Omega C - The Mother of all Clusters

[Higbyrichard (Richard)]

The clouds finally parted and I managed to capture this with an ST2000 XMC. The scope is a Tak TOA130F at F/7.7 (80 mins total exposure at -15 Deg. C.)

As one sees the image appear it cuts you down to size and just takes your breath away. Not quite there yet but a better image than last year. I find the correct level of sharpening and the determnation of what is a star and what is a hot pixel challenging. This was a compromise.

Regards

Richard.

[duncan]

Exquisite shot. So crisp and clean. It really does just jump out at you.

Cheers,
Duncan

[Rigel003 (Graeme)]

Yes, nice shot. Good crisp stars with good colour contrasts.

[rat156]

Nice shot, but it looks a little squashed? Perhaps an aspect ratio conversion somewhere?

Cheers
Stuart

[TrevorW]

Top shot Rich like it

[Higbyrichard (Richard)]

Originally Posted by rat156

Nice shot, but it looks a little squashed? Perhaps an aspect ratio conversion somewhere?

Cheers
Stuart

Now thats got me thinking Stuart.

You may be right. Thanks for that.

Richard.

[avandonk]

OC is not spherical it is ellipsoid at high magnification. Do not adjust your set it is real.

Bert

[gregbradley]

That is an excellent shot. Background may be a tad too black but minor point.

You got some nice colour on some of those stars as well.

Greg.

[Higbyrichard (Richard)]

Originally Posted by avandonk

OC is not spherical it is ellipsoid at high magnification. Do not adjust your set it is real.

Bert

Thanks for that observation Bert. I was going through multiple hoops this weekend to see where I had squashed the thing! Now I will grab a beer and relax. Sigh!

Cheers

Richard.

[Paul Haese]

Very sharp image, blue stars look good but red giants could do with some tweeking to bring out the colour. Nice work.

[Higbyrichard (Richard)]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

That is an excellent shot. Background may be a tad too black but minor point.

You got some nice colour on some of those stars as well.

Greg.

I appreciate your comment Greg. I never gave much thought to the black point background setting.

Overall I think I might be hard pushed to improve on this image without a new camera but it's worth a try. The pluses and minuses of the one shot colour camera.

Richard.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Hey Richard yeh it's imaged to death but that's a pretty neat image of Omega mate nice work.

Mike

[iceman (Mike)]

That's a fine rendition, Richard. Nice work.

[Higbyrichard (Richard)]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Hey Richard yeh it's imaged to death but that's a pretty neat image of Omega mate nice work.

Mike

Thanks Mike. Yours has set the bar very high. Give me a Proline!

Maybe in time.

Cheers

Richard.