I've been collecting data on this since the 18th of June. It's 100% a shot out the dining room window, no outdoors for this one. Some details from Wiki...
"NGC 1097 is a barred spiral galaxy about 45 million light-travel years away in the constellation Fornax. It was discovered by William Herschel on 9 October 1790. It is a severely interacting galaxy with obvious tidal debris and distortions caused by interaction with the companion galaxy NGC 1097A. NGC 1097 has a supermassive black hole at its center, which is 140 million times the mass of the Sun."
Capture details: Bintel 8" F4 Newtonian, Baader MPCC MKIII, HEQ5 Pro unguided, 683 x 30 seconds, Pentax K-5.
It took 6 hours for DSS to stack the 683 RAW DNG frames. The cats had to be locked in my room while taking it as they would sit on the window ledge and stick their noses down the telescope tube lol.
I am loving what you can do out of your kitchen window! I sadly don't have any room in the whole house where I can really see the skies at the best of times. I can look at street lights and trees. Although just looking at it now, if I moved the dining room table into the lounge room I could see a pretty small patch of sky.
What you're getting though, top notch for an indoor shot
I'm not sure I could see much out my kitchen window other than spiders! Very impressive image for something you 'lazily' (683 frames lazy) took from your window, nice detail in the spiral arms there.
Now, inquiring minds want to know... how do you do polar alignment when pointing out of a window? Knock a hole in the ceiling to see Alpha Centauri?
Out a window... hmmm? Hopefully not through the flyscreen half
Nice work considering... you lazy sod
Mike
Thanks Mike. Hey good idea about the flyscreen side. I could get nice diffraction spikes through that!
Quote:
Originally Posted by andyc
I'm not sure I could see much out my kitchen window other than spiders! Very impressive image for something you 'lazily' (683 frames lazy) took from your window, nice detail in the spiral arms there.
Now, inquiring minds want to know... how do you do polar alignment when pointing out of a window? Knock a hole in the ceiling to see Alpha Centauri?
I drift align Andy. Once aligned I use a Niko marker to mark the spots for the tripod legs. And I actually can see Alpha Centauri from the southern dining room window.
It took 6 hours for DSS to stack the 683 RAW DNG frames. The cats had to be locked in my room while taking it as they would sit on the window ledge and stick their noses down the telescope tube lol.
Hi Kevin,
Wow - 683 frames! 1/26 th of the noise.
That must be a new record.
It's a remarkable picture.
I tried to image it once with a DSLR & the result was awful
yet I still haven't deleted it from my flickr photos.
Thanks Justin. Yeah I was waiting for the PC to run out of disk space or crash. I wonder what he limit is? I'll have to find out!
Quote:
Originally Posted by alpal
Hi Kevin,
Wow - 683 frames! 1/26 th of the noise.
That must be a new record.
It's a remarkable picture.
I tried to image it once with a DSLR & the result was awful
yet I still haven't deleted it from my flickr photos.
cheers
Allan
Thanks Allan. I think I did about 800 frames of the Helix so I need 1000 to really break the record. I'll have to try for it!
that's great as usual Kevin, now i'm starting to get the feeling your mount is being pampered ... being inside all the time - while your dslr shutter is copping a hiding!! also the PC is getting a workout.
last night I actually managed to get out for a couple of hours and decided I should probably clear my backyard eos folder out on my dodgey old laptop, apparently there was 14,000 files in there :/ needless to say the laptop was running waaaaaaay better afterwards!
Fantastic image Kevin, definitely getting everything out of that 8" newt. wonderful!
Thanks Aidan. I like my little 8". I have a 10" but the 8 is more fun.
Quote:
Originally Posted by plantnerd
Great what a stunning galaxy and with a DSLR 600 frames tames the noise will have to try this one with my new 10" F4.0 newt
Thanks Luis. Your 10" should be awesome!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Placidus
This is analogous to training a very large team of swallows to successfully liberate the Colossus of Rhodes. A heroic effort.
Thanks M&T! You know, I've always wondered what would turn out if I tried the same thing with your 20". I reckon it would be pretty good.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rustigsmed
that's great as usual Kevin, now i'm starting to get the feeling your mount is being pampered ... being inside all the time - while your dslr shutter is copping a hiding!! also the PC is getting a workout.
last night I actually managed to get out for a couple of hours and decided I should probably clear my backyard eos folder out on my dodgey old laptop, apparently there was 14,000 files in there :/ needless to say the laptop was running waaaaaaay better afterwards!
Thanks Russ. The total file size for this lot was about 14 GB. I keep everything, but once processed it all gets moved over to a portable HD to free up the lappy drive for the next run.
As for the mount, it was getting a bit stiff so Mike Manning kindly dropped around to lube and adjust the gears. It runs like a dream now. Doesn't make that coffee grinder sound. He's a whiz at mechanics.
I have a couple more targets on the go but will likely be a few weeks before they are ready.
hmmm? Hopefully not through the flyscreen half 
