steppenwolf

Well done, this is a great and successful endeavour👍

Seriously impressive and such dedication by Metsavainio. This could be such a useful reference work for 'what shall I image this week?' type questions!

Cracking image, Richard with beautifully coloured stars and great detail in the nebulosity. It's a lovely, full field of view.👍

Sorry, Mike, I am late to this but in your circumstances, this is the right decision - I only have the shutter automation as I run fully auto. You'll love the Pulsar Dome - it really is nicely made.

Thank you, Peter, I'm pleased you like it! Oh the joys of narrowband, Martin, allowing you to choose any colour you like just to get the contrast you need! I guess that means you like it, John 🤣 I wasn't aware but will have a look into this - thanks for the heads up. Thanks, Adam, I do love narrowband colouring - such freedom to explore! Thank you, I'm delighted that you like it.

Thank you!

No problem, Craig. This was it:- 1. Process both Ha and OIII in PS3 to produce similar brightness/contrast mono images 2. Generate a standard HOO image (Ha mapped to Red, OIII mapped to Green and Blue channels) 3. Use Noel Carboni's action 'Synthesize Green' to generate a unique Green channel 4. Use the Hue/Saturation tool to set 'Red' data to a more 'Gold' colour 5. Apply the usual 'Gold/Turquoise (SII/Ha/OIII)' adjustments I did some final tweaks using Levels and Curves to achieve the brightness/contrast I wanted Hope that helps.

I pondered this very point for some time but decided that I rather liked the 'curtain' of filaments across the top left hand corner of the image!! 🤣 I need even MORE magnification to do the Leaping Leopard justice! I'm with you there, it has been a terrible winter for imaging so I am delighted to have at least something to show for it .......

The Rosette Nebula Description Also designated as Caldwell 49 and Sharpless SH2-275, the Rosette Nebula constitutes several different objects and this central core region includes NGC 2237, 8, 9 and 2246. Closely associated with the nebula is the open star cluster NGC 2244. This beautiful nebula is well named as in RGB images, it does indeed look like a rosette although in this version which comprises 3nm Hydrogen Alpha (Ha) and 3nm Doubly Ionised Oxygen (OIII) filtering, I have chosen a colour palette that emphasizes the detail rather than trying to emulate a standard colour image. Lying in the constellation of Monoceros, roughly 10 degrees to the east south-east of the bright star Betelguese, this is a very popular winter object although because of poor weather, I have only been able to tackle it this season in the last couple of weeks which means that at my latitude, it sets below my local horizon by a rather early 11:30! The Rosette Nebula is a region of intense star formation. The stellar winds from the young stars within the nebula exert a high pressure on the interstellar clouds, compressing them and it is this compression that leads to ongoing star formation. There are several obscuring dark veins of matter (not to be confused with ‘veins of dark matter’!) within the nebula. Close examination of these veins reveals tiny dark blobs of material. These dark blobs are known as Bok Globules (named after the Dutch born Harvard Professor Bartholomeus (Bart) Jan Bok). Bok suggested that the globules were at one time attached to umbilical filaments of neutral Hydrogen gas. Radiation from local stars first separated and then compressed the filaments leaving individual small areas of matter that continued to contract under the pull of their own gravity until they formed the globules visible today. It is believed that these globules contain primeval dust clouds from which new stars are being formed. Image Stats Mount: Mesu 200 Telescope: Sky-Watcher Esprit 150 Flattener: Sky-Watcher Esprit specific Camera: QSI 683 WSG-8 Filter: Astrodon 3nm Ha, 3nm OIII Subframes: 11 x 1800 sec bin 1x1 Ha, 13 x 1800 sec bin 1x1 OIII Integration: 12 hours Control: CCD Commander Capture: MaxIm DL Calibration, Stacking and Deconvolution: PixInsight Post-Processing: PhotoShop PS3 Location Constellation Monoceros RA 06° 31' 45.6" DEC +04° 56' 52.77" Distance ~5,220ly

I was in this fortunate position three years ago and my forever telescope was also for imaging. My budget may have been less than yours if you are now thinking ‘Tak’ but don’t just be swayed by the brand and do your research carefully but for what it’s worth, my forever telescope turned out to be an Esprit 150 and it was a really good decision. I also considered the Esprit 120 as it too is an excellent imaging ‘scope but in the end, as this was ‘forever’, the 150 won through! I have had a Tak (actually two) and I don’t get what all the fuss is about!! Good luck with your research!

It’s never too late to marvel at the the Pipes🤣

I think this is a great effort - congratulations on your progress so far. Apart from the vignetting, the two images are very much what I would have expected with the exposures that you took. The Horsehead Nebula is a rather dim object and the 60 second exposures were really pushing your luck on this one! Things would get a lot more interesting if you pushed this to 5 or even better, 10 minute exposures and lots of them!

+1

Interesting comparisons, thanks for posting. To me, the f2.8 stop-down is certainly worthwhile based on your tests. It would also be interesting to see the results of using an f2.8 aperture mask versus stopping the lens down under aperture control. I really ought to get myself one of these lenses!!

I used my 12nm Ha filter in a 200mm f2.8 prime lens but I guess it’s worth an evening’s experimentation to see how it pans out! Yes, built in hubs do help with the inevitable cable tangle - I have quite an impressive ‘umbilical’ leading to my mount head and have had to go to some great lengths to avoid friction!

I used to have an Astronomik 12nm Ha filter and had some great results from it but, of course, it won't be as much of a 'Moon defeater' as a narrower one would be but it all helps. I hope you really enjoy your new camera, cooling really does make a big difference.

What bandwidth is the Ha filter, Michael? Quite normal for this camera but it will process out 👍

One of the problems with these WiFi extenders is that they work best on a ring main whereas most power lines to observatories/observing locations are 'extensions'. I have a wired network to my observatory BUT, I also have a big problem with the WiFi network in my home. In the last week, I 'upgraded' to BT Halo 2 Complete WiFi which includes a new 'smart-hub' and a single 'disc' (essentially a repeater). My new service will allow me up to three discs to obtain full coverage in my home and in the end, I DID need all three discs to obtain full coverage throughout my home. This has resulted in a far better system than the one I originally built up using BT 500 and 600 extenders. It *could* be that this disc system could give you an extended WiFi range to your observing position. As an aside, my BT 600 extender system worked better than my BT 500 system BUT I did have the two units installed on a ring main as stipulated in the requirement specs.

You should ideally use the same camera settings although temperature on a DSLR camera is obviously dependent on ambient. Aim for the closest matching camera orientation that you can obtain and, again, ideally you should plate solve to the exact same point in the sky but unless the object fully fills the sensor, this is not that critical. I would recommend that you re-align and stack ALL the images from the various sessions for the final image.

This is how I do lunar tracking on my Mesu 200 too.

This link may be of some assistance

Please note that this is not 'NORMAL' vignetting! To quote from a similar post on SGL in which I replied:- I think this is a diffraction effect caused by 'aperture vignetting'. This is not the same as normal vignetting but appears because the edge of the image field doesn't receive a full circle from the cone of light through the aperture, rather, it 'sees' an elliptical shaped aperture.

I have one of these as a standby and it works well and is very well constructed. I can't confirm if this is who I bought mine from though but this IS the brand I have.

Lovely image, Adam and definitely an object that full justice can be done to in just mono. Personally, the image with the stars is my favourite - I only use star 'removal' as an occasional part of my image processing workflow but both images look stunning 👍

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