Heart and Soul (Kelling/Borg/H36/Ha)

[SteveL]

(I know a few of the Kelling attendees have been waiting for this one, just out of curiosity, so here it is)

A while back, just after I received my Borg 77, I jokingly mentioned to Paxo that it should illuminate a Starlight Xpress H36 reasonably well. We laughed, we joked... and a crazy idea kind of stuck in our heads.

I contacted Hutech and obtained the correct 72mm adapters and spacers to allow me to swap over from the SX M25C to Paxo's H36, and we chose a few targets. One that stuck out as an obvious choice was the Heart and Soul area, which is always done as a two pane mosaic. It would be in a good location in the sky as it got dark, and a great place to start.

So, when it started getting clear and dark on the Friday at the Kelling Heath Star Party, the plan sprung into action.

A few things to mention before we get to the image itself.

- Many thanks go to Paxo for lending me the camera to attach to my Borg for this project.

- This was really a proof of concept to show whether it would actually work or not. I think it did

- The H36 wasnt aligned squarely with the OTA, something we only noticed in the subs after they were stacked. We should have checked the collimation screws on the H36, but were too excited at the time! The stacked version had much larger stars at the bottom of the image than at the top, which meant I had to get creative with the star reduction routines. Its not ideal, but it certainly looks a lot better than the version I first saw on screen.

- We were unable to plate solve in Maxim using this configuration, nor was PoleAlignMax. As such, the polar alignment is fractionally out, and field rotation is just visible in the very corners of the uncropped version. Unsure if this was due to such a large area of sky to solve for, or the large number of catalog stars it tried to retrive from the catalogs before it tried solving. I doubt I will get another chance to try this specific combination out, but I know Paxo now has a Pentax 75, so there will be similar projects coming up soon which will require PAM to work.

Mount: EQ6 via EQMOD

OTA: Borg 77EDII @ f/4.3

Guiding: SW ED80 + SX Lodestar + PHD

Imaging: Starlight Xpress H36 + MaximDL, 30×600s, Astronomik 13nm Ha (101 bias, 101 flats)

Stacked: DeepSkyStacker

Post Process: PSCS2

(Click on image for larger version, or click >>HERE<< for the MAAASIVE version... 4445 × 2635!!)

[Paxo]

Looks the business Steve, many thanks for joining in with the Borg and the processing, this looks absolutely fantastic.

Steve..

[daz]

W.O.W.

Good job fellas!!!!

The PoC I think has definitely worked Steve! The large version looks really nice in the browser, and MAAASIVE version, well!!!

I bet there was steam coming out the lappy when processing this!

[SteveL]

It took the best part of 90 minutes to process the 101 flats, 101 bias and 30 lights into a stacked image.... it was struggling a bit!

[Paxo]

The large version is fantastic, you can keep zooming and zooming and......

Steve..

[malp]

Maaasive version fantastic.

[Aza]

Wowsers thats a real stunner!!

[annid]

Excellent - the depth is incredible. Glad the borg and H36 worked together, and that youall had a good time at Kelling

Anni

[barkis]

Heavens to Murgatroyd, that is huge.

Well, we had the expectation, and you sure came up with the goods chaps.

Ron.:icon_salut:

[Ant]

I've been waiting for this... I keep seeing the subs coming down thinking blimey if the subs are this good whats the stacked image going to be like...

WOW Steve, thats amazing. I've jsut waited for the large version to come down the pipe and it is really worth the wait!

Well done mate!!!!

ant

[Ford Prefect]

very nice Do you have the h36 on order

Jon

[SteveL]

As if SWMBO would let me!!

[Beyond_Vision]

Now that is one nice FOV. Superbly captured and processed Steve and Steve

Regards

Kevin

[rich_t]

That's just fantastic Steve, amazing contrast. Is there much OIII/SII in that area? Just thinking it might be a good excuse to borrow the camera again:) Or spend a lot of money!

Cheers,

Rich.

[DAVPPK]

Undescribable......*gobsmacked *

[harry page]

Hi

Now you are just showing off

Harry

[Psychobilly]

Stupendous...

[ashenlight]

This really has to be viewed in the mahoosive version to be fully appreciated... it is sublime, such intricate detail.

Nice work Steve

[SteveL]

Paxo is running off some more H36 darks for me, so there could be a reprocess of this some time next week.

[narrowbandpaul]

thats the regulated cooling version then steve.

Thats a rather nice image you got there steve and steve

Its hard to think that the image could be improved. But more darks may better despike the image.....

good luck, I hope your PC powers through the stacking.

Paul

[Tim]

Oh my word just LOOK at that nebulosity around the two main objects!!

That is the combo to give todays APOD a run for it's money I reckon, so come on Steve get that monster hooked up to the 75

Excellent pic, I have been looking forward to seeing this one after seeing it on the screen. It does not dissappoint

[Paxo]

That is the combo to give todays APOD a run for it's money I reckon, so come on Steve get that monster hooked up to the 75

So many targets that will fit in the frame, it's difficult to know where to start, IC 1396 should be good, nicely overhead at the moment, just need the skies to cooperate.

Steve..

[vince]

That's a fantastic image Steve

Vince.