SMC HOO most horrid conditions

[Atmos (Colin)]

Shot under full moon and 55km/h winds this is a Ha OIII rendition of the SMC. Couldn't think of anything worse conditions outside of clouds and rain

900s unguided exposures, FWHM on exposures were truly horrible. 5" on Ha and 6" on OIII although there is only so much that can be done under strong winds.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Excellent Col, came out a treat, the SMC is pretty boring until you whack on the Ha/OIII filters, then a maelstrom of bubbles appears

If the wind is strong and gusty but consistently blowing around, the guiding errors can even out pretty well. The details will be blurred a little of course but after stacking and averaging it can look ok, like you have seen here Back in 2008, I shot the Witchhead from Wiruna, with my AP152EDF on the NJP mount, in seriously, ridiculously howling winds and couldn't believe the image I managed to salvage none the less ...it just didn't make sense...

Mike

[ChrisV (Chris)]

Very nice Colin. Maybe the wind blew all the gunge out of your Melbourne air. Compensation for the wind?

[Atmos (Colin)]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Excellent Col, came out a treat, the SMC is pretty boring until you whack on the Ha/OIII filters, then a maelstrom of bubbles appears

If the wind is strong and gusty but consistently blowing around, the guiding errors can even out pretty well. The details will be blurred a little of course but after stacking and averaging it can look ok, like you have seen here Back in 2008, I shot the Witchhead from Wiruna, with my AP152EDF on the NJP mount, in seriously, ridiculously howling winds and couldn't believe the image I managed to salvage none the less ...it just didn't make sense...

Mike

The SMC really pops with narrowband. A few years ago I did a 15 panel 21 hour mosaic in RGB and the stars really came out but the nebulosity didn’t so much.

If i was working a wider image scale I’d have been fine. I’m planning a 2.6”/pixe wide field setup which will be able to image under any wind conditions that don’t physically knock the tripod over

Originally Posted by ChrisV

Very nice Colin. Maybe the wind blew all the gunge out of your Melbourne air. Compensation for the wind?

It was a northerly so it was just blowing NSW air down to Melbourne, not what we want

[h0ughy (David)]

I like the results. Great that you hi OT what you did

[vlazg (George)]

A good result Col, I would love to have a go but its a bit low in the sky for me.
Keep blowing Northerlies, we dont want southern air up here.

[tornado33]

Looks great. Nicely done.

[Placidus (Mike and Trish)]

So much to see in there. Like a bag of strawberries and rhaspberries and cherries.

We can't observe if the wind is much over 40 KPH. A quick test is if my hat gets blown off as I'm unlocking the observatory, it's no go.

Very successful despite the elements.