TMB92_ApogeeAlta8300U_C25_Ha_NGC2244_PShopFinal_08Feb12-0508combined.jpg
TMB92_ApogeeAlta8300U_C25_Ha_NGC2244_PShopFinal_08Feb12-0508combined.jpg
Haven't had much in the way of quality/clear skies recently. So it was a pleasant surprise when Sunday Night opened up the Night Skies. I had been planning imaging sessions for some time and was ready and able to pull off allot of Narrowband Ha Images in one night, including some of the almost totally full Moon that was present.
I run a four Scope Pack, with Mono at Scope1 and Scope3 and OSC at Scope2 and Scope4. Laptop1 controls either of the Mono Cameras and Laptop2 controls either of the OSC Cameras. This does not lend itself to dual Ha imaging on two Mono Cameras. I added two more powered USB hubs into the wiring, which allows me to quickly swap the second Mono Camera with all the additionally connections to Laptop2. After the delay to allow Windows to install the Device Drivers found, everything came up online perfectly.
This simultaneously captured image is off the TMB92SS F/5.5 with Mono Apogee Alta 8300U through a Schuler 12nm Ha Filter. While the smaller pixels of the CCD Camera are less sensitive to light and the Filter passes less light through, the resolution of the CCD is much better and the Focal Ratio of the Scope is significantly faster. The result is a much smoother finished image.
I have to wait for Rosette [NGC2244] to clear the large Oak trees on the property. That means getting to about 210 degrees in the sky, which is after 12:30AM at this time of year. And Rosette is never high in my Southern Skies, so there's lots of atmosphere to look though. The image is built from 3x 1500-second duration subframes [75 minutes total]. It is Plate Solved stacked in MaxIM and saved to 16-bit TIFF files and then post processed in PShop. AlanP
The skies allowed me to pick up some more subframes on the two different FOV images of Rosette. This data was added to the previous 05Feb12 sunframes.
I was able to pick up 3x 1800s subframes on 08Feb12, for a total of 165 minutes between the two nights.
For the TMB92 wider FOV: RA 06h 32m 16s, DEC 04d 54m 46s, at 509.9 FL and 2.20"/pixel image scale.
There is no substitute for enough data when building an image.