Quick Silver Coin

[markas (Mark)]

This image is made up of four 120sec subs, one each of L, R, G, B. They were all that I recorded on a night terminated by an attack of large Christmas Beetles (!) which could have damaged mirrors......
The L was binned x2 (.64"/px) and the colour frames x4.
With no expectations, I processed the set in Pixinsight, NXT, and BXT.
Equipment: Officina custom-built 300mm f/8 RiDK: Moravian C1X61000; Astrodon Filters.
8 minutes total exposure; Image FOV 43' x 34'
Mark

[Dave882 (David)]

Holy cow that’s an incredible image for 8min! Pretty incredible colour too! Yep tis the season for all the insects and spiders, but that must have been a big one!!

[gregbradley]

Pretty amazing for only 8 minutes!

Greg.

[markas (Mark)]

Thanks Dave,
There were hundreds of them - attracted by the laptop screen, and one lit window in the house. About 50-100 were left upside down on the patio, and were cleaned up by Kookaburras next morning....
The image surprised me somewhat, as the transparency was not great. The seeing however was OK.
Mark

[markas (Mark)]

Thanks Greg. The result did surprise me a bit
Mark

[Startrek (Martin)]

Wow what an image !!
Incredible detail for just a few subs
Well done indeed !!
Atmospheric stability must have been kind to you during that limited capture
Are you under light polluted skies ?

Cheers
Martin

[markas (Mark)]

Thanks for the comments, Martin.
The sky generally measures at around SQM 21.3 -21.6, which is fairly dark.
Mark

[Startrek (Martin)]

Originally Posted by markas

Thanks for the comments, Martin.
The sky generally measures at around SQM 21.3 -21.6, which is fairly dark.
Mark

Nice dark Bortle 3 skies , similar to where my Dome is located NSW south coast
Perfect for imaging

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Well Mark, Christmas beetles are meant to represent good luck I believe?

As Greg said, pretty good for such a short exposure

Mike

[markas (Mark)]

Thanks, Mike.
Maybe good luck for people, not for mirrors?
Mark

[alpal]

Hi Mark,
wow - 8 minutes total exposure.
Even the faintest parts of the galaxy are noise free.
If there was a prize for the best picture in the least amount of time you would win.
I would never have thought that was possible.

cheers
Allan

[markas (Mark)]

Thanks Allan,
NGC253 is VERY bright, which helps a lot, as does using x4 binning on the colours. And noise reduction was necessary, of course. But still I didn't think it could turn out like this...
Mark

[Saturn488]

Amazing clarity and detail!

[Ryderscope (Rodney)]

Good on you Mark for producing a good result whilst under attack

[markas (Mark)]

Thanks for the comments.
Rodney, your emoticon exactly captures how it felt at the time
Mark