Hourglass close up in Ha

[multiweb (Marc)]

Got out last night for the conjunction and missed the show due to the only clouds in Oz, conveniently located above my house in Sydney. I remember sitting on the sofa around 10:00pm and looking at pictures on FB from everybody. Albury, QLD, Melbourne, SA ... even Perth. wtf!

By 10:00pm the moon crescent got just under the cloud layer while setting down and that gave me a quick window of opportunity to focus the scope, align the finder and focus the OAG as well. Ha 7nm at prime on a C11 is a fairly tight fov and dark as, so you need something uber bright to find it.

I then slewed to M8 and got the cluster and hour glass in the field. The Lodestar on the OAG focused fine, did its thing and I was away cranking 3min subs with reasonable guiding. Lost a lot of subs due to passing clouds and the guide star disappeared a couple of time. Clouded again quickly at 11:00pm. Shot my flats then. By 1:00am it was clear but so dewy you could see the fog in the sky. Incredible. I needed a mop so I covered everything and went to bed.

Got very little data (15x3min) but the seeing wasn't too shabby. I added the GSO 8" fov to show the C11 fov size.

I have a HD version here:

All the stuffing around with the C11 primary paid off. It holds collimation and is giving me some nice pics now I have the mirrors spacing and everything down pat. It's as heavy as a dead donkey though. Minor problem for now but as I get older it'll have to be mounted permanently.

[gregbradley]

Wow, love the way you get that detail around the core. All those little cloud folds and ripples. Fabulous.

Greg.

[pluto (Hugh)]

That's very nice, well done!

[multiweb (Marc)]

Thanks guys.

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Wow, love the way you get that detail around the core. All those little cloud folds and ripples. Fabulous.

Greg.

At that FL those details are easier to extract. With good seeing you could get a lot more I reckon.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Mawww, the Lagoon, your baby

Looks good Marc ...sounds like it was a wet night

Mike

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by multiweb

Thanks guys.



At that FL those details are easier to extract. With good seeing you could get a lot more I reckon.

I reckon you are the ripple and fold man.

Greg.

[troypiggo (Troy)]

Very cool mate

[Placidus (Mike and Trish)]

Hi, Marc,

Delighted to see you're risking your back and getting the long focal length beast out. The dust lane across the centre of the hourglass is faultless . I'm guessing that the 3 minute subs helped with that. So easy to burn out.

Heroic work pressing on despite cloud and soggy dew. Hoping to see more!

Best,
Mike

[multiweb (Marc)]

Thanks a lot guys.

Originally Posted by Placidus

Hi, Marc,

Delighted to see you're risking your back and getting the long focal length beast out. The dust lane across the centre of the hourglass is faultless . I'm guessing that the 3 minute subs helped with that. So easy to burn out.

Heroic work pressing on despite cloud and soggy dew. Hoping to see more!

Best,
Mike

Thanks Mike. Well, after the macquarie night viewing I've been waiting to image with it. Skippy sky said it would be clear but those bloody clouds wouldn't move on. I could see the blue just out west. I thing the easterly breeze kept everything nice and moist.

[DJScotty (Scott)]

Spectacular detail and focus.
Imagine the detail you could get with a mosaic of the whole thing shot with the C11!

[jase (Jason)]

Just add diffraction spikes and tell everyone you've got a 10" RC.
It was certainly worth the effort Marc. Great image.

[Shiraz (Ray)]

crikey that's really good - top shelf resolution and smooth!

[Stevec35 (Steve)]

Looks good Marc. This region of the Lagoon always shows up a treat in Ha.

Cheers

Steve

[Paul Haese]

Yep, I like this too. I really like the almost marble appearance of the detail. Very nice detailing and not looking over processed. Sweet image.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by DJScotty

Spectacular detail and focus.
Imagine the detail you could get with a mosaic of the whole thing shot with the C11!

Thanks mate. Yeah, that'd be a real cool mosaic. Might do another panel at the bottom.

Originally Posted by Shiraz

crikey that's really good - top shelf resolution and smooth!

Thanks Ray. Glad you like it. I didn't expect the field to look that good. When the first sub got in I was pretty freaking happy.

Originally Posted by Stevec35

Looks good Marc. This region of the Lagoon always shows up a treat in Ha.

Cheers

Steve

Thanks Steve. Yeah it's a really cool area. Easy to spot too.

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

Yep, I like this too. I really like the almost marble appearance of the detail. Very nice detailing and not looking over processed. Sweet image.

Thanks Paul. Contrast suffered a little with the clouds. I will revisit and improving guiding with the AO this time should give me access to the next level of features on all those ridges.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by jase

Just add diffraction spikes and tell everyone you've got a 10" RC.
It was certainly worth the effort Marc. Great image.

Thanks mate. Like this? 10" RC? Great ROI. I need to find some stickers now before listing on the classified.

[topheart]

The Hourglass in an hour!

Good stuff Marc!!

In spite of the obstacles, you achieved very good detail in the data!

Cheers,
Tim

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by topheart

The Hourglass in an hour!

Good stuff Marc!!

In spite of the obstacles, you achieved very good detail in the data!

Cheers,
Tim

Thanks Tim. Yeah pretty happy with it. Looking forward to more clear nights now.

[RickS (Rick)]

Great detail, Marc

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by RickS

Great detail, Marc

Thanks mate. Good seeing helped and it's bright.