My first go at an astro mosaic

[iksose7]

Evening SGL, though i would share my first astro mosaic. Taking on this little project was a spur of the moment decision, i made no plans for it until i imaged M8+M20 and thought "hmmmm, a galactic centre mosaic would look pretty tasty!". I then planned to create a 3x5 mosaic of the area totaling in 15 panels. But like i said, without planning it out properly i was left with the Milky Way dropping too low in my sky for me to get anywhere near what i wanted. So i only managed 4 panels...

Each panel was around 70-80 minutes exposure time except one which i lost a lot of frames on because of cloud, leaving me with one panel of which the exposure time totaled 45 minutes. The processing and creating a seamless image was hard but this 'dud' panel caused more problems. I had to stretch it first and then bring the rest up to the same levels, if i had managed 70 minutes on this panel, i could of stretched the whole image a bit more without any problems.

Each panel was made up of 120 second exposures at f3.2, ISO 800.

And here is a couple of the single images...

M8+M20, the Lagoon and Trifid

And a part of the Pipe nebula, i call this area Barnard City

I will be better prepared next year and will hopefully get to finish what i've started!

All images were taken with a Canon 1100D and a EF200L on a Astrotrac TT320X-AG

Clear skies!

[Adamar98]

Fantastic image! I've just taken delivery of a new shiney EF200l mkII today. I don't expect to get anything that good but it goes to show what you can get with it. What software did you use for the mosaic? Ive never done a mosaic. I imagine it's not easy. A certain imager on this forum once told me they can take years to do!

[Martin-Devon]

That's a lovely panorama - excellent work.

[Epicycle]

That's a splendid mosaic!

[PeteC]

Beautiful! I think the EF200L needs to be next on my wish list. Do you have any trouble finding and framing your target with a FL of 200? I've never tried more than 55mm with the camera on the Polarie, and I was thinking maybe with a long FL on a portable tracking mount you might need some help with maybe a small finder scope or red dot finder mounted on the camera hot shoe. Any tips?

Pete

[symesie04]

Thats gorgeous. I am soo gagging to get with the astrotrac again. Come on weather clear nights at weekends please!.

[iksose7]

Thanks for the kind words folks Thats good to hear Adam, the EF200L is a fantastic lens, it will serve you well! I used Microsoft ICE for the stitching and then CS5 for post processing. ICE makes the stitching very easy, its creating a seamless image thats the hard part.

Beautiful! I think the EF200L needs to be next on my wish list. Do you have any trouble finding and framing your target with a FL of 200? I've never tried more than 55mm with the camera on the Polarie, and I was thinking maybe with a long FL on a portable tracking mount you might need some help with maybe a small finder scope or red dot finder mounted on the camera hot shoe. Any tips?

You can get some good deals if you go for a second hand bit of glass. I wouldn't mind the 100mm macro for a wider FOV but the 200mm's is great for mosaics. If i'm after a faint target then it can get a bit tedious framing. The worst was a few weeks ago trying to frame the Heart and Soul neb, i gave up in the end. But thats only due to my ball head. If i had another geared head it would make framing a doddle!

[Shibby]

Stunning mosaic! And you have processed it very nicely. Wall print!?

[Boren]

Breathtaking.

I literally lost a heartbeat when the page rolled down.

Cheers,

Harel

[Jessun]

Impressive work! I want a wider computer screen now !

/Jesper

[StuartJPP]

Nice work Callum, you obviously get more imaging nights than we do here in the UK?

[Stargazer33]

What a fantastic idea for a mosaic and very well executed. Such a shame that the clouds spoilt one of your panes! Still as you say, there is always next year.

[boris sputnik]

Super piece of work ! Congratulations !

[MartinB]

I attempted something similar whilst on holiday in Greece a couple of years ago, different nights and different locations. It was a disaster and I never was able to make a go of it. You have a great result here, well done for you patience!

[iksose7]

Thanks all for the very kind feedback

Stunning mosaic! And you have processed it very nicely. Wall print!?

Hmmm, a wall print would be nice! But i think i will hold off till next year after i've added some more panels.

Nice work Callum, you obviously get more imaging nights than we do here in the UK?

Oh yes Stuart, many more! The first 4-5 months of the year were really bad though, but now summers here. From what i've heard, the UK hasn't done too bad for itself this year. I certainly don't remember a summer like that when i lived there! haha

[swag72]

This is an absolute peach - A super mosaic, great colours and detail. Well done, this is a beauty.

[iksose7]

Thanks you Sara just seen your Soul neb on Flickr before, excellent work!

[Gina]

Brilliant job there - I agree with everything Sara said

[psemil]

Nice result. It's hard work to make a mosaic.

[iksose7]

Brilliant job there - I agree with everything Sara said

Thanks for your kind comment as always Gina

Nice result. It's hard work to make a mosaic.

Thanks! Yeah, mosaics are tricky!