New moon is less impressive from the suburbs..

[AlexN]

Well, due to family commitments, I couldn't get to dark skies this weekend, however last night I was able to get out with the scopes and do some imaging.... Here's a couple of the later efforts from the wee hours of this morning..

M42 ~ 10x10min, 18x5min, 60x1min - 7nm Ha..
It needs more work, and much more exposure to get all the dim dusty surroundings, but its a start..

Eta Carine (First for the season??) 4x25min - 7nm Ha.
Again, this one could do with more exposure, but I'm liking this a lot. Easily my best eta. I'll get some OSC data for this next weekend from dark skies..


Last night I also got 1.5hrs on the tarantula and 1hr on NGC104.. Both of these are still in the oven.. I'll serve them up as soon as they are ready.

Alex

[multiweb (Marc)]

Nice one! I like the V shape neb in the back of M42. See it only in deep images.Eta looks very sharp too. Well done.

[AlexN]

Thanks Marc... At first I thought that dark V shape was an optical issue, or something wrong with my flats etc... I did a search around online and found quite a few shots showing it.. I was impressed after that.. I do wish I'd got twice as much exposure to reduce the noise in the dust, however had I done that, I wouldnt have got the Eta Carine shot.. And I'm REALLY happy with that shot! I compared it to my shot from december last year, there is NO comparison...

[Dennis]

Hi Alex

Wow – a couple of excellent images; both quite remarkable considering all the debris in the atmosphere due to multiple dust storms and local fires!

Cheers

Dennis

[dpastern (Dave Pastern)]

Alex - these were shot with the TMB?

Both excellent shots!

Dave

[AlexN]

Cheers Dennis, I did think to myself early in the evening whether it was even worth imaging.. Glad I did!

Dave, Yep, shot with the TMB 80/480 @ Prime focus using a Baader MPCC to flatten the field, and a Baader 7nm Ha filter with the Orion Starshoot Pro.

Alex.

[telecasterguru (Frank)]

Alex,

Very impressed with the early results that you re achieving. Can't wait to see them when you have added more data.

Frank

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Nice outcome Alex, yeh a bit of noise there but still looks ok

Don't want to dissapoint ya either but there ain't no dust in that there image cause it's in Halpha mate, dust doesn't emit Halpha.

Mike

[AlexN]

Frank, Thanks mate.. I hope to add some more data this saturday and sunday mornings!

Mike, Yep, noise is a given with such low overall exposure time, I could do a Sidonio, stretch the image less, so you still see all the main nebula, but not the darker wispy bits.. but hey..

Yes as you say, its not "Dust" I just refer to it as dust thanks to its colour in many images, it appears a dirty, dusty brown most of the time, I suppose it would have to be gas... To that end, essentially in images it should be a deep red should it not? Oooh.. look at me rambling on like an old woman.. haha..

[AlexN]

Despite my colour blindness.. I've attempted a Ha:OSC (100min:100min) blend of Eta carine..


Ha: 4x25min - taken at 480mm with Orion SS Pro - Yesterday.
OSC : 10x10min - Taken at 714mm with QHY8 - December 08

The OSC data was a lot closer in, so the field of view is heavily reduced, and the OSC data was also taken with no field flattener, so the outter edges show a little coma in the stars, the Ha has worked wonders in bringing out more detail.. I've posted the original OSC shot first for comparison, followed by the Ha Ha+R G B shot..

Cheers for looking..

Alex.

[TheDecepticon]

Fantastic Ha images, love the Orion area!

[dpastern (Dave Pastern)]

That TMB is really doing wonders. Amazing detail for only 80mm of aperture. Your really producing some high quality work now Alex, imho.

Dave

[AlexN]

cheers guys. I agree, some how this scope seems to defy its small aperture. It definitely delivers sharp images, and seems to effortlessly pull detail out of a target..