The Colours of Omega Centauri, with QSI683

SkyViking (Rolf) · #1 20-04-2012, 11:39 PM

Hi All,
I'm slowly getting around the issues I had to fix after getting my new camera (as discussed here: http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ad.php?t=89017)
I'm getting fairly close to having optimised everything now, so I thought it was time for a proper image to see what the QSI683 can really deliver.

I deliberately processed this one to bring out the true colours all the way to the core, so let me know what you think.
Large version (~50% resolution) is here: http://www.pbase.com/rolfolsen/image/142793042/original

Image details:
LRGB 63:11:11:11m
10" Serrurier truss Newtonian
QSI 683wsg
18/04/2012

Hope you like it. This camera is really a joy to use and is producing results I could only ever dream of with the ToUCam.

Regards,
Rolf

alpal · #2 21-04-2012, 01:47 AM

Apart from a little coma in the corners it's
one of the best I've seen of Omega Centauri.
The colours are excellent.

allan gould · #3 21-04-2012, 02:35 PM

Really beautiful image that I really like. Nice colours and well processed.

RobF (Rob) · #4 21-04-2012, 03:21 PM

So please for you Rolf. If anyone deserves a chance to "go deep" with a cooled CCD it has to be you after what you've wrung out of the Toucam! Expected to continue to be blown away by what you come up with in coming months/years.

DavidU (Dave) · #5 21-04-2012, 03:47 PM

Sensational ! Colours are fantastic.

Paul Haese · #6 21-04-2012, 09:18 PM

Lovely work Rolf. Good colours, maybe just a hint of green in the background but that is all. Nice resolution.

cventer · #7 21-04-2012, 10:04 PM

Nicely done. You obviously took a lot of care with focus on this one and did not over process it. Looks fantastic.

Very tiny bit of green hugh is background as Paul suggests but thats it.

iceman (Mike) · #8 22-04-2012, 07:38 AM

Excellent Rolf! I missed that you upgraded your TouCam. I want to see the results you get now!

This is excellent.

Rigel003 (Graeme) · #9 22-04-2012, 09:43 AM

Lovely image, Rolf. Great colour and nicely processed with lots of fine detail.

DavidTrap (David) · #10 22-04-2012, 01:33 PM

Very nice.

What have you done regarding the banding issues?

DT

strongmanmike (Michael) · #11 22-04-2012, 10:28 PM

That's an awesome shot Rolf, great glow and vibrancy to the image...love it

Mike

midnight (Darrin) · #12 22-04-2012, 11:28 PM

Lovelly star colour Rolf. Nice framing too and this is a great image.

Darrin...

White Rabbit · #13 24-04-2012, 05:57 PM

That's a beautiful shot, you have to be pleased with that.

Nice one.

multiweb (Marc) · #14 25-04-2012, 10:00 AM

Great pic Rolf. Very nicely done indeed.

astronobob (Bob) · #15 25-04-2012, 11:15 AM

Definatly amongst the best Ive seen, if not, the best, yep, Stunning piece of work !

Deeno · #16 25-04-2012, 02:47 PM

Truly spectacular!

gregbradley · #17 25-04-2012, 06:33 PM

Superb Rolf.

Now you've got that camera there's nothing that will stop you!

Greg.

SkyViking (Rolf) · #18 03-05-2012, 07:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alpal

Apart from a little coma in the corners it's one of the best I've seen of Omega Centauri.
The colours are excellent.

Thank you alpal, yes I'm working on the coma still, slowly getting there. I had to make some thin improvised spacers for the Baader MPCC to get it quite right.

Quote:

Originally Posted by allan gould

Really beautiful image that I really like. Nice colours and well processed.

Thanks Allan, I tried to bring out the colours in this one

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobF

So please for you Rolf. If anyone deserves a chance to "go deep" with a cooled CCD it has to be you after what you've wrung out of the Toucam! Expected to continue to be blown away by what you come up with in coming months/years.

Thanks very much Rob

I'm really looking forward to working with this camera.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidU

Sensational ! Colours are fantastic.

Thank you Dave

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

Lovely work Rolf. Good colours, maybe just a hint of green in the background but that is all. Nice resolution.

Thanks Paul, yes you're right it does have a slight have a greenish cast. It's funny because if I zoom in it doesn't look green but I think maybe the combination of the star colours, particularly in the outskirts of the globular, seems to make it appear a little green. I might increase the red channel a bit...

Quote:

Originally Posted by cventer

Nicely done. You obviously took a lot of care with focus on this one and did not over process it. Looks fantastic.
Very tiny bit of green hugh is background as Paul suggests but thats it.

Thanks, yes I tried to get the guiding and focus right. Still in the process of tuning the gear but getting there

Quote:

Originally Posted by iceman

Excellent Rolf! I missed that you upgraded your TouCam. I want to see the results you get now!
This is excellent.

Thank you Mike

Yes it's an all new cam I'm shooting with now, and I'm loving every moment of it!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rigel003

Lovely image, Rolf. Great colour and nicely processed with lots of fine detail.

Thanks Graeme, I think the many years of frantically squeezing every bit from the ToUCam paid off, it's not as steep a learning curve as I imagined.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidTrap

Very nice.
What have you done regarding the banding issues?
DT

Thank you David

The banding I referred to earlier appears in the flats and I suspect it must be a property of the chip itself. It disappears completely once flats are applied so that's maybe why others don't notice it. I emailed some examples to Kevin from QSI but haven't heard anything yet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

That's an awesome shot Rolf, great glow and vibrancy to the image...love it
Mike

Thank you Mike, glad you liked it. I think these globulars are gorgeous and I have a few others in the pipeline at the moment.
I'd be interested to see what resolution you'd get on Omega with your new scope?

Quote:

Originally Posted by midnight

Lovelly star colour Rolf. Nice framing too and this is a great image.
Darrin...

Thank you Darrin. I quite like the image scale I get with this camera, although Omega is so large that I did't really get much of the surroundings here

Quote:

Originally Posted by White Rabbit

That's a beautiful shot, you have to be pleased with that.
Nice one.

Thank you, yes I think it turned out quite nice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by multiweb

Great pic Rolf. Very nicely done indeed.

Thanks Marc, glad you liked it

Quote:

Originally Posted by astronobob

Definatly amongst the best Ive seen, if not, the best, yep, Stunning piece of work !

Thanks for the kind words Bob

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deeno

Truly spectacular!

Thank you very much

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Superb Rolf.
Now you've got that camera there's nothing that will stop you!
Greg.

Thanks Greg, yes it's the real deal now, lol

Martin Pugh · #19 03-05-2012, 06:59 PM

Great resolution and colour.

good job

Martin

strongmanmike (Michael) · #20 03-05-2012, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SkyViking

Thank you Mike, glad you liked it. I think these globulars are gorgeous and I have a few others in the pipeline at the moment.
I'd be interested to see what resolution you'd get on Omega with your new scope?

Well I did do Omega Cen way back on my first or second night of testing the AG12 over a year ago and apart from being a very short exposure, the seeing was bad, it was taken under heavy light pollution and a full moon plus the corrector spacing wasn't quite right and I learned to tweak the collimaton better since and Orion made me an adjustable spacer since so I could tweak the spacing too

So not that indicative of what the scope could do under good conditions but it turned out ok still.

Omega Cen AG12

Mike