Another couple of clusters

cometcatcher (Kevin) · #1 12-01-2015, 07:23 PM

From last night, M46 and little planetary nebula NGC2438. There is also another fainter mag 14 planetary nebula called PN G231.4+04.3 to the left. Shows up better at higher res in the astrobin file. The stars to the left are a bit trailed. I know my PA was off a bit. Either that or collimation is a bit off.

8"F4 Newtonian, 30 x 30 secs at ISO 3200, Baader MPCC MKIII coma corrector, HEQ5 Pro unguided, Pentax K-5.
Bigger at astrobin. http://astrob.in/147719/0/

NCG3201 a little globular cluster 29 x 30 secs. http://astrob.in/147670/0/

raymo · #2 12-01-2015, 08:21 PM

Very nice. Two points; how do you get little or no noise at 3200 in
your climate? I can't see a trace of the 14th mag planetary, even on
the astrobin version.
raymo

cometcatcher (Kevin) · #3 12-01-2015, 08:33 PM

Oh I get noise. Take a look at my comet pics in the solar system folder. They are always noisy, mainly because I stretch the life out of them. I didn't stretch M46 very much, so little noise.

I should have uploaded a zoom version of the little PN. Here it is between tick marks.

raymo · #4 12-01-2015, 09:22 PM

Thanks for the zoom Kevin. Why didn't I see it? it stands out like one of a dogs round things. At 3200 at the present ambient my images are more noise than signal whether I stretch them or not. Could you snail mail me
a magnifying glass prior to posting your next obscure planetary.
raymo

LightningNZ (Cam) · #5 13-01-2015, 08:33 AM

Great pics! It seems Cloudy Mackay isn't so cloudy lately?

cometcatcher (Kevin) · #6 13-01-2015, 12:25 PM

No it's still cloudy. But I'm starting to believe I can photograph through it. It takes a couple of hours to get a 15 minute pic by shooting in the gaps.

Camelopardalis (Dunk) · #7 13-01-2015, 04:35 PM

Nice one Kevin

the M46 combo is a lovely pair, and the star colours come out really nicely, especially in 3201.

raymo · #8 13-01-2015, 05:43 PM

Would it help to go into the hinterland a bit, or is a large area blanketed?
raymo

cometcatcher (Kevin) · #9 13-01-2015, 07:30 PM

Thanks Dunk. It is a nice one.

Sometimes the cloud is coastal Ray, but this stuff continues a long way inland. Not that it matters. I can't drive far in my present state of health anyway.

The only way I can get pics is to sit there for hours to catch a break in the clouds and trigger the shutter manually. No way I could use an intervalometer, 75% of the frames would be cloud.