First NGC7023 (work in progress)

[Uranium235]

Hiya,

Last night, despite the moon and some high cloud making for poor(ish) seeing I managed to grab a few subs of Caldwell 4 (NGC7023). Its the first Caldwell object ive acually got a pic of, Its not great but come the new moon I will add a few more subs. Stretched it to death as well to try and get some more of that nebulosity, hence the noise.

Might have to take a break for a while now as ive just become a dad for the first time. Soooo tired!

NGC7023

10x300s, 6x600s

darks, flats & bias

ED80 DS pro + unmodded 1000d

Thanks for looking

[SteveL]

Its a hard target to get good data on, the center is bright and easy, but the dusty parts take a LOT of data to get it smooth enough to strecth. i`m still not happy with any of my attempts, but you are brave doing this target during summer and with a full moon.

Might have to take a break for a while now as ive just become a dad for the first time. Soooo tired!

I became a first time dad in January, so i understand exactly how you feel. Get some sleep, you need as mcuh as you can get... which will never be as much as you want.

[Psychobilly]

As Steve has said a very challenging target.. well done for taking it on under less than optimal conditions.......

Peter...

[SkyHermit]

Sounds like the image is not the only thing overstretched, congrats on the new arrival. Staying up to help with the night feed is a good excuse to do some more imaging.

Thanks for the pic, not one of the usual suspects, nice to see something different.

[Uranium235]

Thanks guys, I will get more data on it when I get the chance (whenever that may be!), maybe in a week or 2. But the nights are closing in now, so every passing day brings more darkness (yay!).

When I got in last night 2am baby & mum were still up, we're just trying to find the best way of getting him off to sleep at he mo. But since he's only 2 days old, it will probably take a while before things quieten down. Wish I could fast forward a few years tho...lol, one things for sure - he wont have any excuses to be bored!

I was just thinking... would I get this object quicker with a CCD? Maybe it should be another thread to discuss DSLR v CCD in terms of speed.

[SteveL]

2 days old and you are getting out there with the kit? Blimey....

It will take quite some time for him to get into a routine and/or you two getting into his routine. Many newborns will sleep during the day and be awake at night for many weeks. Aparantly this is due to them being used to being rocked to sleep with the mothers movement during the day.

If I can give only one piece of advice (from someone who is still recovering), it is this: When little one is sleeping, you sleep! Get the basics done around the house (food for you two and him, bottles, sterisling, etc), but ignore pretty much everything else. If either of you get ill due to lack of sleep, the other one is going to have a horrible time of it.... so sleep when you can, even if it is for 20 minutes.

[Uranium235]

Youre right so far Steve he seems to sleep a lot more in the daytime. Taking the kit out last night though was officially sanctioned..lol. No doubt I will probably pass out on the sofa later on as we managed only 4 hours sleep between us. But there was a nice moment earlier on where he sparked out for an hour laying on my chest.

Ive got the week off and Im already on the case with the basics, went out and brought a load of stuff this morn as well as looking after the garden (if her plants die, I die...lol). The only thing Im not going to be able to do is prepare her traditional Chinese confinement food - good thing her sis is here to help with that!

[ollypenrice]

I know nothing about babies but quite a lot about sleep deprivation! Good luck!!

A CCD is most certainly faster than a DSLR. There is no doubt about this. I got the brown stuff around the Iris quite quickly in 5 minute subs with a CCD.

Olly

[Uranium235]

Thanks Olly, thats exactly what I needed to know

At what focal ratio did you get it? If its taken you only 5 min to get more than what took me 110 min - then somethings up. Either my scope (f7.5) or my imaging device is way too insensitive/slow.

Did you get that in RGB as well? I quite like some of the monochrome Ha work thats been posted recently, I think the absence of colour is no big deal when you see amount of detail on offer.

I did pause last night when I saw a DSI Pro II mono cam for £200 2nd hand, but Ive heard they can get a bit hot & noisy so I might hold out for an Atik (maybe this years xmas prezzie).

Which reminds me, has anyone posted anything taken with the new Atik Titan yet? Maybe its a bit soon.

Heh, baby slept nearly all night last night - he seems to have quickly developed a liking for our bed and not his!

[Psychobilly]

Remeber the The DSI and Titan are very small chips compared to a DSLR... so yout FOV will be much smaller...

I wont go smaller than an 8300 which is why I am goign to have to wait...

Peter...

[Uranium235]

Thanks Peter, Im aware of the lack of FOV, thats the trade off between DSLRs and CCDs I guess. An 0.5 focal reducer would help there, but the CCD is a tool that I could probably see myself using on smaller targets. Big stuff like M31/42/45 will always be DSLR as there is no chance on earth that id be able to afford a CCD of similar size. I could stretch to an Atik 320E, but that depends on how generous santa is this year

If not, it would probably be the Titan as its has the lowest readout noise (5e) of any similarly priced camera (or I might be lucky & grab a 2nd hand bargain). Ive yet to see any results from the titan yet despite having a mooch on google.