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Sadr Region mosaic.

ollypenrice

By ollypenrice
in Imaging - Deep Sky

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

Posted
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This is the first semi ambitious project from the new FSQ106/Atik 11000. It's a 2 panel HaRGB mosaic including the Butterfly nebula and the Crescent. It can be extended at will in any direction! The scale here is huge, around 4.6 x 4 degrees. As ever, the battle was getting the stars under control in this rich Milky Way region.

Cheers,

Olly

SADR%20REGION%20WEB-XL.jpg

Sadr%20Region%20Ha.-XL.jpg

They can be seen in various resolutions here; http://ollypenrice.smugmug.com/Other/Best-of-Les-Granges/22435624_WLMPTM#!i=2509738821&k=CfnB53z

Olly

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AndyUK

AndyUK

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I can't really begin to contemplate how enormous this field is, but I just did a rough calculation - The crescent nebula through my MN190/314L+ very nicely fills the frame, and the FoV is 23x30 arcmins (according to CCDCalc). So, excluding overlaps, I make that about 100 panes. Hmmm... I don't think I'll bother starting THAT one! :rolleyes:

Beautiful, Olly - and I LOVE the star colours and sharpness you always get with your images... One day I'll make it over to your place and you can show me how you do that...!

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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Olly, I just don't get how your images are so smooth. How many subs was this? It's a fantastic area that's for.

Not that many subs. The northern half had 10x15 Ha and the southern half less than that, just 6x15. I was surprized.

In RGB I shot 10 minute subs for the southern half up to an hour per channel. I had to re-shoot reds because I started too low and had bloat in the red channel.

I tried 15 min subs for the northern half, four of each, still making an hour per channel. The comparison was a no brainer; 4x15 totally outclassed 6x10 at my site with this rig. (Yves and I are also trying head banging sub lengths in the 14 inch and so far we think 'yes.' 30 min lum on M106 looks tasty.

I'm still learning how best to calibrate the 11 meg camera. It is pretty noisy if you don't get the calibration right and so far it seems to prefer one method today and another tomorrow. Once calibrated it is smooth.

Earl, I know what you mean. However, to be fair this target is starting very low and the seeing is poor down there. My FWHM last night started at about 2 and ended up below 1 once we were on the zenith. That was when I re-shot the southern reds and the difference compared with the reds shot low was enormous.

Olly

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RobH

RobH

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I look forward to your images in the way I used to look forward to Dr Who when I was a kid Olly, and the latest episode is a corker....love the depth, colour and everything else!

How do you find the FSQ in comparison with the 85?

Cheers

Rob

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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I look forward to your images in the way I used to look forward to Dr Who when I was a kid Olly, and the latest episode is a corker....love the depth, colour and everything else!

How do you find the FSQ in comparison with the 85?

Cheers

Rob

You're very kind, Rob. The FSQ106 is more of a handful than the sublimely easy FSQ85. It doesn't hold focus as well so needs refocusing about twice a night, which isn't disastrous. It's also worth noting that I'm not using the same camera. When you go for the big chip you accept that you're getting a lot of real estate, some of which is still a bit rough. Earl wonders if an 8300 in a Baby Q might not beat an 11 meg in a 106. It might. It will take a while to get the best out of this scope and camera.

I do like the immense sky coverage but I don't think that square mm for square mm I'm yet matching the Baby Q/Atik 4000. On the other hand I do like gulping down these big chunks of sky. Tonight I'm getting Ha for a panel to the right of the Crescent. If the sky holds I may be able to double the area covered in the posted image. This opens doors onto new kinds of picture.

Olly

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Tim

Tim

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Very nice Olly, these widefields are always impressive, and the colours and balance just look 'right'.

What filters are you using with the Atik 11000? I have just acquired one myself, or will be soon, but due to the circumstances of the acquisition I know pretty much nothing about the camera :s

I know it has an M54 thread on the front, and that's about it. I do have a T-threaded Ha filter, but i'm wondering if that is going to be too small for the chip?

I envisage using the camera for Ha type shots, but I haven't used CCD calc yet to see how it will work or if it will work with the current batch of telescopes I am using.

Thanks Olly.

Tim

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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Superb.. RobH sums it all up... This is one region of the sky where Mosaics can just keep growing and growing.... :)

It's my favorite area of the sky even more so than Orion (based on the fact that I only have limited access to Orion in a gap between the trees that lines up with the central heating flue and for some reason the rest of the house don't like me turning of the heating to do a bit of imaging in Dec/Jan)

Looking forward to this expanding as the years go by...

Peter...

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MartinB

MartinB

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Great image as always Olly. There have been any number of APODs taken with this scope/chip combo. Are you planning using the reducer? You get big overnight temperature changes at your location, worth thinking about automated focusing with temperature compensation? I don't have such a problem inside my dome but it is going to need constant watching when unshielded from the sky.

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badgerchap

badgerchap

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Awesome Olly, absolutely awesome. I'm thrilled to know that you're going to expand this field even further. It's a real demonstration of just how much is going on up there. These images of yours really are a credit to what can be done by an (and I'm fairly reluctant to use the word) amateur.

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Tim

Tim

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Olly's a pro :)

Just been having a look at what the 11000 + Esprit 150 would achieve together, resolution of 1.74asp and FOV of 78x117 arcmin, looks very tasty indeed!

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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Very nice Olly, these widefields are always impressive, and the colours and balance just look 'right'.

What filters are you using with the Atik 11000? I have just acquired one myself, or will be soon, but due to the circumstances of the acquisition I know pretty much nothing about the camera :s

I know it has an M54 thread on the front, and that's about it. I do have a T-threaded Ha filter, but i'm wondering if that is going to be too small for the chip?

I envisage using the camera for Ha type shots, but I haven't used CCD calc yet to see how it will work or if it will work with the current batch of telescopes I am using.

Thanks Olly.

Tim

Cheers, Tim. I'm using 2 inch Baaders. They theoretically vignette a little tiny bit but since neither of us would do without flats it really doesn't matter. I like the camera and will review it on here shortly. How your filter would work out I don't really know. You do need an M54 adapter for the EFW2. It would be great with the Esprit. I'm itching to get it in the TEC but I need a fortune's worth of bits plus the expensive glass so I'm just letting the financial dust settle first. New roof, new patio where the outbuilding used to be, etc etc!! Plus the dentist had a good rummage in the coffers recently...

Martin, I have the older fluorite FSQ106N which can't take the reducer. (F stopped standing for Fluorite and started standing for Flatfield.) Tom (O'Donoghue's) experience is that the fluorite 106 holds focus quite well and mine seems OK too. I refocus twice a night at the moment. You know me and IT: I don't fancy more USB devices!!!

The handling of dynamic range is just done in levels, though I used a star mask for one stretch of the RGB to keep them down. My processing isn't complicated. Quite the opposite.

I'll post the Ha extended version from last night in a new thread. The nebulae just go on and on.

Olly

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Tim

Tim

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Thanks Olly, I'll have to have a look at the IAS on friday. I'm using a Trutek wheel at the moment but the USB connection is serial and dodgy, so maybe an upgrade is due. I have struck lucky with the 11000 (http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/167849-win-an-atik-11000-mono-ccd-camera/) but have a feeling the bits to use with it are going to be quite costly!

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Tom OD

Tom OD

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Super pic Olly. Lots of resolution and sharp details in there. I love my FSQ106N and 11000 set up. Like Olly I need to refocus about twice a night. I live up a mountain too so it probably adds to the temp changes in a nights run. I think the 530mm resolution brings out details that others who take approx. 350mm and a faster f ratio just don't get. Its a trade off of course, but I think its worth it. Tom.

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jackrussell0232

jackrussell0232

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That's simply breathtaking. Truly amazing. How much Ha do you need before you start to class it as light pollution??? So much for the night sky being dark.

I look forward to seeing Olly's northern hemisphere sky survey slowly being completed, although with this rig, maybe not so slowly.

Thanks for sharing.

Jack

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