M45 - Without the Sob Story...

[Psychobilly]

Reprocess of the only decent data from lastnight M45 Pleiades Cluster

Modded Canon 350D

William Opitcs Megrez 72 With FF III

Hutech IDAS P2

Stacked DSS

Lights 6x180s ISO1600 + 20x1080s ISO800 + 15X240s ISO800 Total 8280s (2h 18m)

Bias 24x1/4000s ISO 1600 31x1/4000s ISO 800

No Darks (yet)

No Flats

Post Processed PS with GradienteXTerminator , Noel Carboni Astro Actions, MakeStarsSmaller Plug-in...

(click to enlarge)

Billy...

[russ]

Really really nice Billy

[Psychobilly]

Thank Rus... needs another few hours data I think then i can park it...want to bring out soem detail inthe dark stuff...

Hopefully get a chance to reedem myself tonight...as tonights "official" forecast is better than last nights but taht dont count for nothing...and it will be my last chance to do any imaging for a week so everythings crossed at teh moment...

Billy...

[bazza]

Billy,

I know you said you want to do more with it and add to it -

but IMHO I think that's your best to date - absolutely stunning.

Perfect framing and sound processing.

Retitle the thread.....Billy's masterpiece M45.

Well done mate.

Barry.

[Psychobilly]

Thanks Barry

Framing is a cheat when you have such a large FOV... it's pretty arbitary and is done in the post process croping..

Still not happy with it optics and sensor need a deep clean so I can bring out detail in the darker areas and not have to hide the marks by lifting the black level...seeing as they are in the nebuloisty they are a PITA to repair... so really need decent data instead....

Its not far off putting M45 to bed for the rest of the season which is what I am trying to do with targets now so that I dont have to consider spending more time on the old ones rahter tahn winkling out some new ones...

M33, M42 and NGC2244 were due the same treatment

M31 is just a nemesis and will need darker skies I think...

Billy...

[RichieJarvis]

Nice image Peter...

I look forward to seeing the deeper image when you get more data

[Plastic chicken]

Nice and sharp Billy!!!

PC

[Psychobilly]

Nice and sharp Billy!!!

PC

1 out of 4 ain't bad... but goes to show what the ( sorry possible conflict of interest here) the laser cut first order focus masks allow you to achieve...(if you remeber to take it off) in 60s from setup to focus.. pity I didnt use it to check the other targets after moving the camera...thats now on the idiots list to data capture which will be stuck to the laptop...

1. Align 8"

2. Fit Guidecam

3. Focus Guidecam on Alignment star

4. Remove focus mask from SCT

5. Calibrate Guidecam

6. Focus DSLR on final alignment star

7. Remove Focus Mask

8. Slew to Target

9. Check Framing and imaging camera rotation

10. re-Calibrate Guidcam

11. Recheck Focus

12. Remove focus mask

13. Grab and check camera is storing 1 frame to card

14. Capture full sequence

15. GOT0 8.....

I must be getting old if I need lists....

Billy...

[brendant]

Beautiful reprocess Billy, you have managed to retain lovely background star colour and pinpoint stars, well done

Brendan

[George]

Yeah had my share of mishaps last night, managed another 25 subs of M33 then changed target to the Rosette. Setup 25 subs on this and let PHD and DSLR focus do its stuff, couple of hours later (now 1am) I checked the downloads and saw I only had 6 instead of 25....dunno what happened to the other 19 but DSLR focus said it had taken the full 25 batch

So Im no nearer having a enough subs todo the rosette, M33 is coming along nicely tho

[markcol]

Very nice M45 Billy/Peter, glad you manage to salvage something from the wreckage...

'Normal people' wouldn't believe what we put ourselves through for this hobby!

Cheers

Mark

[Stephen Green]

A very nice image Billy

Stephen

[russ]

Good luck with tonight Billy

[thing]

Up to your usual standards Billy, great shot.

[RobH]

Excellent Peter

You've captured the Pliedes beautifully.

Cheers

Rob