NGC 4945 - Colour Added!

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

The full frame is on the cutting room floor where it belongs.

Yeh..? shame...

It is nice to look so closely at the galaxy sure but your wider vista is also excellent IMO and with a bit of Marcus magic would be a great image too Maybe when you have time one day?.......repro..?

Mike
Long live..?...medium FL......yaaaay oh and reproed repro's too

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Oooh mate! That is drop dead gorgeous.

I agree with Fred one of the best images for ages. Super well done!

Roland Christen remarked several months ago about the virtues of
barlowing up an APO to get maximum resolution. You are really showing that to be an excellent way to go.

You would be very hard pressed to better that result even with a large RC.

You are showing an excellent APO has real real depth potential. Not everyone likes the diffraction spikes of compound scopes.

That's it, I'm ordering the Baader FFC from AP!

Greg.

Thanks a lot Greg!! Hey, I thought you were going to get that Baader a while ago? I'd love to see what the 180 would do with it!

I may give longer FL a rest for a while. I notice I haven't yet done much at the native FL of the TOA (1095mm with flattener).

Originally Posted by jase

Excellent Marcus. I have to agree, I also like the rich colours you've brought out. Visually pleasing in many aspects. DM award contender indeed.

Hey Jase - much appreciated!! Hadn't seriously considered entering that comp yet ... hmmmmm

BTW, this was the first image with my new Robofocus - what a difference that makes!!!!! Hassle free, reliable, consistent and remote focussing - woo-hoo!!!

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Yeh..? shame...

It is nice to look so closely at the galaxy sure but your wider vista is also excellent IMO and with a bit of Marcus magic would be a great image too Maybe when you have time one day?.......repro..?

Mike
Long live..?...medium FL......yaaaay oh and reproed repro's too

Sorry mate, not into repros either! Well, not entirely true - I've quietly tweaked a couple of images as I picked up new tools & techniques - just haven't advertised them. Appreciate the comments though

Cheers, Marcus

[jase (Jason)]

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

BTW, this was the first image with my new Robofocus - what a difference that makes!!!!! Hassle free, reliable, consistent and remote focussing - woo-hoo!!!

Good to hear Marcus. Computer controlled focusing is one of those things that once you've experienced it, its hard to go back performing the task manually. If you're using FocusMax, do yourself a favour and get AcquireStar working. It will plate solve an image, search for the ideal magnitude star (don't want anything too bright as the FWHM will not be accurate), slew to desired star, perform the auto focus routine, then slew back to the target. In doing so you can refocus every 60min or sooner to counteract temp shifts. Of course you can configure the temperature compensation features if desired.

Do a quick test on your RGB filter set - watch the numbers between filters. Parfocal?

If you want to speed up focusing, just use the clear filter as the reference and using the numbers calculate offsets for the RGBHa etc. Many ways to improve the efficiencies in data acquistion...you've taken a step in the right direction.

[spearo (Frank)]

Wow,
nothing to add to all the positive feedback you've already received
awesome shot
congratulations
frank

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Originally Posted by jase

... If you're using FocusMax, do yourself a favour and get AcquireStar working. It will plate solve an image, search for the ideal magnitude star (don't want anything too bright as the FWHM will not be accurate), slew to desired star, perform the auto focus routine, then slew back to the target. In doing so you can refocus every 60min or sooner to counteract temp shifts. Of course you can configure the temperature compensation features if desired.

Do a quick test on your RGB filter set - watch the numbers between filters. Parfocal?

If you want to speed up focusing, just use the clear filter as the reference and using the numbers calculate offsets for the RGBHa etc. Many ways to improve the efficiencies in data acquistion...you've taken a step in the right direction.

Thanks for the tips Jase. Yes I do use FocusMax. I've actually started using CCDAutopilot too to gather data & focus (using SkyStar). The focus star acquisition seems OK but sometimes initially it has a bit of trouble staying on the focus star - it seems to go wandering about sometimes (?) There must be some initialisation I'm not doing right because once it starts working, it keeps working. In any case CCDAP isn't an easy app to use, but it sure is powerful.

At the moment I'm focussing through the filters although I know with Ha that won't be possible. The Ha is definitely not parfocal.

Originally Posted by spearo

Wow,
nothing to add to all the positive feedback you've already received
awesome shot
congratulations
frank

Thanks a lot Frank! All the nice feedback is very gratifying

Cheers, Marcus

[atalas]

Top shot ! awesome detail and color Marcus.

[RB (Andrew)]

Wonderful, just wonderful Marcus !!
Love the colour saturation and detail you've captured.

Excellent !

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Originally Posted by atalas

Top shot ! awesome detail and color Marcus.

Originally Posted by RB

Wonderful, just wonderful Marcus !!
Love the colour saturation and detail you've captured.

Excellent !

Thanks a lot Louie, Andrew - glad you liked it!!

Cheers, Marcus

[iceman (Mike)]

Wow how did I miss this!? That's stunning! One of the best 4945's I've ever seen!

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Originally Posted by iceman

Wow how did I miss this!? That's stunning! One of the best 4945's I've ever seen!

Thanks for that Mike - glad you liked it so much. I'm pretty pleased with it myself. I went for more colour data than I normally do and it made a big difference to the vibrancy of the image.

Cheers, Marcus