Sirius split with my 150mm Reflect

[rodroger (Rodney)]

Thanks Dennis,
The main grip I have about the LPI is it's focal length, not much good for larger open clusters or big bright Globs unless I try for a mosaic type shot.(or a focal reduction device) But otherwise it does give some good results. I have foud also that it can produce a bit of noise when you start imageing anything over 1 Sec exposure,especially in the red area (even with auto dark subtraction selected). But for the price, it is very good, it makes taking shots of the planets and the moon so easy.
I intend to get some nice close ups on the Moon tonight if it stays clear and still. Tomorrow sounds like there is more dust on the way.

Have you ever seen this problem with alignment of images in other applications? Obviously a big bug in Maxim DL4, I am now using version 5 which seems to behave it's self. Just go's to show you, not to absolutely trust your software, another failer here by me as I should know better as I have written programs for various applications that have been released to the public over the years with VB C & C++ and know the program is only as good as the programmer who wrote and coded it.

I am glad you queried the brightness of the pup otherewise I would not have gone back to have a closer look. And as for comming clean about what I found...well...gee. I would have had the whole of the Astonomical world trying to get the same result.....and they'd fail.
I could not live with that, maybe as an April fools joke and even then I myself would not do it.
I would never falsify data to make something it's not.
I'ts just a buuger that Maxim DL decided to overlay the primary over the secondary?? It still could be a good shot, still lookin for the original fits, could be on one of my CD's that I have back ups on, I am hoping I did back it up on CD.
Anyway from this I have come to the conclusion that.

1. The pup has a 99%-100% chance of being in the shot (basicaly confirmed by your measurement) but combined with a shrunken image of the primary (there must have been something in the shot for Maxim DL to decide to align to - I did use Auo Star Matching in the alignment).

2. This means that I should get a good clean shot next time on a clear stable night, and get the split, just not as spectacular as the one supplied here.

Rod

[Dennis]

Hi Rod

I don’t use Maxim as I grew up with CCDSoft for my SBIG ST7 and it has kept me mostly happy all along.

I hear you about software automated aligning! For my recent animation of Uranus and his 4 brighter moons, each sub frame had a bloated Uranus more or less dead centre and sometimes one in the stack was inexplicably shifted and misaligned when running an Align routine in CCDStack?

It really does pay to check stuff, but that’s also where the multiple sets of eyes and collective experience of Forum members can be a big advantage.

Cheers

Dennis

[allan gould]

Rod
I have just read this thread with interest. I must say from the outset that I admire the way in which you have gone about your attempts and more importantly had the courage to put right out there that there was an error in the alignment that led you to misinterpret the data. As a working scientist - that takes real courage and I tip my hat to your integrity. There are many that would have walked away and let the erronious supposition stand.
Well done Rod - an excellent exercise for all involved. We all make mistakes but only the best own up to them.

[rodroger (Rodney)]

Hi everyone,
This has been a great learning experiance, and it it not the first time I have had major help and advice from this site since joining. I have eductated myself alot from the info posted here under the articles section as well as various posts by different people.
This site has such a wealth of knowledge, a real credit to Iceinspace and it's members.
I have never had such a warm and helpful response from a internet forum, I do truely believe I am among friends here, I am glad to see that there are still some of us that are not part of the dog eat dog part of society, and give their time for others, who are in need of advice, help and support

The examination and testing of data, by other members, is where iceinspace's credabilty in the Astronomical community truely shines
This thread alone proves that.

And Dennis, wow, thats your shot of Uranus and her four moons on the welcome page here.
Far-out, what an icredible bit of Astrophotography.
Your real experiance and knowledge shines here mate
As they say, a picture tells a thousand words.
Hopefully one day I will have the experiance and knowledge to produce an image in a class such as this.

Rod
Back soon