First Light Atik4000 - IC63Ha

[3ggman]

So after two months of waiting and a false start on thursday night (after spending 3 hours, unsuccessfully trying to get PHD to guide I gave up and went to bed) I finally got a chance to get my first light with the new camera. I manage to iron out the problems with PHD and was on my way.

I knew before I got the camera this object was going to be my first light. I love the ghostly structure of this nebula.

Seeing conditions last night were pretty bad, it was an extremely damp night and had a few stops due to clouds but it did clear up nicely after about 2am.

I still have a few things to works out with the camera, mainly the flattener/chip distance (going by the chart on UKAI site, I am about 10mm off)

The weather looks like it will hold up for tonight and the humidity has dropped, so hopefully I can get another 3 or 4 hours tonight.

Anyway enough waffle, on to the image and some details.

16 x 600s (12nm Ha astronomik)

Stacked in DSS with darks, no flats (couldnt get PixInsight to stack the images) and processed in PixInsight.

Comments/advice/criticisms always welcome.

PS - It feels good to post an image after so long.

I included a crop of the top right, some slightly elongated stars.

Link to full size image.

http://www.imagehosting.com/photo/ic63?context=user

[willdabeast182]

Looks good! Might be difficult with the fireworks tonight to get a decent image tho

Cheers,

Will

[3ggman]

Managed to add another 2hrs of Ha and grab some rgb (30mins in each channel with 5min subs) just over 6hrs in total. Conditions were not any better tonight although less cloud, the image is quite noisey. I also had to crop the image slightly due to framing.

There is still a lot of processing that can be done with this I think but for my first HaRGB image I am pretty happy with it. (I will return to it and experiment with different ways to combine the data.

Combined and processed in PixInsight.

ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

[ollypenrice]

This is going beautifully! Nice to see another Atik 4000 posting, as well. I really love these cameras and am surprized we don't see more of them. Square chip to make the most of the light cone, big sensitive pixels, powerful cooling, etc etc. have fun!

Olly

[steppenwolf]

I particularly like the framing in this image. Although I agree with everything that Olly has said about the 4000 and the great plus point that it uses 1.25" filters to good effect, a square frame can limit the framing possibilities but you've got that well sorted on this one!

[ollypenrice]

I particularly like the framing in this image. Although I agree with everything that Olly has said about the 4000 and the great plus point that it uses 1.25" filters to good effect, a square frame can limit the framing possibilities but you've got that well sorted on this one!

True, but you don't have to agonize over how to frame cos you only have 45 degrees of freedom. Since I'm terminally indecisive I find this a bonus!

Olly

[msinclairinork]

Coming along very nicely Johnny!

I think you're on to a winner with your new Atik!

Keep up the good work!

Michael

[3ggman]

Thanks guys. I do really like the camera, I love how sensitive it is compared to the dslr.

True, but you don't have to agonize over how to frame cos you only have 45 degrees of freedom. Since I'm terminally indecisive I find this a bonus!

Olly

This was one of the reason I went for it, I think the square chip is a real bonus.