Spiral Galaxy NGC1566 first light SX694

[Jon (Jonathan)]

Lovely image Greg.

[David Fitz-Henr]

That's a very promising image for first light on the new camera Greg! Colour balance processing is also definitely improved over your other image. One question: there appears to be a smaller ghost image at the seven o'clock position on many of the brighter stars in the image - is this a registration/alignment isue?

[Lee]

Great image.... that little camera must look like a pimple on your cannon!

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by sjastro

Nice image Greg.

The outer spiral structure can be seen here.
http://members.iinet.net.au/~sjastro/ngc1566nnc.jpg

Regards

Steven

Thanks Steven. Thats a very deep image you have there. Thanks for that.

Originally Posted by ChrisM

Very nice indeed Greg. I don't think that I've seen that galaxy before; it certainly is 'pretty'.

What's the FL of your setup with the CDK17? And do you know how many arcsecs/pixel?

Chris

2940mm, .32 arc secs/pixel. With the reducer (not in this image) .48 arc sec/pixel, with the Proline 16803 its .63 arc secs/pixel

Originally Posted by Stevec35

Impressive Greg! One of your best galaxy images I would think. Bit of colour noise apparent which would be overcome by longer RGB exposures I would think.

Cheers

Steve

Thanks Steve. I think its worth taking some more subs when the weather clears up. Its definitely a photogenic galaxy. I am still getting used to the differences with this camera. 12 hours might be a good exposure figure for a galaxy like this with 10 minute subs.

Originally Posted by Jon

Lovely image Greg.

Thanks very much Jon.

Originally Posted by David Fitz-Henr

That's a very promising image for first light on the new camera Greg! Colour balance processing is also definitely improved over your other image. One question: there appears to be a smaller ghost image at the seven o'clock position on many of the brighter stars in the image - is this a registration/alignment isue?

No its not an alignment issue. I did 15 minute subs in luminance with this image. I looked at the subs and they all have those little blooms. Perhaps I should've run bloom handling in CCDstack. I think its a bloom as the downside of small pixels is overflow of the pixel relatively quickly compared to the 100,000 electron 9 micron pixels we often use. On the 10 minute subs in another image the stars are all tight with no blooms so I think 15 minutes is simply too long for this camera. Still experimenting but it seems 10 minutes is the maximum on that scope with this camera.

Originally Posted by Lee

Great image.... that little camera must look like a pimple on your cannon!

Yes its pretty small but that makes it easy to handle. The CDK17 has no problem with a heavy camera though. The focuser is very heavy duty.

Greg.

[SpaceNoob (Chris)]

Would the overflow occur that quickly at that image scale? Still need to significantly exceed the bloom gate I thought?

You have less well depth sure, but those small wells are spread over a much smaller area.

[allan gould]

Great image with a gReat camera. You must be happy with your setup.

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by SpaceNoob

Would the overflow occur that quickly at that image scale? Still need to significantly exceed the bloom gate I thought?

You have less well depth sure, but those small wells are spread over a much smaller area.

Well depth is 18,000 electrons which is very small. KAF8300 has small wells and they are 25,500. The KAF16803 wells are 100,000 electrons.

I looked at other images I have taken with the same camera and scope using 10minutes and there was no sign of that surrounding fuzz around brighter stars. Its also only on the brighter stars. Early days to be definitive but there you go.

Originally Posted by allan gould

Great image with a gReat camera. You must be happy with your setup.

Thanks Allan. I am thrilled. I am also looking at ways to use a reducer and an AOL. I think I may have a way.

Greg.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Beautiful details in that one. Nice.

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by multiweb

Beautiful details in that one. Nice.

Thanks Marc. I am happy with the increased resolution. If tonight is clear I'll try out the camera with the Planewave reducer.

Greg.

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Red filter looks right out of rego Greg, whats going on there?

[leinad (Dan)]

Nice galaxy, and CCD. Has nice nice QE levels.

For 7 hours total integration time it looks like some bad registration there; some bad (focus/atmos shift) subs included in the stack ?

Look forward to some more, always interested to see these reviews (new equipment tests)of yours here and there.

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by Bassnut

Red filter looks right out of rego Greg, whats going on there?

Not 100% sure. Could be small wells spilling over or some spike in the PE in the red subs. I have to examine the red subs more. A lot of these were 15 minutes which may be too long for this small welled camera.

Originally Posted by leinad

Nice galaxy, and CCD. Has nice nice QE levels.

For 7 hours total integration time it looks like some bad registration there; some bad (focus/atmos shift) subs included in the stack ?

Look forward to some more, always interested to see these reviews (new equipment tests)of yours here and there.

I corrected those stars with the red tongue. I'll have to check the masters again. I put it down to small wells in the camera and some spill over. Not 100% sure. It seems better in another image of 10 minute subs. I am adjusting my processing to suit the camera. It could be a pecularity of the camera, it could be a needed step in my processing routine also.

Greg.

[Ross G]

A great looking galaxy photo Greg.

Love the composition.

Good luck with the new camera.

Ross.

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by Ross G

A great looking galaxy photo Greg.

Love the composition.

Good luck with the new camera.

Ross.

Thanks Ross. Its a real close up isn't it? If the skies clear ( a lot of rain seems to be forecast) I might take some more exposures and build it up more. It'd be nice to capture more of those outer arms.

Greg.

[jase (Jason)]

Love it Greg! The details are divine in the full resolution image. Magenta is strong, which I wasn't expecting from this galaxy. An excellent rendition. Thanks for sharing.

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by jase

Love it Greg! The details are divine in the full resolution image. Magenta is strong, which I wasn't expecting from this galaxy. An excellent rendition. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Jase. I was very happy with how it turned out. As far as the magenta there is no guarantee I have that right. It certainly is the way the data seemed to go.

Greg.