NGC 6992 in Narrow Band

[julian]

My first narrow band colour image taken over three nights with a self modified cooled canon 450D argon filled camera. Temperature set to 0c using an arduino controller.  Red SII was 1.5 hours due to mist on Saturday.  Green Ha 2.5 hrs on Thursday night. Blue OIII on Friday night.  All subs are 600 seconds. Telescope  SW 190MN, Guiding QHY5 PHD, Baader 2" narrow band filters, true tech filter wheel, self tuned EQ6 pro mount. Also on test was moonlite focuser as the Sky Watcher  would not take the weight of the modified  camera and filter wheel. The moonlite worked  very well.  Also observatory  dome is being controlled by an arduino controller so I do not have to go out and move the dome every 40 minutes as it switches on a relay every 3.4 minutes for 0.4 of a second and give the dome a little kick. The dome can also go clockwise and anti clock wise by using two push buttons. The buttons  changes the polarity of the DC motors. Just in case someone pushes both buttons together the thing well not go bang as they are wired through relays so when one relay is on it switches the other off and vice versa . The motors and gear boxes came from my son's old 12v battery operated tractor which he grew out of. The scope was still near centre of dome hatch after three hours.  Now I have to make a cloud sensor so I can get some sleep when imaging on those cold  winter nights.

[Rocket Pooch]

Very nice, and I love how much you have pimped your camera!

[MarkS]

Wow!  Where do I start to comment on this?

Firstly it's great to see an attempt at narrowband using a DSLR - you've produced an excellent result.  Especially considering that on each channel either 1/4 or 1/2 of the pixels are doing anything useful.  Narrowband is the only way to go in when confronted by the urban light pollution.  By the way, are you using the Hubble palette?

When doing narrowband you will certainly benefit from cooling and your Argon filled conversion is very impressive.

I've very interested to hear about the motorised dome - sounds like you've done very well there.

So this is the first light from all that hard effort.  I'm really looking forward to your future results.

Really well done!  A great effort!

Mark

[RobertM]

Have to agree with all the comments.  Not withstanding that you're using a DSLR it's a really excellent result for the non Ha channels.  You must be pretty chuffed with the way it's turned out.

You're just going to have to add stripes and fluffy dice to finish off the pimping, after all it can't look much like a camera any more !

Robert

[mickw]

Very nice Julian and fantastic detail

[julian]

Thank you for the positive comments.

Yes Mark, that was the Hubble Palette.
I will put some images up of the observatory dome.
If you want to look at the observatory Mark, you are welcome to come round.

[Fay]

Julian, that is absolutely fantastic!!!!!!! What a great first image after all your hard work, very impressive!

Fay

[Tony G]

Julian,

Have you taken this image off Flickr???????

Tony G

[julian]

Have you taken this image off Flickr???????

yes but it was my site, dose that mean I can't use it.

[The Thing]

That's an amazing first light image Julian.

Now I have to make a cloud sensor so I can get some sleep when imaging on those cold  winter nights.

A cloud sensor in London should be easy for an Arduino geek - the sky gets really bright when clouds come over. And it's orange. An increase in brightness over a few minutes should be a fair indication of cloud. Will you be motorising the shutter?

[mickw]

Have you taken this image off Flickr???????

yes but it was my site, dose that mean I can't use it.

Why did you link to it then remove it ?

[MarkS]

An increase in brightness over a few minutes should be a fair indication of cloud.

Or might indicate that a neighbour has switched on their "security" light.

[julian]

Or might indicate that a neighbour has switched on their "security" light

Look on observatory page, top image just above the fence you can see 1 500 watt ( f******) flipping security light that comes on when she lets the dog out or has a smoke.
Also top back room lights are also left on.       

[Tony G]

Can see it now.

Julian, excellent detail and image.

Tony G

[mickw]

I can't - is it Flickr acting up