gorann

Thanks Peter, much appreciated! Happy New Year! Göran

Here is a wide field image (I wish it was slightly wider) of some more or less well known nebulae in Cassiopeia, I am not sure if the rather faint Abell 85 (LBN576) has a popular name but the two Sharpless objects are known as the Little Rosette Nebula (Sh2-170) and The Phantom of the Opera Nebula (Sh2-173). This is a two-panel mosaic taken with my dual RASA rig on Chrismas day (one panel before and one panel after midnight). The moon was partly up but the NBZ filter handled that quite well. To Sh2-170 and Sh2-173 I have added about 50% refractor data that I took about a year ago. So, captured 25-26 Dec with two RASA 8 equipped with ASI2600MC on a Mesu 200 mount. 164 x 5 min with IDAS NBZ dual band filter, so nearly 14 hours (not counting the Esprit 150 and 100 data added locally). Cheers, Göran

I see, wonder if it is a trick that the heading remains the same for all "versions" "26MP SONY imx571". In any case it is then probably identical to the Rising Cam and made by Touptek.

If you are really brave there is an even cheaper IMX571 camera on AliExpress: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003109498898.html?spm=a2g0o.detail.1000014.5.3b0b6009ntBW0X&gps-id=pcDetailBottomMoreOtherSeller&scm=1007.33416.213724.0&scm_id=1007.33416.213724.0&scm-url=1007.33416.213724.0&pvid=2de6248a-cb97-4f47-8fb5-f083a3c282ac&_t=gps-id:pcDetailBottomMoreOtherSeller,scm-url:1007.33416.213724.0,pvid:2de6248a-cb97-4f47-8fb5-f083a3c282ac,tpp_buckets:668%232846%238109%231935&&pdp_ext_f={"sceneId":"23416","sku_id":"12000024138141253"}

Thanks a lot Turbotim! CS, Göran

This was the first image in over a month and the moon was virtually full, so I was a bit over-optimistic when I aimed at these targets with the dual RASA rig and NBZ filter. The planetary nebula (NGC40) is very bright and is seen centrally in the image and for a long time it was the only noticeable thing I could see in the data during processing, and it is a bit small for the wide FOV so I was quite unhappy, especially since I had spent 22.7 hours of integration on it, and stacking 681 subs (2 min amd 331 Mb each) had taken the best part of a day for two computers. However, after making a starless version (Star Xterminator) and doing some insane stretches the supernova remnant (CTA1 aka SNR G119.5 + 9.80 / +10.00 and +10.20) started to appear in the Oiii signal. It is extremely weak, and in no way comparable in strength to something like the Veil nebulae. But it looks promising and I clearly need to make a more serious attempt to capture this on a moonless night. NGC 40 is 4500 years old and 3500 light years away and CTA 1 is 10 000 years old and 4500 light years away, so 1000 ly apart and they just happened to be in the same direction. So, caught on the night 18-19 Dec with two RASA 8 with ASI2600MC and IDAS NBZ filters. 681 x 2 min = 22.7 hours (gain 100, offset 30, -15°C). On a Mesu 200 mount. Cheers, Göran EDIT: I also throw in a close up of the PN since there is some structure to be seen in it.

Thanks a lot Scotty!

Thanks a lot Simmo. Yes at least not tonight - after 40 days of clouds (or not being close to my scopes) I finally have had two of them, with a full moon though.... But Christmas looks promising.

Finally a full clear night after more than a month of clouds, although with the moon shining at full force. I aimed at this mix of bright and dark nebulosity found in several catalogues (Lynd's, Sharpless and NGC). Image grabbed with my dual RASA rig and the NBZ filter did a rather good job of keeping the moonlight out. Imaged on the 19-20 December night. Dual RASA8 + ASI2600MC (gain 100, offset 30, -15°C) with IDAS NBZ filter on a Mesu 200 mount. 221 x 5 min, so totally 18.4 hours. The annotated image is a screen dump from my Astrobin page. The next clear night here appears to be Christmas eve. So, CS and Merry Christmas! Göran

I agree with the magenta - best to keep green and magenta on Earth.

Amazing what you can pull off with those small scopes Adrian! Palette is great - I never been a fan of green in NB images (or any AP).

Nice Rodd, a lot of detail in the galaxy! When you are seeing limited large aperture combined with short FL is worth considering, so a RASA or a Tak Epsilon.

Thanks a lot all of you for the enlightenment! I have excluded it from my Christmas list😆

Came across this image on Pinterest. Does anyone have an idea what the guy is up to? The image has a title ("Catoptric - Tri-Schiefspiegler") but no description. Should I wish for one of these things for Christmas? Cheers, Göran

Yes, like Steve it also struck me how old these photons are. 4 billion ly means that we see that galaxy as it looked like just a few years after our solar system was formed...... Clear skies over here so I am collecting old photons right now😁

Actually, when I look at my picture, I see a slit in the material between the corrector plate and the retention ring, maybe that is where he/she got in? Anyone else with insects in their scopes tonight?

The big achievement Wim is that you also caught Holmberg under a full moon - I can see it!

This was my surprise tonight with my dual RASA8 rig. No idea how it got in and no idea how to get it out. I guess I just have to live with him/her until he/she dies and falls of the corrector plate and hopefully ends up in a corner and not on the main mirror. Any complaints on my star shapes I will direct to this insect of the family Chrysopidae. Yes, I am an entomologist too so it may be a insect revenge......

Translating SQM(mag/arcsec2) to Bortle has become quite confusing to me. Where I am my SQM meter goes from 21.1 on some nights to 21.7 on the best. According to the scale you posted it is Bortle 2-3 but now in Wikipedia it is Bortle 4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bortle_scale

Good luck Wim!

Yes, most likely the cold! The solution: Make a camp fire, stock up with some sausages and a bottle of Finish Koskenkorva vodka (to keep warm and clear your vision) and focus manually

Just have to say that Star Xterminator has slightly revolutionized my processing of faint nebulosity. Here are two examples from my RASA8+ASI2600MC rig before and after I learned to use Star Xterminator. It gave me much more freedom to stretch and fix (HiPass and more) the faint nebulosity in PS before I brought the stars back. There is just so much more to find in the data when the stars are out of the way. I use it after I have done several initial stretches, and I have not tried it on linear data: Cheers, Göran before: after: before: after:

That is a very very very good Ha image of the California Damian! Amazing detail and phenomenal as Adam says. Clearly CCDs are not dead yet, at least not yours! Cheers, mGöran

Thanks Frank! I also have that TS reducer so I will do as you did with the old Esprit 150 and maybe buy the SW reducer for the newer one.

Yes, that is a truly great image Olly! Very very deep. Like Dave you had me confused about the orientation - RASA images have to be flipped as there is only one mirror in the system (I am sure you know that and just forgot - I do it all the time). And yes, the RASA produces tight star cores but since it goes so deep it also record star halos more than other scopes. As you say, some may be light scattering near the stars, but some may be from our atmosphere. Maybe it is also in the optics (not sure how one can tell), but with the deep data you get with a RASA you cannot stop yourself from stretching to see how far you can go and then you get into halo territory. Here is my humble 1-panel RASA version of it from last year, with a lot of stretch to get all that dust, and there are halos. Maybe it is the optics but I suspect that there is true light scattering going on before the light reach the scope...... Cheers, Göran