My First Planetary Nebulas

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #1 17-07-2007, 12:51 AM

Well, after a prod from Ric, I spent last night (Sunday Night) imaging Planetary Nebulas.

The thin fog and condensation was a real pain, but I kept persisting until I was completely fogged out.

But I still had fun getting them

Thanks for the prod, Ric.

Modified Toucam, ED80, Little Toucam IR filter, Focal Reducer.

1. The Blue Planetary NGC 3918 - 6 x 160 seconds
2. The Grey Planetary NGC 3195 - 8 x 160 seconds
3. The Saturn Nebula NGC 7009 - 8 x 160 seconds
4. The Spiral Planetary NGC 5189 - 8 x 160 seconds
5. The Helix Nebula NGC 7293 - 16 x 200 seconds (ruined by Amp Glow due to longer exposures)

iceman (Mike) · #2 17-07-2007, 06:33 AM

Well done Ken, a great start to the PN collection.

The angular size of the helix compared to the others is significant!

Dennis · #3 17-07-2007, 07:42 AM

Wow - what an amazing collection Ken! Top job, your dedication and persistence amazes me.

Cheers

Dennis

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #4 17-07-2007, 08:27 AM

Flipping fantastic Ken.
Me hats off to you.

Ric · #5 17-07-2007, 10:24 AM

Hi Ken, top imaging you've done a great job with all of them.

The Saturn Nebula has it's little ears visible and the Helix is a ripper with a lot of detail and colour being captured. That amp glow must be sooooo frustrating though.

The Spiral Planetary looks like a very interesting object, I"m going to earmark it myself for imaging.

Cheers

h0ughy (David) · #6 17-07-2007, 10:38 AM

Wel done Ken! Fantastic effort

erick (Eric) · #7 17-07-2007, 10:54 AM

Really neat, Ken! What isn't in reach of you and your webcam?!

You are way ahead of me. I have down, on my observing list, a goal of trying to spot my first PNs this coming Friday night through my dob.

jase (Jason) · #8 17-07-2007, 11:23 AM

Good stuff Ken. Make sure you catalogue everything and provide accurate coordinates - I will buy the multi-dvd set titled "Ken's rendition of the Digital Sky Survey" once you've completed the PGC galaxies as well.

RB (Andrew) · #9 17-07-2007, 12:17 PM

"Ken the Toucam Legend" !

Well done mate.

matt · #10 17-07-2007, 12:20 PM

Onya Ken

Keep pushin' that little silver marvel

sheeny (Al) · #11 17-07-2007, 12:25 PM

That's seriously well done Ken!

Are you subtracting darks? I would've thought the amp glow would also appear in the darks and could be largely removed...

Al.

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #12 17-07-2007, 02:03 PM

Thanks everyone, yeah it was a buzz imaging them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheeny

Are you subtracting darks? I would've thought the amp glow would also appear in the darks and could be largely removed...

Al, I stacked versions of each. With darks, and without darks. The without comes out better. And no, Darks don't remove Amp Glow, it has to be removed in PS using 'Gradient' but on the Helix it took out the Helix too. A royal pain.

Any exposure over 120 seconds and the Amp glow starts killing the images, and I'm not talented enough to do the 'Amp Off' mod, so I keep persisting.

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #13 17-07-2007, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheeny

Are you subtracting darks? I would've thought the amp glow would also appear in the darks and could be largely removed...

Al.

Al, here is the stacked image with Dark Frame subtracted. See how it just doesn't work properly. It turns the Amp Glow into a wierd black area and degrades the nebula.

Garyh · #14 18-07-2007, 12:48 PM

Well done Ken!!! its amazing what that little cam can do with someone who knows how to use it!!!

davidpretorius · #15 18-07-2007, 09:03 PM

bloody hell, you keep amazing me!

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #16 18-07-2007, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidpretorius

bloody hell, you keep amazing me!

I keep being amazed by this little cam!

[1ponders] (Paul) · #17 18-07-2007, 09:48 PM

Fantastic results Ken! I'd love to see a "Ken James ToUcam Planetary Collection that they said couldn't be done"

btw how do you do your dark subtraction? In Registax or in Photoshop?

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #18 18-07-2007, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by [1ponders]

Fantastic results Ken! I'd love to see a "Ken James ToUcam Planetary Collection that they said couldn't be done"

btw how do you do your dark subtraction? In Registax or in Photoshop?

Thanks Paul.

1. I'm not intested in imaging Planets. I' have tried over 2 years and haven't improved. Probably no passion there for planets so I probably don't try hard enough.

2. I subtract the darks in Registax, in the stacking process.

but I rarely subract darks. It seems to weaken the data.