First light for Ceravolo 300 - NGC 5139

RickS (Rick) · #1 23-05-2013, 10:31 AM

With the briefly improved weather I was able to spend some time at home testing and tweaking a newish addition to my scope collection.

Imaging was cut short by clouds followed by rain, the moon was up and I was imaging with light-polluted skies (inner suburbs of Brisbane) so I wasn't expecting a masterpiece, but I think it turned out OK.

Scope: Ceravolo 300 Astrograph at f/4.9 (1470mm focal length)
Camera: Apogee Alta U16M, Astrodon Gen 2 LRGB filters
Guiding: Lodestar and MMOAG
Mount: Astro-Physics AP900

There's about 155 mins of data: 35 mins Lum and 40 mins each of R, G, B. Subs were a mix of very short (0.5s for Lum, 1s for colour) and 5 mins for the rest. Processing done in PixInsight.

Higher res versions here: http://rickstevenson.smugmug.com/Ast...RGB_med-X3.jpg
and here: http://rickstevenson.smugmug.com/Ast...GB_crop-X3.jpg

I'm looking forward to getting this scope out to some darker skies!

Cheers,
Rick.

sjastro · #2 23-05-2013, 10:49 AM

Very nice first light Rick.

Steven

jsmoraes (Jorge) · #3 23-05-2013, 10:53 AM

Very nice pic. I liked very much. We can perceive how much stars populate the cluster. Colors and definition are excellent.

Shiraz (Ray) · #4 23-05-2013, 11:23 AM

cracker image Rick - fine resolution and excellent colour - looks like the dynamic range management technique delivers the goods. regards Ray

DavidTrap (David) · #5 23-05-2013, 11:24 AM

Looks impressive Rick!

Is there some elongation of the stars in bottom corners??

DT

Larryp (Laurie) · #6 23-05-2013, 11:24 AM

Superb, Rick!

DavidNg (David) · #7 23-05-2013, 11:42 AM

Nice shots from mighty arsenals. really like to star colors

RickS (Rick) · #8 23-05-2013, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sjastro

Very nice first light Rick.

Steven

Thanks, Steven!

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsmoraes

Very nice pic. I liked very much. We can perceive how much stars populate the cluster. Colors and definition are excellent.

Yes, it's an impressive ball of stars. Thanks, Jorge.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shiraz

cracker image Rick - fine resolution and excellent colour - looks like the dynamic range management technique delivers the goods. regards Ray

Thanks, Ray. I did some 3d plots of the star profiles with and without HDR and the improvement is very obvious.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidTrap

Looks impressive Rick!

Is there some elongation of the stars in bottom corners??

DT

Thanks, David. Yes, there's still a bit of tilt that I have to fix. The downside of a big sensor in a heavy camera.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Larryp

Superb, Rick!

Thank you, Laurie.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidNg

Nice shots from mighty arsenals. really like to star colors

And thanks, David.

ozstronomer (Geoff) · #9 23-05-2013, 01:10 PM

Nice work Rick, that scope is producing lovely results.

Stars are sharp and the field looks flat, no sign of any tilt.

Geoff

multiweb (Marc) · #10 23-05-2013, 01:14 PM

What a beauty!

Someone's been splashing real hard. Should we blame you for the weather?

gregbradley · #11 23-05-2013, 04:30 PM

Whoa, beautiful image. Gorgeous. Looks more like a high quality APO shot than a compound scope.

That minor elongation in the very corners looks more like slightly wrong corrector spacing as its on all 4 corners.

Greg.

pmrid (Peter) · #12 23-05-2013, 05:05 PM

It's going to be a great winter if that's any indication of what is to come from that scope Rick.
Peter

RickS (Rick) · #13 23-05-2013, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ozstronomer

Nice work Rick, that scope is producing lovely results.

Stars are sharp and the field looks flat, no sign of any tilt.

Geoff

Thanks, Geoff, but you need to look more closely

Quote:

Originally Posted by multiweb

What a beauty!

Someone's been splashing real hard. Should we blame you for the weather?

Thanks, Marc. I also have an AG12 sitting here waiting for first light so I'm surprised it hasn't been raining salamanders!

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Whoa, beautiful image. Gorgeous. Looks more like a high quality APO shot than a compound scope.

That minor elongation in the very corners looks more like slightly wrong corrector spacing as its on all 4 corners.

Greg.

Thanks, Greg. The problem in the corners seems to move around. I think something in the secondary assembly is moving. Peter Ceravolo has given me some things to check and suggested some washers to increase tension in the springs that hold collimation. I think I have a little tilt as well so it's probably a combination of problems.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pmrid

It's going to be a great winter if that's any indication of what is to come from that scope Rick.
Peter

It was a promising start, thanks Peter. I hope to get the Ceravolo up to Ten Chain some time soon and see what it can do under better skies.

Tandum (Robin) · #14 23-05-2013, 06:17 PM

Are you guys living in a caravan in the driveway while the house is full of astro gear

Looking good mate.

Dennis · #15 23-05-2013, 06:58 PM

That is one of the very few large image scale Omega Centauri images that I have seen that is bitingly and naturally sharp without being artificially sharpened due to processing. The star colours are gorgeous too.

Cheers

Dennis

astronobob (Bob) · #16 23-05-2013, 07:48 PM

Wow, very nice Rick

Winter, here you come

RickS (Rick) · #17 23-05-2013, 09:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tandum

Are you guys living in a caravan in the driveway while the house is full of astro gear

Looking good mate.

Both the kids have left home. Heaps of scope storage space, Robin

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dennis

That is one of the very few large image scale Omega Centauri images that I have seen that is bitingly and naturally sharp without being artificially sharpened due to processing. The star colours are gorgeous too.

Cheers

Dennis

Ta, Dennis! I tried deconvolution and it really wasn't an improvement. I settled for an almost imperceptible wavelet sharpening but it was probably unnecessary.

Quote:

Originally Posted by astronobob

Wow, very nice Rick

Winter, here you come

Thanks, Bob. Looking forward to some clear nights for all of us!

DavidU (Dave) · #18 23-05-2013, 10:06 PM

Awesome ! That is one drool type scope.

RobF (Rob) · #19 23-05-2013, 10:25 PM

Wowser, what a rig. Looking VERY good for starters Rick

If I bump into this at 10Chain I'll just smell and listen to it all humming for a while I think

RickS (Rick) · #20 24-05-2013, 10:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidU

Awesome ! That is one drool type scope.

Thanks, Dave. I wouldn't have been able to sneak the expense of a new one past my darling wife but she was OK with secondhand when I told her it was just like it was on special

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobF

Wowser, what a rig. Looking VERY good for starters Rick

If I bump into this at 10Chain I'll just smell and listen to it all humming for a while I think

Thanks, Rob. Hope to have it up there soon!