Space from Space

[Jeff]

Christmas can be a great time of year, especially with young kids, the excitement of Santa, warm weather, and time off work. But lots of preparations, gatherings with extended family, mess, day trips, and good food & wine can be draining after a while ... too much of a good thing. After all day ABBA songs ("SingStar" wars on the PS2) and keeping ahead of the kids in the Rock Legend stakes on "Guitar Hero", some time late nights under the stars with the family dog have been heavenly indeed.


The week straddling Christmas served nice warm weather and clear skies down in Melbourne (albeit with a bright moon), so it was great to get some welcome SPACE .... taking time out to capture and process some deep sky pics for the first time in a while.


I took the following shots with my humble 450D/ED80 setup from the Melbourne burbs. Modest results compared to some of the fantastic work posted on this forum, but enjoyable none the less.

Comments or tips welcome.

1. Rosette, 100min (40x2,5) with darks & flats, Dec 26

2. Eta Carina, 95min (38 x 2.5) with darks & flats, Dec 28

3. Tarantula, 145min (58 x 2.5) with darks & flats, Dec 28

4. Tarantula...with 2xBarlow, 75min (15 x 5) with darks but no flats, Dec 29

Happy New Year to all.

[AlexN]

That Eta-Carine is really really nice! especially considering only 2.5min subs... Impressive doesn't begin to describe it actually..

The others are good, but the Eta Carine is definitely the stand out image of the lot..

Good work Jeff..

Alex.

[Hagar (Doug)]

A collection of very nice images Jeff, considering where you live these have come up very well. You have a few issues with gradients but these can be overcome. Just imagine what you could achieve with dark skies.

Well done.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

And how lucky are you to have had clear skies over the festive season.
Lovely images, thank you for sharing them with us.

[CoolhandJo (Paul)]

Nice work. Well done

[Tilt (Michael)]

Some great images there Jeff, I like the NGC 2070 using the barlow

[multiweb (Marc)]

Fantastic work!

[DavidU (Dave)]

That's good work considering it was done in Wheelers hill. We recently moved from Lum rd to near Knox City. (even worse light pollution).

[telecasterguru (Frank)]

Very nice, the G8 and the ED80 are humming along nicely.

Frank

[RobF (Rob)]

Great shots Jeff. Love the extended nebulosity the modded 450 shows of the Rosette.

Glad you got some clear skies for Christmas too

[Jeff]

Thanks ... Alex, Doug, jjj, Paul, Michael, Marc, Dave, Frank and Rob. Comments and encouragement are much appreciated!

Originally Posted by Hagar

A collection of very nice images Jeff, considering where you live these have come up very well. You have a few issues with gradients but these can be overcome. Just imagine what you could achieve with dark skies.

Agreed. Gradient from the moon in the Rosette - need to work out what BIAS frames are all about. Barlowed Tarantula could also do with Flats to reduce gradient near the edges.

Have never imaged from a Dark Sky, love to some time in 2010 (maybe Snake Valley in March, or Heathcote sometime).

Cheers,
Jeff

[TheDecepticon]

Definately Eta for me as well, but the others are good too!
Well done!!