Rosette mosaic - labour of love !!!

[RobertM]

I'm still not happy with this but here it is anyway.  With last nights data it's better than it was, plus I've got to move on after 6 imaging nights trying to get exposures for it through cloud and moon washouts.

Exposure details : Composed of 4 frames each of of which is made up of between 10 and 12 subframes of 20 mins, total exposure time approx 13 hrs.
Imagine equipment :  Starlight-Xpress SXV-H9 camera binned 1x1 through the Sky90@f/4.5 with an Astronomik 13nm Ha filter.
Guiding : ED80 and Atik16ic.

Half size jpeg image :




Link to full size jpeg image : http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3484/3209886699_2158ecd652_o.jpg

[Fay]

Well Robert, that certainly is nice. You have worked so hard on it. It knits together very well. It is the way to get it all in.

Why are you not yet happy?

[JohnP]

Robert,

What can I say except gobsmacked. Fantastic result & very deep. Love the wide FOV it really shows all the nebulosity off to the bottom left really well which you don't normally see. I had to rush upstairs & look at this on the full size monitor - The full size image is superb - very smooth & no hint of noise. The stars are tight & field very flat & I can't see any joins. I must say I really like it (just in case you couldn't tell).

Well worth the effort - I keep telling myself I must spend several hours on one object & after seeing this I think I will make the effort.

One question - can you explain why your stars always look so small & pinpoint...?

John

[Fay]

Robert, would you do a "labour of Love " again? Or was it a bit of an ordeal to do?

[Mike]

Absolutely superb Robert. Worth all that effort.

[Mac]

Fantastic detail.

[The Thing]

Incredible full size. Love it. Especially the dust lanes.

[RobertM]

Thanks for the kind comments guys and Fay.  It certainly did need a determined (I would say stubborn) effort to get it completed and felt like giving up more than once !  I couldn't have done this if I had been outside at the telescope all the time like Fay and the rest of you, some part of me would've fallen off with all the cold!

Fay, would do it again, not sure, maybe a two way mosaic a 4 way is definitely hard.  The difficulty is in getting all the subframes to marry up and be of the same quality and the time.  I can see a lot of imperfections but then I put it together so it's easy for me.

John,  If I was to say one thing about imaging nebula, it's that it does take time - longer subframes and lots of them.  All the real detail is very subtle and needs a lot of shots to get S/N up high enough to see it.  After you've tried it you won't look back!!  Small stars is down to accurate focusing + I think the Sky90 with flattener produces a wonderfully flat field which in turn means the stars are in focus all across the image.

[JohnP]

Thks Robert - Out of interest what Arcsec/pixel do you get with your current imaging setup..? John

[RobertM]

Focal length is 400mm and image scale is 3.34arcsec/pixel...

[Daniel]

That is absolutely spectacular, I was impressed just looking at the image you posted in here, then I clicked on the full size, WOW! love how round the stars are all the way across the field and I had to re-check that it was a mosaic, can't see the joins at all.

Awesome work, you've inspired me to do a mosaic some time, might have another crack at witches head!

Daniel
:O)

[MarkS]

Stunning!!

This is without doubt the best amateur image I've ever seen of the Rosette.  Your stars are round, you have captured amazing depth and the whole nebula is framed perfectly.  Because of the final image scale you have, the detail is extraordinary.

There is no way I would ever guessed it was a mosaic.  It was certainly worth the effort.

When are you adding the colour

Mark

[Fay]

Robert, you saying imaging from the garden would "make a part of you fall off".......................I trust your voice did not go up an octave after you had been to see me   

[RobertM]

Thanks again for the kind words.  The NW and SE were done near the last full moon so contrast is not as good as I would have liked.

I'll have to post one that comes out the same as on my screen at home, the jpegs always look washed out for some reason.  Does the Gallery allow TIFFs ?

Fay, the bits I was referring to were my fingers and toes ! both of which were at the limit after 2 hours at close to freezing.

[Mike]

Robert are you planning on adding any colour data to it?