NGC3324 in Ha

[bluescope]

Hi All

Here is a shot from last night ( Friday around 9pm-10pm WST ) as I am sure most of you are asleep as I post this at 1am and won't see it 'till Saturday.

I love this Baader 7nm Ha filter.

6x600 sec @-12C Total 1 hour
William Optics FLT110 F7 Triplet Apo on EQ6 Pro
SBIG ST2000XCM with Baader MPCC, UV/IR and 7nm Ha filters
Self guided in CCDOPS
Stacked in DSS processed in PS CS3



p.s. I still have another image to process from the same session.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Very nice Steve. You're on a roll Are you going to use all this Ha you're doing as luminance for color versions eventually?

[KenGee (Kenith Gee)]

well framed, good data by the looks, it does look a little soft, a sharpen would help I think. Your enjoying the narrow band imaging, have you got an S or an O filter yet?

[rat156]

Hi Steve,

It's good, but you've overcooked it a bit trying to get the nebulosity out of the image. Most of the stars look saturated. When applying your curves in PS, ensure that the curve is linear at the white end, this usually stops the stars from saturating, though not always.

Cheers
Stuart

[AlexN]

Indeed another good Ha image Steve.. I'm glad you're able to guide through your 7nm filter, I'll be giving my 13nm another go with the ST9 in a few days, and hopefully increasing my guider exposure time like you've mentioned in other threads will allow me to guide through the Ha filter also..

well done, as the others have mentioned, it does look a little soft/smooth.. are you applying some sort of noise reduction thats smoothing it out like this?

[bluescope]

Originally Posted by multiweb

Very nice Steve. You're on a roll Are you going to use all this Ha you're doing as luminance for color versions eventually?

Thanks Marc ... I don't know if I'll use it as luminance later on in colour pics ... at this stage I like them the way they are.

Originally Posted by KenGee

well framed, good data by the looks, it does look a little soft, a sharpen would help I think. Your enjoying the narrow band imaging, have you got an S or an O filter yet?

There was quite a bit of noise in the image Ken so I used noise reduction in PS to calm it down so I'm loathe to re introduce any possible new noise with sharpening. The noise reduction tool in PS CS3 allows you to sharpen details as well which I applied sparingly.

S and O filters are possible in the future ... all in good time ....

Originally Posted by rat156

Hi Steve,

It's good, but you've overcooked it a bit trying to get the nebulosity out of the image. Most of the stars look saturated. When applying your curves in PS, ensure that the curve is linear at the white end, this usually stops the stars from saturating, though not always.

Cheers
Stuart

Perhaps it is a little stretched at the top end Stuart but I kind of like the punchy look of it ... I have other versions. Stars are a bit eggy too which doesn't help ... tends to make them stand out a bit more than normal.

Originally Posted by AlexN

Indeed another good Ha image Steve.. I'm glad you're able to guide through your 7nm filter, I'll be giving my 13nm another go with the ST9 in a few days, and hopefully increasing my guider exposure time like you've mentioned in other threads will allow me to guide through the Ha filter also..

well done, as the others have mentioned, it does look a little soft/smooth.. are you applying some sort of noise reduction thats smoothing it out like this?

I had a fair bit of noise to contend with Alex ... as I've said I used the noise reduction tool in PS CS3. Good luck with your 13nm ... you should get a fair bit more light through for guiding with that. Look forward to seeing the results.

[Hagar (Doug)]

Very nice Steve. I have got a Baader 7nm Ha and must start and use it now that the moon is high and bright.
Look forward to seeing more.

[bluescope]

Originally Posted by Hagar

Very nice Steve. I have got a Baader 7nm Ha and must start and use it now that the moon is high and bright.
Look forward to seeing more.

Yeah Doug I just watched the full moon rising across the valley ... get that 7nm out mate !

[AlexN]

Steve, Just thought I'd let you know self guiding is working fine through the 13nm Ha filter with 2sec guider exposures! Pretty happy with that I must say. Now if only I could keep this dew off my secondary..

[bluescope]

Originally Posted by AlexN

Steve, Just thought I'd let you know self guiding is working fine through the 13nm Ha filter with 2sec guider exposures! Pretty happy with that I must say. Now if only I could keep this dew off my secondary..

Yeah Alex ... 2 seconds should be fine ... I've had to go as long as 4 seconds so far ... bit scary watching the numbers in CCDOPS but the images are ok.

Better get the hair dryer out for your secondary ... I don't have that problem using the FLT110 ... only need one heater.

Have fun out there ... I'm having a night off

[AlexN]

fun doesnt begin to describe my first night imaging since 28th of Feb!