NGC5128 with RC8 and QHY9

[Hagar (Doug)]

Here is my first clear night image in ages. The sky was clear but lots of upper level turbulance making seeing not the best. An interesting night to be outside with the temprature dropping well below 0 here and at one point it was as if the sky lit up with a phosphorecence. This was obviously the moisture in the air freezing.

The image: NGC5128 with a total of 5 hrs exposure.
70 minutes of each colour and 90 min of luminance. All in 10 minute subs.

Telescope: GSO RC8 8"
Camera: QHY9 with QHY filters
No calibration files.

Processed with CCDStack, MaximDL and PS CS4.
The image still has some shutter atrifacts on the bright stars. I forgot to turn on the clamping filter in the camera control.
Comments welcome, thanks for looking.
The second image has been manipulated to give a little more star colour.

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

Wow Doug - the detail in that is amazing and the long imaging session sure has paid off. Well done.

Peter

[gregbradley]

Great shot and I am sure the cold helped the camera be nice and clean as well. Core looks slightly oversharpened to me and it could be just me but the galaxy looks slightly too yellow? Maybe not.

A great result and 5 hours is a good total time for galaxy shots.

Greg.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Nice one Doug. Sharp as and great colours and details.

[h0ughy (David)]

nice looking shot Doug

[RobF (Rob)]

Wow - all the effort for a long hard night is showing there Doug. My eyes gets sucked toward the central detail like its a black hole. I found myself tipping and back and forth between amazement at how the central ribbon is starting to resolve versus slight worry its just a bit oversharp. Wonder at the overall effect won out

[Lester]

Top image Doug, the detail within is eyecatching.

All the best.

[TrevorW]

Good one Doug

[Hagar (Doug)]

Thanks for all the comments and kind words. I have had another look at the image and agree I may have overdone the sharpening around the core so have had another go at it and replaced the original image.

[gregbradley]

Yeah that looks great. Amazing really. Until recently an image this good could only be gotten on mega thousands of dollars of gear. These RCs are really rocking the astro world.

Greg.

[Octane (Humayun)]

Holy moly, that is superb Doug!

Excellent work!

H

[Alchemy (Clive)]

some nice detail doug.

[desler]

Yes Doug!


Lovely image, Nice detail and well presented. Now send some of that clear sky this way, will you?

Darren

[Ken]

Great image Doug, looks like a image from a much larger instrument with plenty of detail. My QHY9 has the same black horizontal lines from bright stars, you mentioned clamping? I have not seen this in Ezcap or are you using Maxim?. Actually I am having issues with the shutter not working for the first 20 exposures after first start up or the first image in a sequence after that.
Clear skies Ken

[batema (Mark)]

That is a great image. You must be loving the new scope.

Mark

[Hagar (Doug)]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Yeah that looks great. Amazing really. Until recently an image this good could only be gotten on mega thousands of dollars of gear. These RCs are really rocking the astro world.

Greg.

Thanks for the constructive comments Greg. I have to admitt the little RC really is a neat little scope. It might require a little work and a few dollars spent on it after purchase but the results are outstnding for the overall cost.

Originally Posted by Octane

Holy moly, that is superb Doug!

Excellent work!

H

Thanks H. Can't wait to see what you produce soon.

Originally Posted by Alchemy

some nice detail doug.

Hello old friend. Thanks for the comments but when can we see some more images from you?

Originally Posted by desler

Yes Doug!


Lovely image, Nice detail and well presented. Now send some of that clear sky this way, will you?

Darren

I had to beg to get a couple of good nights myself and then an equipment problem blew the first one. Thanks Mate.

Originally Posted by Ken

Great image Doug, looks like a image from a much larger instrument with plenty of detail. My QHY9 has the same black horizontal lines from bright stars, you mentioned clamping? I have not seen this in Ezcap or are you using Maxim?. Actually I am having issues with the shutter not working for the first 20 exposures after first start up or the first image in a sequence after that.
Clear skies Ken

Hi Ken, The clamping is a switch in the Ascom driver. To have a shutter problem like that you would have to look at the clearence between the screw in adapter and the shutter. May be worth talking to the dealer who sold you the camera.

Originally Posted by batema

That is a great image. You must be loving the new scope.

Mark

This little scope is well worth the money but can be a struggle to setup correctly at first. Collimation is the key and this is not really easy. I have had the scope for about 6 months but haven't used it very much while waiting for adapters, focuser and flattener. Then it depends on the target I wish to image.

I have just installed an OVision worm on my G11 and thought I would try it out with a bit more focal length and it is a big improvement. The stars speak for themselves.
Thanks Mark.

[marki]

Very well done Doug, nice shot indeed.

Mark

[DavidU (Dave)]

Extreme tidyness there Doug !

[allan gould]

Really brilliant shot Doug. Excellent focus and guiding is spot on. I just love the combination of the 8300 chip and the RC scope.

[Paul Haese]

looks nice Doug. Nice star colours and the galaxy looks good too. It's on my reimaging list but I like your image of this object.