M45 : The Pleiades Cluster

[AbsolutelyN]

Finally had a break in the clouds for a couple of hours last night. Managed 3 hours on M45 before clouds swooped back in. Taken with RASA 8 and 2600MC, 96x 2 mins subs.
https://www.astrobin.com/n8regq/0/

 

 

[geeklee]

Stunning Tristan, just stunning.  So much signal, so much dust.  Great processing and very natural looking.👍

[Jasonb]

That's beautiful...

 

[bottletopburly]

Great job 👏 

[Dinglem]

@AbsolutelyNthat can't be M45 it looks nothing like the one I took of it 😟 on a serious note that is amazing, I suspect my 450D doesn't quite grab as much signal as your 2600.

[tooth_dr]

3 minutes ago, Dinglem said:

@AbsolutelyNthat can't be M45 it looks nothing like the one I took of it 😟 on a serious note that is amazing, I suspect my 450D doesn't quite grab as much signal as your 2600.

That, and F2.0 of the RASA helps

[tooth_dr]

23 minutes ago, AbsolutelyN said:

Finally had a break in the clouds for a couple of hours last night. Managed 3 hours on M45 before clouds swooped back in. Taken with RASA 8 and 2600MC, 96x 2 mins subs.
https://www.astrobin.com/n8regq/0/

 

 

Amazing!  Cant wait for my 2600MC to arrive.

[AbsolutelyN]

2 minutes ago, Dinglem said:

@AbsolutelyNthat can't be M45 it looks nothing like the one I took of it 😟 on a serious note that is amazing, I suspect my 450D doesn't quite grab as much signal as your 2600.

Thanks  .... I think it's just the sheer light grasp of the RASA. It's a light bucket. Was starting to wonder if it was worth it as never seems to get any use but when you can pull in so much light makes it possible to take images with only a few hours break in clouds which is really nice.  I had a 1600mm shooting with a 200mm at about f/3.5 at same time and didn't get anywhere close to the rasa. Your 450 can do - just needs more exposure time but that's hard to come by in the UK. 

[AbsolutelyN]

3 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

Amazing!  Cant wait for my 2600MC to arrive.

Thanks - a 2600MC in such capable hands will be quite something, look forward to seeing the results. Only issue I had with it was weird banding but it calibrates out with flats. This has no calibration other than flats. I returned the first - second camera still has it but doesn't seem to be as prominent

[Laurin Dave]

Very nice...  I got my ASI2600MC, its been out to play once and I'm very impressed with it

Dave

[Dinglem]

That combination does look promising as we seem to get so few clear nights these days. Shame they don't do a black RASA as I could pretend it was my Skymax 180 pro 😉

[Dinglem]

@AbsolutelyNdid you use any filter during the captures?

[AbsolutelyN]

1 minute ago, Dinglem said:

@AbsolutelyNdid you use any filter during the captures?

No ... I only use filters for narrowband. To me they just block out light. Can’t speak for worse light pollution than bortle 5 though.

[Kinch]

Lovely image - everything......just right. 👍

[CraigT82]

Superb! So smooth. Can hardly believe that's only 3 hours data 👍

[Phillyo]

Loads of dusty stuff! Love it.

[AbsolutelyN]

41 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

Superb! So smooth. Can hardly believe that's only 3 hours data 👍

Thanks Craig, fast scopes pays off with this weather. Love the new solar setup.

[smr]

That is a stunning M45.  

[Adreneline]

An excellent image Tristan - well done. The RASA8 and 2600MC has produced an outstanding result - you must be delighted.

Thanks for sharing.

Adrian

[Scooot]

That is certainly a Wow image! beautiful. 

[gorann]

That is really nice Tristan! With a RASA 8 you do not need many hours of clear sky (but over the last weeks I have not even got a minute). So far I have not found any need for using flats of darks with the ASI2600MC - maybe I was lucky with mine. Yes, there is a little bit of vignetting with the RASA 8 but that is why there is a DBE in PI or a Gradient Exterminator in PS😉

Edited December 17, 2020 by gorann

[Allinthehead]

We were pointing at the same stars last night, beautiful clear night in East Cork. That's one of the finest shots of M45 I've seen, not over cooked and it's full of detail. Excellent 

[AbsolutelyN]

45 minutes ago, gorann said:

That is really nice Tristan! With a RASA 8 you do not need many hours of clear sky (but over the last weeks I have not even got a minute). So far I have not found any need for using flats of darks with the ASI2600MC - maybe I was lucky with mine. Yes, there is a little bit of vignetting with the RASA 8 but that is why there is a DBE in PI or a Gradient Exterminator in PS😉

The second camera still has the banding but it's more like yours - you have to dig really deep to find it. Just tried stacking this M45 image with no flats and no darks and you can't see the banding even with a strong DBE. Previous camera it would have been obvious banding. So although I think all the cameras have it to some extent the first copy I got had it particularly bad. Glad I managed to return it and exchange cameras. 

[gorann]

2 minutes ago, AbsolutelyN said:

The second camera still has the banding but it's more like yours - you have to dig really deep to find it. Just tried stacking this M45 image with no flats and no darks and you can't see the banding even with a strong DBE. Previous camera it would have been obvious banding. So although I think all the cameras have it to some extent the first copy I got had it particularly bad. Glad I managed to return it and exchange cameras. 

Good to know for anyone buying this camera. Hopefully you were intitally very unlucky.

[AbsolutelyN]

5 hours ago, Adreneline said:

An excellent image Tristan - well done. The RASA8 and 2600MC has produced an outstanding result - you must be delighted.

Thanks for sharing.

Adrian

Thanks Adrian, just pleased to get a clear sky if only for a few hours. Colour camera makes a big difference to productivity, I was using rgb filters and mono and kept ending up with just one or two channels then cloud for a month making it hard to ever complete a pic.