A Space & astronomy forum. SpaceBanter.com

Go Back   Home » SpaceBanter.com forum » Others » Astro Pictures
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

ASTRO: M78 revisited in color



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old April 19th 07, 09:44 PM posted to alt.binaries.pictures.astro
Rick Johnson[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,085
Default ASTRO: M78 revisited in color

Back in October I took M78 but the image didn't go deep and was in black
and white. Also I didn't have very good image processing tools so the
image wasn't all that satisfying. Last month I redid it over 3 nights
due to clouds interrupting me constantly. This time I went deeper to
see if McNeil's nebula had left any traces behind but it appears gone
for a while. Some Herbig Haro regions down at the lower right show up
but no sign of McNeil's nebula or the illuminating star. This is a
dirty area of space however. A good cleaning of the area might turn it
up again. (I've been pulling too many all nighters of late.)

14" LX200R@f/10, L=3x10', RGB=2x10' all binned 2x2, STL-11000XM,
Paramount ME

Rick
--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".

Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	M78L3X10RGB2X10.jpg
Views:	529
Size:	263.5 KB
ID:	685  
  #2  
Old April 20th 07, 06:21 PM posted to alt.binaries.pictures.astro
TheCroW
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 167
Default ASTRO: M78 revisited in color

Back in October I took M78 but the image didn't go deep and was in black
and white. Also I didn't have very good image processing tools so the
image wasn't all that satisfying. Last month I redid it over 3 nights
due to clouds interrupting me constantly. This time I went deeper to
see if McNeil's nebula had left any traces behind but it appears gone
for a while. Some Herbig Haro regions down at the lower right show up
but no sign of McNeil's nebula or the illuminating star. This is a
dirty area of space however. A good cleaning of the area might turn it
up again. (I've been pulling too many all nighters of late.)

14" LX200R@f/10, L=3x10', RGB=2x10' all binned 2x2, STL-11000XM,
Paramount ME

Rick


......... (speachless) .... this is such a cool image!! Don't know if I ever
will be able to take shots like this (not with curent scope ofcourse ;-) )
.... but it's an inspiration for sure! :-)

Menno


  #3  
Old April 20th 07, 08:11 PM posted to alt.binaries.pictures.astro
Rick Johnson[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,085
Default ASTRO: M78 revisited in color



TheCroW wrote:
Back in October I took M78 but the image didn't go deep and was in black
and white. Also I didn't have very good image processing tools so the
image wasn't all that satisfying. Last month I redid it over 3 nights
due to clouds interrupting me constantly. This time I went deeper to
see if McNeil's nebula had left any traces behind but it appears gone
for a while. Some Herbig Haro regions down at the lower right show up
but no sign of McNeil's nebula or the illuminating star. This is a
dirty area of space however. A good cleaning of the area might turn it
up again. (I've been pulling too many all nighters of late.)

14" LX200R@f/10, L=3x10', RGB=2x10' all binned 2x2, STL-11000XM,
Paramount ME

Rick



........ (speachless) .... this is such a cool image!! Don't know if I ever
will be able to take shots like this (not with curent scope ofcourse ;-) )
... but it's an inspiration for sure! :-)

Menno


It came out a lot better than my first effort.

Getting good shots is more a function of the mount and processing skill
than the scope in my opinion. On a good mount your 130mm f/7 scope
should give great shots of this area and include a lot more of the field
than I can fit in. Mosaics are beyond me right now. There's another
bright reflection nebula just out of the field to the north and more
stuff south if I had the field of view to show it.

Back in the 60's I bought a $100 150mm f/4 (600mm fl) reflector. While
waiting for Meade to get the LX200R OTA's out I put it on the Paramount.
Here's a shot of M63 taken with a old used ST-7. Note the oddly
distorted galaxy UGCA 342 under the bright star to the right of M63. It
is a very low surface brightness galaxy, much dimmer than its stated
17th magnitude would suggest due to it large size. I have no filter
wheel for the ST-7 so this is black and white but shows what a scope
similar to yours (50% shorter focal length) can do on a good mount. I
saved for 30 years before I could afford one. For the last 20 of those
I didn't even buy a new eyepiece, it all went in the observatory fund.

UGCA 342 is likely the guy responsible for the odd linear dust lane
across the "bottom" of M63 and M63 is likely responsible for tearing
UGCA 342 to pieces making it just an elongated blob.

This was taken in early June when M63 was pretty low in the sky so the
stars aren't all that sharp. Also the spider in that scope is too weak
for the secondary mirror. I put one in large enough to fully illuminate
the field (not just the ST-7's small field). The spider can't carry the
load so it is always out of collimation. I want to redo that then see
if a field flatener for the STL-11K will turn that scope into a nice
wide field scope.

Rick


Rick
--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".

Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	M63-60min200%.jpg
Views:	176
Size:	111.8 KB
ID:	697  
  #4  
Old April 21st 07, 09:01 AM posted to alt.binaries.pictures.astro
Stefan Lilge
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,269
Default ASTRO: M78 revisited in color

Beautiful shot Rick.

Stefan

"Rick Johnson" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
Back in October I took M78 but the image didn't go deep and was in black
and white. Also I didn't have very good image processing tools so the
image wasn't all that satisfying. Last month I redid it over 3 nights
due to clouds interrupting me constantly. This time I went deeper to
see if McNeil's nebula had left any traces behind but it appears gone
for a while. Some Herbig Haro regions down at the lower right show up
but no sign of McNeil's nebula or the illuminating star. This is a
dirty area of space however. A good cleaning of the area might turn it
up again. (I've been pulling too many all nighters of late.)

14" LX200R@f/10, L=3x10', RGB=2x10' all binned 2x2, STL-11000XM,
Paramount ME

Rick
--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".


 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
ASTRO: The Bubble Revisited Rick Johnson[_2_] Astro Pictures 8 April 7th 07 06:25 AM
ASTRO: NGC 1535 in color Rick Johnson[_2_] Astro Pictures 3 February 26th 07 07:53 PM
ASTRO: NGC 4631 color Rick Johnson[_2_] Astro Pictures 5 February 22nd 07 08:40 AM
ASTRO: M77 with color data Rick Johnson[_2_] Astro Pictures 2 January 13th 07 04:30 PM
ASTRO: NGC 7331 - color George Normandin Astro Pictures 2 December 9th 06 01:43 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 06:29 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 SpaceBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.