Hi.
Just a few hours earlier I did my deepest ever astrophoto session.I started doing 15 minute images of the Tarantula Nebula, sky was unusually dark acording to the histogram so I kept going till I got 10 done!
10x15mins ISO 400, UHCS filter MPCC, 10inch f5.6 newtonian, modded 350D. All hand guided albeit while sitting down. Darks, flats offsets, aligning stacking all done in Iris as well as dynamic and colour stretching. Finished off in Photoshop.
Scott
Amazing image Scott. I looked up at the sky last night so clear thinking "I wonder what photos I'll see tomorrow in IIS" and yes you did it again.
Thanks for the amazing pic!
yeah it was a different night last night, I went out at 10 to find i could easily see the LMC and the SMC and M45 naked eye, which usually never happens. the easterly was still blowing hard though, but I know you are protected near the house. Excellent image mate!
Yep thats a beaut image Scott well done and over 2 hours handguided!! Done a 1-1/2 hour run myself last night and had to quit as my eyes were getting just to tired..
Marathon effort!! I agree but worth every photon!!
Cheers Gary
Thanks all.
Yes I guess I should send it off to some of the magazines for them to consider
The LMC's position worked out well, as once Id located a guidestar, the guiding eyepiece was at a comfortable height while sitting in a garden chair. As the imaging wore on the eyepiece got higher, I sat on a pillow then still higher, so I got my gas lift bar stool. The last image was taken with the stool fully extended.
Indeed Id love an autoguider system, but Id need a new mount. (if I won lotto Id be ordering a Losmandy G11 in a flash
Scott
Thanks for posting that image Scott. I don't know how you manage to hand guide so well.
is your camera moded to remove the IR filter? Comparing the colour of your image to the one recently posted by John, shows significanr colour difference, yet I do not believe there is anyrthing wrong with either image.
I see you have taken 15min exposures whereas John took 3 min exposures.
When we look visually, we see no colours. This might explain why John's image lacked red; nothing wrong whatsoever with his camera or processing, just not enough red photons.
Hi Scott,
That is one very nice picture, I admire your paitence, the stars are nice and round, better than some of my autoguided ones, you must have a steady hand, keep em coming.
Really good image Scott. Shows how good your mirror is corrected by the MPCC. Have you tried RL deconvolution? The other thing to try is stacking the odd and even frames separately and then SUM them. I think the data is easily good enough so not a lot of noise creeps in. I have been doing this to some of my data and it works. Too long an exposure and image rotation becomes a problem no matter how well you have polar alignment etc. especially with wide fields so summing is an option.
