Imaging with a big telescope (8m)

Stevec35 (Steve) · #1 21-12-2015, 06:43 PM

Last year I was the totally unexpected winner of the AAO Gemini prize in which you submit a proposal for the 8m Gemini telescope to take an image of a particular object. If you win you get telescope time to take the image which in my case was the planetary nebula IC5148/50, always one of my favorites.

Well the data finally turned up a few days ago and this is my first attempt at processing it. Keep in mind that this is only one hour's total exposure. Gemini time costs about $2 per second.

Cheers

Steve

http://members.pcug.org.au/~stevec/I...MOS_Gemini.htm

rustigsmed (Russell) · #2 21-12-2015, 06:54 PM

WOW - awesome resolution and FL!!
Congrats must be quite a feeling adding 8m to the imaging list!!

Slawomir (Suavi) · #3 21-12-2015, 06:56 PM

Awesome image and a very unique opportunity - congratulations Steve!

Atmos (Colin) · #4 21-12-2015, 07:17 PM

That's brilliant!!
So, where is this 8mm telescope situated in your backyard? Did you set it up every night?

TR (Terry) · #5 21-12-2015, 07:22 PM

Very nice

Terry

RB (Andrew) · #6 21-12-2015, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atmos

So, where is this 8mm telescope situated in your backyard?

Under a mushroom Colin.

Atmos (Colin) · #7 21-12-2015, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RB

Under a mushroom Colin.

Oops

Stevec35 (Steve) · #8 21-12-2015, 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TR

Very nice

Terry

Thanks Terry

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atmos

That's brilliant!!
So, where is this 8mm telescope situated in your backyard? Did you set it up every night?

Thanks Colin. My backyard is big but not that big. It's located in Chile

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slawomir

Awesome image and a very unique opportunity - congratulations Steve!

Thanks Slawomir

Quote:

Originally Posted by rustigsmed

WOW - awesome resolution and FL!!
Congrats must be quite a feeling adding 8m to the imaging list!!

Thanks Russell. It will certainly never happen again as they don't run the competition anymore.

marc4darkskies (Marcus) · #9 21-12-2015, 08:49 PM

Holy cow Steve - an amateur image with an 8M scope??!! That might be hard to beat! Nice processing.

I trust it was properly collimated??

RickS (Rick) · #10 21-12-2015, 09:08 PM

Very cool, Steve, and fantastic resolution on such a small target. No halo, though... it takes a crazy amateur to spend the hours necessary to capture that

Cheers,
Rick.

strongmanmike (Michael) · #11 21-12-2015, 10:17 PM

That's very cool news Steve, congratulations

...and a fine result too, with a..?.. larger than average scope

Mike

alpal · #12 21-12-2015, 10:28 PM

Hi Steve,
the 8 meter has picked more detail than here:
http://annesastronomynews.com/photo-...louds/ic-5148/

Nice work - I bet you wish you could get more time on that 8 meter beast.

cheers
Allan

strongmanmike (Michael) · #13 21-12-2015, 10:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alpal

Hi Steve,
the 8 meter has picked more detail than here:
http://annesastronomynews.com/photo-...louds/ic-5148/

cheers
Allan

Yeah but that one was taken with a lill'ol puny 3.5m telescope Allan

Mike

IanP · #14 21-12-2015, 10:41 PM

What a shot!!!
My "tyre" (0.925m telescope) is 20x smaller ...

Stevec35 (Steve) · #15 21-12-2015, 11:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

Holy cow Steve - an amateur image with an 8M scope??!! That might be hard to beat! Nice processing.

I trust it was properly collimated??

Thanks Marcus. Strictly speaking it wasn't an "amateur" image. The justification for the observation was detection of a halo but I never thought you would see much halo given the field of view.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RickS

Very cool, Steve, and fantastic resolution on such a small target. No halo, though... it takes a crazy amateur to spend the hours necessary to capture that

Cheers,
Rick.

Thanks Rick. Travis Rector, the Gemini image processing guru, who I'm consulting with via Skype tomorrow says that there are some indications of a halo in the larger field but I can't see them. Gemini with GMOS is about F10-11. Most GMOS shots are typically only about an hour or so it's not deep. The GMOS FOV is a bit ugly too with gaps between the CCDS. I cropped the gaps out but may try and get more field if I can. See here for detail on GMOS:

https://www.gemini.edu/node/10635

Quote:

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

That's very cool news Steve, congratulations

...and a fine result too, with a..?.. larger than average scope

Mike

Thanks Mike. It's the largest scope I'll ever get to use for sure.

Quote:

Originally Posted by alpal

Hi Steve,
the 8 meter has picked more detail than here:
http://annesastronomynews.com/photo-...louds/ic-5148/

Nice work - I bet you wish you could get more time on that 8 meter beast.

cheers
Allan

Thanks Allan. Not going to happen but I certainly do. The telescope that took the ESO picture is somewhat smaller but it's still a great image. One thing that bothers me slightly about my image is a slight asymmetry of colour across the image so I hope I haven't done anything wrong. I'll no doubt be reissuing another version at some stage.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IanP

What a shot!!!
My "tyre" (0.925m telescope) is 20x smaller ...

Thanks Ian. Size isn't everything.

gregbradley · #16 22-12-2015, 05:43 AM

Fantastic Steve. That must have been a thrill.

Greg.

AG Hybrid (Adrian) · #17 22-12-2015, 07:14 AM

That's pretty damn impressive. I can't wait to see the final processed image.

prokyon (Werner Probst) · #18 22-12-2015, 08:33 AM

Wow, what an experience! Eyery amateur is dreaming of something like that. This pn was a good decission, very nice result!

Werner

Paul Haese · #19 22-12-2015, 09:29 AM

A so the data finally arrived. And; you thought it might not turn up Steve. Very nicely processed and with great detail. A nice trophy for the competition.

astroron (Ron) · #20 22-12-2015, 09:55 AM

Congratulations and well done Steve.
You picked a fine target for your prize.
Mighty fine image.
Cheers