Hubble Bubble, Toil and Trouble!

[Marky1973]

Well, despite my continued problems with cooling my ATIK 414EX, I did manage 7x20 minute subs on the Bubble last night. I lost it (the target) after trying my first meridian flip, and then gave up as it was 4am and I was getting a little cranky. But really, with the moon so bright, it was really just an effort to push the guiding a bit more, and up to 20 minutes for the first time, just to see if I could. And it seemed to go quite well. I think the focus might be a little off, as it looks a bit "soft" to me, but that might just be my old eyes.

Fiddled with processing (which is still the weak link) so probably over-did it (well, actually, I DID over-do it), and then got fancy with the stars but, as I say, it was a bit of fun to test the rig. I had hoped to sort out some calibration frames today but the issues with cooling prevented that from happening - but that is a different story. 

So, 7 x 20 Ha Subs, stacked in DSS and fiddled about with in PI and PS. The main thing is it shows just how good the camera can be with NB filters at a full moon and with no calibration subs, so looking forward to trying it out on a darker night!

 

[Jokehoba]

Excellent image. Some stars are starting to look elliptical to my eyes. Always struggled pushing my NEQ6 to 20 mins... Perhaps try shorter subs (and more of them) to help keep star shapes?

Still, pretty amazing for a Moon-lit night!

[Yamez]

2 hours ago, Marky1973 said:

and then got fancy with the stars but

I love the image and i love star bursts. But i think there a bit over done such as the ones in the bubble are very clumped. That's my opinion but its looking great

[Marky1973]

12 hours ago, Jokehoba said:

Excellent image. Some stars are starting to look elliptical to my eyes. Always struggled pushing my NEQ6 to 20 mins... Perhaps try shorter subs (and more of them) to help keep star shapes?

Still, pretty amazing for a Moon-lit night!

Thanks! Yeah, I really just went to 20 minutes to see if I could and was very pleased to see I could....although the guiding graph in PHD2 was up and and down, suggesting I was pushing it a little - the scope was almost vertical as well. With the moon out of the way, I reckon 15 minute subs for a longer period could result in a nice picture!

[Marky1973]

10 hours ago, Yamez said:

I love the image and i love star bursts. But i think there a bit over done such as the ones in the bubble are very clumped. That's my opinion but its looking great

Ha! :-) Yeah, I was just playing around really, using a tool set in PS, more to amuse the kids than anything, so it automatically picked up on any stars of a certain size I think...normally I would be a bit more reserved, although I do quite like a starburst myself! :-)

[Yamez]

24 minutes ago, Marky1973 said:

Ha! :-) Yeah, I was just playing around really, using a tool set in PS, more to amuse the kids than anything, so it automatically picked up on any stars of a certain size I think...normally I would be a bit more reserved, although I do quite like a starburst myself! :-)

Ok thanks for the clarification, what tool are you using in Photoshop?

[Marky1973]

Hi Yamez, it is part of Noel Carboni's astronomy tools set. Think they cost me about $20. Has some handy scripts that automatically run in PS.