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Last nights observations

darrenbushnalluk

By darrenbushnalluk
in Sketching

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darrenbushnalluk

darrenbushnalluk

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Managed to get out last night and managed two observations of M33 and NGC 891 with my 10 inch and watec. M33 had the focal reducer working at F2.9. The detail was amazing in M33 appearing very knotty and granular, there were numerous nebulous patches within the galaxies arms.

NGC 891 looked like a textbook edge on spiral, the equatorial dust lane was quite wide and very irregular and I noticed a noticeable area where the dark lane widened.

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tbird

tbird

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Great detail in M33, far more than I was getting visually in my 12". I did see the knot of stars to the right of your image. I've spent a lot more time observing M31, think I need to concentrate on M33 a bit more.

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darrenbushnalluk

darrenbushnalluk

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Great detail in your sketches. I could just make out some of the detail in my 10" (with a filter) but not well enough to sketch, and certainly nothing like the detail you have.

The power of the Watec cameras:) The faintest stars on the NGC891 sketch are magnitude 17.5...not bad for a 10 inch reflector!

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dynamo

dynamo

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...pardon the newbie question...

what exactly and why are you all calling the pics of M33 and NGC 891 "sketches"?

...

Fantastic sketches.

anyone care to explain what exactly you all are referring to as "sketches?".

were these images not taken with a watec camera, or is there some other manual post-processing done?

i use the term "sketch" when drawing on paper, for example.

thanks in advance anyone.

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darrenbushnalluk

darrenbushnalluk

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anyone care to explain what exactly you all are referring to as "sketches?".

were these images not taken with a watec camera, or is there some other manual post-processing done?

i use the term "sketch" when drawing on paper, for example.

thanks in advance anyone.

The Watec is an astro video cam, you attach it to the eyepiece of the telescope and use the video feed on a monitor to observe.

The good thing about the watec's are they have an interigation mode whereby it will record up to 256 frames then combine them then it displays the result on the monitor, it takes about 8 seconds to do this then it simpky repeats it giving you a continous 'live' video feed but because all the frames are stacked it gives you a much more detealed image appearing to double (or more) the size of your scope, this is why I can see stars down to magnitude 17.5 with a 10 inch reflector. I then draw what I see from the computer screen so in essence they are sketches.

The only post processing I do is to invert the drawings in photoshop as I actually sketch them with pencil onto white paper.

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darrenbushnalluk

darrenbushnalluk

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what scope are you use in to get these fantastic pics?

my 12" gives me good views but i never see this much detail

I use a Watec 120N+ camera with my 10 inch so it is really giving me an aperture af i would say about 22-25 inches aperture, it's the way the watecs work... fantastic :)

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darrenbushnalluk

darrenbushnalluk

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They are magic Darren. I love your M33. Fantastic detail, beautifully rendered. It must feel great to pull out that level of detail. Wonderful.

Yes, it was the observation of the night, I was AMAZED what M33 looked like on the monitor, I diddnt expect to see that much detail then you think..How the hell am I going to draw it! bit as an professional artist it wasnt that difficult.

Mind you It's not just simply looking at the monitor and drawing, you are constantly adjusting settings on the watec control pad, the gain, the gamma trying to bring out every bit of detail you can...bit of a hassle really but the end results are always worth it :)

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dynamo

dynamo

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The Watec is an astro video cam, you attach it to the eyepiece of the telescope and use the video feed on a monitor to observe.

The good thing about the watec's are they have an interigation mode whereby it will record up to 256 frames then combine them then it displays the result on the monitor, it takes about 8 seconds to do this then it simpky repeats it giving you a continous 'live' video feed but because all the frames are stacked it gives you a much more detealed image appearing to double (or more) the size of your scope, this is why I can see stars down to magnitude 17.5 with a 10 inch reflector. I then draw what I see from the computer screen so in essence they are sketches.

The only post processing I do is to invert the drawings in photoshop as I actually sketch them with pencil onto white paper.

good heavens!!!

:)

stunning work, thanks for explaining, Darren.

more so, thanks again for sharing!!!

for anyone else interested, here's more info on the watec 120n+:

Watec | Products

stellacam3:

Watec | Featured Product

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