Thanks for the replies Andrew, Renormalized, Lester, Doug & Jen. David the QHY9 will be a new experience I have forgotten everything I learned on my old cookbook camera many years ago. You can blame me for the bad weather, haven't been able to image since I bought it.
Mike the old observatory would be good on those coooooold winter nights.
Gary not sure if a focal reducer might turn the flat field into a curved one, I have the Ed80 with MPCC for a wider image.
Clear skies Ken
Thanks Jase, Paul, Kev & Michael for the feedback. I think this is the faintest object I have ever imaged with not much to see in each of the 10 min subs.
While I'm not keen to spend large chunks of cash on some of this equipment I think the Orion Mak- Newt is pretty good value considering the Aus dollar.
Clear skies Ken
Michael and I were just commenting today how flat and sharp the mak-newt is. Its a fabuluous scope and I think should give some very detailed views with the Qhy9.
Good luck with the new ccd and I hope it gives you some great shots.
Thanks David I'm going crazy waiting for this cloud to clear so I can try the QHY9 out. As I can't afford the 2" RGB filters yet I coupled some rings together placing the 1.25" Tru Technology RGB filter in close to the imaging chip. A bit of a pain changing each one during a imaging session but at least it will get me started.
Clear skies ken
What I can't wait to see is the winter time images you'll be able to take with the mak-newt and the QHY9. Knowing how cold and still the air can get around the Singleton area, your images should be that sharp you'll be able to cut yourself with them!!!
Lovely satalites and planes cause me quite a bit of grief when trying to image overhead with the main Melb to Sydney flight path over head. A lot of these can be excluded by using a Sigma reject or median Max Min reject stack.
Thanks Ric not the easiest thing to image but satisfying when you do.
Hagar thanks for the processing tip, If I had a lot of planes buzzing around I would be imaging at long focal lengths cutting down the field of view.
David yes I do have the Ha filter for those Moonlit nights but don't have the cable to make the filter wheel move.
Renormalised I like those long winter nights also, the skies are dark here but with the rocky hills and Glennies Creek Dam nearby the seeing can be poor. I guess Townsville would be a bit warmer in winter.
Renormalised I like those long winter nights also, the skies are dark here but with the rocky hills and Glennies Creek Dam nearby the seeing can be poor. I guess Townsville would be a bit warmer in winter.
A lot warmer!!!....although it can get down fairly low. I've seen it down around 4-5 degrees C. Yeah, the warm air over the dam water wouldn't do the seeing much good and neither would breezes off the hills.