gorann

A beautiful wide field image Chris!

Really nice and dusty with exceptional star halo control! I cannot help comparing it to the Telescope Live data from Chile I once processed (https://www.astrobin.com/uu0qqb/C/). They used a Nikon 200mm f/2, and clearly RASA 8 beats it although that Nikon lens is three times the price!

Thanks a lot Chris!

Thanks Dave, much appreciated!

Thanks Dave! It will be interesting to see what they say about it. I am slightly annoyed by the slow postal service between the UK and the EU.....

Thanks Steve! Did not know this. I thought it would be somewhere in the gallery. I am still waiting for my issue to arrive - seeing is believing😅

Thanks a lot Ian! Waiting eagerly for the issue to reach my mailbox here in Sweden.

With my CMOS cameras I ususally get at least 100 subs in a night and using Linear Fit Clipping in PI I never see any satellite trails in the final stacked image even after extreme stretching.

Yes, I noticed that BlurXT in this case caused these worm-like artifacts so I gave up on using it on this data, or rather I think I added about 25% of it. But then I used the default settings. Maybe playing with the sliders would give a better result.

Sorry for hijacking the post, but you got me into it Steve, and here is my short process of the data using the novel XT methods.

Steve, I am that one person. The last one is the best and better than the old version in my opinion! Unfortunately for me, I now realized that I also submitted an entry to that IKI competition, and when I look at it I can see the need for improvements, using new XTerminator tools......

I also have Mesu mounts but never seen this, but I have them on concrete pillars attached to half a tonne of concrete in the ground and isolated from the obsies. There is a dedicated Mesu thread here on SGL, and you may consider posting your problem there.

I think the original one is still the best. In the third version you lost the colour and brightness of the core, making it a bit flat. Keep working on it Steve👍

I have just balanced the colours with levels in PS for the darkest parts of the image, so no SPCC (never used it as I am mainly a PS person). The red signal was there and I liked it but I could of course desaturate it. However, what you picked up with the Ha filter may suggest that I am not all wrong with that reddish tone.

Here is my recent image of it with RASA8 and no filter. Looks like IFN with a bit of reddish tone than may indicate some Ha that you managed to pick up. Actually a lot of IFN all around: https://www.astrobin.com/uahkpy/

I have to admit that I have not used it yet since my RASAs appear to have kept their collimation. Now I have lost astrodarkness so it will not happen for a while. Sorry!

I had a quick look at the more recent of the 500+ images there is of this galaxy on Astrobin. Most are only (L)RGB but this one has Ha data and there does not seem to be much Ha in the galaxy: https://www.astrobin.com/m16gbx/

Nice end to the season - I closed the obsy two days ago. We just have to enjoy the Nordic summer!

Thanks Roy! Yes, I also think I see movement in the image from right to left. I assume it could be an illusion created by some kind of interstellar "wind" pushing on the dust from left to right.

For some reason there are very few images of these rather striking dust structures not far from Polaris. I get the impression that the dust is lit up by some of the brighter stars in the image and it is therefore probably not Integrated Flux Nebulosity (which is lit up by the collective radiation of our galaxy) Sadly this was the last capture for the season for me since I have now lost astrodarkness up here (60° N) for a few months. I guess I will just have to enjoy the summer. Captured with my dual-RASA8 rig with ASI2600MC (no filter) on a Mesu 200. 160 x 3 minutes, so 8 hours. Processed in PI and PS, including all the XTerminator procedures. Cheers, Göran

Black Eye Galaxy (M64) and the Sturgeon Nebula This large molecular cloud (or IFN) near M64 does apparently not have a name or catalogue entry. I could not find any previous image on Astrobin that shows the full extension of the cloud, and when I see it I see a sturgeon (maybe because I am a fish biologist). Head to the left and the typical asymmetrical tail to the right. Also the image reveal more of the outer dust of M64 than usually captured with longer focal length scopes that are typically used for imaging galaxies. Captured 20-21 April 2023 with my dual-RASA8 rig with ASI2600MC (no filter) on a Mesu 200. 152 x 3 min, so 7.6 hours. Processed in PI and PS with the new XTerminator procedures. Cheers, Göran

M94, NGC4618 and NGC4625 Astrodarkness is rapidly dissapearing here at 60°N and at the end of the season I have hunted a few galaxies with my dual-RASA8 rig. It is good at revealing outer dust layers and despite its short focal length it is not that bad at resolving details in the cores of bigger galaxies. I do not think I have seen an image of M94 with such an extensive and distinct outer ring. Captured 19-20 April 2023. Dual-RASA8 rig with ASI2600MC (no filter) on a Mesu 200. 114 x 3 minutes, so about 6 hours. Processed in PI and PS with all the new XTerminator procedures of course. Cheers, Göran

A very nice start. Put your computer in Airplane mode so it does not communicate with the outside world. That reduces the risk of Windows stopping your capture.

Great galaxy images! In fact you can even image PNs with a RASA, in this case M97 and RASA 8 with IDAS NBZ filter a few nights ago. The faint outer ring was of course no problem for the RASA.

Lovely image and as Steve says very likable silvery tones!