March 13, 2009
Sorry, but with the weather and cloud cover being the way it is, the only thing keeping me sane is reprocessing previous data. Two versions this time. With the first one, I was going for the light and fluffy look, and the second version was the harsh and colorful look. I think I pushed both options about as far as I could. I still prefer the light and fluffy version. Click on the images for larger versions
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on Poor weather means more M42 reprocessing
March 7, 2009
After 60+ days of not getting any useful images out of my cameras, the weather gods finally realised that it wasnt funny anymore, and gave me an entire night to play with the stars. The fact that I kind of messed up most of the night doesnt really count 🙂
This was taken on Friday morning, fighting the 68% illuminated moon. Its kind of washed out the colours, but I`m not all that bothered by that. Discovered some flex in the system (C11 vixen dovetail maybe?), so had to decrease the length of each sub to reduce trailing
OTA: C11 @ f/10
Guiding: Skywatcher ED80 + Starlight Xpress Lodestar + PHD
Imaging: M25C + MaximDL, 42×150s, IDAS
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Post Process: PSCS2
(Click on image for larger version)
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on M13 against the moonlight
January 4, 2009
One of the longest “time on a single target” that I can remember doing, this is 5 hours of data on the Christmas Tree area, plus the Cone Nebule and some of the fox fur area. Its still quite noisy, probably due to some high cloud passing through or some othere excuse (hence why its all a bit “soft”). There are also at least 2 column defects in the full size image, so need to work out how to process them out, or move over to the M25C (and fix the dewing on the external nosepiece glass).
Anyway, here is the final image. I may look at getting some Ha data on this in the near future, and add that into the mix.
OTA: Skywatcher 190mm F/5.3 Maksutov-Newtonian Astrograph
Guiding: Skywatcher ED80 + Starlight Xpress Lodestar + PHD
Imaging: QHY8 + MaximDL, 30×600s, IDAS LPR
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Post Process: PSCS2
(Click on image for larger version)
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on NGC2264 Christmas Tree + Cone Nebula + Some Fox Fur
December 8, 2008
Yes, I know its been less than a day since the M42 posted below, but I was sure I could get some extra detail out of it by taking my time. I think I was right, but unsure if its a better image or not. Sure, its sharper and more contrasty, but is it better than the smoother ethereal feeling of the original?
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments (1)
December 7, 2008
After I night of near disasters, I managed to pull this one out of the hat 🙂 To say I am chuffed is an understatement….
I was set up by 4pm, two pass polealignmax by 5.10pm… yeah! all going well! Errr… then
My cable that supplies power to the QHY8 control box broke (the back of the centre pin came lose)
Bodged that with my NS8GPS power cable
Then the fuse on that cable blew (shattered actually!)
Found a replacement from an old project
Blew another fuse in a lighter socket extension cable
moved everything closer to the mount, turned off non-essential dew strips
imaged all night 
OTA: Skywatcher 190mm F/5.3 Maksutov-Newtonian Astrograph
Guiding: Skywatcher ED80 + DSI-C + PHD
Imaging: QHY8 + Nebulosity, 42×300s, IDAS LPR
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Post Process: ImagesPlus + PSCS2 + Noel Carboni’s AstroTools
(Click on image for a larger image)
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on M42/M43/NGC1977 RGB with the MakNewt… yes, another one!
November 26, 2008
After finishing my evening meal in a rush, wiping the sleet off the MakNewt sat outside under a cover, one of the most hurried set ups ever (never a good thing!), working my way round house guests with large heavy kit, fighting the cold, the blustery wind, my laptop crashing… twice!, PHD locking up, my DSI guide camera deciding to play hide and seek with the USB controller, I`m just glad I manged to get something to show for it. Consider this a false start, a not even a work in progress…. consider it lucky to get this before the clouds rolled in to finish off a most miserable evening.
Minimal detail because it doesnt deserve anything else
Imaging: QHY8 + IDAS 4 x 300s, no flats/dark/bias, minimal post processing
Guiding: PHD + DSI-C + ED80
OTA: Skywatcher 190 MakNewt
Yes, this really is only 20 minutes!!
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments (2)
November 8, 2008
Finally, after what seems like an incredibly long “new kit” induced period of clouds, the skies cleared last night. Seeing was OK, transparency was borderline rubbish, and the moon just made things worse
But… there were stars, and plenty of them. I was hoping the skies would stay clear all night so I could go for an RGB target, but alas the clouds rolled in at about 2.15am. The image is a bit noisey due to the transparency and the moon glow, but I`m happy with this as a first light with the Mak-Newt
After running PoleAlignMax to get a really good alignment, here is the result:
OTA: Skywatcher 190mm F/5.3 Maksutov-Newtonian Astrograph
Guiding: Skywatcher ED80 + DSI-C + PHD
Imaging: QHY8 + MaximDL, 20×600s, Astronomik 13nm Ha
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Post Process: ImagesPlus + PSCS2 + Noel Carboni’s AstroTools
(Click on image for larger version)
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on NGC281 Ha with the Skywatcher 190mm F/5.3 Maksutov-Newtonian Astrograph
October 24, 2008
One of the issues with imaging with the Hyperstar @ f/2 is that the wavelengths all get shifted by ~6nm, so doing narrowband with it can cause some real issues. A 13nm filter would appear to be OK, but in fact by the time (for example) Hydrogen Alpha is shifted by 6nm, its in the 30% or less bandpass section of the filter.
Then Baader released their new range of filters, including an oddity… a 35nm Ha filter. Is it a wide Ha or a narrow red? Who knows, but its use on the Hyperstar was obvious to me, keeping the peak Ha emision line well above the 90% transmission. It also seem to cope really well with the full f/2 shift at the outer egdes of the QHY8 APS size CCD. The only small downside is that because of the wide bandpass, its not quite as “contrasty” as you would expect from a narrowband filter.
So, here goes:
OTA: NS8GPS @ f/2 (Hyperstar v3)
Guiding: William Optics ZenithStar 66 SD + DSI-C + PHD
Imaging: QHY8 + MaximDL, 24×600s, Baader 35nm Ha
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Post Process: ImagesPlus + PSCS2 + Noel Carboni’s AstroTools
(Click on image for larger version)
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on IC1805 Heart Nebula, with new Baader 35nm Ha filter
October 24, 2008
Not in my usual comfort zone, I was going after something else but had problems, so went for this instead
OTA: C11 @ f/6.<something>
Guiding: SW ED80 + DSI-C + PHD (via EQMOD)
Imaging: QHY8 + MaximDL, 30 x 300s + 30 x 90s, 13nm Ha
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Post Process: ImagesPlus + PSCS2 + Noel Carboni’s AstroTools
(Click on image for larger version)
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on M42/M43 close up, not my usual territory…
October 9, 2008
After the first all night imaging session at home since what appears to be the beginning of time, I am shattered 🙂 At least at Kelling I could have a lie in, but I had to come to work today… bah!
After taking a couple of sequences (that I still need to work on quite extensively), I saw a familiar sight appearing just over the top of the roofline… the top of Orion, his head peeking over the top and his body sliding slowly round the corner, showing more and more as time passed. Winter really is almost upon us, it was very cold last night, almost frosty.
Instead of rushing to point the kit at Orions Belts or the sword, I waited a while. I walked up to the back of the garden to get a better view, to see if an old friend of mine was likely to come out to play before the sun made its presence known by turning the sky blue.
And there is was! Trailing not that far behind Orion, and just a little low, but certainly about to make an appearance for my camera. I turned the scope to where it should be, and watched as the shadow of the roofline slowly slipped away in the quick images that were flashing up on the screen.
And there it was…. Hello old friend, I`m sure we will be seeing an awful lot of each other over the next few months.
OTA: NS8GPS @ f/2 (Hyperstar v3)
Guiding: William Optics ZenithStar 66 SD + DSI-C + PHD
Imaging: QHY8 + MaximDL, 15x600s, 13nm Ha
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Post Process: ImagesPlus + PSCS2 + Noel Carboni’s AstroTools
(Click on image for larger version)
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments (2)
