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NGC7000 - First Light with QSI & ED80

PhotoGav

By PhotoGav
in Imaging - Deep Sky

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PhotoGav

PhotoGav

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Christmas came early in Wiltshire this year and the nice delivery man brought me a QSI 683 WSG-8 with a full set of Baader LRGB Ha OIII & SII filters. There was a Lodestar X2 guidecam in the box too. Lovely. So, I am slowly clambering up the mono CCD learning curve. My guide up the slope has been Sara and I thank her very much for her patience and willingness to share her knowledge and experience so generously with me.

So, here is the first image with the new kit on the ED80:

post-29321-0-06138200-1406376305_thumb.p

Subs at -20℃ 1x1 bin:

14 x 1200s Ha

16 x 1200s OIII

5 x 240s in each of RGB for a star colour layer

Calibrated with darks, bias and flats

L = Ha with a hint of OIII

R = Ha

G = sG (using Noel's Actions)

B = OIII

Processed in Nebulosity 3 and CS3

I'm thrilled with the new equipment, the subs have been a joy to process, stretching just develops the detail rather than the noise. It has been a challenge though and I'm still not totally happy with the halos around the stars. That seems to be an inherent feature of narrowband imaging. So, any hints and tips on how to avoid the halos would be greatly appreciated. Any general thoughts, comments and advice are most welcome. I am slowly learning, but loving the journey even more now.

Thanks for looking.

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theo

theo

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Glad you are enjoying the new camera...they are beautifully made and very capable!! Absolutely loving mine too.

Just imaged this region myself and will try and post something up later once I've completed the processing.

You've done a great job with this..a lovely shot Gav.

Pete

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PhotoGav

PhotoGav

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Thank you all very much for your kind words. I couldn't resist really spoiling myself and all the advice pointed towards QSI as the best around. I am certainly not disappointed. The only problem is that I can't blame my tools now... Having said that, there is a scope that I'm looking at........!

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PhotoGav

PhotoGav

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That is simply outstanding, a fantastic image - I'm very jealous! Hope you're happy to share on the knowledge when I finally managed to get to the CCD world!

Cheers

Will

Thanks Will. Good to see that you are still around - you've been very quiet recently... Too much work? I very much look forward to you joining the mono CCD clan. I reckon it's possibly the best move I've made so far, though guiding does challenge for top spot! As for sharing my knowledge - it really won't take long!

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Twisted Lip

Twisted Lip

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Thanks Will. Good to see that you are still around - you've been very quiet recently... Too much work? I very much look forward to you joining the mono CCD clan. I reckon it's possibly the best move I've made so far, though guiding does challenge for top spot! As for sharing my knowledge - it really won't take long!

Yes unfortunately I haven't been getting out much recently despite the great skies. Downside of working in London is a very early start which during the summer means little in the way of sky time :/ On the plus side I'm back working in the Adobe ecosystem and only last week picked up a Creative Cloud trial starter for you just in case!

I'm hoping to finally move to a CCD (possibly an Atik One) in September which will hopefully give me some time to practice and familiarise myself with it before the dark skies come in earnest. Having said that, the QSI seems to be producing outstanding results for you so you may have thrown a spanner in the works!

Cheers

Will

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PhotoGav

PhotoGav

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Will,

Ha, thank you re. CC. I was all set to take the plunge and subscribe to the upgrade, thought I would download the trial, just to be sure, and it told me that my MacBook is too old and out of date to run it!!! Doh!

I was all set to go with an Atik, but everybody kept on saying that the QSI is better. It is also more expensive and I had to wait a long time for delivery, but it does seem to be the mutt's nuts... Cooling to -20C even on the hottest day of the year, eight filter slots, so the full LRGBHaOIIISII and an empty space, OAG so no faffing with filter wheels, spacing trouble, etc. I'm glad I took the advice of the good folk here on SGL as it is producing the quality results that I am after. Just forget the money side of it (at least I'm trying to!). If you are going to go for it, get your order in soon so that the waiting doesn't eat into too much dark sky time!

Good luck.

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Twisted Lip

Twisted Lip

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Oh no what a shame! I thought CC would work with most Mac's particularly. Well I'll keep hold just in case you upgrade the hardware, could save you a fair few quid at the very least!

Yes the QSI does look great you've just given me a headache! Looks like the QSI is around £700 more but if you reckon its worth the extra then I'll start putting more into the kitty! Out of interest how long did yours take to come in the end and where did you get it from?

On the subject of little sky time i thought that next year I might see if I can add a Coronado Solar scope to the wanted list. Ive never been a big solar observer but it would at least give me some day time opportunity to skywatch when the nights are short. 

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PhotoGav

PhotoGav

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Thank you, though I have no money left, so a macbook upgrade is some way off!!!

Worth extra, I can't say as I haven't had anything else (other than the DSLR and well, let's just say it's a whole different ball game!), but that was the advice I received. I ordered the QSI and bits from Ian King Imaging (I think this is the only place that you can get QSI kit in this country?) - as an aside, Ian is extremely helpful and the QSI 683 is his camera of choice at the moment, so that's some recommendation. I placed the order in the middle of May and received everything in the middle of July, so a couple of months. I think that was a bit longer than normal, but only by a couple of weeks.

Like the sound of a solar scope - as you say, something to do when it's light!

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PhotoGav

PhotoGav

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Thank you Paddy & Paul. It's hard to beat the images from a refractor... I'm trying to get the C8 working with the QSI, and while it works, it's just not got that 'frac sharpness! Trouble is, a long focal length refractor is a tad prohibitive cost wise...!

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