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Hyperstar 3/ASI 1600MC-cool Horsehead area

Nick Smith

By Nick Smith
in Imaging - Deep Sky

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Nick Smith

Nick Smith

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Hi all

 

Here are a couple of images from the 4th using the C9.25/Hyperstar ASI1600MC-cool combination.  I got home from work late and set this up quickly and let it run.  This is 334 30 second subs. so well over two hours total integration time.  I packed in after the meridian flip as I had to get up for work in the morning, though it was clear all night.  BTW, anyone thinking of getting a Hyperstar, do not get put off by horror stories regarding collimation ect.  If (like me) you are used to collimating an SCT at focal lengths of 10 meters plus for planetary, adjusting the Hyperstar at 540mm will pose no problems.  I have only adjusted it once and I have a pretty good stars up to the edges of the frame.

 

Anyway, let me know what you think.  This deep sky stuff is very new to me and any advice would be greatly appreciated, I really do not know what I am doing when it comes to processing.  I have attached two images; first the whole area at 50%, and second a full size crop of the Horsehead itself.

 

 

 

hh 50% v2.jpg

hh 100%crop% v2.jpg

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Nick Smith

Nick Smith

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Cheers Mick.  Beginning to realise that this stuff requies a LOT of exposure time, even with Hyperstar.  Good thing is the Hyperstar can be collimated in real time, webcam style, at full resolution-amazing!  Looking at this from my Belfast hotel room, I can now see a nasty green cast I need to get rid of.  Still, early days, onwards and upwards!

One of my main motivations for getting this camera was the thought of high-resolution colour moon mosaics, so I will get the C14 back on the mount at some point soon. 

 

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theo

theo

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That's a nice image Nick (I see you have spotted the green). Good to see another planetary imager trying some deep sky. I myself only did planetary and lunar for quite a few years until I built my observatory. Having a permanent set-up with accurate polar alignment makes things a lot easier when going for long exposures and deep sky targets.

Pete

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Uranium235

Uranium235

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5 minutes ago, Nick Smith said:

Thanks Pete.  I also have a permanent pier now, so polar alignment should be spot-on.  The green in this is beginning to really hurt my eyes!  As soon as I get home I will post a colour-corrected version.

Yep, HLVG (Photoshop) or SCNR (PI) will do the job in one click ;)

 

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Nick Smith

Nick Smith

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According to the IFU, the chip is the Panasonic mn34230plj, used in various cameras.  I have done a quick search on this but it seems really hard to get a product specification sheet, so can't really comment on the above.  

Regarding "bad" stars with the Hyperstar,  there is nothing inherently in the design that should produce anything other than a nice flat well-corrected field with decent sharp stars.   I think the bad rep comes from poorly collimated systems and indifferent focusing.  I can see how collimation may have been difficult in the past with slow download time from cameras but, with these CMOS cameras, it is simple using the push-pull screws and the high frame rate preview.  You just need to start with a medium bright star in the middle of the frame and adjust until it looks okay, then whack up the gain and check the faint stars around the edge of the field.  If you are okay with collimating an SCT this process will not take more than 5-10 minutes.  You definitely do not need software to tell you if you have collimated correctly!

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barkis

barkis

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Top job Nick it's a super start to your Deep Sky career. The Orion area is such fantastic area to set the bar with
If you turn out goodies like this then you be carrying on with the good quality 
you showed us with your Lunar Imagery. 
Look forward to many more.

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Magnus_e

Magnus_e

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21 hours ago, Nick Smith said:

Thanks for the help.  I have run the images through HLVG and it works like a charm!  I have replaced the original images with the updated ones.  Also gave them a bit of a boost in curves

This explains a lot! Thought my eyes where no longer sensitive to green :hippy2:

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Nick Smith

Nick Smith

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23 hours ago, barkis said:

Top job Nick it's a super start to your Deep Sky career. The Orion area is such fantastic area to set the bar with
If you turn out goodies like this then you be carrying on with the good quality 
you showed us with your Lunar Imagery. 
Look forward to many more.

Thanks Ron!  I really appreciated your support back then, as lunar imaging is not the sexiest of topics!

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Magnus_e

Magnus_e

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I could see no pictures in the post i quouted, only a streak?

Just noticed you  edited the original images 16 minutes ago. You should make a note of that in your post, and add a reason for editing (when editing).

Most people just re post when changing something. That's what I meant about my eyes not being sensitive to green.

I read trough the tread hearing about a green cast that I had never seen :)

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