Pas de deux

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by topheart

I also can't wait to see and analyse the Malin deep sky favorites this year.....

Thank you, but I suspect your sublime imagery has to be in contention (damm those dark skies )

Originally Posted by jase

Nup, you gotta pay special attention to stars for it to be a contender with Malin. While you've got an impressive amount of details the background is lacklustre. Its needs the rich golden vibrant hue of milkyway star clouds for the image to come to life. Gleason's recent image of the area is a prime example. Said it before and will do so again, but you need to get your set up to a dark sky site otherwise your ferrari will remain stuck if 1st gear constantly hitting the rev limiter.

A dark sky would be nice...but I doubt it will happen before retirement (still a few years off). That said I've got high hopes for the 16" Alluna (still some months away) as a galaxy killer .....way less gradients to fuss over

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

...........

I would not be surprised as you pointed out if an Aurora shot featured highly.

Troy Casswell's work...assuming he entered etc. will be very hard to surpass..

Originally Posted by Placidus

That's a pretty definitive dynamic duo, Peter. There's an amazing amount of fine detail given the breadth of sky covered - an atlas. Inspiring.

Glad you like it.

[Retrograde (Pete)]

A very fine image Peter. I certainly wouldn't have noticed any issues with it if they hadn't been pointed out by others.

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

I sincerely hope to be able to catch up with one and all at CWAS/Parkes (pending the TBA outcome of my work roster for July)

Hope to see you and other IIS members there. I'm very pleased to have made 'the cut' with one of my entries for the first time this year but of course not in the Deep Sky section - there's no way my rudimentary efforts can compete with the fine work being produced by yourself, Paul and many others on this forum but seeing them gives me something to aspire to. I'm sure the standard will be extremely high this year .

[SpaceNoob (Chris)]

Top image Peter, that setup is a real winner and you've clearly got a good handle on it. I'd be happy with those results, they speak for themselves, no need for an award to justify the awesomeness.

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by Retrograde

A very fine image Peter. I certainly wouldn't have noticed any issues with it if they hadn't been pointed out by others.
...................Hope to see you and other IIS members there. I'm very pleased to have made 'the cut' with one of my entries for the first time this year.........

Thanks and ditto. Also well done on your first "Malin" ....CWAS have some excellent key-note speakers this year which I'm quite looking forward to hearing....I just hope I can get the time off for the Astrofest.

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by SpaceNoob

Top image Peter, that setup is a real winner and you've clearly got a good handle on it. I'd be happy with those results, they speak for themselves, no need for an award to justify the awesomeness.

Thanks...I think Aussie Astrophotograhers owe a lot to CWAS for simply raising the public awareness and standard of local astrophotography.

Compared to a decade ago, contemporary images are simply brilliant, and are often not taken with uber-expensive gear. It's all good

[Rex]

That's a cracker Pete. awesome detail and love the saturation.

[topheart]

[QUOTE=Peter Ward;1182418]Thank you, but I suspect your sublime imagery has to be in contention (damm those dark skies )

You won't see any of my images at Parkes. Sorry, I won't be able to it make to Parkes this year due to another unshakeable committment.

All the best with the Malins!

Cheers,
Tim

[gregbradley]

Its a great image but the light pollution is taking its toll. You don't want to do narrowband? Some 3nm narrowband filters would be nice on your STT8300 and AO8. That could be nice.

Yes I agree the standard of imaging has continued to rise. The QSI683/690/FSQ/FLT110 combos are working out great.

Greg.

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Its a great image but the light pollution is taking its toll. You don't want to do narrowband? Some 3nm narrowband filters would be nice on your STT8300 and AO8. That could be nice.

Yes I agree the standard of imaging has continued to rise. The QSI683/690/FSQ/FLT110 combos are working out great.

Greg.

I actually rather like NB.... you can gather data (as you know) under a full-moon just as well as a lucky punter blessed with mag 7 skies.

Sadly, I don't have a STT8300 at present (It went to a needy Ph.D student)
but that will (hopefully) soon be remedied.....Seems I'm always waiting for something to arrive

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

I actually rather like NB.... you can gather data (as you know) under a full-moon just as well as a lucky punter blessed with mag 7 skies.

Sadly, I don't have a STT8300 at present (It went to a needy Ph.D student)
but that will (hopefully) soon be remedied.....Seems I'm always waiting for something to arrive

I haven't found NB working ideally under a full moon with 5nm Astrdons. Perhaps 3nm do. I see a drop in contrast when the moon is too bright or too close to the object being imaged. I still see best Ha under dark skies but it does work quite well under bright moon and light pollution. Dark skies are always better and usually better seeing as well (I am sure the concrete jungle messes up the atmosphere's stability).

Greg.

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

I haven't found NB working ideally under a full moon with 5nm Astrdons. Perhaps 3nm do. I see a drop in contrast when the moon is too bright or too close to the object being imaged. I still see best Ha under dark skies but it does work quite well under bright moon and light pollution. Dark skies are always better and usually better seeing as well (I am sure the concrete jungle messes up the atmosphere's stability).

Greg.

Can't say I've ever seen any NB issues from urban skies, as the sky background (at SII, Ha and OIII emission line frequencies) is effectively identical to rural ones.

Also provided you a good angular distance from it, the moon has little effect.

But , sure, at under 40 or so degrees you will see either gradients or even instrument scattering effects getting worse as you progressively get closer to the moon.
(I've had my fair share of capturing (near moon) data with weird flares thinking "WTF!! ??" )

OIII is worst offender. SII and H-a seem more immune.

I'm not alone here, there have been healthy discussions and analysis elsewhere.

e.g.
http://www.cloudynights.com/topic/49...-moons-impact/

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

But , sure, at under 40 or so degrees you will see either gradients or even instrument scattering effects getting worse as you progressively get closer to the moon.
(I've had my fair share of capturing (near moon) data with weird flares thinking "WTF!! ??" )

Beware the Luftwaffe run.

[gregbradley]

Sometimes those flares are handy if your go-tos are badly off and you are trying to sync the mount.

Greg.