NGC6946 The Firework Galaxy

[peter shah]

NGC6946 The Firework Galaxy, I imaged this one remotely from Spain with the 17in Planewave and the FLI 16803 Proline. Exposure times were 18x600s each in RGB 30x600 each in Luminance and H-alpha.
thanks for looking
Peter Shah 

 

[glafnazur]

That's a lovely image of a very pretty galaxy Peter 👍

[tomato]

A stunning Fireworks galaxy Peter, the high end set up has really delivered.

Steve

[peter shah]

9 hours ago, glafnazur said:

That's a lovely image of a very pretty galaxy Peter 👍

Thank you

7 hours ago, tomato said:

A stunning Fireworks galaxy Peter, the high end set up has really delivered.

Steve

Its a beautiful rig....I had fun installing it I can tell you. The the scope, Mount and Camera comes in at nearly 200kg and because of the wedge the whole thing looks like its going to fall over.........There over 20x M12 bolts anchoring it into the concrete, I was half expecting to see on the floor the next day. The L500 is a dream to use, its software is very user friendly with its polar alignment procedure and pointing model I have managed to get it to run unguided up to 7mins @3m focal length. 

[wimvb]

16 minutes ago, peter shah said:

The L500 is a dream to use, its software is very user friendly with its polar alignment procedure and pointing model

So, how do you polar align this behemoth if it's bolted down?

[scotty38]

5 minutes ago, wimvb said:

So, how do you polar align this behemoth if it's bolted down?

Might be fixed altitude with the wedge but I reckon I can see azimuth bolts....

Edited August 21, 2022 by scotty38

[peter shah]

6 minutes ago, wimvb said:

So, how do you polar align this behemoth if it's bolted down?

 

1 minute ago, scotty38 said:

Might be fixed altitude with the wedge but I reckon I can see RA bolts....

Planewave give you the biggest spanner ever!!! Firstly you have to order the wedge to suit your location, then there is tilt system for the altitude that is adjustable on the North and South side (its the two big gold colour nuts at the bottom of the wedge). Then there's the East/West adjustment nobs that have a completely different spanner !!!. To get it close I used a PoleMaster fitted to the base of the mount without the scope fitted. Then its a case of fitting the scope, balancing and running the Polar Alignment routine in the Planewave software.

[DaveS]

Fabulous fireworks 🎆 galaxy Peter.

Though that camera looks like a Moravian G4 with integrated filter wheel. One size up from my G3 16200.

[peter shah]

8 minutes ago, DaveS said:

Fabulous fireworks 🎆 galaxy Peter.

Though that camera looks like a Moravian G4 with integrated filter wheel. One size up from my G3 16200.

Yes you have a keen eye David....Originally it was fitted with the G4, but it had a terrible water mark on the sensor so had to go back for repair to Moravian.  So I ended up putting on the Proline which now has an N2 filter in it so in essence a slight up grade, but the sensors are the same. The Moravian came back and is now on my 12in DK . The G4 actually has slightly less read noise than the pro line...probably due to its biblically slow down load speed!!

Edited August 21, 2022 by peter shah

[DaveS]

Ah, makes sense now.

[Magnum]

Super

[Dan_Paris]

Spectacular image Peter, taken with an impressive instrument. What FWHM did you obtain after stacking ?

[peter shah]

13 hours ago, Dan_Paris said:

Spectacular image Peter, taken with an impressive instrument. What FWHM did you obtain after stacking ?

Thanks you....that's a great question...I have no idea....although I do sometimes use subframe selector, I normally just eyeball through with blink to see if there's anything obvious that needs taking out and never really bothered with anything else. 

I think I will go back over the data and do some measurements 

Edited August 23, 2022 by peter shah

[MartinB]

That's a beauty Peter.  I love the way the outer arms gradually disappear into an ever fainter blue.

[Richard_]

Amazing photo Peter! The colours are nice and rich and the H-alpha data makes it pep. What a fantastic setup, I'm glad you shared a picture showing the collosal size of it! 

[peter shah]

35 minutes ago, Richard_ said:

Amazing photo Peter! The colours are nice and rich and the H-alpha data makes it pep. What a fantastic setup, I'm glad you shared a picture showing the collosal size of it! 

Thank you Richard, It's a wonderful set up however the picture doesn't show my best side 🤣

[wimvb]

23 minutes ago, peter shah said:

Thank you Richard, It's a wonderful set up however the picture doesn't show my best side 🤣

The mount looks so much out of balance that it almost looks like you’re a permanent part of the setup. 😉

[tomato]

Clearly a good strong concrete mix.