M83 (at f14 TEC-140ED)

[PRejto (Peter)]

This is the first image I have taken from my new Observatory near Rylstone, NSW, Australia.

It started as an experiment using a Trius SX694 mono camera with Baader 2.5" filters and my TEC-140ED. I took 45 min in RGB (each filter) and was initially dissappointed with the image scale. I remembered owning an Astrophysics BARADV (barlow) and decided to experiment.

https://www.astro-physics.com/baradv

The setup is quite simple: The barlow was located 50mm from the CCD by mounting it on an extension tube just on the OTA side of the SX FW. The whole contraption goes into a Baader QuickLock that had a 2" Astronomik L filter. I removed the L filter from the Wheel.

My initial thought was to take a lot of luminance with the mono camera and then switch over to my Trius SX-694 color model for RGB. After taking 29 subs/5 min in luminance (through a 2" Astronomik filter) I had a look at the resulting luminance. I was impressed with the results which exceeded my expections given I was operating at essentially f14 and .5 arc-sec resolution. I think there is some advantage to imaging this way. The Luminance at f14 is far better than what I can see in the colour image at f7 (and both nights were inj good seeing).

The resulting image is a combination of RGB taken at f7 and luminance at f14. It is my first image in many years and was 99% processed in Pixinsight, also a first.

I'm interested to try this barlow with my TEC-180....

Thanks for looking!

https://www.astrobin.com/full/voc1ex/0/

[CaptainCook (Gary)]

That is fantastic. Slightly related to this-I have also imaged at f/14 (using a C90 MAK I would normally only use on the moon), principally out of curiosity and lack of money to upgrade what I have. I was pleasantly surprised-bearing in mind with this set up I cannot use any filters, I live in B7 skies and I was doing short (1-2 min) exposures due to difficulty of guiding at (FL 1250mm) 0.7 arcs pix scale on an AZGti!

This is Cent A
This is Key hole
This is Trifid

Yes, they are not APODs and they are not 'something new or interesting targets'' but 2 years ago I would've bitten your hand off for these and remember its a $300 ''spotting scope''. Maybe if there are any people setting out it might be useful to show how you can squeeze the most out of whatever you have.

[gregbradley]

A superb M83 Peter. Very nicely processed to.

Greg.

[Retrograde (Pete)]

Excellent M83 Peter & congrats on first light from the new observatory!

The resolution on this is superb.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Excellent Peter you have experimented, successfully, with exactly what I have regularly mused over doing with my rig but remain too scared to move anything in case I stuff it all up In fact, I think you even offered to lend me that barlow Welcome back to the fold, looking good

Mike

[Startrek (Martin)]

Peter,
A quality M83 , one of the best I’ve seen on this forum in quite a while
Detail, resolution and colour is superb
Well done !!
I’m assume your imaging under ideal ( darkish ) skies for Galaxy imaging ?

Martin

[PRejto (Peter)]

Dear All,

Thanks all for your kind words.

To be frank, I didn't expect to be able to even have this image. I figured that my luminance wasn't actually going to be any better than at f7 (and perhaps worse!) and I was fairly certain I didn't have nearly enough colour data, especially at f7 as I needed to upscale it to match the luminance. But, surprise surprise. I guess the tools these days are just heaps better than 3/4 years ago.

Mike, now that you mention it, I do vaguely remember that conversation about the BARADV. Then I promptly forgot I even owned it! I guess this happens when all the focus back then was on a new TEC-180, and camera and rotator system that to this day is something of a nightmare. Add moving and building a house and well, things go astray! BTW, your observatory is to die for....I hope I can see it some day.

Martin, Yes, sky can be quite dark out here at Rylstone (~3.5 hrs W of Sydney). But, it's also quite damp and fog prone....Very good, but not ideal at times, but I'm learning to cope. Wiruna is just a 30 min drive, but rather higher and I think less damp.

I'm very curious to actually try this on my TEC-180 on a planetary nebula. I think exposures will need to be quite long in narrowband.

Cheers,
Peter