First try at Ha - Pelican and Bubble

[Helen]

I bought an Ha filter a few weeks ago and have carried it around Scotland for the past few weeks in the hope of a dark sky to test it, but .. But got home last night to a clear sky :shock: so decided to give it a go. Here are the results. I was too tired after the travelling (S Wales is a long way from the Western Isles!) to really give it too much of a go, so the exposure times are rather short.

NS8 GPS Alt Az Unguided, Fastar, ATiK16ic, Ha filter

Bubble neb - 18 minutes (from 30) stacked in deepskystacker, cropped to remove rotation effects, and processed in elements

Pelican Neb - 10 minutes (from 20) stacked in deepskystacker, cropped to remove rotation effects, and processed in elements

both are a bit soft, and the focussing is less than perfect (it was very hard to get it just right last night at f1.9!). I'm hoping to try re-processing with a few other software tools later to see if I can improve them a bit. Processing suggestions and hints always welcome!

Thanks

Helen

[barkis]

They are not bad at all Helen. You will improve with Ha, just as you did with all other aspects of you imaging. There is no mistaking what the images are.

I shall be trying this sort of thing myself soon, I hope. I just bought that Astronomik 16nm Ha from Astro Buy Sell.

Remember, I think you were going for it but changed your mind for the reason you explained at the time.

Anyway Helen, I will be quite happy to a result like yours first time out with it.

Cheers.

Ron.

[CELESCOPE]

doing good Helen . well framed . as usay a little soft , just needs a wee bit more exposure , coming on fine

Rog

[anthony]

I think they are excellent. You are getting great results from such short exposures on an alt az mount.

Anthony

[MikeD]

Two very nice images, nice and deep for such short exposures.

[steppenwolf]

Well done, Helen, as you may recall, I have just started Ha myself and found it to be fascinating. It is harder to focus with the filter in place for obvious reasons but finding a bright star nearby (for example Deneb for your Pelican shot) and focussing on that before you slew to the main event will help a lot. The two images you have taken are an excellent start, you just need more exposures now so that you have a good number to stack.

I look forward to seeing some more from you!

[Helen]

Thanks for the encouragement guys! I think working with Fastar (f1.9) will maximise the depth with short exposures. The focussing was really tough though - I seemed to get a halo around bright stars and could see where the cables were blocking the view (you can see it on the star at the top left of the Pelican picture). I had another go at focussing before the bubble, and I think that is a bit sharper.

I need to improve my ways of stacking and processing - the processing of these was rather rough and ready, just to see what I had (first time I'd used the ATiK with Fastar too).

But it was good to be out, and tonight might be possible too

Helen

[steppenwolf]

Helen, I have had a go at 'stretching' your image so that I could examine the bright star at the top left of your Pelican image. The cables appearing somewhere in the image are not too much of a surprise as on the 'HyperStar' system - which works in the same way as the Fastar system that you are using - the cables often produce diffraction spikes but what is puzzling is the halo. It is almost as if there is a secondary, out of focus image, with the primary image and we are seeing a facsimile of the primary mirror with a reflection of the Fastar unit superimposed on it. 'Tis strange! However, the image itself stretches very nicely to display a lot more detail - very nice indeed!

[Helen]

Thanks Steve. The halo is baffling me too. I'll see what happens tonight if it stays clear. Given the encouragement that there was more detail in there I had a go with re-processing in registax. Here is the result

Helen

[anthony]

I'm just getting a cross in a box - no picture.

Anthony

[Helen]

Still there for me..?? but here's the link http://iseestars.net/image/9703/large/image.jpg

Helen

[legion48]

Great stuff Helen.

[steppenwolf]

Thats about the stretch I applied - lots there isn't there but the halo is puzzling!

[proflight2000]

great pics helen, even better when they are enlarged and you stare straight into the bubble, the 3d effect is great.

[mpeniak]

Nice images Helen! I hope I will get to imaging these objects one day.

Well done anyway!

Martin

[MartinB]

Sorry it's taken me so long Helen and thanks for sending me the tiff to play with. Here is my process. Had to work pretty hard on the stretching. Bit of sharpening to the bright bits and quite a lot of blurring to the darker stuff. A bit of tweaking on the stars.

[FLO]

If it were one of my first images, I'd be pleased

[Helen]

Thanks Steve, and Martin for the re-process. It certainly looks better, but in one sense pleased you had to work hard at it! Going to finally look for some better software now...

Helen