MZ3 Ant Nebula - close up

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Hi Guys

Well, I think this the most tragic pic Ive posted , its woefull, but given the size and wasted time trying to image it, I just had to share it and put it in the "done that" folder.

I can only find on the web just one other pic by an amature, and on a 300D , a ballsy effort by an aussie Scott Adler .

This planetary neb is just 25 arcsecs in diameter and the hardest ive tried to image by far. The Ha was not bad brightness wise, but the SII/OII, despite 20min exposures was practically non-existant.

Anyway, 5hrs each of Ha,SII,OIII in that order (reverse Hubble) mapped as LRGB, Ha 10 min subs and SII,OIII 20min subs .

Absolutely croped to hell, upsized 4 times, deconed and sharpened within an inch of its life .

Colour is totaly random and subjective, given Hubble was the only reference and of course unmatchable.

[seeker372011 (Narayan)]

full marks for effort

[seeker372011 (Narayan)]

i wonder if there are any ground based images even by the big observatories ? so far as i can tell , its only been imaged by scott, you and the hubble?

[multiweb (Marc)]

That's pretty awesome Fred. Great details in there.

[Lester]

Top view Fred of such a small, tiny planetary.

Thanks for the view.

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Thanks Guys, but the attachment demonstrates why you just shouldnt bother imaging this .

Then again, if you squint hard, stand at least 10m away and switch off your monitor, I swear, you could not tell the dif .

[bert (Brett)]

Thanks for posting.

Spectacular, you're always pushing the limits of what can be imaged with details intact.

Brett

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Thanks Brett. Detail, what detail? .

Narayan, yep, Scott and me proudly,nay..,fiercly, vainly, attempt to counter the WFW pollution that invades these hallowed pages to maintain the true, yes true pursuit of pure astrophotograhy, to wit, zooming in. Narrow field, thats the key to imaging nirvana (and a bit more res, when funds allow )

[Peter Ward]

The stars are an interesting shape..but despite their lack of roundness..very serious image scale there Fred! Stick with it

[tornado33]

Excellent work, thats one of the best ground based images, and Im glad my original effort with the old un modded 300d inspired you to image it.

It is VERY strong in HA, as even with the unmodded 300d was very red and showed up readily in 5 minute shots

Yep bagging these small gems is fun. I will attempt to better my past shots of MZ3 soon, but will need those rare nights of really good seeing.
Scott

[DavidU (Dave)]

Fred, you look for the impossible, image the improbable and shown to the ungrateful.Awesome

[jase (Jason)]

Fred, you may have summed it up well in your first statement. Possibly too harsh, but in the interest of taste...you need more aperture. It is still an admirable effort. Kudos!

[spearo (Frank)]

Well done
(from one addict of small targets to another)
seems to be a horizontal mirror flip of the other one posted (Hubble)

Keep it up
cheers
frank

[Hagar (Doug)]

Nice attempt at a real bugger. Focal length and appature are the key to these little suckers. Definitely not on my list with the FSQ.

Well done Fred.

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Peter, Thanks. The AO works well itself, but the mount bumps cause the star shape, I have yet to get that right, its very difficult to tune.

Yes, thanks for the motivation Scott, your pic showed me is was even possible and kicked me to try it. You could say it was your FAULT ;-)

Dave, you lot are greatfull enough ;-), and critical when required, much appreciated.

Jase, to see anything, it became harsh (short of painting, and that would be pointless), so yes, more appature, always more appature.

Frank, now you have appature, get into it ;-). Fits liberator flips images on import to PS, sometimes I forget to unflip.

Doug. hehe, yes the FSQ would be tough on PNs.

Anyway, thats it for PNs for a while methinks, the pics are getting worse as they get smaller. Thanks for all your encauragemnt guys.

[h0ughy (David)]

a valiant effort, 'ant no satisfaction - but it is good well done

[renormalised (Carl)]

It's a good shot, considering the size of the PN and the limitation of aperture

Colour is alright...just as good as any other I've seen of this object by an amateur.

I'd doubt you'd get much in the way of SII/OIII anyway, since there's bugger all green light in its spectrum and to get any (like the Hubble) you're going to need muchos mirror real estate

So, when do you buy your custom 40" RCOS??

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by Bassnut

Anyway, thats it for PNs for a while methinks, the pics are getting worse as they get smaller.

Noooooooo!.....
Fred is selling out and going widefield! Whahahaaahyyyyyy??.....
What's next? No more NB? More RGB work?

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Thanks David (is that a song;-)

Taa Carl, well a bigger scope is tempting, the PME would take it, but given the new gear appearing id have trouble flogging the RCOS methinks.

Easy Marc, just SLIGHTLY less narrow NF

[bert (Brett)]

Originally Posted by Bassnut

Thanks David (is that a song;-)

Taa Carl, well a bigger scope is tempting, the PME would take it, but given the new gear appearing id have trouble flogging the RCOS methinks.

Easy Marc, just SLIGHTLY less narrow NF

Get a bigger scope and use the 10 inch for wide field.....