M8 Lagoon w/ ES Mak-newt

[jsigone]

This is kinda low for me so had to shoot through allot of LP for this.

Hardware:

Scientific Explorer 152mm Mak-Newt F4.8

Celestron ASGT5 mount

Canon XS (self mod) with Astronomiks CLS-CCD clip in

50mm Autoguider/SSAG

Settings:

ISO 1600, 5 min x 22 lights, 10 darks& 30 flats

Software:

Nebulosity 2, CS4

M8 22 x 5min Sharper by jsigone, on Flickr

[JohnnyD333]

Beautiful and stunning. How is your 50mm autoguider? I just ordered one and by looking at your photo Im beginning to feel I made the right choice.

[3ggman]

Really stunning image.

[jsigone]

thanks

The orion finder version came out like two weeks after I got the ES mak-newt. The OTA came with 2 shoes mounted so I bought another ES 50mm finder and converted that one and use the top one for visual. Even off the milky way I get about 4-7 usable guide stars. On these type of target in the milkyway...oh around 1-2 dozen to pick from. Best thing its light weight as I'm pushing the limits of my ASGT5 already.

[AndyUK]

Wow... That's beautiful... This is another one of those objects that seems to like to hide in the murk - That's an excellent capture!

[adamsp123]

A cracking image with excellent detail.

[twotter]

Wow, there's so much to look at in that image. Very cool indeed

[swag72]

That is a really stonking image. Loads of detail, great colour, really beautiful and inspiring for those of us who use DSLR's.

[ashworthacca]

That is a beautiful image, very inspiring indeed.

[jsigone]

thanks, here's a 100%crop of around the core. Love the details I was able to capture. This was before I fadded in an unsharpen mask to get the final image I had posted in the OP.

M8 22 x 5min 100% cropped core by jsigone, on Flickr

[ollypenrice]

Yes, a very very fine image indeed. The more I look at images done with DSLRs the more convinced I am that fast f ratio optics are essential if you are aiming for this kind of quality. There is not so much star colour as you'd get with CCD but the nebula is absolutely excellent with superb levels of contrast and the wispy extensions show really well. If you were shooting through LP as well, take an encore!!!

Olly

[nightvision]

Great image, really atmospheric. M8 a bit too low for the UK I suspect. I am new to imaging, why apply an unsharpen mask?

[MikeD]

Great stuff, smooth detail and a natural feel to it.

Mike.

[jsigone]

Yes, a very very fine image indeed. The more I look at images done with DSLRs the more convinced I am that fast f ratio optics are essential if you are aiming for this kind of quality. There is not so much star colour as you'd get with CCD but the nebula is absolutely excellent with superb levels of contrast and the wispy extensions show really well. If you were shooting through LP as well, take an encore!!!

Olly

I wish I had a CCD camera to compare star colors, but one day I'll step up there. But could also be coupled by my limited exposure time with the CG5 mount limited to 5-7min. Allot of variables and because of my limits, I agree a faster scope is needed. I was one the bubble for the faster 6" F4 newt from AT or this F4.8 mak-newt to get a flatter field for possible mosiacs projects. I'm pleased with the scope I got:headbang: I'm on the north end of San Diego (population 3mil), sitting on the boarder of yellow/red zone. But do have to shoot through red/white zones for any southern object. The astronomiks CLS-CCD filter is a life saver!!

Great image, really atmospheric. M8 a bit too low for the UK I suspect. I am new to imaging, why apply an unsharpen mask?

The unsharpen mask was to define the edges of the details so it doesn't look so soft n fluffy. But by itself was too strong and would take away from the 3Dish look I wanted , it also added some bit of noise. So I dup'd the layer, and fadded in about 60-65% of the unsharpen mask layer, then flattened the stack to get the image in the OP.

[astro mick]

Yes,this is a cracking image,of an object that is a little low here in the UK.

The detail is stunning,again another great image taken with a DSLR.

Never ceases to amaze me.

Very well done.

Mick.

[Coco]

Staggeringly beautiful image.. the bigger pic on your Flickr site is a gem..

Congratulations on getting a fab images from your tools at hand..

[antimorris]

Very nice job!

[Shibby]

Beautiful image, very well taken.

[Beyond_Vision]

A really nice image and the detail shown in the cropped view is fantastic

Regards

Kevin

[Tim]

Beautiful. One of my favourite DSO's, such a shame it is so low from here.

[Uranium235]

Great capture there!

Ive just looked up your mak-newt and yikes... you really are pushing the CG5 with an OTA weight of 7kg (before you add all the other gubbins). You deserve a medal for that alone!

[jsigone]

HAHA yah, without my lil cooler the imaging setup is 22.5lbs/10.2kg then add another 2lbs for my camera cooler and I'm up there. Longest usable subs are 8mins but I'll be tossing about 25%. I try to keep it down to 5-6mins so I have 95% keepers. I've been meaning to tweek the PHD settings to optimize a bit more exposure time but I'm nearly there. Here's my PHD graph the night I took the M8. I was tracking M101 near zenith killing time before the milkway came up. Shooting near the horizon for M8 yielded similar charts.

PHD M101 5-26-11 by jsigone, on Flickr

[nightvision]

Just looking at the amazing detail in the crop, I can see long chains of stars in several areas. Noticed these sort of patterns in other images, are these likely to be a line of sight effect or are they the way stars sometimes form (in long strings) from nebula?