gorann

He he, why not get a RASA😉. Not very expensive (at least compared to the Tak alternatives) and the relatively low weight and short focal length means that it can sit on a rather affordable mount. Biggest challenge is the fiddeling with sensor distance

Thanks Rodd, but from I have seen coming from you, you are clearly not waisting your time!!!

Thank you both! CS Göran

I assume that the ATIK camera has a similar circuit to that of the ASI, which at a certain gain (100 for ASI2600) gives a magical drop in read out noise (making most users use gain 100). However, I could not see any details on this in the ATIK manual.

Now I can soon read a paper outside at midnight here, so I am processing and mixing old data. This is a mix of RASA8 with ASI2600MC from 2020 and 5" refractor data from 2016 (ES 127ED and Canon 60Da). Maybe inspired by the bright nights up here right now I made it quite bright. The full field is from the RASA while the refractor data was added to the area around the Iris nebula. Totally 13 hours processed in PI and PS. Cheers. Göran

Great point! For anyone that did not know it, investing in good USB3 cables and avoiding the flat ones supplied by ZWO can solve many problems.

Congratulations Tom for an amazing camera and welcome to the CMOS world! I assume it is the mono version and that you did not jump all the way to an OSC. Just curious, why did you spend the extra almost 2000 GBP compared to the ASI 6200MM (which I have)?

This has so far happened to two out of my three ASI2600MC. Both were bought from TS about a year earlier and they fixed them for free. I had them back within a week. TS have a clean room and I cannot see any dust on the sensor. Importantly, TS also removes the oil behind the sensor so it should not happen again. My first ASI2600MC was bought from FLO a year earlier than the other ones and it has not developed the oil issue, so it seems to be a batch problem.

Certainly looks quite powerful. Maybe like an AP version of Topaz NR that can produce quite a lot of artefacts since its intelligence is trained on earthly objects, while Noel says he trained his Noise Xterminator on astro images. Likely it is smart enough to reduce noise where it is needed, so not much on bright areas. In that case Olly @ollypenrice we PS users may not have to do much layer work if it is intelligent enough. I will cetrainly test it when a PS version is available and astrodarkness is back here. Just out of quriosity, the examples you show are colour images (as seen from the colour noise) but there is virtually no colour to be seen in the galaxies. What camera did you use? Are these single subs?

Hi I think you are on the right track when it comes to processing, and I see no major problem in the images you posted except one thing - your short total integration time. I suggest that you stick to the same target for at least 5 hours, preferentially 10 hours or more. That will give you data with a S/R ratio that is good enough to produce a great image. I have to admit that I made this misstake myself when I started with astrophotogrphy. It was very tempting to image half a dozen objects in one night. Now I virtually never spend less that 1 - 2 nights on one object, even with my very fast (f/2) RASA 8 scopes. By the way, your choice of equipment is great and will not limit the quality of your images.

That is great Richard! I see that you have collected more of the faint Ha from the SNR since you posted it for the dust-competition. Cheers, Göran

PS. could those two bright spots in the yet you caught correspond to those from the Chandra X-ray Observatory I see on Wikipeida?

I am convinced that you've got it Steve and can understand your excitement! Cheers, Göran

Thanks a lot for this Martin and the judges! I am very happy and proud! Yes there were a lot of great images submitted by many. 117 hours of clear sky I apparently had is actually not even two weeks (assuming 10 hours of darkness on an average night), but I get the impression it would still be a lot in the UK. Cheers and thanks again! Göran

Realised it was a bit oversaturated, so a slightly softer version.

This is definitively the final image of the season due to lack of astrodarkeness. I recenttly posted an image of IC5068 and have now added a panel south of IC5068 (which in turn is just at the feet of the Pelican Nebula), so a two panel mosaic. These nebulae from Lynds' catalogues of bright and dark nebulae are surprisingly seldom imaged although several of them are well worth a close-up. Imaged with dual RASA8 and ASI2600MC with IDAS NBZ filter. All on a Mesu 200. 142 x 5 minutes, so about 11 hours. Processed in PI and PS (including Star Xterminator). Cheers, Göran

Thanks Mark! Go fo it! I have the same problem - proper astrodarkness is gone so tonight will most likely be my last imaging night.

Caught this wide-field image with the Samyang 135 piggybacking on my dual-RASA rig. Thought it was most striking in a starless version, giving me the impression of an enormous mass of interconnected glowing Ha-emission covered by dark nebulosity. Also, I have not got the sensor-distance perfect so pixel peepers would have had a field day on the starfield. Samyang 135 with ASI2600MC and IDAS NBZ dual-band filter. On Mesu 200. 15 x 10 min at gain 100. Processed in PI and PS. Made starless with Star Xterminator. Comments welcome as allways! Cheers, Göran

Thanks for all comments! They made me completely rework it. Adjusting the colour curves made the dark ring around the main nebula less apparent:

Thanks, but I am not sure how to make a proper comparison as I have dual-band OSC data, so no pure Ha data.

This is the less well known neighboring nebula just south of the Pelican Nebula. I thought I had taken my last image for the season since I have lost astrodarkness, but then a clear night appeared and it is still about 3 hours of nautical darkness, so I decided to give these rather bright objects a chance using the NBZ dual-band filter. The dual-RASA rig also allowed me to double the data collection. It could be that I get one more short night and I am thinking about adding a frame to the left or below this one for a two-panel mosaic. Any suggestions? Imaged with dual RASA8 and ASI2600MC with IDAS NBZ filter. All on a Mesu 200. 62 x 5 minutes, 5.2 hours. Processed in PI and PS (including Star Xterminator). Cheers. Göran

It could relate to how much Ha is let through in the background sky, and I turned it up quite a bit.

I was also thinking about this. I did not use DBE but Gradient Xterminator in PS. I decided to leave it as it is since it could be for real especially since I see a lot of structure (dark nebulosity) in the dark area around IC1396. I also found some images suggesting a darker area around the nebula, like this one: https://www.astrobin.com/g59ygw/ and it may be that my strong suppression of the star field (using Star Exterminator) brought out more of the underlying nebulosity and thereby the dark stuff. Also Aladin (DSS2) suggest that there may be a dark area around the nebula (attached image). Maybe someone knows more and have a comment?

Thanks a lot Tom, much appreciated!

Thanks a lot Paul and good luck with your new lens! CS Göran