One More from early this morning

[lensman57]

Hi,

I think the image speaks for itself, it was taken between 3.50 and 5.20 am this morning. Although I was cold  and tired I couldn't let it go, it had to be taken.

4 Subs of 300s and 11 subs of 180s each with Ascension 80 mm Apo Triplet, WO 0.8 FF/FR , IDAS LPs P2 and ATIK 428 ex OSC @ -12.5C on HEQ5, PHD guiding. I also took 21 subs of 20s each but they were not necessary, the camera has maintained full dynamic range even with 300s exposure.

Flats, Bias but no Darks, stacked in DSS and processed and combined entirely in StarTools, conversion to PNG in PS.

Hope you like it.

A.G

[Alveprinsen]

That looks absolutely kickass!

So little exposure, so much detail! ... Man, this makes me wanna throw my DSLR out the window.

[Adamar98]

wow!!!  thats a beauty.

[lensman57]

That looks absolutely kickass!

So little exposure, so much detail! ... Man, this makes me wanna throw my DSLR out the window.

Hi,

Thanks for the nice comment, I wasted over £600.00 on the Canons before the Atik and  it does have one hell of a chip inside but the the DSLR has it's place too , a lot also depends on the transparency and seeing, that is why I had to stay with it this morning, for some reason those early hours of the morning are just made for imaging if the weather allows it of course. As for the image there is a lot more detail there that can be extracted but I just couldn't wait to do a quick process.

Many Thanks and Regards,

A.G

[LukeSkywatcher]

That is really pretty pleasing on the eye.

[PhotoGav]

Beautiful. It was a fantastic night yesterday and you did well to draw on your stamina reserves!

I'm intrigued by the camera. It's only a small sensor, pixels wise, certainly compared to the dslrs today (the canon eos 60da is 18MP, making a file of 5184x3456 pixels). So, what makes the Atik so much better - indeed is it really so much better anyway? Can you make a decent large print from the final files, it's only 1932x1452 pixels?

Uh oh - I feel more purchases coming on...

[andyman]

Thats the bizz cracking image 

[Stevie P]

WOW !!!!!

[lensman57]

Beautiful. It was a fantastic night yesterday and you did well to draw on your stamina reserves!

I'm intrigued by the camera. It's only a small sensor, pixels wise, certainly compared to the dslrs today (the canon eos 60da is 18MP, making a file of 5184x3456 pixels). So, what makes the Atik so much better - indeed is it really so much better anyway? Can you make a decent large print from the final files, it's only 1932x1452 pixels?

Uh oh - I feel more purchases coming on...

Hi Gav,

Many thanks, These new generation of cameras with the sony ICX 674 and ICX 694 are something special, I don't even need Darks unless I go over 20 minutes and even then it may not be necessary, the 428 is less than 3 MP and the stacked sub was binned in StarTools to 50% to reduce the file size and quash the noise a little,  I think the effective cooling, lack of so many filters as in a DSLR to make the camera take daytime pictures and I guess electronics that are designed for long exposure low noise  rather than short esposure make the difference. A DSLR is great to start with and when reqired can give you superb FOV but in terms of image quality in AP terms it has a tough job  competing with the likes of Atik and Starlight Xpress., let alone the real big guys with mega box price tags. Right now I am thinking about how to save over £2000.00 for a 460 EX mono.

Lets hope for more clear nights like last night.

Regards,

A.G

[laser_jock99]

Nice one.

[Okeydokey]

Very nice!

[peroni]

Shots like this keep me going :-D

Very impressive.

Sent from my phone :-D

[PhotoGav]

Hi AG,

Thank you for your explanation of the virtues of a dedicated astro-ccd. That does all make perfect sense. As I crawl up the learning curve it becomes increasingly apparent that this is a hobby that requires a hefty wedge of cash on a regular basis! The shopping list only grows...

Fingers crossed for those clear nights so that we may use our investments and not just admire their beauty in the corner of the room!

[rob0971]

Fantastic & inspirational. Your stamina & dedication has paid off.

Rob

[lensman57]

Fantastic & inspirational. Your stamina & dedication has paid off.

Rob

Hi Rob,

Many thanks to you and other good people of the forumfor your encouragement and comments. I too constantly find the work of other imagers inspiratioand, a tool to push me to improve myself and produce something worth while for others to look at.

Regards,

A.G