Dear all, it was a while I have been away from this forum, quite busy with my work and with my wedding
Eventually I found the time to process a new images taken with the new OTA I installed last February in my observatory in Coona, my trusty TEC APO 140.
I had a lot of issues to proper set up the new imaging train, most of the frames I took had problems of star trails. Eventually I found the culprit to be a counterweight I installed around the OTA to better balance the camera, counterweight that was producing a small bending of the tube enough to produce oval stars. Now it is fixed, pity that me and Peter Starr, the guy that hosts my observatory and support me on the field, spent several months before finding out the real reason.
Here is the first image with the new setup. I chose a popular subject, NGC 6188 in ARA, fascinated by its dark lanes and the faint OIII bubble surrounding the nearby NGC6164. This is a classical HaOIII RGB composition with a total exposure of more than 17 hours. Here is the link:
A zoomify version up to full resolution / full screen is accessible from the link above. Despite the long exposure, I found the shell of NGC6188 very difficult to image and, overall, this field is quite a challenge because of the huge amount of stars present that suffocate a bit the nebulae. I hope you will like it.
Thanks for posting that, i'm adding that little neb to my own 6188 pic and wondered what it was called Your version will of course and does look better.
Gives me something to aim for
Thanks for posting that, i'm adding that little neb to my own 6188 pic and wondered what it was called Your version will of course and does look better.
Gives me something to aim for
Marco, your photo's are a testament to your dedication and passion. Stunning as usual
Thanks Darrel
Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Ward
Wow. ( Damm your pristine Coona skies )
Probably the best rendition of Ara I've seen to date. Just excellent
Hehe, those skies are the (not so) secret ingredients in my images Thanks for the nice comment Peter
Quote:
Originally Posted by renormalised
Beautiful rendition of a great bit of sky there, Marco
The colours are perfect...or near enough. Stars are pintpoints. Excellent work
Thanks Carl, talking about color perfection is always a very difficult topic in our passion I'm happy you like them
Quote:
Originally Posted by gregbradley
What sort of seeing do you get at Coonabarabran and what altitude is it at?
Greg.
Well, seeing in Coona is not outstanding, usually I have around 3" plus on color filters during steady nights . Therefore I need to pay lots of attention to keep the stars at the minimum size during the image processing. If the object permits it, I always shoot above 40 degrees, if possible around the meridian passing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by strongmanmike
Hey Marco, this field looks veeery familiar
Lovely work, the HaOIII combination you use works very well.
Mike
Haha, I saw your rendition Mike, and despite I never liked mapped color images (sorry, can't help ) you did a great job with your shot!
Thanks for the comments
Insane image Marco...... just simply stunning.
Love this area!
You've done an excellent job with processing and the outer shell from the Wolf Rayet star is superb, some lovely detail to the bubble and love the vivid colours.
Great you've sorted your issue out..... with images like this... wow, look forward to many more!
Your version will of course and does look better.
I'm happy you like them 
. Therefore I need to pay lots of attention to keep the stars at the minimum size during the image processing. If the object permits it, I always shoot above 40 degrees, if possible around the meridian passing.
