Horse and all the trimmings in the TEC140.

[ollypenrice]

Hi All, a guest fancied a go at this iconic composition on Thursday so we spent a night on it in HaLRGB. Since I already had an earlier version I combined the two, which allowed me to push the processing harder in search of the faintest details. I had a lot of fun pulling out the dusty outer reaches of the Flame, for instance. The TEC is a dream on Alnitak which it splits cleanly, letting you pull out Flame details very close to the star. The Horse itself and the blue reflection nebula below it, NGC2023, were enhanced using data from the 14 inch ODK from a few years ago. The last few nights have had both seeing and transparency to die for. SQM21.81, so almost at our best ever of 21.9.

Since the improvements are mainly significant at high resolution I've linked to the biggest version. Click on the image and there should be a full size button lower left.

HaLRGB, Atik 11000, Baader filters, Avalon Linear, TEC 140 Triplet Apo/TEC flattener.

Olly

[StuartJPP]

Great shot Olly...no complaints other than it isn't mine.

[Rodd]

Ditto Stuart JJP.   It would be really interesting to see this image side by side with the same image but without the data from the 14" ODK.  I do not have a feel for what such enhancements look like.

[swag72]

This really is a gem Olly...... Great colours, superb control all round.... Its so useful to be able to add in long focal length stuff to really add to the overall resolution.... Lovely.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Thumbs up from me, that horse has legs.

[RichLD]

That's absolutely first rate Olly, the TEC has done a fantastic job on Alnitak and I love the dust and colours you've gone with - my attempt looks to have too much cyan now dammit!  The best I've seen? I think so!

As always, brilliant!

ATB

Rich

[ollypenrice]

21 minutes ago, Rodd said:

Ditto Stuart JJP.   It would be really interesting to see this image side by side with the same image but without the data from the 14" ODK.  I do not have a feel for what such enhancements look like.

The difference is quite subtle because the 2.5 metre FL of the ODK is shrunk massively to match the scale of the 1015mm FL image. Here is the Thursday night data cropped from the TEC only. Ignore the noise because that's inevitable when we shot only an hour per channel LRGB and about 2 hours Ha but the resolution is what you're interested in, I guess.

The TEC is no slouch and is only working at an easy 1.8 arcsecs per pixel here.

The ODK HH looked like this (joint credit with Yves Vand den Broek.)

 

 

Olly

Edit: You know, quite honestly, looking at this reminds me of the fact that a good refractor takes a lot of beating. I really must get to try the TEC at twice its present resolution with a small pixel camera.

 

 

[Rodd]

1 minute ago, ollypenrice said:

The difference is quite subtle because the 2.5 metre FL of the ODK is shrunk massively to match the scale of the 1015mm FL image. Here is the Thursday night data cropped from the TEC only. Ignore the noise because that's inevitable when we shot only an hour per channel LRGB and about 2 hours Ha but the resolution is what you're interested in, I guess.

The TEC is no slouch and is only working at an easy 1.8 arcsecs per pixel here.

The ODK HH looked like this (joint credit with Yves Vand den Broek.)

 

 

Olly

 

If I understand--the TEC image has limited data (hence the noise/grain) while the ODK has more data and more processing?  As far as details go, I am not sure I can see the difference.  The ODK has more processing--but some details in the TEC are more prominent (due to lack of processing?)  for example the depth of the dust lanes in the blue nebula around the star in lower left appear darker and more defined in the TEC  image (blues and greys darker--star smaller--more definition in general).  

[swag72]

10 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

......You know, quite honestly, looking at this reminds me of the fact that a good refractor takes a lot of beating. I really must get to try the TEC at twice its present resolution with a small pixel camera.

Can you hurry up and do that please Olly   I'd love to see the results

[ollypenrice]

4 minutes ago, swag72 said:

Can you hurry up and do that please Olly   I'd love to see the results

Trouble is, these pesky guests keep bringing drones and making beautiful aerial movies of our mountains and rivers. I want one of those, too!

Olly

[swag72]

Yes, but  I don't  want a drone  

[PatrickGilliland]

Super work Olly - excellent image, love all the obvious detail and the extra data on 2023 works very well.  I really like the more subtle detail such as the colour variations in the flame and the texture between the flame and 2023 is top drawer.

SQM of 21.81 would mean mine has broken  sure the quality helped with the data but the processing is what realises it and you've done a great job.

Paddy

 

[The Admiral]

Never mind the technicalities, a truly beautiful image!

Ian

[kirkster501]

Fabulous Olly.  With your permission, I am going to use this as the desktop background for my work computer to make me happy when i am dealing with work s**te.

Love my TEC 140. Utterly fabulous. I sold my NEQ6 today ready for my incoming MESU200 - a month to go though I recently found out due to Lucas' suppliers !   So its visual with the Dob only until that arrives.

[ollypenrice]

27 minutes ago, kirkster501 said:

Fabulous Olly.  With your permission, I am going to use this as the desktop background for my work computer to make me happy when i am dealing with work s**te.

Love my TEC 140. Utterly fabulous. I sold my NEQ6 today ready for my incoming MESU200 - a month to go though I recently found out due to Lucas' suppliers !   So its visual with the Dob only until that arrives.

But of course!

I've just had an objection on FB that Alnitak has been held down too much. A bright star should be bright. Well, if the 'holding down' had all been done in software there would have been no Flame Nebula detail close to Alnitak but, very clearly, there is Flame detail right next to Alnitak. I didn't invent it, the TEC captured it because the TEC, not I, controlled the bright star.

Olly

[kirkster501]

1 minute ago, ollypenrice said:

But of course!

I've just had an objection on FB that Alnitak has been held down too much. A bright star should be bright. Well, if the 'holding down' had all been done in software there would have been no Flame Nebula detail close to Alnitak but, very clearly, there is Flame detail right next to Alnitak. I didn't invent it, the TEC captured it because the TEC, not I, controlled the bright star.

Olly

Indeed!  We both love the TEC.  Is is not parfocal though with my Baader filters like my FSQ85 is.  It is with LRG but B and Ha both need a tweak.

I love The Horse, especially with the radiating waves in the red curtains behind it like you have here Olly.  Do you need lots of Ha for that?

[ollypenrice]

Just now, kirkster501 said:

Indeed!  We both love the TEC.  Is is not parfocal though with my Baader filters like my FSQ85 is.  It is with LRG but B and Ha both need a tweak.

I love The Horse, especially with the radiating waves in the red curtains behind it like you have here Olly.  Do you need lots of Ha for that?

I'm only shooting at 1.8 "PP and find that I'm parfocal in LRGB with Baader. I don't know about Ha because I always do an Ha run as a separate thing and focus accordingly. If the object is a lowish one, though, I'll always shoot L and B at the highest elevations I can and again will focus accordingly.

Ha is always a long haul! This rig is mounted on the Avalon which, though good, is not a Mesu, so I'm nervous about shooting in 30 minute subs because a hit from the wind might be costly. I do 15 min subs on the Avalon, generally. On this target there are lots of nice local contrasts in the Ha layer but, in order to pull them out, you do need a lot of data. I wouldn't want to get going on this seriously with less than about 7 hours. 20 would be nice...

Olly

[Ouroboros]

That's tasty! Colours are gorgeous.

[toxic]

this is by far the best GG i have ever seen  

[laudropb]

Lovely image of the horse and surrounds. Fabulous detail captured.

[Randalloverby]

Very nice Olly.

[Stub Mandrel]

I was just getting excited because I'm approaching 4 hours of DSLR on the Alnitak region, first time with the 130P-DS. I was excited because the 'oss 'ed is showing up on the preview screen and the seeing/transparency are epic. Somehow I don't think it will be up to your opus though...

[vdb]

Beautiful image! I will try this with my TEC and the Nikon D810A later in the year if weather permits, I don't expect to come even close as I live in a severe LP zone,

but I can always use the ODK data to cover that ;-)

 

/Yves

[Barry-Wilson]

18 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

Edit: You know, quite honestly, looking at this reminds me of the fact that a good refractor takes a lot of beating. I really must get to try the TEC at twice its present resolution with a small pixel camera.

A really detailed view of this popular target Olly, superbly and naturally processed as is your norm.

I don't know if you periodically browse Astrobin?  Josh Smith in the US has been using his TEC140 with a QSI690 and been producing great results, here.  Will give you a flavour of the potential.

[ollypenrice]

55 minutes ago, Barry-Wilson said:

A really detailed view of this popular target Olly, superbly and naturally processed as is your norm.

I don't know if you periodically browse Astrobin?  Josh Smith in the US has been using his TEC140 with a QSI690 and been producing great results, here.  Will give you a flavour of the potential.

That's a great link and just what I needed to see. Thanks Barry. His Antennae matches the resolution we managed in the 14 inch, quite honestly, but he needed more exposure time from the reduced aperture. (Oh no, the F ratio myth raises its head!)Then again his sky must be abominable since he quoted SQM values in the seventeens, so he clearly knows his stuff. Small pixels here I come.

Olly