Another Astrofest Prawn

[Retrograde (Pete)]

This is the first of my Qld Astrofest images that I've had time to process.
Had a couple of false starts with this so only ended up capturing this on the Friday night (which was my last night there).

22 x 5 min subs through the ED102 using a modded Pentax K5 IIs.
It was great to meet so many IISers up there and I want to thank Rick, Troy, Peter, John, Marc, Houghy and Alex (+ a few more whose names I've forgotten or didn't catch) for all their advice and assistance. I learned so much over the week.

Higher res version -> http://www.astrobin.com/full/259389/0/

Comments and criticism welcome as always

[Atmos (Colin)]

For two hours exposure it's very clean Quite a rich area.

[atalas]

Good work Pete.

[multiweb (Marc)]

+1 Very nice field. You've nailed the colors.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Those stars, beautiful colours

[Placidus (Mike and Trish)]

Love the contrast between the Prawn and the open cluster NGC 6231.

A quick look at the histograms shows that if you wanted to, you could set the black point about 5800 counts higher without any information loss, and it would make the image really sparkle.

Great work.

Best,
Mike

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

That's a beauty Pete

[Retrograde (Pete)]

Originally Posted by Atmos

For two hours exposure it's very clean Quite a rich area.

Thanks Colin - would've liked a longer capture obviously.

Originally Posted by atalas

Good work Pete.

Thanks Louie

Originally Posted by multiweb

+1 Very nice field. You've nailed the colors.

Thanks Marc - yes I'm very happy with the colours in this one.

Originally Posted by jjjnettie

Those stars, beautiful colours

Thanks jjjnettie. Star colours seem to be retained OK at 5 minute subs - not sure about longer subs which I used on another object. Will have to see how they go when I process it up.

Originally Posted by Placidus

Love the contrast between the Prawn and the open cluster NGC 6231.

A quick look at the histograms shows that if you wanted to, you could set the black point about 5800 counts higher without any information loss, and it would make the image really sparkle.

Great work.

Best,
Mike

Thanks Mike. I like the framing in this one. I spent a long time getting it right (I'm still doing it manually on the back of the camera so have to find a more efficient way).
Appreciate the tip as well - will have a closer look and pay more attention to the black point with future images.

Originally Posted by Camelopardalis

That's a beauty Pete

Thanks Dunk!

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Looks really quite lovely Pete, nicely framed too

Mike

[zardos123 (Brad)]

Agree with all of the above very nice, a great capture and the star colours are awesome that modded k5ii seems to be doing the trick

[RickS (Rick)]

That's lovely, Pete. Well done!

[Retrograde (Pete)]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Looks really quite lovely Pete, nicely framed too

Mike

Thanks Mike

Originally Posted by zardos123

Agree with all of the above very nice, a great capture and the star colours are awesome that modded k5ii seems to be doing the trick

Cheers Brad - yep very happy with the modded K5 iis!

Originally Posted by RickS

That's lovely, Pete. Well done!

Thanks very much Rick.

[gregbradley]

A very pleasant widefield image. Good to see some Pentax users.

Greg.

[Retrograde (Pete)]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

A very pleasant widefield image. Good to see some Pentax users.

Greg.

Thank-you Greg.
Us Pentax users are swimming against the tide somewhat but I'm happy with what the camera has been able to produce so far.

[rodroger (Rodney)]

Nice one

[Retrograde (Pete)]

Originally Posted by rodroger

Nice one

Thanks Rodney. Great to meet you at Astrofest - I'm definitely going to investigate EQmod as you suggested.

[Adriano]

Nice image of IC 4628.

[Retrograde (Pete)]

Originally Posted by Adriano

Nice image of IC 4628.

Thanks Adriano (and welcome to IIS)!

[rodroger (Rodney)]

Originally Posted by Retrograde

Thanks Rodney. Great to meet you at Astrofest - I'm definitely going to investigate EQmod as you suggested.

No probs - here is the link to the Yahoo EQmod group. All info available here on compatible mounts, software etc.

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/EQMOD/info

One important aspect to watch is most require a "serial to usb" adapter. If you are using 64bit windows, make sure the one you get is compatible with 64bit. I purchased mine from Dick Smith, but can get them from Jaycar or E-bay. And any extension USB lead must be a powered lead!