February 3, 2019: First HH and Flame

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Finally got some clear skies, so I could test drive my LVI SmartGuider 2. I did get it to work on my EQ3-2, with dual mounted APM 80mm F/6, with TV TRF-2008 0.8x focal reducer, and modded Canon EOS 550D with Astronomik CLS-CCD filter, and ST80 with the LVI guide camera attached. I briefly tried a 120s sub, but I spotted some eggy shapes so stuck with 60s for now, eager to get imaging before clouds might spoil the fun. I got 150 60s subs at ISO 1600. Combined with 60 darks and a huge load of flats APP turned out this (with some final tweaks in Gimp) 

Quite chuffed at the result. I might ditch the last 30 lights as Alnitak was far more bloated in those than in the first lot (dew, ice, or perhaps haze to blame). Next time I hope to get longer subs, perhaps simply by switching to the Vixen Great Polaris mount, which is a lot sturdier.

[astrosathya]

Really lovely image. Hows the sky from where you image? 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

30 minutes ago, astrosathya said:

Really lovely image. Hows the sky from where you image? 

Reasonably dark by suburban standards, but far from ideal.

[AbsolutelyN]

Very nice image.

[jjosefsen]

That is quite nice, I really like the colors, very much to my taste.

You are really pushing that eq3-2 with that setup. ?

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

22 minutes ago, jjosefsen said:

That is quite nice, I really like the colors, very much to my taste.

You are really pushing that eq3-2 with that setup. ?

Thanks! I actually just use the colours as they come out of APP, and only tweak curves very gently in Gimp to darken the background a bit more

[jjosefsen]

26 minutes ago, michael.h.f.wilkinson said:

Thanks! I actually just use the colours as they come out of APP, and only tweak curves very gently in Gimp to darken the background a bit more

Yeah APP works quite well out of the box, so to speak.

Sometimes people just go a little crazy with the saturation, not the case here, and I like that.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Did a reprocess on the data, using only the first two hours to avoid the increased halos around the stars due to either the scope fogging up or haze increasing in the skies above. Seems to get a little less bloat in Alnitak. I have also made the background a bit darker, which seems to help.

 

[cuivenion]

Great images, I'm going to have to try modding my 500d at some point.

[adyj1]

Fantastic image, you should be proud. Proof that you *can* do AP with a 'lowly' eq3-2 ✅