I took this data last month while doing some collimation testing; however I didn't quite get it right on the night and really wanted to get more data as well but the weather hasn't co-operated. On looking at it again I thought it didn't look too bad so I decided to go ahead and process what I had collected. There is some slight colour fringing on some stars and the stars in the lower left are very slightly elongated, but apart from that it seems to have turned out reasonably well.
I used some artistic licence and placed the major objects of interest around the periphery of the field, with a couple of colourful stars near the centre. I wanted to include NGC 1399, but unfortunately it was cropped as I was playing with the alignment and it wasn't included in all subs.
I must say I'm green with envy at the fabulous images you get with your setup.
Iv'e just been cruising around your large image and the crisp detail and colour depth is amazing, and even the fainter stars have a nice hue to them.
I must say I'm green with envy at the fabulous images you get with your setup.
Iv'e just been cruising around your large image and the crisp detail and colour depth is amazing, and even the fainter stars have a nice hue to them.
Cheers,
Justin.
Thanks Justin! I did push the saturation a bit in Photoshop to bring out the colour, and had a bit of trouble with colour mottling in the background again before finally getting it to look good. I think this may come about due to a low number of subs in the colour channels (7 subs is not much when trying to stretch the faint detail out) and then saturating the colour overall.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ross G
A beautiful galaxy photo David.
Love the detail and colour.
Ross.
Thanks Ross!
Quote:
Originally Posted by allan gould
David
Like the framing as well as the detail and colour.
A really nice image
Allan
Thanks Allan!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mighty_oz
Really nice, how long were the guided subs for ?
Thanks Marcus; the guided subs were all 10 minutes long. I should also mention that I used the external guidescope / STi for the guiding (instead of the inbuilt guide chip in the STL camera).
Quote:
Originally Posted by LewisM
Wow. Just wow. Speechless...almost.
Now, got to have me some clear skies and about 30 hours with the 8" f/4
Thanks Lewis; actually the way the weather has been here lately we've been lucky to get a few hours a week. I'm hoping it will get better this summer ...
Just for curiosities sake why not the internal guide chip ? U'd get less flexture problems that way, not that yours has much anyway from your build
I was actually experimenting with a few things when I took these subs, and wanted to test out the external guidescope/STi combination. I find that (depending on the elevation of the object) I can get up to 20 minutes without trailing. I intend to use the inbuilt guide chip where possible, but there are cases when it is difficult to get a good guide star (esp. when using a Ha filter); in these cases it will be nice to have an alternative.
Not much that can be said about it other than that it looks perfect.
I've heard of people mentioning pin point stars with refractors but I don't think you can get any more pinpoint than what you're getting with a reflector
What would you attribute the sharpness of your images to? mirror, rigidity of your CF OTA, imaging chip, mount?
Really nice work.
Cheers
Alistair
Very nice result indeed for a shake down test image David, very sharp, looks like you'll need a mozaic to fit it all in though?
On my screen the image looks clipped (?) with a jet black background that looks like it is hiding the faint fuzzies... but it could also be my screen too as I am using a less than optimal res TV monitor at the moment which decreases dynamic range .
This image, and your whole Newtonian project has inspired me to continue my home made equipment. When I have a mount that can hold a more substantial scope I plan to make something in this size range.
That's a ripper David! You've got some really nice colour going there. I reckon you're a bit of a composition pioneer ... but I won't hold that against you . Doesn't look black clipped to me although there is probably some more faint signal in there for you to tease out. For a quick check do Image->Adjustments->Equalise.
Not much that can be said about it other than that it looks perfect.
I've heard of people mentioning pin point stars with refractors but I don't think you can get any more pinpoint than what you're getting with a reflector
What would you attribute the sharpness of your images to? mirror, rigidity of your CF OTA, imaging chip, mount?
Really nice work.
Cheers
Alistair
Thanks Alistair. I have basically designed the scope from the ground up and sourced the best quality components where possible and made the others. Having a rigid tube (Dream Telescopes CF sandwich panel) and high quality optics (Suchting Precision Optics and Antares for secondary), rigid focuser with no slop, and ensuring any potential reflections / scattered light are minimised with flocking / baffles are important. I also wanted a system that was easy to collimate and held the optics securely and rigidly; for instance the secondary assembly I built permits fine control on rotation (a source of frustration in many newtonians).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scorpius51
Stunning! Sharpness, detail, framing & colour are superb.
Thanks John!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stevec35
To say the least, that's a keeper! Great colour, framing and detail.
Cheers
Steve
Thanks Steve!
Quote:
Originally Posted by strongmanmike
Very nice result indeed for a shake down test image David, very sharp, looks like you'll need a mozaic to fit it all in though?
On my screen the image looks clipped (?) with a jet black background that looks like it is hiding the faint fuzzies... but it could also be my screen too as I am using a less than optimal res TV monitor at the moment which decreases dynamic range .
Mike
Thanks Mike! Actually, if I'd taken more time to get the images aligned I could probably have included NGC1399 at the left edge of the field. I don't think it is clipped though; the background level appears to be around 1400 or so in each colour channel in PS, and the histograms (attached) show a small clearance at the foot of the curve in each channel.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter.M
This image, and your whole Newtonian project has inspired me to continue my home made equipment. When I have a mount that can hold a more substantial scope I plan to make something in this size range.
Keep up the great work!
Thanks Peter, that's a great compliment and I'm happy to discuss any aspects of the project.
Quote:
Originally Posted by marc4darkskies
That's a ripper David! You've got some really nice colour going there. I reckon you're a bit of a composition pioneer ... but I won't hold that against you . Doesn't look black clipped to me although there is probably some more faint signal in there for you to tease out. For a quick check do Image->Adjustments->Equalise.
Cheers, Marcus
Thanks Marcus! I did try stetching a little more - there is a tiny amount of extra detail but the background is quite noisy. I only took 8 subs for the luminance, and about 6 or 7 for each colour (all just 10 mins) so I had some trouble controlling the background noise.
I vote that Bunyip gives THE SHARPEST star points of ANY Newt I have EVER seen - heck, even better than many RC's I have seen! Just perfect rendition - if it was not for the spikes, you'd swear a refractor made the image.
.
You've got some really nice colour going there. I reckon you're a bit of a composition pioneer ... but I won't hold that against you 
. Doesn't look black clipped to me although there is probably some more faint signal in there for you to tease out. For a quick check do Image->Adjustments->Equalise.
