Simply the Horsehead

[astro mick]

Re-posted this after popular request,after I took it down,as it was,nt very good.(Still is,nt).

It was imaged at the full moon,and the moon was virtually nextdoor to this Nebulae.

Taken with my ED80 and my HX916.

Only managed 6x600 secs each in HA/S11.No Oxygen 111 was visible in this nebulae.

Had to bin at 2x2 to get any worthwhile signal.Noise was a big problem,which I,ve tried to reduce,and may have overdone it. 

Filters were Badaar H/A 7nm & S11 8nm.

Just levels and curves applied in Photoshop.

Mick.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very nice horsey

[Coco]

Superb... very nice..

[mister_wavey]

That is just lovely.

[Scott]

Glad you decided to post it Mick, It's one of my (many) favorite parts of the sky.

I think it's quite good anyway. Stars look nice and round although maybe a tweak or two on the focus will get them sharper? I'm yet to get anything other than Ha on this so I'm not really in a position to pass comment on the processing. keep 'em coming sir

[Rico]

Nice one! 

[martin_h]

Nothing wrong with that one 

[Adamar98]

Nothing wrong with that. I would love a horse of that standard in my gallery.

[Ikonnikov]

Nice HH. I had a go at OIII on this a while ago and got some signal for NGC2023 and the Flame nebula and also a bit from IC435, but overall compared with the Ha signal I found it was pretty puny (even for OIII) and also trashed by star Halos and internal reflections (mainly from Alnitak)

Paul

[astro mick]

Thanks for all the encouragement guys,im glad I posted it now,and wont think twice in the future,though I may try to improve my efforts.

So difficult with our climate.

Cheers all.

Mick.

[Uranium235]

Hmmmm..... food for thought if Im planning on adding any OIII to my HH.

Its about par for the equipment and amount of exposure (was the reducer used?) - beats my first HH with an 80ED and 314 anyway   You might want to try rotating the camera so its square with the focuser - ie: power socket in line with the 80ED locking screw, and the USB/ST4 sockets parallel to the focuser knobs. You will find a lot more targets fit in that way - the noteable exceptions being M8, M45 (sadly) and the California Nebula.  

Just a note on binning: Yes its a great way to improve your signal/noise ratio, but it wont go deeper becuase at the end of the day (or night!) you've still only collected 600s worth of photons per sub (regardless of binning) at your current focal ratio. So to go deeper and cleaner (in the brighter portions of the nebula), you need longer subs.... but heres the catch - once you start getting the dim stuff with your longer subs, you need more of them! aghhh!

Its well worth using the 0.85x reducer for the 80ED, it will speed you up by about 30% (so your 600s is now worth 780s) - plus you get a nice boost to the FOV.

[astro mick]

Hi Rob.

This image was actually taken using my two ED 80,s and two HX916 ccd camera,s.The scopes are side by side and alighned with each other.

So one scope took the HA and the other took the S11.

The HX916,s are old scopes and don't have a direct USB input.

They were originally designed for parallel port use,but using a USB 1.1 interface,it allowed a quicker download.

So a heavy co-ax type cable runs from the camera to the USB box.

I did,nt mention in my original post I was using two camera,s as it did,nt effect the result of the image.

It was still 6x600 secs each.

The scopes are equipped with 0.8 reducers,so effectively they operate at around F6.

I only binned because of the conditions,but do take your points on the subject,so thanks for that.

Mick.

[Uranium235]

You have a 80ED/916 twin shooter?

Oh boy.... you are in for quite a ride once youve tweaked it all as you need. My mistake about the camera you used, when you say 916, my mind automatically pings "ah! 285 chip!!" then makes the link to the Atik (I know, so sad isnt it?).  Its performance will match the Atik twin shooter I had, its just a case of keeping up with the amount of data you will get from a good night (and keeping it organised!).

[belfieldi]

Great photo Mick, if I ever manage to get something 1/2 as good, I'll be a happy man.

[astro mick]

Great photo Mick, if I ever manage to get something 1/2 as good, I'll be a happy man.

Thanks a lot,appreciate the comment.

Mick.

[laser_jock99]

Great image- thanks for sharing!

[astro mick]

Cheers Laser.

Mick.