tomato

As a dummy run for my attempt to image the 3C 273 jet I thought I would have a try for the somewhat easier plasma jet emanating from the supermassive black hole at the centre of M87. Here is 78 minutes of Lum data, captured with the Esprit 150/ASI 178 rig. I am 99% certain it is present on the stacked image, by comparing the orientation of the brighter pixels at about 11 o'clock with library images. I was a little uncertain as some of the brighter stars appear to have an artefact in about the same place. Interestingly it actually shows a tiny bit of structural data on a single 3 min sub (inverted crop), sometimes less is more. Are the sprinkling of lighter spots visible in the galaxy halo some of the thousands of globular clusters associated with this galaxy, or is that just my wishful thinking?😉

Congratulations to the well deserved winners and all participants. I really enjoyed seeing folks having a go with primarily LRGB data, made a nice change from NB.

If the sensor manufacturers don't guarantee them in AP cameras (it is a pretty far out application when you think about it) then we have to rely on the camera manufacturer's warranty and that's it. So you pays your money and you takes your choice, personally I'm more concerned about expensive precision machined mounts going on the blink, metal parts rubbing together and all that.

Really nice, while I admire the skill and dedication that is required to capture the IFN around these galaxies, your flux free images show M81/M82 in all their glory. Outstanding.👍🏼

Great wide field M101, nice colour and I like how you have framed it.

I’m afraid I can’t help with the DSS settings as I use APP for stacking, but the default Sigma clipping routine in this software sorted my satellite sub, no residual trail visible in the final image. How many subs are you stacking?

Based on your image, and this one from me, it happens more often than you might think. BTW, There is no need to throw them away, any stacking software worth it’s salt will fix satellite trails, even ones that go right through the object of interest.

I would love to wear out an Astro camera from repeated use...

The Dark Sky Meter App still works on the latest iphones, there is an interesting thread on this on Cloudy Nights with contributions from the creator discussing calibration and how well it compares to the SQM meter. https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/597759-sqm-vs-dark-sky-meter-ios-app/ While staring at the laptop screens following the imaging, I find the PHD SNR value is a good guide to changing sky conditions. It doesn’t help with nightly comparisons of course, unless you kept it on the same star all year round...

If there is a delay, I’m sure Atik’s camera based on this sensor will be worth the wait. The CMOS Horizon II is a quality piece of kit.

I'm assuming the entry period is from the 1st April to 30th June, if so I'll put this one in, as it was captured on the 2nd/3rd April. Mods, please remove if I've got that wrong. It is 7.8 hrs on NGC 3938 in Ursa Major, captured with a dual Esprit 150/ASI 178 rig on a Mesu 200 Mk 1, one scope on Lum continuous, the other cycling through RGB filters. L 78 x 3 mins binned 2x2 RGB 26 x 3 mins each, all binned 2x2 so imaging at 0.94 arcsec/pixel. Guiding hovering at 0.45-0.5 RMS total.

Yes, a great result, fantastic detail in the arms of the primary galaxy, and the smaller background results. Would the detail be as crisp with the reducer installed?

One other point I have noted with my RASA8 and a QHY268c, if you fit a dewshield it can impede the camera cooling, especially if the ambient temp is in double figures. It isn’t a big deal though, as the modern CMOS cameras with short exposure times don’t need to run much below zero degrees anyway. In my experience the combination is a great way of obtaining decent colour images in a short space of time.

Well, if you are going to get satellite bombed, it might as well be through the heart. Not sure if Sigma clipping will sort this one, we'll see.

I would also suggest to try imaging without the Barlow, at least to start with. You will get many more stars in the FOV, and the alignment of the frames will be not need to be as rigorous to enable successful registration.

Here is 6.4 hours on NGC 3198, a barred spiral galaxy in Ursa Major. It is some 47 million light years away and was discovered by Lord Rosse sometime before 1850. Did this just happen to drift across the FOV of the Leviathan of Parsonstown I wonder, or did he have a more user friendly scope for sweeping the sky at his disposal? This was captured over 4 sessions, trying to avoid the moon and frequent high cloud. Most of the data was binned 2x2 but in error I took some Lum and blue data at full resolution. However, after suitable calibration this was combined in APP no problem. The star to the lower left of the galaxy that looks like it's trailed is a binary, they were resolved on the individual subs but have merged together after my attempts at processing. L 65 x 3 min R 28 x 3 min G 12 x 3 min B 23 x 3 min Dual Esprit 150/ASI 178 rig, calibrated and stacked in APP, processed in APP, AP and GIMP. Thanks for looking.

I’m fortunate to have a dual 150 rig on my Mesu Mk 1, but one would still be a handful if it got loose.

Agreed, two fully set up Esprit 150s on there with no counter weights is a scary prospect.

APP is my default package for calibration and stacking. I will then take the separate channels into StarTools and follow that workflow. If that gives me a ‘Dalmatian Moment’ then I will try combining the channels in APP. If it is my data, the light pollution removal tool is almost always required. I then use the image processing tools on the RHS and save a stretched TIFF file for final tweaking in AP or Gimp. I think my problem is I don’t apply enough scientific rigour to the process. My approach is currently way too subjective, ‘let’s try a bit of everything’ it needs me to be more disciplined. I start out with the right intentions but inevitably fall into the ‘keep nudging the sliders’ trap every time.

It does indeed help to have a processing expert use your data, and the other approach of using a quality data set is also useful, although I tend to find this a bit discouraging when I can’t achieve the same result as the experts. My own experience is that I find it much harder to master image processing than data acquisition, I’m sure there are others that find that the reverse is true. I also think a one processing package fits all solution doesn’t guarantee you the best results, I really like StarTools but sometimes (to my eye) I get a better result with APP and AP. Please take a look at the StarGazine videos on here that cover image processing, as well as the myriad of video and web based tutorials that are available on the internet.

That’s correct. If your exposure time is too short, the guiding can end up ‘chasing the seeing’ and make erroneous corrections. If it’s too long, the correction cycle could be too long and errors will show up on your main image. The ideal exposure time will depend on your set up and the prevailing conditions, but I would suggest you start at 2-3 seconds and experiment from there.

Brilliant! Pity you can't enter it in the 'Cosmos In Motion' challenge.

You could try M81/M82 in Ursa Major. For sure, the results will be severely affected by the moon, but it would provide some imaging practice and you will be more impressed with the results when you can go back and repeat the imaging under a moonless sky. Clear skies, even moonlit ones, are not to be wasted in my view, you can't do anything when it's cloudy.

They are all outstanding, but for ‘eye popping appeal’ my vote went to the Double Cluster.

Nice one! Much more scientific than pushing the scopes/counter weight bar with one finger and seeing how far it runs on...