M57 on my Tal-2m at last!

[JohnP]

Hi,

Anyone at DSC will know how frustrated I got trying to image M57 through my Tal-2m - I just couldn't get it on the CCD. Well last night I was determined to try again. I eventually got it after about an hour of using Skymap pro, my 8X50 finder & the setting circles on my scope.

Image is kind of 'so-so' but at least I got it - I'm amazed at the colours of the stars in the image. Image is approx 20 X 10secs - Toucam Pro at prime on my Tal-2m.

If only I'd got it at DSC with those great skies....

Cheers,  John




[ This Message was edited by: johnp on 2004-08-20 15:51 ]

[ This Message was edited by: johnp on 2004-08-20 16:18 ]

[Whitters]

Fantastic, Well done John

[Rocket Pooch]

Well I think this is excellent and in colour.  Are you going to try M92?  Apparently some of the stars there a coloured.

[Mike]

Nice one John.

[JohnP]

Thks Paul, Chris, Mike,

Not a great image & certainly room for improvement but I was well chuffed getting the thing on the CCD at long last... Look out M27 here I come.....

[Ian]

striking colours mate, did you use an IR filter?

[JohnP]

Hi Ian,

Yes - I used my Baader IRB Filter with the Toucam in Raw Colour mode - I'm not sure how accurate the colours are - They are definitely visible on the raws so it's not as a consequence of my processing - some of the star colours are a little 'whacky' maybe a bit to saturated?

Cheers,  John

[Ian]

hard to say. It may be that you're seeing some aberation in the optical train, or it might be due to the non linear response of the CCD to different colours. Some of the stars will show colour, although bright purple is unusual.

Trouble is, when discussing colours you nearly always invoke the discussion about what true and false colour actually means. This is important, since the ring's true colour is grey, certainly in any of our scopes in any case

How does the ring look if you adjust the colour balance until the stars look white?

[JohnP]

I've been trying to learn a little about layers & curves in PS6 so I gave my M57 another go - I also reorientated so N is up & cropped to get rid of the 'strange colour stars'. I think I've managed to squeeze a little more out of it compared to the image above - the central mag 15 is a little more visible. Still a long way to go but it's all good fun...

Cheers,  John