Regaining my mojo with the Star71

[Uranium235]

The past couple of weeks have been a bit testing for me, as I've been suffering from extreme insomnia - which pretty much took the wind out of my sails. You'd think Astronomy and insomnia might make decent bedfellows.... sadly not as youre left so tired it robs you of all energy and motivation (simple tasks suddenly become very difficult).

But, after what I could call my first nights "alright" sleep on Friday (well, its wasnt great - but bad sleep is better than no sleep) I wanted to break myself in on something nice and simple. I had planned to go for the Cygnus loop but after slewing to it and taking a test shot... doh! I found it would have needed a camera rotation to get it all on the chip... well, no way was I going to mess around with that in the dark so it was an emergency target I had to choose.

Oddly enough, in the couple of years I've had that telescope I'd never done the Pelican with it. Yes, I know Ive done that one to death but I wanted to see what the Star71 could make of it if given a couple of hours before the Moon rose too high.

It turned out alright I guess, not bad for just 8x900 ... wont be long before I'm back attempting some of the hard stuff, but for now I'll take what I can.

 

8x900 (Ha)

Star71, Atik 383L+, NEQ6

Flats, Bias, Darks, Dark flats

Thanks for looking!

 

[MikeODay]

Wonderful image - I like the balanced composition, the pleasing tones and great detail.  To me it has the look and feel of a painting or sketch - I like it a lot. 

[xtreemchaos]

outstanding, I love it. well done.

I had problems sleeping,  but ive been ok since ive been on this tablet called zispin "mirtazapine", it really has worked wonders with me, I get no side affects, I could stay awake for 4 days before then maybe get 3 hours sleep then up again for another 3 or 4 days and repete but since taking them I sleep 8 hours a night.  clear skys, charl.

[DaveS]

Great image, and great to hear you've got your mojo back.

I have rubbish sleep patterns too, can be awake for 2 hours in the middle of the night.

[PhotoGav]

Nice one Rob. This reminds me what a great scope the Star71 is. I've had my 8" on the mount for ages, but this makes me excited about the widefield stuff to come soon. Nice framing too, to get all that striated stuff below the Pelican. 

I hope you get your biorhythms sorted and your sleep pattern returns to normal soon. There's nothing worse than lack of sleep. You might try Thatchers Haze - I discovered it's great somniferous powers at SGLX last year! Talking of which, I hope to see you there next month. 

[Uranium235]

Thanks guys  

Im trying to avoid any more prescription strength stuff for sleep, I had a 7 day dose of zopiclone - but I'd rather not go back for more as I don't want to become dependant on it. Same goes for codine,  which has some pretty unpleasant side effects. 

Hopefully tonight will be a bit easier, last time I was like this it took about a month to 6 weeks to get back into a normal pattern. I just need to calm down a bit because not being able to get to sleep just led to me getting stressed and that just made it worse. 

[ollypenrice]

It's an excellent image.

(At one time I had an insomnia problem, probably due to overly long hours of work. It really is no joke. At first it just feels like lack of sleep but it builds up into something other than that. I was very resistant to the idea of going to the doctor but, in the end, that proved to be the right thing to do.)

Olly

[swag72]

That's a great looking frame filler Rob! Beautiful processing to boot..... I hope that your sleep patterns return soon. Having never really had any sleep problems, I can't imagine how debilitating it can be. Hope you're soon back up to strength  

[Uranium235]

18 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

It's an excellent image.

(At one time I had an insomnia problem, probably due to overly long hours of work. It really is no joke. At first it just feels like lack of sleep but it builds up into something other than that. I was very resistant to the idea of going to the doctor but, in the end, that proved to be the right thing to do.)

Olly

Thanks Olly, and yes thats a typical blokes reaction to not being alright (avoiding the doc unless really required), its kinda like one of those moments where you fall over in public then get up and pretend it doesnt hurt.. (when actually you are in agony!)...lol. 

[johnrt]

So much signal there it's difficult to see where the N/A & Pelican begin and end.

[Uranium235]

27 minutes ago, johnrt said:

So much signal there it's difficult to see where the N/A & Pelican begin and and.

Thanks John, Im thinking of getting out tonight for another couple of hours to get it really clean before adding some OIII. Its getting dark at a reasonable time now, so I can be done before midnight.... will have to keep an eye on the weather radar though, I think its one of those nights where there might be a possibility of a random shower or two (despite the clear forecast).

[MartinB]

It took me a while to work it out with that orientation.  Lots of lovely dust detail.  Excellent

[Uranium235]

1 hour ago, MartinB said:

It took me a while to work it out with that orientation.  Lots of lovely dust detail.  Excellent

Thanks Martin I just rotated clockwise by 90deg so it sits better. If I were to present it as it is in the sky it would have been in portrait (I much prefer a landscape presentation).

[johnrt]

23 minutes ago, Uranium235 said:

Thanks Martin I just rotated clockwise by 90deg so it sits better. If I were to present it as it is in the sky it would have been in portrait (I much prefer a landscape presentation).

Yup, despite not managing more than a handful of hours since about March I have decided to embark on a mosaic! Waiting for the clouds to pass and there should be a clear patch coming up...... (famous last words)....

[Uranium235]

16 minutes ago, johnrt said:

Yup, despite not managing more than a handful of hours since about March I have decided to embark on a mosaic! Waiting for the clouds to pass and there should be a clear patch coming up...... (famous last words)....

Good luck mate Its a bit on/off out there but Ive only lost one sub so far... the scope coat is on standby though, just in case.