Centaurus A from Coonabarabran

[Ross G]

Originally Posted by multiweb

Tought crowd...

..I aim to please...

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Beautiful shot Ross. Lovely star colours and I like the subtle processing.

There's no substitute for dark skies and good seeing eh? My dark site observatory/get away had a bushfire recently as well, luckily I had mowed a fire break just before on a very hot day and was happy I didn't put it off!

Greg.

Hi Greg,

Thank you. I'm glad you like it and very happy that you like the processing. Learning Photoshop has been such a mammoth task for me and I know I have only scratched the surface.
Capturing the data is so much easier!

Yo were so lucky with the bushfire....look after those scopes!

Originally Posted by DJT

Beautiful image, Ross. The colours are great. Nicely done.

Hi David,

Glad you like it.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by RickS

Lovely image, Ross!

Thanks Rick. Glad you like it.

Originally Posted by ghsmith45

Great image Ross. Colours look pretty spot on. Nice to see the surrounding halo.
Geoff

Hi Geoff,

Thank you. Astrophotos are still such a "hit and miss" affair for me. Especially with the colours.

[jsmoraes (Jorge)]

Very impressive the shape of dark lane around galaxy. I never saw alike.

[ourkind (Carlos)]

Beautiful! And that's what dark skys is all about

[LucasB (Lucas)]

That is a beautiful shot Ross! Love the field and star colour. Thanks for posting.
Lucas

[alpal]

Originally Posted by alpal http://www.iceinspace.com.au/vbiis/i...s/viewpost.gif
Hi Ross,
You also picked up a few other galaxies -
very impressive from a small scope.
Coonabarabran must be a great place to image.

cheers
Allan

Originally Posted by Ross

Hi Allan,

How is your imaging going?

Clear nights at Coonabarabran are amazing. Probably similar to the mountain that you go to.
They really help compensate for a small scope.

Thank you.

Thanks Ross,
I haven't done any imaging since January but I am now free to
do as much imaging as I want.

I have been 4 times to Mt Baw Baw which is about 5,000 feet above sea level
where as Coonabarabran is about 1,700 feet.
There are however some flood lights on Baw Baw in the distance
which puts a gradient on images from that direction.
Mt Baw Baw does also have a problem from wind gusts.
I suppose you need a dome at that altitude?
The real advantage is the seeing:
from Melbourne - Jupiter often looks like a fuzzy ball with 2 lines through it
but from Baw Baw it comes in sharp & clear on the highest power eyepiece.

Would you be able to tell us more about Coonabarabran?
I appreciate those who drive long distances to get the best sites.

cheers
Allan

p.s.
a shot I took with just my DSLR & kit lens from Baw Baw -
- the Southern Cross is nearly lost in the myriad of stars -
the sky is magnificent:

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/i...IMG_1769_6.jpg

[E_ri_k (Erik)]

Originally Posted by Ross G

Thanks Eric.
I think there is a lot more glow than my photo shows. I would like to be ablt to double or triple the exposure.

I look forward to seeing it!

[Ross G]

Originally Posted by Davey

Lovely shot. Great star colour too.
Note to self must try harder with star colour
Dave

Thanks Dave.
Getting the colours correct is never easy.

Originally Posted by jsmoraes

Very impressive the shape of dark lane around galaxy. I never saw alike.

Thanks Jorge.
I noticed the dark lane, but I don't know if it is real or just my processing.

Originally Posted by ourkind

Beautiful! And that's what dark skys is all about

Thanks Carlos.

Yes, a dark sky makes all the difference.
Shame we have to drive so far from Sydney to find it.

Originally Posted by AstroAussie

That is a beautiful shot Ross! Love the field and star colour. Thanks for posting.
Lucas

Hi Lucas.

I'm glad you like it.

Thank you.

[iceman (Mike)]

Beautiful image, Ross. The star colours are excellent.

[pvelez (Pete)]

Tremendous shot Ross

Pete

[sjastro]

Very fine image Ross.

Steven

[allan gould]

+1 from me and all the comments above as well. Missed this one somehow.
Allan

[Ross G]

Originally Posted by E_ri_k

I look forward to seeing it!

It's on top of my list next "dark site" opportunity I get.

[Ross G]

Originally Posted by alpal

Originally Posted by Ross



Thanks Ross,
I haven't done any imaging since January but I am now free to
do as much imaging as I want.

I have been 4 times to Mt Baw Baw which is about 5,000 feet above sea level
where as Coonabarabran is about 1,700 feet.
There are however some flood lights on Baw Baw in the distance
which puts a gradient on images from that direction.
Mt Baw Baw does also have a problem from wind gusts.
I suppose you need a dome at that altitude?
The real advantage is the seeing:
from Melbourne - Jupiter often looks like a fuzzy ball with 2 lines through it
but from Baw Baw it comes in sharp & clear on the highest power eyepiece.

Would you be able to tell us more about Coonabarabran?
I appreciate those who drive long distances to get the best sites.

cheers
Allan

p.s.
a shot I took with just my DSLR & kit lens from Baw Baw -
- the Southern Cross is nearly lost in the myriad of stars -
the sky is magnificent:

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/i...IMG_1769_6.jpg

Hi Allan,

That's a great looking Southern Cross photo. Sharp and nice colours. It really looks like a great dark site.

Coonabarabran is very good. The only down side is the 6 hour drive from Sydney.
We stay at a motel west of the town on the road to Siding Springs so it is very dark.
The motel has a huge cleared area surrounded by sheltering trees. In it's hey day this was a football field and small golf course. It's now a great imaging filed giving views over the whole sky, with a ring of protective trees.
The best part about it is that your motel room is only 100m from where you image so you can run a power cable and have somewhere to make a coffee or have a snooze during the night.
The owners are very "astro" aware so all lights are out by 10pm and non astro guests are kept seperate from the "astros" whenever possible.

Now that you are free to do more imaging, you should come up to Coonabarabran next we are there.

[Ross G]

Originally Posted by iceman

Beautiful image, Ross. The star colours are excellent.

Glad you like it Mike.

Thanks for the kind comments.

Originally Posted by pvelez

Tremendous shot Ross

Pete

Thanks Pete.

Originally Posted by sjastro

Very fine image Ross.

Steven

Glad you like it Steven.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by allan gould

+1 from me and all the comments above as well. Missed this one somehow.
Allan

Hi Allan,

Thank you.

Glad you like it.

[alpal]

Originally Posted by Ross G

Hi Allan,

That's a great looking Southern Cross photo. Sharp and nice colours. It really looks like a great dark site.

Coonabarabran is very good. The only down side is the 6 hour drive from Sydney.
We stay at a motel west of the town on the road to Siding Springs so it is very dark.
The motel has a huge cleared area surrounded by sheltering trees. In it's hey day this was a football field and small golf course. It's now a great imaging filed giving views over the whole sky, with a ring of protective trees.
The best part about it is that your motel room is only 100m from where you image so you can run a power cable and have somewhere to make a coffee or have a snooze during the night.
The owners are very "astro" aware so all lights are out by 10pm and non astro guests are kept seperate from the "astros" whenever possible.

Now that you are free to do more imaging, you should come up to Coonabarabran next we are there.

Hi Ross,
that's a long way to go - 6 hours!
Mt Baw Baw is 2.5 hours for me.
Sounds like Coonabarabran is well set up for imaging.
I might go there when I get my system sorted.

cheers
Allan

[David Fitz-Henr]

That's an excellent shot Ross; love the wider field context of this image as well, yet good detail showing in the galaxy as well! Stars are nice and tight across the frame with good colour too

[Ross G]

Originally Posted by alpal

Hi Ross,
that's a long way to go - 6 hours!
Mt Baw Baw is 2.5 hours for me.
Sounds like Coonabarabran is well set up for imaging.
I might go there when I get my system sorted.

cheers
Allan

Hi Allan,

Yes, 6 hours is a long way, but the dark skies are worth it.
Sydney is so bright that you probably have too go that far to not see its glow.

You are lucky that your dark site is only two and half hours away.

[Ross G]

Originally Posted by David Fitz-Henr

That's an excellent shot Ross; love the wider field context of this image as well, yet good detail showing in the galaxy as well! Stars are nice and tight across the frame with good colour too

Hi David,

I'm glad you like the photo.

Thanks for the encouraging comments, it means a lot.

Ross.

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

That's a fine image there Ross, nice to see it in such wide field context. And you've preserved the star colours well, great work

[jase (Jason)]

Don't know how I missed this one... A real stunner, Ross. Looking forward to seeing more.