astro mick

Thanks Alan. Its always worth a punt no matter what. Mick.

Cheers Rodd. Appreciate that, Mick.

Hi. Located in Orion,i had a go at imaging this Nebulae last night.The Nebulae is an Emission Nebulae so I took 18x600 subs in Ha with a 12nm ccd Filter.Not wishing to do a Hubble pallette of sorts I opted for a HaRGB,which I find to me looks a bit more natural.Others may and will disagree.(Actually I,m useless at Narrowband.) The RGB consisted of 12x600 secs for each filter.Only Bias and Flats were used to calibrate the image,which was carried out using AstroArt 5.0.All imported into Photo-shop to final process. I have done minimal processing on the image,as I tend to push too far,so I have tried to keep it simple. Cheers.. Mick.

Thanks Adam. Mick.

Very nice indeed Adam,considering we always have to battle the elements one way or another. A few more subs combined with this will really improve it. I don't know about you,but I always have to rush to get out in case the dreaded clouds arrive,which of course they usually do. Mick.

Thanks guys.Always appreciate the comments. Mick.

Hi. It was a nice clear night last night here on the coast,but very windy.I was in two minds whether to open the observatory or not.But these nights are very rare so I risked it. I chose M78 as it is a nice Reflection Nebulae.The scope was getting bufferd about,and my guiding tolerances were indeed not as I would have liked,but the stars did,nt seem to bad. In all I shot 2.5hrs in Luminance with my ED80 and Atik 314L+ ccd.This was followed by 1.5hrs in R/B and 1hr for the green.I did want to carry on with the Luminance ,but the wind was increasing,and i did,nt want to risk having damage. I did take calibration frames apart from darks. Cheers. Mick.

Nice one Carole. Mick.

Very nice indeed Carole.I especially like the way you have captured the surrounding area of Nebulosity.It really brings it out. I,m torn between the original and the last re-process without the stars. Either way its a really good capture. Mick. I think the first image justs romps home in 1st place,for me anyway.

Hi Rodd. V1 although very good looked a little too sharp for my liking.V2 although you definitely tamed the Galaxy,it was at the expense of the dreaded blue halos around the brighter stars.Your last effort has corrected both issues,and that is the one I would go for.On my screen the image may need a slight crop as I,m seeing borders. However considering the faintness of this object,and the difficulty in capturing enough photons,it maybe the best you can achieve Rodd. Mick.

Agree with Carole Emil. Nothing wrong with the original. Mick.

Very nice result Emil.The colours look spot on. Mick.

Utterly delightful.Love the mono. Mick.

Nice one Dean.The crab is showing well. Good luck with the core of M42. Mick

Thanks for the comments guys. Mick.

Hi. Had a fairly good session last night,stayed clear for around 5hrs.Moonlight of course played its part,but not too bad. This is an image taken with my ED 80 and WO 73 using my Atik 314L+ mono ccd. The Nebulae was first imaged in H-Alpha,for around 3hrs.I then took around 2hrs worth of RGB. Intergrated the Ha with the RGB at about 75%. Fully calibrated with Bias and Flats.Dont think I need darks. I only really wanted the RGB for the stars,and star colours,so not too much variation of colour within the Nebulae. Thanks. Mick.

Nice one Alan.A lot of detail in this image.You know about the gradients,but it looks like the black point has been clipped.This will cause loss of data. Still very nice. Mick.

Same here. Sometimes its cleared around 2am onwards,but too late for me. Yes sunny to-day,but saying cloudy to-night,and of course the Moon is getting brighter. Its been a dead loss.

When you sit back in the chair and look at this image,its very striking.Very nice rework Carole. Mick.

Congrats on the Mosaic Carole,something I have never done.I think as you say it needs better skies and more Data,It looks green in some areas,not sure if its gradients or just needs the channels balancing further,but hey I,m no expert. However considering the awful weather of late,well done on the capture. Mick.

Very nice Adam. The colour not too saturated.Thumbs up. Mick,

Tonned it down a bit.

Hi. I don't think it is clipped,maybe close though. I,ll always post even if mediocre. Thanks anyway. Mick.

Boy this was a nightmare to try and process.Its just an RGB image,no Ha or any other filter.The main problem was the centre stars.As I stretched the Nebulae the stars just got bigger and bigger,and also brighter,just out of control,so the image looked way off balance and frankly awful.I tried to remove the stars for this attempt,but still think it looks a bit odd. Most star removal I have tried usually ends up with black halos around the stars,which I dislike intently.Am still looking for a good method of doing this. This is a 2hr image split between RGB. Still post though. Mick.

Very nice indeed to say you have really only just started in this most frustrating of hobbies.I,m sure you will only grow and grow as you progress. I must say I think the response to this post has been poor. Well done. Mick.