assouptro

Hi again Star people!

I Have been trying to gather data on this since March but I have been thwarted by weather and other commitments.

I have 4hrs50min ha which looks sweet along with 7hrs Oii and 3hrs 30min Sii that were really noisy by comparison!

I've spent enough time on this and unless we have another clear spell here in the NW with no wind and no moon this will be the end of this for now 

Anyway, here is the processed data so far.... 

And the sarless version...

If only we had better weather, and I had more time!

Thanks for looking 

Bryan

Lovely job! 
you have got to be happy with those! 
Second one for me also 😊

Hi Stargazers!

Its been a long time since I posted an image here

I have been slowly gathering data in between clouds, showers and full moons for another project when I turned my scope towards the Elephants Trunk during the recent brief warm and clear spell

Although there was a full moon that week, it was low on the horizon so I carried on regardless

I captured 8hr 40min SHO data: 

170min Sii

160min Ha

190min Oiii

All captured with an Atik 460 Binned 2x2 Through a 12" Meade lx200 scope (not considered an imaging scope by many) with a Starizona LF 0.7 focal reducer 

Captured in Artemis Capture, registered and integrated in APP Tweaked in Pix and Ps 

Thanks for looking  

Bryan

Tip of the Trunk.tif

Here is a more saturated version with more star reduction for the folk who like to see a more colourful image sorry for the magenta stars , I’ve been staring at this image for too long now! 😊

16 hours ago, David at Bythel Obs said:

Thanks for your encouragement I certainly agree that the lx200gps 12inch has been a good friend for  17yrs and I am still learning. Latest was to get better eyepieces . Only been collimated once in 17years by telescope house! How often do you collimate?

david

I have found mine holds collimation well (bobs knobs was the first of many upgrades although in hindsight not a necessary one) 

I collimate or at least check collimation if I have traveled with it in the back of the car or if I can see signs in any images of miscollimation, sometimes once or twice a year for me

I have tried all sorts of tools and gadgets but rely mainly on a star test 

I agree with Yuklop regards the wedge I originally had one made by a friend who worked at an engineering firm but ended up with a really heavy duty Astro Engineering mega wedge which I bought second hand and still own

I was also impressed by the fork mounts ability to carry a large payload (when balanced) 

Some of the other upgrades that made a difference to me were the Peterson Ez clutch Ez focus and engineering gears upgrade, each upgrade made imaging with it just a bit easier 

Adding a few images taken with the telescope although most were taken mounted on the azeq6

Not ideal for Ap but quite capable if you are willing to work at it and have patience! 
Cheers 

Bryan 

Just chipping in 

I have owned a 12” lx200 gps for about 15 years, I have imaged with it on a Wedge and in the last few years now use it de-forked on a Azeq6 (which it is too heavy for) and I have really enjoyed using it 

It definitely throws up some challenges and I can end up having to be selective with the subs due to any gusts of wind above 5mph 

I have ended up with a small arsenal of scopes and lenses to choose from these days but still enjoy close up imaging on some nights with the old beast! 
 

Olly is probably right in suggesting the use of smaller Pixels allowing the same resolution with shorter focal lengths which will give more consistent results in less time  but I’m not in a rush to part with my 12” scope and get a lot of satisfaction from producing a final image 

That’s all, just had to get that off my chest

Thanks

Bryan 😊

1 hour ago, Mandy D said:

Very beautiful image. I think the orientation of the first photograph is superior, artistically. Perhaps, just add a note to it to indicate the "improper" orientation. That you captured this in Wales is an added bonus!

There is no up and down in space!

Thanks Mandy 

I agree, the first image was my preferred angle, I added the second after following a thread where the “proper orientation” of an image was the main subject of discussion so I thought I should re-present it more accurately to satisfy the purists in this hobby 

I was so lucky to be observing from the right angle at that moment, one that will unlikely happen again, and in Wales too! 
Yup, it’s a special image 😊

Thank you for your kind comment 

Bryan 

Hi iwols 

I use a mono camera most of the time so tricky to compare but it does look “blurred” 

It could be that there was high thin cloud blurring the sun? That does happen

I tend to stay at 10ms frame rate call up the histogram and adjust the gain to get the histogram around 80%, that normally gets surface detail (I also normally have my quark knob all the way round or up to 2 clicks off the end, unfortunately I can’t say which end! You have to wait a couple of min for it to get to the right temp)

for the prominences, I turn the gain and gamma up, the surface is white ( over exposed) but the proms appear

You could have a faulty Quark? I have heard they can be a big of a lottery? 

Was it bought new? 
I hope you get it sorted? 

Cheers 

Bryan 

22 hours ago, Pete Presland said:

That certainly does look like a dragon as well!!!

Thanks Pete

I was lucky to be viewing at that moment  as it kept that shape for a couple of minutes 😊

Cheers 

Bryan 

21 hours ago, Pete Presland said:

very nice

Thank you 😊 

32 minutes ago, GreatAttractor said:

Nice catch! What equipment did you use?

Thanks 😊 

Camera pointgrey Blackfly with imx174 cropped  @51 fps

Daystar quark originally attached to a solar scout but re-purposed to fit scopes with a 2” adapter

2” Baader 35nm filter on the front

scope ed100mm f6 revelation Astro refractor

thanks again

bryan

Hi guys!

here is 50min condensed into 10seconds (97 subs 30s apart)

I spotted this prom brewing and thought I’d have a go at capturing it for a vid 

I’ve lost a lot of resolution converting into a .mov but thought I’d share it anyway 

Thanks for looking 

Bryan 

You should be excited Andy!
Brilliant job! 
 

Thanks for sharing 

Bryan

Thought I’d better update this image to correct its orientation 

This is probably a better representation of its proper place on the sun? 

cheers 

Bryan 

I am on a camping holiday in wales, I brought some Astro imaging equipment and my Quark 

the sun has been really interesting and it’s been such a privilege to have had the time and the weather to “play” to my hearts content! 

Whilst looking today I saw AR 3032 traversing the limb and for a few minutes it resembled a dragon!

I have captured a solar Dragon whilst on a Welsh cliff side! 

😊

Thanks for looking 

Bryan 

35 minutes ago, michael8554 said:

Look at the star shapes in the corners of a sub.

If they're round then change nothing.

If they're elongated, pointing towards the centre of frame, try a few more mm of spacing.

If the elongation is circular about the centre of frame then try a few mm less spacing.

Michael

Thanks Michael 

That’s really helpful 

Bryan 

Hi knowledgeable folks!

I have recently purchased a Starizona Lf field flattener focal reducer which has a working distance of 55mm 

If used as advertised I should get a focal reduction of f7.

I am fairly close to that 55mm and using astrometry.net I can see I have achieved f6.8 with 0.45 arc seconds per pixel instead of 0.7 which should be 0.43 arc seconds per pixel

native focal length of my scope is 3048mm f10 (12” Meade lx200)

 The question is, do I reduce or increase the distance of the camera to the focal reducer to get the right spacing? Or am I “close enough”? 

Thanks in advance to anyone who can answer this

Bryan 

Version 2 for me 

has a more natural feel to my eye 

nice image! 
 

Thanks for sharing 

Bryan

Sublime! 

I like all three Rodd 

It’s really easy to get to a stage where you think you are finished and prematurely post only to see it on another screen and realise you aren’t seeing what you thought you had posted! 

really nice image, and such dedication! 
 

Thanks for sharing 

Bryan 

4 hours ago, Sunshine said:

WOW! its huge! a wonderful image.

It is! 

Thanks for taking the time to comment 

Bryan

4 hours ago, maw lod qan said:

But if we are just fantasizing, they could be seeing you and our galaxy with just their mind!

Never underestimate the power of the force!

I forgot to add, nice image!👍

Thanks for the comment

I truly hope there is some element of truth in that!  

It would be awesome to think evolution and scientific discovery could eventually  allow us to exist in more than 3 dimensions!

Bryan 

4 hours ago, tomato said:

It is a quite humbling notion that  for some alien imager to capture our galaxy at the time you imaged theirs, if life and evolution follows a universal timeline, their species hasn’t actually evolved yet…

Great image BTW.

Thanks for the comment 

I find this hobby sometimes puts things into a different perspective, one where it doesn't matter if I've remembered to submit a meter reading, as a poor example. 

We are very lucky to exist at all, let alone in this time of discovery and scientific progress and I sometimes get frustrated by the lack of awareness of our privilege 

Existential rant aside, thanks again for taking the time to comment 

Bryan 

4 hours ago, andy fearn said:

Nice image and  detail.

Thank you

I was quite happy that I managed to squeeze some detail out of it as I was imaging at bin 2x2 with an Atik 460 (6mp) so by my reckoning around 1.5 mp? 
 

thanks again for the comment 

Bryan 

3 hours ago, wimvb said:

Very nice image. Not to disappoint you, but for anyone doing AP in that galaxy, the Milky Way will be hidden behind their own galaxy's dust, much like IC 342. Unless they live on a planet on the very edge of their galaxy, that is.

Thanks for the comment!

I was hoping they would be in one of the outer spiral arms, close to the edge (a bit like us) where it’s quiet enough for life to have a chance to evolve, 😊

Bryan 

Here is one of this seasons galaxy pix 

Whilst imaging this I got to wondering if someone on a distant planet in that galaxy was taking images of the Milky Way? 
Then I fantasised they might be taking an image that would include me taking an image of them? Then the maths kicked in and I realised if the said extra terrestrial was to image the milkyway including my timeline it   will take the light emitted by our sun around 38million years to reach them! 

I suddenly felt mortal and insignificant! 

ah well. 
here is my insignificant image of NGC 4565 The needle galaxy in Coma Berenices

Thanks for looking 

Bryan