M45 and Rosette 8th and 9th January 2011

[Carole]

Had a long session last night, but because of a number of problems had to discard quite a few subs -  Planes, clouds (when I was indoors and didn't notice - which upset the guiding), mount going balmy (again!!) and having to re-set it to Factory settings (AGAIN).

Anyway, the fruits of the evening are:
Both images, Modified Canon EOS 450D DSLR, CLS filter, 800 ISO, + darks flats and Bias
New guide camera QHY5, can't believe how many stars I had to choose from.  PHD, DSS and CS3

M45 13 x 5min 800 ISO (hoping to add to this)



Rosette Nebula 8 x 5min 800 ISO (hoping to add to this)

[Daniel]

Carole, those are lovely images, your really coming on leaps and bounds, I got out myself last night and suffered the same mount and guiding problems. hopefully tonight will be more fruitful with much lower wind speeds too.

Awesome stuff!

Daniel
:O)

[Carole]

Thanks Daniel, nice to see you back on the forum again and back imaging.

Carole

[MarkS]

Great images Carole and nicely processed.  You've captured a lot of nebulosity in the Pleiades in spite of using the CLS filter.  The Rosette is looking good as well.

I hope the Feb DSC is a clear one because then you'll really notice the huge difference that a dark sky brings.

Mark

[Carole]

Thanks Mark.

in spite of using the CLS filter

Ah, so that's the reason I am finding it difficult to pull detail out of the nebulosity. 

Feb DSC is a clear one

Just looked the date up and it clashes with Astrofest, thats a bummer.  Will go to Astrofest on the Friday then and come to DSC afterwards (either late that night or the next day).

Carole

[Fay]

We soon get out of the swing, it is a hobby that you have to have regular practice with. Mark I would never have sussed that camera problem out

[PhilB]

Nice going, Carole. The observatory certainly seems to be preforming

[Carole]

Thanks Phil, I thought it was quite amusing talking to you on the phone while I was sitting in the Obs trying to get it all started and hearing my exasperations when things did not go right straight away.

Carole

[Mac]

images are looking good,

[Carole]

Thanks Mac.

I have picked up some processing tips from UKAI on how to overcome the CLS filter colour problem to the background sky which will be very useful in the future.

So herewith a slightly revised M45.

[MarkS]

Carole,

The M45 reprocess is so much better!  The colour balance is much improved and it seems to have pulled out a bit more nebulosity.  You pulled out all the information you can out of that data.  Now you just need more subs or better skies!

Mark

[Carole]

Now you just need more subs or better skies!

Yes can't wait to do some of this stuff in darker skies.

I captured another 2 hours worth of the Rosette last night, no time to look at it ATM but that should make 2 hours 45 mins in total once processed assuming all the subs are OK. 

Carole

[Jim]

well done Carole, they're really nice.

[Carole]

Thanks Jim.

[RobertM]

A very nice pair if images Carole.  Not much to add that anyone else hasn't already mentioned really.  Your images are certainly improving in leaps and bounds, well done.

Robert