Latest Newcastle efforts

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Hi boys and girls

I haven't posted for a while (sorry) but here are a few image I have been struggling to put together here in Newcastle (no I won't complain about it this time..grrr...)

Warning: If you are only on dial up, the following links go to images that are between 1meg and 2meg in size but by scrolling down to the bottom of each image page you can select "large" from the other sizes menu to see a much smaller jpeg to see if you want to bother to open the big version, if you do select "original" size.

I have generally presented them a little on the lighter side to improve their appearence on monitors in non darkened rooms..?

From Saturday night this long weekend.

NGC 253

3/4 moon
Seeing above average and little to no wind and finally...no bloody cloud this time!!!! :

Have a swim around the full frame Luminance here (lots of background galaxies):

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike20...39661/original

Here's a close up crop of the Luminance (shows more detail in the little gallaxies)

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike20...41964/original

Aaand after adding some colour from an old 80ED shot from 2005 here it is in colour:

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike20...47566/original

I love the collection of vertical streamers shooting up out of the face of the galaxy, particularly the one coming from the core region!

The Tarantula Nebula in Halpha:

Still 3/4 moon but less of a problem in Halpha
Seeing deteriorated to poor and yep..some wind picked up DOH! buuut no cloud at least woohoo!

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike20...82144/original

Now from a couple of weeks ago

NGC 6188

Conditions generally ok with some drifting cloud (of course!) and average to poor seeing:

Halpha:

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike20...56621/original

Lum + Halpha:

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike20...54475/original

Aaand with some crappy colour data (not happy with the Ha-LRGB blend either on this but oh well)

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike20...96023/original

Hope you enjoyed'em

Mike

[jase (Jason)]

Magnificent images Mike. Not sure what happened with the HaLRGB of NGC 6188. Star colours look lost and not defined. How did you blend this Ha data? Did you re-layer the stars over the top to bring them back?

Thoroughly enjoyed your rendition of NGC 253. You beat me to it as I'm close to completing a similar set. Will post after the masses appreciate your version. Still got the Proline11k I see. What happened to your discussions around the Proline16.8k?

Well done.

[Lee]

Nice images....
Get used to the cloud in Newcastle

At least we don't have water restrictions!

[Phil]

stunning lots of gals in NGC253
Phil

[acropolite (Phil)]

Amazing images Mike. Don't complain about the weather, at least it's better than down here...

[Ric]

A wonderful set of images Mike, fantastic imaging.

Cheers

[h0ughy (David)]

so thats what you have been doing - thought that you were a bit quiet

[tornado33]

Fantastic NGC253 there. The refractor really makes use of the advantage of no central obstruction and no thermal currents due to it being a sealed system. The other shots excellent too. bet you were out under the stars again last few nights as it has been very dry albeit a bit windy.
Scott

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by jase

Magnificent images Mike. Not sure what happened with the HaLRGB of NGC 6188. Star colours look lost and not defined. How did you blend this Ha data? Did you re-layer the stars over the top to bring them back?

Thoroughly enjoyed your rendition of NGC 253. You beat me to it as I'm close to completing a similar set. Will post after the masses appreciate your version. Still got the Proline11k I see. What happened to your discussions around the Proline16.8k?

Well done.

Hey thanks Jase!

I wish the moon hadn't been up as the 253 data would have been much better, can't believe how much was revealed regardless! This digital age we are in continues to amaze this old film hack! The seeing was actually quite ok too (for here).

I think the 6188 LHaRGB went a bit awol becasue I gathered the colour data with the 3/4 waxing moon in the sky and when NGC 6188 was too low and near (in) the significant Newcastle sky glow dome and very annoyingly thin cloud kept drifting through, all resulting in awful gradients in the colour data that left the RGB frame pretty basterdised (had to miss spell that to avoid the IIS big brother editing ) and weak once the complex gradient and noise removal processing was finished. Also I had far too much Ha to Lum so coupled with the minimal and poor RGB the final image looks a bit off. The L+Halpha were done a couple of nights earlier and came out pretty ok.

As for getting the 16803, I had my PL11002 back at FLI during the month for a firmware upgrade and Fli had the 16803 chips on hold pending some temporary issue they had discovered with them so I opted out at this stage but will revisit in the future most likely.

Originally Posted by plasmodium

Nice images....

Get used to the cloud in Newcastle

At least we don't have water restrictions!

Cheers!

Yeh can't believe the idiots here in newhomesville who think oh we don't have water restrictions so I'll just hose this bit of concrete while I talk to my neighbour in the rain with the inground sprinkler going! Just like global warming, be wastful while you can then complain when it's all gone

Originally Posted by Phil

stunning lots of gals in NGC253
Phil

G'day Phil

Had the near full moon not been in the sky it would have been deeper

Originally Posted by Ric

A wonderful set of images Mike, fantastic imaging.

Cheers

Ta Ric

Originally Posted by h0ughy

so thats what you have been doing - thought that you were a bit quiet

Imaging..? who me??? Neeeever!

The new camera is great! no need to dither guide anymore as the callibrated subs are perfect now and with a delta cooling capacity of 60C I should be able to run the chip at -35 all through the summer too..?

Originally Posted by acropolite

Amazing images Mike. Don't complain about the weather, at least it's better than down here...

Does the weather have too heads as well..?

Yeh but you have the LMC and SMC up so high from down there

Originally Posted by tornado33

Fantastic NGC253 there. The refractor really makes use of the advantage of no central obstruction and no thermal currents due to it being a sealed system. The other shots excellent too. bet you were out under the stars again last few nights as it has been very dry albeit a bit windy.
Scott

Yes the Starfire is one incredible 6" scope I guess..? It's nice to get high resolution and a wide fully illuminated field, makes one image into potentially several really.

Yes got out an all nighter on Saturday night for the 253 and Tarantula data. Too tired last night and tonight though

Mike

[EzyStyles (Eric)]

awesome images mike! got a question.. how do you use previous images for the colour??

[Garyh]

Awesome Mike I really love the NGC253 Lum full frame...So smooth and detailed...shall be a ripper when you can do some color with the FLI and AP
cheers..

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

My son and I started to count the Galaxies in the background of your 253 but we had to give up. There are just too many!!!!

Very nice work Mike. Well worth the amount of effort put into them.

[mill (Martin)]

Wow that is "beep" terrific, so much detail (getting jealous here )
Very very nice pictures.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by EzyStyles

awesome images mike! got a question.. how do you use previous images for the colour??

Very easy, just coregister the two images. Most if not all image processing software should have this function. In Astroart4, which I use, I put the two images on the screen and pick the same three stars in each image and then click on the image I want to have altered (enlarged, rotated etc) choose "coregister" from the image menu and hey presto, a new image appears on the screen that is a perfect match to the other. I then use it as the RGB and use the LRGB routine. There is a bit of Sidonio tweeking steps in there too of course but that is basically it.

Originally Posted by Garyh

Awesome Mike I really love the NGC253 Lum full frame...So smooth and detailed...shall be a ripper when you can do some color with the FLI and AP
cheers..

Yes the bain of my portable imaging experience, I often run out of time to get the RGB

Originally Posted by ballaratdragons

My son and I started to count the Galaxies in the background of your 253 but we had to give up. There are just too many!!!!

Very nice work Mike. Well worth the amount of effort put into them.

Had the moon been new and even better I was under dark steady skies (like I often had in Canberra) I can only imagine what would have shown in the same 2hrs 20min of worth of exposure.

Originally Posted by mill

Wow that is "beep" terrific, so much detail (getting jealous here )
Very very nice pictures.

Cheers Mill

[EzyStyles (Eric)]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Very easy, just coregister the two images. Most if not all image processing software should have this function. In Astroart4, which I use, I put the two images on the screen and pick the same three stars in each image and then click on the image I want to have altered (enlarged, rotated etc) choose "coregister" from the image menu and hey presto, a new image appears on the screen that is a perfect match to the other. I then use it as the RGB and use the LRGB routine. There is a bit of Sidonio tweeking steps in there too of course but that is basically it

Thanks for the info mike. I guess this only works with CCD's? I can't grab one of your images and match my DSLR 300D colours with it?

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by EzyStyles

Thanks for the info mike. I guess this only works with CCD's? I can't grab one of your images and match my DSLR 300D colours with it?

Why not? Of course you could.

Mike