Tarantula Nebula

[Slawomir (Suavi)]

First image taken last night with my new QSI 690i.

I was worried that my mount won't be able to track sufficiently well, but it seems that I will be able to postpone upgrading my mount...

Flex is noticeable in 10-minute subs but I already have a plan how to try to minimize it..

Gear and details:
24 x 10-minute subs taken from a balcony about 2km from Brisbane's CBD, 12nm halpha, 100 mm doublet, HEQ5.

Higher resolution image:
http://www.astrobin.com/136058/

P.S. I was very surprised that none of the subs were spoilt by helicopters patrolling the city last night (G20).

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Pretty good, nice and contrasty

Mike

[Slawomir (Suavi)]

Thanks Mike :-)

[RobF (Rob)]

Yep, nice one. Perhaps just a touch too much high pass filtering, but great data by the looks of it.

Re the G20, it was interesting after about 1am last night - could hear the sound of military jets at high altitude every 15mins or so - fighters perhaps circuiting the city above 10,000 ft? When I first heard them wondered if Airforce one was making an early arrival.

I couldn't help wondering what the choppers have thought about my scopes point up towards them over the last week or so.

[alistairsam]

Taken with a doublet? looks really good, and here I was wondering about the quality of glass in a doublet compared to a triplet. ok I won't go there, but perhaps some HDR might bring out all the faint stuff in the surrounds.
Can you post a link to your doublet on TS?

Cheers
Alistair

[lazjen (Chris)]

Nice image. Do you plan to around other channels to this RGB/NB?

It was interesting with all the aircraft around. I think it was non-stop all night - I heard them all the time and often saw the lights. And I too wondered if it was an early arrival of Airforce one.

[Slawomir (Suavi)]

Thank you all for kind feedback.

Rob, I agree, a bit rushed processing of data in PI and I am still learning how to use it effectively.

Alistair, this doublet is okay, but focuser needed to be upgraded and I really cannot use an OAG with this scope as I have to quite significantly adjust focus for each filter. I also have a small triplet by Orion (80mm CF) and optics in Orion are superior to this doublet, but the OTA n focuser in Orion are really not good for photography. One day will look into fixing issues with my Orion as I really like its optics.

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/...d-Focuser.html

Chris, I started organising batteries n cables n hoping for a few clear nights over Christmas to do narrowband imaging (HOS) somewhere a bit further away from the city and this nebula definitely deserves some colour :-)

[Rex]

Nice clean image of a really beautiful area. Great work!

[RickS (Rick)]

Very impressive first light!

[multiweb (Marc)]

The highres is really awesome. Sharp as with heaps of details. Very nicely done.

[PeterEde (Peter)]

That's awesome

[Slawomir (Suavi)]

Thank you guys for your kind comments.

I was considering getting QSI 660, but eventually went for QSI 690 and I do not regret making that choice. I love its higher resolution and this camera should allow for capturing finer details when weather will be conducive for astrophotography. Anyway, after dealing with a bit of flex I would like to upgrade my 12nm filters...'upgrading' of astro-gear never ends, does it? :-)

[Geoff45 (Geoff)]

Nice lot of detail there, but it does look a shade overprocessed.
Note added: I've just had a look at the high res version. It's not overprocessed at all. Nicely done. (Note to self: Ignore low res thumbnails.)

Originally Posted by alistairsam

Taken with a doublet? looks really good, and here I was wondering about the quality of glass in a doublet compared to a triplet.

Well, if you image at only one wavelength then even a well made singlet will work very well.