, you have captured the structure of this nebula well.

All the best.

[astronobob (Bob)]

Real nice Darrin, yep & some fine structure in the Helmet too , ,
Great effort !

[prokyon (Werner Probst)]

A very good 1st attempt, Darrin. Keep on!

[Hagar (Doug)]

Very nice Darrin. You have to be happoy with this one.
Well done.

[Ross G]

I love your photo Darrin.

What a great capture.

Ross.