Image request, M57.

[ollypenrice]

Hi, I'm an interloper here and don't do video astronomy other than solar. However, I'm doing an article on how to image M57 and would like to include video in it since this is a bright target and responds to long focal lengths which are so hard to guide in long exposures.

If anyone has an image they'd like to donate and could give me brief capture details I'd be glad to try to include it. You will, of course, be fully credited.

The deadline is just a week away, by the way. Ouch! Just drop me a PM.

Thanks,

Olly

[carastro]

Surely M57 is a DSO and not a video object Olly.  

I have had no decent success with M57, it's just too small for my set up to get anything worthwhile.

Carole 

[ollypenrice]

No, it is bright enough for fast frame cameras. Links to flickr are now presenting the image here, whcih I don't want to do out of respect for the owners, but just Google M57 RIng Nebula DMK for some examples.

Pretty good, I reckon. I'd like to broaden the scope of the article if I could since not all DSOs are accessible to fast frame capture.

Olly

[Martin Meredith]

Hi Olly

As it happens I posted some shots of M57 in a range of exposures here a month or so ago when it was still pretty low in the sky:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/217105-m57-in-025-to-120-seconds/

This is for an 80mm f/6 achromat (StellarVue NightHawk) with the Lodestar-C. Not a particularly long FL though...

Martin

[Paul81]

Hi Olly

I am afraid I only have the monochrome Lodestar camera, but here is a capture of M57 I made last year. It is a single 30 sec exposure.

As Martin said on another post, I have been working on an application to turn the Lodestar camera (mono and colour) into a self integrating live view (video astronomy) style camera. I am soon to release a version which performs on the fly live stacking, so the longer you observe an object (in theory) the better the view gets. Below is what M57 would have looked like after a total of 2 mins 30 secs (of 30 sec exposures). The program also performs live dark frame subtraction, histogram stretch etc.

This image, although processed offline, its using a test mode in my program that I use to develop and debug all the algorithms, so is totally representative of what the result would have been had I been using the new version of software when I was originally observing the target last year.

I imagine an article on this style of astronomy could be quite interesting. I find it a great addition to visual observing, and it really doesn't require much extra or expensive kit. Video astronomy is very effective at cutting through LP, or helping resolve incredibly faint objects (nytecam and Martin have been posting great images of galaxy clusters) that would only be in the reach of much larger instruments or pristine skies.

If you wanted to see the live stacking in action, I have posted a YouTube clip of the latest development version of the app: 

Cheers,

Paul

[laser_jock99]

Not sure if these are any use?

M27 planetary nebula 10 seconds with Lodestar x2 

M97 planetary nebula 10 seconds with Lodestar x2

[ollypenrice]

Thanks to Paul and Laser Jock. LJ, it has to be M57, I'm afraid.

There are great images on show though.

Olly

[DoctorD]

Hi Olly

Here's my M57 using my SDC435 video camera with my C8 and F3.3 reducer mounted on a Minitower II.

Single Frame Screen Capture:

20 Frame Stack with a little post processing to remove the gradient:

If these are of any use, I'm happy to provide original TIFF files.

Clear Skies

Paul