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Posts Made By: Greg Bradley

June 21, 2005 08:56 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Eta Carina with SBig 2000XM 1st light

Posted By Greg Bradley
Here is my first attempt at using an SBig camera.

2000XM with CFW8a filter wheel. Chip at -15C to -25C (started to frost slightly at -25 after a little while).
Halpha 5 x 45 secs, red 3 x 30 secs, green 3 x 30 secs, blue 3 x 30 secs. 1x1 binning. Standard Sbig filters. No clear shots for luminance though as when I combined them the image went really red for some unknown reason.

Aligned and combined in CCDSoft and final levels in Nikon Capture Editor.

William Optics 80/480 fluorite, unguided, piggybacked on a Nexstar 11 GPS. F6 no reducer. Shot was cropped to get rid of some coma. Reducer/flattener on the way hopefully will handle that.

In my backyard, fairly clear night, some moon
(1/3rd moon) Sydney.

Turned out not too bad. Any suggestions?
I figure I start autoguiding in a week or two so longer exposures will be possible but this camera is pretty sensitive and these short exposures were quite bright.

Greg.

July 7, 2005 10:17 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

RCOS 12.5 inch first light

Posted By Greg Bradley
Here's a shot of the Jewel Box open cluster. First light for RCOS 12.5 inch.

Modified Nikon D70, 6 x 15 seconds.

Images Plus, Nikon Capture Editor.

AP .75 Telecompressor for F6.75.

Greg.

July 7, 2005 10:23 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Alpha Centauri

Posted By Greg Bradley
A beautiful double star in the Southern Hemisphere and the closest star to our Sun.

First shot I took with the RCOS 12.5 inch. Nothing special, I just thought it looked pretty.

4 x 10 seconds. Modified Nikon D70, RCOS 12.5 inch at F9.

Greg.

July 31, 2005 09:54 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Trifid RCOS 12.5 inch

Posted By Greg Bradley
This is about it without guiding and this image could do with more exposure but it turned out OK.

RCOS 12.5 inch. MI 250 mount, William Optics 80/480 triplet as a finder scope.

12 x 30 and 45 seconds unguided, 1 x 60 seconds.

The RCOS is mostly collimated but the secondary needs a slight adjustment.

Images Plus for stacking and Nikon Capture Editor for levels etc. My backyard observatory, Sydney.

Greg.

August 7, 2005 01:27 AM Forum: Takahashi

Re: Tak finder from Kmart or Roses

Posted By Greg Bradley
In my opinion the Tak finder scope is below par and is not up to their scope stds. The holder has metal pointed holder screws that scratch the tube of the finder scope. This flaw is well known yet Tak does nothing about it. The finder scope itself has too narrow a field of view and also has very bad coma so that stars out of the centre are out of focus. Additionally the poorly designed bracket that needs a quick release after market to work properly is too expensive for what it is. However, once setup it is quite stable. The cross hairs on mine have little fragments of something on it. It needs an illuminator to see the cross hairs yet I can see the cross hairs in my cheap Antares unit without one. All in all, for the the price it is not a good deal at all. Takahashi scopes are a little enigmatic in that the basic OTAs are wonderful yet they fall down in the small touches. The clamshell holder for example does not allow for piggybacking very securely. The scopes are far too complex in their accessories. So 9 out of 10 for the OTA and a 5 out of 10 for the accessories and finder scope.

The finder scope itself is not half as good as a cheap Antares correct angle 50mm finder scope.

Just my experience with them.

Greg.

September 4, 2005 01:30 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

The Large Magellanic Cloud

Posted By Greg Bradley
Haven't posted for a while, been busy with work.

Got away to my rural dark site with near perfect skies.

Here is the Large Magellanic Cloud which is full of nebulae and star formation areas. That's the Tarantula Nebula down near the bottom left hand side.

Modified Nikon D70. Baader UV/IR block filter, Nikon 180mm ED lens at F2.8. ISO 1600, white balance set to a picture of Alpha Centauri, piggybacked on a Nexstar 11 GPS unguided. 13 exposures, 10 @ 30 seconds, 2 around 60 seconds and 2 around 90 seconds. 2350 feet altitude, almost zero light pollution. Seeing around 7-8/10, a bit windy at times and quite cold by Aussie standards (42 degrees F, thank goodness for the portable gas heater!). Object was about 35 degrees up.

Captured using Nikon Capture on a Dell laptop powered by a Honda generator.

The Magellanic clouds are companion galaxies to the Milky Way. They are visible largish white patches in the sky at dark sites.

One of a series of objects imaged over 2 nights. The 2nd night had perfect conditions if even colder!

Greg.

September 5, 2005 03:20 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Sculptor Galaxy

Posted By Greg Bradley
Here is another southern skies gem. The Sculptor Galaxy. My best attempt at a galaxy so far using unguided shots.

Nikon D70, 14 x 60 and 90 seconds, unguided, William Optics 80mm fluorite with Tak Q Extender 1.6X for F9.6. Dark rural site.

Greg.

September 7, 2005 10:42 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

M42 at 3:30am!

Posted By Greg Bradley
It may seem early to be doing M42 photos but at 3:30am it was up about 20 degrees.

William Optics 80/480 fluorite triplet, Televue .8X reducer/flattener, modified Nikon D70, piggybacked on a Nexstar 11 GPS.

10 x 60 seconds unguided.

Greg.

September 10, 2005 11:36 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

M20 and M8

Posted By Greg Bradley
Wide field shot of M20 and M8.

Greg.

September 11, 2005 11:52 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

A southern beauty

Posted By Greg Bradley
Here's the Small Magellanic Cloud along with 47 Tucannae - the 2nd largest glob in the Milky Way.

Greg.

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