MarsG76

Awesome images.... memories.... Good news is that we're only a few years away from another solar maximum.. but the bad news is that the maximum is expected to be a fizzle not a BOOM!!!!

It's a quite bright object, there were objects where I spend more than 25 hours, NGC300 is one, and narrowband total exposure in excess of 56 hours... the fighting dragons of Ara, both at F10.

That looks great.... well done

So did the Atik improve on the clarity & resolution when comparing to the DSLR at the same focal length?

I heard that too, but I always wondered "why?"... I think it's because of the native focal length and the difficulty of accurately tracking at such high magnifications. But the CGEM does track at accuracy at below the "/pixel res so this detail might be the limit of my sky & camera.

One thing I plan to improve next is the crispness of my images at 2032mm focal length. The 40D already being 1.16"/pixel on the C8 at 2032mm fl and consistently tracking at RMS below 1", it might not make a difference and this might simply be the limit of my equipment???

As Tony said you do need a controller. My AstroZap uses PCM to control the temperature instead of voltage control but you do need some kind of controller. Once installed you will no longer have any dew problems. I got a 12V 5A PSU and changed the connector to a female car cigarette lighter plug and plung my AstroZap controller in that for power, and it's been worked like this for a few year without issues.

Yeah, I like my 40D.. makes me think that I do not need a "dedicated" astrocam.

The more subs the better the SNR will be in the final stack, so I try to get as many as possible. I expose various length subs simply to expose for the brighter and dimmer parts of the object being imaged. When all of these subs are stacked into a 48 bit image, than the data is embedded within the 48bit stack but the levels are displayed linearly and I'm able to use levels to stretch out the image with great control on both the brighter and dimmer parts of the object. When it comes to preparing the subs for stacking, I only use 20xBIAS frames and 20X Flats taken through the corresponding filters that were used for the subs. I do not use darks at all.... when I tried using darks, the result was worse, but this could be that I'm a DSLR imager and I can't exactly control the sensor temperature so no dark frames for me. What I do is I use a 2 pixel at threshold 30 Dust and scratches filter on each sub after it was converted from the CR2 raw to 16 bit TIFF and pre process them in Nebulosity 3.3. Stacking is also carried out in Nebulosity 3.3, and it's remarkable easy to do, even then the subs are dithered, where my imaging is always dithered. One thing I plan to improve next is the crispness of my images at 2032mm focal length.

Hello Bryan, First I started imaging the galaxy through the UV/IR filter and ended up with subs 8x90s, 7x150s, 7x300s, 6x450s, 6x600s but they were on the overexposed side. The following night I used the Neodymium filter, AKA " Moon & Skyglow" filter instead of the UV/IRCut filter and did 1x900s, 1x660s, 2x600s, 11x540s, 1x420s, 4x300s @ ISO1600, totalling exposure time of 5h 41m & 30s. I did stack all subs to process the final image. MG

Thanks... The original framing template was generated by an action pack called "Astrophotograhy Tools" for Photoshop. I modified it slightly for my liking and use it for my DSO images. Gives a basic description of the object, such as the name, ID and date imaged along with my watermark. I do recommend the action pack as it does have some useful and effective actions/features.

Thank you all for the comments.... very much appreciated.

Fantastic image.. superb

Thank you all for the comments.

Hello and welcome to SGL....

Hello and welcome to SGL....

Hello and welcome to SGL....

Hello and welcome to SGL....

Hello Dan and welcome to SGL....

Hello and welcome to SGL.... I hear you.. clouds and rain suck....

Awesome.... Hello and welcome to SGL.... great that your wife shares your hobby.

Hello and welcome to SGL.... If you do progress into astrophotography than make sure you get a equatorial GOTO mount not a alt-az Goto.

Hello and welcome to SGL...

Comparing a Celestron 8-24 mm zoom and Televue 11mm, LV 7mm, Televue Ethos 17mm eps. on Jupiter and Saturn. The fixed EPs were noticeably crisper and showing more detail.

A few speckles will not interfere with the performance of the mirrors.... clean as rarely an possible, but I personally use isopropanyl alcohol and distilled water, I never need to touch the mirror when cleaning as it dries streak free and clean like new.