Final Image - NGC281 - Palud-Sur-Verdon

[JohnP]

I imaged the Pacman a month or so ago from Bromley & wanted to do it again in France as a comparison. I started off by getting some subs the first night but they weren't the best as I still had the issue with the 'dangly cables' so I decided to get try again on third night but imaging was cut short due to weather. So all in all I had the subs from Bromley & subs from 1st & 3rd nights in France somewhere in total around 3-4 hours of Ha data. Only problem was my camera had been taken in & out several times in between the two sets & I never made any attempts to align images before starting each of the sessions. Anyway decided to stack all three sessions as a single image. Have to say the signal to noise is great - it makes processing so easy. I really love this object there is so much detail in the middle. ONLY problem is that because subs weren't aligned there are some large areas top & bottom right that have got a lot less exposure (more noisy) fortunately its away from nebula but you can see the lines. I am still pretty chuffed with the outcome though..

This is my last image from France so I won't hog the forum anymore.. Need to go & get some colour data now for all the images I have posted...

Thks for looking,  John

[MarkS]

That really looks excellent John - you ought to be well pleased with that!

[JohnP]

Thks Mark appreciate comment - Just a shame about the corners...

[Carole]

Some fantastic detail there John.  Blowed if I can see any lines.

Carole

[JohnP]

Thks Carole - they are definitely there if you look closely...

[Carole]

Had to stretch the image in curves to find out where they were and now I know I can "just" see them. 

Carole

[JohnP]

Well I can see them quite easily on my monitor (I do know where they are of course) - The give away is the noise levels either side of the lines - some of the image on one side of the line had approx' half the integration time of the other.. fortunately though the Pacman itself was unaffected...

Thks,  John.

[JohnP]

If its of any interest below is STATS for single 10 min sub - left is Palud-Sur-Verdon & right is Bromley....

[Fay]

I think that is the best one John, the FOV suits the Pacman. I do like the Atik cameras though, trouble free to use.

[JohnP]

Thanks Fay - Appreciate your comment - The Pacman is certainly an interesting object with lots going on.. John

[RobertM]

Very nice John, nice tight stars and it looks smooth (though it's a bit jpeg'd to tell for sure).

[mickw]

Very nice John

[The Thing]

Thats looking good John. I tried this from Beckenham using my Canon a week or so ago and the gradients were unbelievable! Your image has given me something to aim for next DSC - it fits perfectly in my scopes field of view as well.

[JohnP]

Cheers Robert, Mick, Dunc - I appreciate the comments. I look forward to seeing your attempts Duncan.

John.

[Jim]

Great image John, the detail is wonderful. Just goes to show that even for Ha a dark sky makes all the difference.