Helix 10 hours 40 mins CDK17

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by Bassnut

Well, thats pretty extradinary Greg, the extention is amazing. I was tempted to compare with other classic images of the Helix, and you seem to have gone deeper than all of them. Your processing is a bit brutal though, I think there is some clipping or over compression and it appears to be a tiny bit soft. Thats being picky though, all in all I think its one of the best amature Helix pics Ive seen.

Thanks very much Fred.

As far as soft goes I think I am limited by my local seeing. I believe the CDK can go sharper. Its interesting to see Martin's images to see what this scope can do in a totally dark and excellent seeing site. So there is an extra to be gained in another location. There are a lot of subs and it is HaO111LRGB so its a lot of stuff combined and I suppose a bit compression etc may come through from all the stuff and layers in it. I certainly have pushed it as far as I can before noise starts to show up.

Greg.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Its interesting to see Martin's images to see what this scope can do in a totally dark and excellent seeing site.

You've got to get this scope outback where it's dark and dry. At the moment it's like driving around the corner in a Ferrari to go and get the morning croissants. (not that Peter Ward wouldn't enjoy it)

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by multiweb

You've got to get this scope outback where it's dark and dry. At the moment it's like driving around the corner in a Ferrari to go and get the morning croissants. (not that Peter Ward wouldn't enjoy it)

I do plan to take it to my dark site in Dec when I can be there for a while and my site has a track history of multiple clear nights in a row (9 out of 10). Seeing there is quite good. Not as good as the Sierras though. At 770 metres altitude it is reasonably high for Australia. It'll be interesting to see how it goes.

From what I have read in the past the outback isn't so good for astronomy as it has a thermal inversion in many places. I haven't seen it for myself so I'd have to take other's accounts on this.

Although my home location is not bad at all. Its quite dark really and does have good seeing sometimes. Just not as often as my dark site and not quite as dark (my dark site is in the light pollution map shown as completely dark or close to it). Its just my dark site is that next step up. Like the next scope upgrade seems to be hehehehe. Also when the seeing is bad at home its really bad. I haven't seen seeing at my dark site so bad its not worth imaging - never. I have at my home site!

You know your dark site is really dark when stars start to look "fiery".
They do at my dark site. They are bright at my home but not "fiery".

Greg.