Gulf of Mexico with more data

[moocher]

Hello,

Managed another 4x15 mins in Ha the other night. This is now 8x15 mins and counting......usual setup and processing details....

Alan

[Doc]

WOW....FANTASTIC.....STUNNING.....AWESOME

Can't think of anymore.

[Taff]

Hi Alan' thats a nice and clear of your image.Mark

[Coco]

Oh my God!! Thats awesome

Stunning...

Cheers

Guy

[moocher]

Thanks guys. Not sure if its a bit tooo sharp might have another go at it.

Alan:)

[Dangerous-Dave]

That's another cracker Alan. Out of interest, how did you get this centered on the 285 chip?

I tried a Synscan one star alignment to the closest bright star (ie Deneb) and slewed to the DSO but it appeared to be pointing at another part of the nebula and I couldn't for the life of me get it on Mexico!

[Psychobilly]

Dave,

I use a planetarium program - TheSky6 Pro - if you have one that can handle FOV indicators and Rotation its even better .. Work out your framing in advance set the camera rotation (I have added scales to anything that rotates in my setup) and slew to RA/Dec co-ords...

Peter...

[moocher]

I`ll be honest Dave i don`t know, luck i guess.It did take a bit of centering if i`m honest. TBH i should be using my EQDIR but i`m still using the h/c... i must be mad!!!!

Alan:)

[Dangerous-Dave]

Thanks for that folks. I have Skymap, Billy, but a I am still setting up "on the fly" so using the handset for telescope control. Once I do get a permanent setup I will definitely move over to software control.

[Psychobilly]

i dont software control my mount anymore - I have moved away from it...

I do my planing in advance as otherwise It used to be a targets of opportunity night... The CPC is now purely run from the Hand controller with the Laptop being used for guiding and DSLR control

Now I normaly have a target list with Start and stop times RA/DEC and Camera rotation all planned in advance. I then just setup the camera Slew to the RA/DEC and off to go....

Find I have a more structured session this way... and dont become a "tourist" flitting from object to object . I tend to spend 1 hour on a target the first time to look at its "potential" then add another 2 hours on a subsequent visit...

Peter...

[moocher]

That makes really good sense Peter!!!

Alan:)

[Psychobilly]

That makes really good sense Peter!!!

Alan:)

Its sorted me out anyway... I used to be known for my nebula frenzies .. they are still fun try to get at least 8-10 images a night ok in the long dark nights of the winter...

Now i am trying to get a decent keeper image of a target even if it needs data over a few nights before moving on...although with the weatehr we have been getting lately consequtive clear nights are very rare indeed...

I keep a copy of the excellent Sky and Telescope Pocket Sky Atlas in the observatory and use that to look for alternate targets if theres stationary cloud around...

Peter...

[RobH]

Very nice work indeed Alan.

Great depth and very well processed.

I don't think it's too sharp....looks fine to me.

Peter....so you've joined the true 'dark side' now then, where you can spend a month on a target

Cheers

Rob

[Psychobilly]

A month that's about 2 hours of clear skies - well at least it feels like....

It was last christmas week thst changed the way i lookk at imaging - several clear nights on a trot where I was able to get 6-8 hours per target over the week taht data was so much easier to process...

As far as summer targets go this is my first real summer so I am still looking around a bit and the short nights make it hard to spend too much time on a single target...

Peter...