Fuzz Balls (Neat) and Spots (M13)

[Rocket Pooch]

Well, I tried my SAC8 again last night and got the following: -

Neat (Fuzz ball, just to the right of M44 last night, looked cool using an eye piece on the 400mm F5, not so cool using the LX90, mag 8.6 stars nearby, SAO80281, exposure 5 sec 0 gain)



An I had another go at M13, I have 100 frames from 1 second to 2 seconds, this is a single 2 second frame 50% gain using the SAC8.



Now the thing is I worked out how to get rid of the bars from the SAC8 images; but Astro Video is not easy to use for stacking, so its going to be some time before I get my wide field M3, M13 and M51 working.  Also the narrow field M13, HELP PAUL, can you process the M51 for me.

Also, I have a question, Neat seemed to move quickly through the sky, so during a 2 minute image set, it visually moved quite a lot, I was surprised about this and whilst it does mean I can do a Comet animation, I was surprised at the speed of the actual Comet, is this normal?  I was using a LX90 with a .5 focal reducer for both images.

I have some more I need to process using a 400mm F5 with a .5 focal reducer.  That was more fun because it was easier to track.

Lastly is it normal not to be able to see what you are imaging? I could not see M57 at all and therefore I could not align the telescope well enough to be able to image it, I think this was a problem with sky glow, so I have lots of pictures of star fields near M57 if anyone is interested?



[ This Message was edited by: csuddell on 2004-05-16 12:33 ]

[Mike]

Is that Neat at the half past one position?

[Rocket Pooch]

no its the thing near the middle with a smudge.

[Rocket Pooch]

no its the thing near the middle with a smudge.

[Whitters]

Some nice images there Chris. If you want to mail me the M51 images I will have a go for you.

[Mike]

Sorry, as you said it was to the right of M44 I was presuming M44 was also in the image. Pretty good.

I took a load myself tonight, but due to the mirror flop and the jelly mount of the ETX they were streaked. I have about 10 image sof the comet, all with wibbly wobbly streaks as the scope flopped around.

I was surprised how easy the comet was to find and how bright it was. It was even clearly visible in the tiny finder on the ETX. It is easily found with binoculars. The tail is going away from us though so it isnt particularly asthetic to look at. Will have to see what I can do to damp the vibration as much as possible on this thing and will give it another go.

[Rick]

Couldn't spot NEAT with binoculars from my place last night, but I was a bit late going out to look, so it may have sunk into the yellow haze by then.