IC443, the jellyfish nebula in Ha - 22/11/08 *now with re-process!*

[Whippy]

Yet another night of frustration! I started at 6.30 and spent the next three hours scratching my head and swearing under my breath. Found out that the newtonian I picked up last week doesn't come to focus with the filter wheel attached (not enough in focus), shifting the balance on the RA axis doesn't work either, things not sitting square in the imaging train and other minor little issues that have me thinking if this is all worth it including the 'nightclub' in town having a spinning spotlight that reaches right across the sky .

Ended up with the old faithful ZS66 imaging in Ha and I reckon the camera wasn't sitting square in the focuser because if you look in the bottom left, the stars are round and everywhere else they're definately oval in varying degrees. C'est la vie as they say, although it's not much fun having every evening out being a troubleshooting session, it'd be nice just to set up and go! I was warned i suppose....

Anyhoo, IC443, the jellyfish nebula in Ha. Total exposure time 2hrs, 50 mins (17x10 mins) imaged by an Atik 16hr with an Astronomik 13Nm Ha filter in the nosepiece, guided by a ZS110, QHY5 and PHD, all atop an EQ6 pro. Stacked in DSS and processed in Photoshop.

(click to enlarge)

Tony..

[steppenwolf]

Sorry to hear of your equipment woes but they did you a favour last night - what a cracking shot!

[Psychobilly]

Nice Jelly in the end tony...

I'm both yearning for and dreading my first night back out as I am almost bound to have issues...

Billy...

[bazza]

Tony,

Really like this.

Great framing of the image.

Bet that bright star (sorry, I'm ignorant of it's correct name) plays havoc with the processing?

Barry.

[markcol]

Nice shot Tony, in spite of the hassle.

Mark

[Whippy]

Thanks all .

Bazza, TBH I don't really do anything about the larger stars, I just try and not let them get too 'splashy' for want of a better word when I'm doing the curves. Should be interesting when I get round to doing the horse head I've got planned. What's more important is re-calibrating the monitor after installing a new video card, something I forgot to do a few days ago! So here's a re-process:

(click to enlarge)

Tony..

[barkis]

You're doing fine Tony. If you hadn't highlighted your problems, I would never had known you'd had them. I see nowt but a good looking Jellyfish Image here, even the first one, so keep a cool head mate, you know you are getting to grips with it all.

Ron.