ASTRO: "First light" for QHY8 camera: M101

I recently got myself a QHY8 camera to complement (not replace) my SXV-H9.
How exactly the cameras will share duties remains to be seen, either I'll
image with the SXV-H9 and add colour for the good images with the QHY8 or
I'll image with the QHY8 and add luminance with the SXV-H9 for those objects
that were to faint for the colour camera.
As almost always this year when it is clear I returned home late and could
only use the second half of the night.
Transparency was extremely good, but there were gusty winds that were so
strong that I was a bit worried that something might be blown on the
corrector plate of my 10" ARC scope. I also had to remove the dewshield to
minimize the impact of the wind.
I got 34x5 minutes of data, which is not enough for a good image, so I'll
just post a link to the stacked and colour converted raw picture, taken from
my usual central city location in Berlin, 10" Meade ACF at f/6.4, G11 mount,
QHY8 camera:
http://ccd-astronomy.de/temp2/M101-34x5crop.jpg

Actually I am quite satisfied with the result, sensitivity is of course
lower than with a b/w camera, but colour is better than I expected. The HII
regions show well, even without "tricks" like mixing in a Halpha channel.

Last year I got a b/w image with my SXV-H9 (same location and scope as
above, 109x5 minutes with my SXV-H9 camera):
http://ccd-astronomy.de/temp/M101-109x5gut.jpg

I also got some colour data last year, which I mixed at 33% with the new
one-shot colour data and did a LRGB with the b/w image:
http://ccd-astronomy.de/temp2/M101colourneugut.jpg

Stefan

As the resolution of one shot color is never as good as similar sized
pixel mono CCD does the last image seems the best. I've seen some folk
use the OSC camera on a refractor atop the imaging scope to capture
color at the same time the mono camera on the main scope is getting the
lum data. Cuts total exposure time to less than half. As you've
discovered, the OSC color is surprisingly good. Well surprising to me
anyway.

I'm tempted to try it myself. With no experience with OSC I'm a bit
leery of this old dog learning a new trick.

Rick


Stefan Lilge wrote:

I recently got myself a QHY8 camera to complement (not replace) my SXV-H9.
How exactly the cameras will share duties remains to be seen, either I'll
image with the SXV-H9 and add colour for the good images with the QHY8 or
I'll image with the QHY8 and add luminance with the SXV-H9 for those objects
that were to faint for the colour camera.
As almost always this year when it is clear I returned home late and could
only use the second half of the night.
Transparency was extremely good, but there were gusty winds that were so
strong that I was a bit worried that something might be blown on the
corrector plate of my 10" ARC scope. I also had to remove the dewshield to
minimize the impact of the wind.
I got 34x5 minutes of data, which is not enough for a good image, so I'll
just post a link to the stacked and colour converted raw picture, taken from
my usual central city location in Berlin, 10" Meade ACF at f/6.4, G11 mount,
QHY8 camera:
http://ccd-astronomy.de/temp2/M101-34x5crop.jpg

Actually I am quite satisfied with the result, sensitivity is of course
lower than with a b/w camera, but colour is better than I expected. The HII
regions show well, even without "tricks" like mixing in a Halpha channel.

Last year I got a b/w image with my SXV-H9 (same location and scope as
above, 109x5 minutes with my SXV-H9 camera):
http://ccd-astronomy.de/temp/M101-109x5gut.jpg

I also got some colour data last year, which I mixed at 33% with the new
one-shot colour data and did a LRGB with the b/w image:
http://ccd-astronomy.de/temp2/M101colourneugut.jpg

Stefan




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