Seahorse Nebula (Barnard 150 dark nebula)

[MarkS]

First light with a recently purchased (previously used) Altair Astro AA24CFX.  It has the same full-frame IMX410 sensor as both my Nikon Z6 and the better known ZWO ASI2400MC Pro.


Full size version on Astrobin:  https://www.astrobin.com/full/h2qldz/0/

120 exposures of 2 minutes with gain 100 and cooled to 0C.  This is my first time using a dedicated astro-camera and the first time using N.I.N.A. for acquisition.  The processing was much easier than typical images with the Nikon Z6 because there were no coloured concentric rings caused by Nikon's internal processing.

I believe the Altair is essentially the same camera as the RisingCam/Touptek/OGMA and is much less expensive than the ASI.  Even cheaper secondhand!

Mark

[Carole]

Wow, Mark, two surprises. 
a) You are still imaging as not heard from you for a while.
b) You have bought a dedicated astro camera.  Most people cool theirs to - 10 or even more, depending on the ambient temperature.

How did you find it, obviously you have mentioned the concentric circles.

I love this image and it also includes the Fireworks Galaxy.
Great result showing some Ha regions too. 

[MarkS]

Thanks Carole.  I've taken very few images recently and those I've taken I have ended up not been pleased with for one reason or another - mainly because the internal processing DSLR/Mirrorless cameras apply to the raw data causes artifacts to appear. I've been biding my time waiting for full-frame colour cameras to reach a low enough price point.

When this Altair Astro first came out it cost £2800 and now it is down to £1950 brand new and even cheaper second-hand, so now was the time to take the plunge.   

The processing was very easy, which is what I expected because I'm familiar with the data quality from the Nikon Z6.  The only gotcha is to not use dusk sky flats because the spectral content (very blue) causes weird radial gradients which I believe are caused by colour pixel crosstalk i.e. a certain number of photons that enter a sensor pixel of one colour, skip across pixel boundaries to create an electron in a neighbouring pixel of the wrong colour. 

Mark

[Carole]

When this Altair Astro first came out it cost £2800 and now it is down to £1950 brand new and even cheaper second-hand, so now was the time to take the plunge. 

OMG, I though CMOS cameras were supposed to be cheaper than CCD cameras and why every-one goes for them. 

The processing was very easy, which is what I expected because I'm familiar with the data quality from the Nikon Z6.  The only gotcha is to not use dusk sky flats because the spectral content (very blue) causes weird radial gradients which I believe are caused by colour pixel crosstalk i.e. a certain number of photons that enter a sensor pixel of one colour, skip across pixel boundaries to create an electron in a neighbouring pixel of the wrong colour.

I don't have these problems, probably because I use Mono, no real experience of colour dedicated cameras exept for a QHY8L I bought for a short while.  Didn't get on woth it at all and went back to Mono. 

Carole