Eta Carinas the flavour this week

[Gama]

I setup for a long exposure for once, started imaging, went inside, came out 90 minutes later, and CLOUDS!. Great, i checked the images and only salvaged 10 frames. I'll have to redo it again if the rains stops, stupid Melbourne weather, some roads got flooded, beleive it....
Anyway, still came out OK.
I used a 60mm f5 telephoto and exposure measured to 20 minutes, 2 minute subs.
Camera QHY8
I have to try and get a decent camera lens, as the 60mm is, well, lets just say cheap!.
Sorry the Quality is poor, but if you want to see a better version go here:
http://qhyccd.com/ccdbbs/index.php?topic=124.0

Image size was reduced down to 1/3 to fit constraints.

Theo

[iceman (Mike)]

Beautiful image, Theo. I like the hint of cluster in the top left corner.

The QHY8 seems to be a keeper. Have you taken comparison shots with a "normal" DSLR or other dedicated CCD camera?

[Gama]

Yes i have done comparisons, the DSLR's can take a great images, but you need to spend so much time cleaning the noise, and then you need to increase the number of exposures to get good detail from the more fainter objects. As bert said elswhere, Canon have a good system for removing noise from their images, but the best method is to freeze its butt off to remove noise. The only other determining factor is the 16 bit ADC over the DSLR, again, this does have an effect on how much you can process and manipilate, but some DSLR images are hard knock as they look so good.
Just as important, and in some cases more important, is the optical system used to image with. When i use my big guns to image, i get good sharp and clear shots. But when you use a less than good quality optical setup, well, as you can see here with the 60mm i used, the picture is slightly washed out. Just cannot get tak sharp stars, and detail in the nebular is lost.
But i dont have another wide field lens to use, better than nothing.
Using a good quality optical system brings the whole image into perspective.

Well, as im typing, im given another 200mm camera lens by a freind. So i'll redo this image and see what a difference a lens makes.

[leon]

Theo, there is nothing wrong with that image, quite nice i thought, considering the weather, i love that part of the sky.

Cheers leon

[Gama]

Hi Leon, you need decent optics to bring out detail, problem is as the distributer of QHY, i get asked some hair raising questions, and rather awkward requests. This was one request, use a zoom camera lens, but all i had was this lens.
Netwolf is waiting on some images for the CMOS camera, wonder what optics he wants it tested on..
Im not to pleased about the overall image, like i said, the optics are clearly not the best. But i do have a better lens now..