Horsehead CDK17 at F4.5

[gregbradley]

A work in progress really and clouds cut short an imaging run last night but what I got so far is very encouraging.

CDK17 with Planewave .66X reducer, SX Trius 694, Astrodon 5nm Ha filter and PME, Vixen 95 VMC guide scope with SBIG STi guider. 10 minute subs. 90 minutes only. Each sub is quite bright and a few had minor thin cloud to contend with. Seeing was not bad. 17 inches of aperture at F4.5 really slams down the photons. To get an image this bright with my refractors would have taken close to 8 hours.

http://upload.pbase.com/gregbradley/...53698147/large regular size

http://upload.pbase.com/gregbradley/...98147/original large size

Greg.

[Stevec35 (Steve)]

Certainly looking good so far Greg.

Cheers

Steve

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by Stevec35

Certainly looking good so far Greg.

Cheers

Steve

Thanks Steve. The weather forecast looks better in a few days.

Greg.

[alpal]

Wow - that is so detailed - great shot.

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by alpal

Wow - that is so detailed - great shot.

Thanks for that. I know this camera is sensitive in the Ha (66% same as KAF6303e) but I did not expect it to be so bright so quickly.

Greg.

[RickS (Rick)]

Excellent, Greg!

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by RickS

Excellent, Greg!

Thanks Rick. I am pleased with this setup's performance now. Its close to optimum on this scope.

Greg.

[IanP]

Greg,
the CDK17 is a big beast, but the Horse looks really great

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by IanP

Greg,
the CDK17 is a big beast, but the Horse looks really great

Yes, good analogy!

Greg.

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

Can't argue with that result!

Awesome detail Greg .

Cheers,

Justin.

[dvj (John)]

Exceptional shot Greg! Who needs an RHA when you can shoot a 17" at f/4.5?

jg

[Peter Ward]

An excellent result, super scale with tight FWHM's. Gotta be happy with that

[Bassnut (Fred)]

gee thats pretty good for 10min Ha subs. The SX Trius 694 looks tricky, nice QE at Ha for an ABG. And a fast 17" of course. Imagine what you could do with 30min subs at that QE and F ;-).

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Yeah not bad I guess Greg ... but..maaate that NGC 1365 on your web site is showing signs of being a killer image!...and fiiiinally looks like a true 17" long FL result

Mike

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by tilbrook@rbe.ne

Can't argue with that result!

Awesome detail Greg .

Cheers,

Justin.

Cheer Justin. Bad weather is now forecast for the rest of the week so I won't be able to add to it to next week it seems like.

Originally Posted by dvj

Exceptional shot Greg! Who needs an RHA when you can shoot a 17" at f/4.5?

jg

It certainly is a good setup but the RHA has its excellent place as well.

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

An excellent result, super scale with tight FWHM's. Gotta be happy with that

Thanks Peter. Yes I am happy with it. I would prefer an AO and an OAG in the imaging train though.

Originally Posted by Bassnut

gee thats pretty good for 10min Ha subs. The SX Trius 694 looks tricky, nice QE at Ha for an ABG. And a fast 17" of course. Imagine what you could do with 30min subs at that QE and F ;-).

The downside Fred is the 47mm backfocus requirement of the reducer which means very few cameras can match that distance when you factor in filter wheel and some sort of guiding device. I don't know how long it might go with this setup. 10 minutes is fine so 20 might be also.
10 minutes though at 17 inches and F4.5 will burn out the core of Spiral Galaxy NGC1097 though!

I am thinking of setting up the AP67CCDT reducer and an AO unit with OAG. More money, more adapters. What a familiar story!

Greg.

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Yeah not bad I guess Greg ... but..maaate that NGC 1365 on your web site is showing signs of being a killer image!...and fiiiinally looks like a true 17" long FL result

Mike

Cheers Mike. Yes 1365 is shaping up nicely. Processing is still not quite there though.

Greg.

[Rod771 (Rod)]

Very smooth Greg! Its looking very good

[Shiraz (Ray)]

cooking with gas at f4.5 Greg - really impressive result. regards Ray

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Oh yes! Very nice Greg! Definitely looking forward to seeing this one finished!

Cheers, Marcus

[RobF (Rob)]

What a wonderful result. Definitely hoping to see more of this one Greg.