March Imaging Challenge - NGC 3242 - Comment & Discussion

[Ric]

Hi all, following some discussion on a few other threads regarding the Monthly Imaging Challenge I've decided to get the ball rolling again.

The idea of the challenge is to image the nominated DSO and post it into this thread, that way we can all learn from each other.

At the end of the month I'll nominate one of the imagers to select a target for the April Imaging Challenge. They will then select someone for the May challenge and so on.

For this months challenge I've nominated

NGC 3242 The Ghost of Jupiter.

A quite remarkable Planetary Nebula in Hydra at magnitude 9.0
It is currently situated in the Eastern sky and is a good mid to late evening target.

My image was taken with the LX200R 12" in Alt/Az using a DSI II Pro with IR and Narrowband filters at f/5.0

The image was captured with Envisage 7.05 set to Drizzle mode with darks applied. Exposure times were as follows

Lum 50 x 15 second subs
Ha, OIII & SII were all 50 x 21.2 second subs

They were then combined and processed with MaximDL.

Thanks for looking and I hope everyone can find some time to join in.

Cheers

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

That's an excellent image Ric

Very crisp

Mike

[Tom Davis (Tom)]

Excellent! Nice detail, color and very sharp!

Way to small for my FOV. I paint with a wide brush!

Tom

[atalas]

Nice detail Ric!

[gregbradley]

Nice shot Ric.

I think that would also be too small an object for my setup although I could see if I could crop a wider image to enlarge it. I am imaging at 1260mm.

Greg.

[rogerg (Roger)]

I always enjoyed these imaging challenges, so it's great to have one going again

I had a look to see what I have for NGC 3242, and what do you know, I had a set of exposures I'd never processed! So here it is! ..

Luminance: 20 x 30 seconds
RGB: 10 x 30 seconds

only 30 seconds! I 'm shocked considering the brightness I've ended up with. Surprising.

I combined the LRGB stacks in Photoshop, did some levels & curves, de-saturated slightly, and resized by 150%. Slight un-sharp mask. Taken at 2160mm focal length originally (about F/7.5).

Thanks for kicking this off Ric

Roger.

[Matty P (Matt)]

Nice images Ric and Roger.

Great choice for the monthly imaging challenge.

I will definitely give it a go when I have a chance. Might try imaging at F/10 with my C8 for that extra focal length.

Also just a thought, would it be a good idea to start another thread just for the images?

Thanks Ric.

[Ric]

Thanks all for your comments and contributions.
It looks like we are off to a good start.

That's a good idea Matt, I'll start another thread for images only.
Roger that's a great image, could you post it to the other thread, thanks

Cheers all.

[AlexN]

Shame I didnt see this thread last night before I packed up.. I'll hope for some clear weather next weekend and have a stab at it with 2800mm focal lenght.. Should be a fun target!

Great work Ric & Roger, both so detailed for such sort exposure...

[Alchemy (Clive)]

love to join in ,but ive had to de-assemble all my gear from the observatory due to the fire situation..... should re assemble once fire threats are over.


i will watch with interest.

clive.

[spearo (Frank)]

ok Ric
weather permitting i'll try to have a go!
great to have the monthly challenge back
excellent selection mate
frank

[Ric]

Hi all, It's the last days of the March Imaging challenge for those with clear skies.

Don't forget to have a go and post your images.

Cheers and happy hunting.