Finally the rain and storms had taken break from showering Sydney allowing some imaging time. I wouldn't normally try at all in December as my street is full of Christmas lights but it had been awhile since the scope was out.
M78, this was a hard one, its not as bright as I thought it was, still I enjoyed the process.
Taken with the Canon 60da using the Hyperstar lens / C11 Edge HD over three nights. Total of 139 x 90 sec subs. 3h 28m total. Darks , Bias and Flats applied.
Wow, that was taken from Parklea in Sydney??? Ok crazy Christmas lights not withstanding and your northern sky is probably not completely terrible but sheesh great job, wouldn't have thought such a good image of this area including Barnarads Loop possible with a DSLR from where (I think) you are
Wow, that was taken from Parklea in Sydney??? Ok crazy Christmas lights not withstanding and your northern sky is probably not completely terrible but sheesh great job, wouldn't have thought such a good image of this area including Barnarads Loop possible with a DSLR from where (I think) you are
Mike
Cheers Mike!
Yeah your right, Parklea, Sydney. It's quite bright here in December, I've attached a picture for reference. My northern skies are pretty good, east and south are just full of LP , crapmosphere I call it. I started imaging at 11:00pm each night, so most of the Christmas lights had been switched off and M78 was about 45 degrees above the horizon. We even had a blackout on the second night, you should have seen the sky then, wow! Only trouble was the mount stopped tracking. Laptop, camera and Lodestar were fine but the mount was running of AC. I should have a back up battery.
I was a little disappointed with some of the background noise but I think I'm being a bit harsh on the 60Da, the sensor temp did range from +20c to +29 over the three nights. One day I'll get a CCD.
Great image Rod. Trying to make my mind up about going down the Hyperstar path.
Cheers Rob
Thanks Rob! Just make sure your C8 is "fast star" compatible. Some of the older scopes weren't and a secondary mirror housing conversion kit was required for hyperstar use. If yours is labeled "Fast Star" your good to go.
Yeah your right, Parklea, Sydney. It's quite bright here in December, I've attached a picture for reference. My northern skies are pretty good, east and south are just full of LP , crapmosphere I call it. I started imaging at 11:00pm each night, so most of the Christmas lights had been switched off and M78 was about 45 degrees above the horizon. We even had a blackout on the second night, you should have seen the sky then, wow! Only trouble was the mount stopped tracking. Laptop, camera and Lodestar were fine but the mount was running of AC. I should have a back up battery.
I was a little disappointed with some of the background noise but I think I'm being a bit harsh on the 60Da, the sensor temp did range from +20c to +29 over the three nights. One day I'll get a CCD.
Cheers
Rod
Oh wadda'ya mean?...that looks like a pristine dark sky to me ....
possible with a DSLR from where (I think) you are 
I started imaging at 11:00pm each night, so most of the Christmas lights had been switched off and M78 was about 45 degrees above the horizon. We even had a blackout on the second night, you should have seen the sky then, wow! Only trouble was the mount stopped tracking. Laptop, camera and Lodestar were fine but the mount was running of AC. 
I should have a back up battery.
