M45 The Pleiades

[gregbradley]

I had 3 gloriously perfect nights of imaging over the weekend at my dark site and a chance to see how the BRC performs in near perfect skies.

This is the first of a few images I took.

Tak BRC 250, Apogee U16M camera, Baader LRGB filters, Apogee FW50 filter wheel, Tak NJP mount.

LRGB 50 30 30 30.

I took 30 minutes of Ha as well but they turned out to be rubbish shots and I didn't use them.

http://tinyurl.com/4h6lav

Greg.

[iceman (Mike)]

Wow, that's a stunning result Greg! The gold nebulosity down the bottom - I don't think i've ever seen that before!

Brilliant image.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Man I could bluddy well "hear" the sparkling NICE! especially for such short exposure! Can't waint to see you other shots.

As for the weekend weather, I was up at Wiruna and the skies were 100% clear but the seeing was bad and the wind..sheesh! I was scared for my rig in some of the gusts on Sun morning. I am lucky my mount and scope hold pretty well in windy conditions but the images will be softened as a result I'm affraid (will process them soon ). Transparency on Fri & Sat was quite reasonable though but based on what I saw as I was leaving on Sun, I think Sun night would have been pretty murky though but I could be wrong?

Again, a fanstastic 7 sisters mate, that BRC would be a keeper in most peoples hands... but you?..well?..I know you will trade it in for something else.....eventually

Mike

[multiweb (Marc)]

Awesome That's the best picture of M45 I've seen so far. I came across your bicolor version of M16 on your site. Is it Halpha? That's a huge field. Which channels did you use and how did you combine them?

[Tilt (Michael)]

That is sensational, well done.

Michael

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by multiweb

Awesome That's the best picture of M45 I've seen so far. I came across your bicolor version of M16 on your site. Is it Halpha? That's a huge field. Which channels did you use and how did you combine them?

Hi Marc,

That is Ha and O111. Ha is red, O111 is blue and green is an average of Ha+O111/2 (using pixel maths).

Then RGB weightings were something like red (2) green (.7) blue (.8).
These weightings I tended to modify to suit the image.

I wasn't really happy with it so I didn't publish it. The Eagle Neb escapes me so far. Perhaps another attempt at it this weekend.

Cheers,

Greg.

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Man I could bluddy well "hear" the sparkling NICE! especially for such short exposure! Can't waint to see you other shots.

As for the weekend weather, I was up at Wiruna and the skies were 100% clear but the seeing was bad and the wind..sheesh! Again, a fanstastic 7 sisters mate, that BRC would be a keeper in most peoples hands... but you?..well?..I know you will trade it in for something else.....eventually

Mike

Yes Saturday night was windy where I was as well. Probably 30km constant northerly wind. I was happy that the BRC was not affected at all and tracking was pretty normal. Its just that couple of hundred millimetres shorter than the RCOS so its out of the windstream above my observatory.

This shot was taken Thursday night where the seeing wasn't that great initially but got reasonably good around 1am when I started this image.

Hehehe, I think I will keep the BRC. I like F5. Fast enough to get bright quickly and not so fast as to be too fussy. Also this scope holds its focus like the RCOS. I did not refocus it since I focused it at home the week before! It remained in focus (I hope) the next night which was a full 10 degrees C warmer. So that temperature compensating cell seems to work very well.

Greg.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Hi Marc,

That is Ha and O111. Ha is red, O111 is blue and green is an average of Ha+O111/2 (using pixel maths).

Then RGB weightings were something like red (2) green (.7) blue (.8).
These weightings I tended to modify to suit the image.

I wasn't really happy with it so I didn't publish it. The Eagle Neb escapes me so far. Perhaps another attempt at it this weekend.

Cheers,

Greg.

Thanks for the info. I'm working on it as well as a widefield. It's not an easy target. I think you did a great job on the surrounding nebulosity though. You brought up stacks of stuff from the background.

[Jen]

Very nice pic Greg

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by multiweb

Thanks for the info. I'm working on it as well as a widefield. It's not an easy target. I think you did a great job on the surrounding nebulosity though. You brought up stacks of stuff from the background.

Well thanks Marc.

I plan to get some LRGB data this weekend for it.

The pillars of creation area doesn't stand out enough.

Greg.

[Garyh]

Excellent M45!
Love the color balance you have given it.
Nice nebulosity detail as well.
Well done Greg!

[spearo (Frank)]

Agree with everyone,
beautiful shot, like Mike, I've never seen the goldish nebulosity at the bottom,
"tres chic"
:]
frank

[Phil]

Great stuff very nice shot.
Phil

[Jeffkop (Jeff)]

Stunning image greg ... the BRC250 is proving a worthy instrument. Absolutley amazing image ..

[Peter Ward]

An excellent image Greg.

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

A seeeeeriously beautiful image Greg Well Done!!

Cheers,
Marcus

[gregbradley]

Thanks very much.

I intend to shoot a widefield version of this as well given good skies.

Greg.

[bluescope]

Very nice Subaru Greg ... the BRC is a great scope judging from your posts with it so far.

[jase (Jason)]

What a corker Greg. Lovely colours and magnificent details. Well done.

[Lester]

Fantastic image.