Close up on The Heart Nebula - IC1805 - SC3

[JohnP]

Gave the Heart Nebula a try on Saturday night.. This is quite a tough object & I think I was pushing my SC3/ imaging setup. I actually did 3min subs for the first time (previous longest 90secs) & used my Ha (13nm) filter. Amp glow was a big problem. Managed to stack 24 X 3mins (72mins) - I also had to process quite hard - I did a fairly aggressive asinh stretch in Iris. Anyway managed to get something although not sure it's the best... I think Mike's wide field image kinda puts this to shame.. Not sure I could do much better though on this with the SC3 given the conditions.. Let me know what you think.

Cheers,  John

[Mike]

I think that's bloody good ! It has lots of nice detail and focus is nice anad sharp. Great stuff.

[JohnP]

Cheers Mike - Still prefer your wide field though. My guiding was working well for a change so no probs with 3min subs so stars nice & round.. If I didn't have issues with residual ampglow from the webcam I could have probably gone 5mins... I must admit the thought of a 16 bit, cooled camera with no ampglow is very tempting... In fact I just found out that Atik are coming out with a professional version of my camera- i.e based on same chip with cooling, 16 bits & no ampglow for around £350.. see here;

http://www.perseu.pt/atik/product_atk16ic.php

Should be out just after Christmas so maybe I'll treat myself in the new year.

Tony - I reckon this would be a great camera for you to get into deep sky imaging with...

Cheers,  John