Night of the Globs

[HiloDon]

Hi All,

I had a bit of clearing last night and wanted to test Paul's LL non-linear scaling function on some globular clusters. The seeing wasn't the best with all the moisture in the air, but I got some decent views anyway. I used the x^0.25 setting to see if I could prevent the center of the glob from blowing out. I think it worked well, but would like to hear what others think. I used the Lodestar X2 and my SW100ed at the native F9 fl.

Here's what I got:

And, a couple of bonus shots:

Let me know what you think.

Don

[aparker]

Great looking images. Nice to be so far south that you can see Omega Centauri. From where I'm located only about half of the MW globulars are visible.

[f15p5]

Hi Don,

Look great to me for using that setting. Still a bit grainier than what I would expect on Linear with the globs, though it does not seem as distracting on 104. Much better results than I'm getting using that setting, whats the secret?

Your 4" f9 is perfect match for sampling with the X2, I think Omega came out the best of the globs, did you use dark frames? Seems to have the best contrast? Now just tell us how you did it!

Richard

[Martin Meredith]

You've certainly prevented the centres being over-exposed Don. And good to see them all side-by-side. Omega Centauri is a real whopper, isn't it… At the same time it is perhaps the most dispersed of them.

The Sombrero is one of the best I've seen in EAA.

cheers

Martin

[Macavity]

Looking good to me...

With so many variables - Hardware / capture settings - Plus

post-processing, to get a consistent and "standard" recipe. 

Then I can forget about it and gather the data (object avi's).

Cool though they are, I won't be too sorry for "galaxy season"

to end. Far too many, and I still prefer good old "clusters"...

[HiloDon]

Thanks, all for the likes and comments.

Richard, I think the grainer results come from the atmosphere that evening. I was really fighting the clouds that never really totally cleared. It even rained a couple of times. It's typical here to get these small intermittent showers. It's not unusual to even get moon bows. I think the NGC5287 shot really shows the grain. I probably had clearer skies with M104. Next time out, I'll do a glob with both settings and hopefully clear skies. Also, I did use dark frames and the stacking was mean only to smooth the image some. It did not affect the exposure.

To get the right setting with the non linear scaling, adjustments need to be made to brightness to move the histogram to the left and then adjustments of the black and white levels to give the desired balance. I sometimes widen the histogram with the contrast setting, but the non linear functions do most of it automatically. It's a trial and error thing, but once you get it right, it's like Chris said, you have a recipe and you can spend more time viewing objects. The setting can be left as you go from object to object. The only thing to do is to shut off stacking and recycle the exposure.

Alex, I am lucky to be south enough to get OC and Eta Carinae. OC is one of my favorite objects, and looks great visually, too. I think my scale was a bit too narrow for it. I was going to put in my .8 FR, but it was getting late and I got lazy.

Martin, thanks for the comment on M104. I was surprised to first see it. The mean stacking helped reduce noise and smooth the image.

Don

[shirva]

Cracking images don.

[arkosg]

Very nice work, Don!  OC looks awesome... shame I can't see it from my vantage point here!

Cheers,

- Greg A

[Dom543]

Very nice shots Don!

I am still not getting anywhere close with my nonlinear attempts on galaxies. (I have not tried glob yet. Still trying to get the last glimpses of the colorful winter nebulae before they are gone for the year.)

I think that we all would be interested to learn from you and are hence curious of what settings you are using. I don't know about your iPad but Windows computers have a feature that allows to capture the entire screen. Doing that would show us the entire LL window with all the sliders and settings next to the image.

Thank you and Clear Skies!

--Dom

[arkosg]

Not to throw this thread off or anything, but I just read Don's title again, and now I'm thinking of a bad 1950's sci-fi horror film....

- Greg A

[HiloDon]

Thanks for all the comments and feedback.

Dom, I think I can do that and will the next time out. Even if I have to take a shot with my iPhone.

Greg, I thought of the same thing. I think there was "The Blob", with, believe it or not, Steve McQueen and then I think there was "The Night of the Living Dead", but not sure on that one. My title would definitely fit the profile of a bad fifties sci-fi. Invasion of the Space Globs would be another good one or bad one depending how you look at it.

Don

[Paul81]

Great stuff as always Don!

Next time I am out with my EAA kit I will also do some screen captures to show the settings.... sadly my EAA kit is out of action at the moment as I upgraded my AZEQ6GT SynScan firmware (which was fine) and then went to upgrade the motor firmware but this keeps failing (i need to try another computer - perhaps one with a non USB based RS232 port) so I am back in visual land only for the time being as the mount is non responsive! Annoying as its galaxy season and wanted to try the HDF myself too!! 

Paul

[HiloDon]

Thanks, Paul.

Hope you get your stuff up and running soon. Night skies have not cooperated here lately, so I'm going to take a run up to the Mauna Kea Visitors Center tomorrow. It's usually clear up there. A little cooler, too. I cobbled up a portable setup with my Meade LS8 that I bought a few years back. Thought about selling it, but it looks to be a good possibility for a portable setup with a wider field focal reducer installed. I also have a double finder shoe mount so I can installed my wide field NB Ha mini scope. Eta Carinae is still in a nice position. Will be using two Lodestars with my two Macs. Now that I think about it, it doesn't sound that portable. If things go well, I'll report back.

Clear skies to all!

Don