Debbie, The older starlight cameras used Sony chips that had very low dark current, but the many of the newer cameras are using Kodak chips, which are essentially the same as other brands. I like the camera because it is small and relatively lightweight. Some cameras are so bulky and heavy that they really stress the scope and focuser. My ASA scope has a carbon fiber tube and I didn't want to flex it too much with a super heavy camera. I image from my patio in the back yard, and I set up from scratch every time. I really need to get to work on my observatory. The site is selected and I ran conduit for the wiring before the yard was put in, so it is basically ready for the pad. I just need to get going on it. I am glad you like my website. It represents a lot of time and effort to collect data for all those images. Cheers, Tyler _____________________________________________ -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Debbie Sent: Thursday, July 02, 2009 11:49 AM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Two new narrowband images -Crescent andDumbbell Tyler, That is a nice camera you have. I know the Starlight cameras have very low dark noise. Is that what attracted you to the Starlight cameras? I looked at one on the Astrovid website and was impressed. I'm not getting into imaging right now but I think I might in a couple of years. I'm spending my money on my other hobbies right now but I'd like to do some wide-field piggyback astrophotography before I move into the prime focus. Do you image from your house? I think it would be move convenient to image at somebody's house than at a remote location. I love your website by the way. Debbie On Wed Jul 1 23:28 , 'Tyler Allred' <tylerallred@earthlink.net> sent:
Patrick said:
Hi Patrick, The nebulosity is absolutely real, but not captured in most images. I think mine captures the OIII nebulosity really well, but I could go a lot deeper in the Ha band, and I would love to add some SII into the mix. These were all 10 minute sub exposures, but I may try some 20 minute subs on the next clear night, just to see how deep I can go into the Ha wavelengths.
Here are a couple of links to other images that managed to get the extended portions of this object.
Here is a nice image: http://img98.imageshack.us/i/messier27dummbellnebulaox7.jpg/
Gendler got some of the extended nebulosity, but mostly in the Ha band. He didn't shoot OIII, which is where I got nearly all of my extended data. http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/M27NM.html
Ian King got just a hint of the extended nebulosity: http://www.iankingimaging.com/show_image.php\?id=170
This one by Tony and Daphne Hallas is simply incredible (as usual), with RGB and Ha data that captures the entire area beautifully: http://www.astrophoto.com/M27.htm
This one from the IAC observatory does not have the extended stuff, but is incredible at showing the lobes and ropes in the nebula. This is a narrowband image from a professional observatory: http://www.iac.es/telescopes/IAM/Sep08.html
As you pointed out, most of the images on the web fall far short of getting the entire object. They just don't go deep enough. I think my careful calibration and long exposures (10 minutes) allowed me to pull out some of the extended portions that are rarely imaged, which makes me feel pretty good! :) I love this "sport".
Cheers, Tyler _____________________________________________ -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com','','','')">utah-astronomy- bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Patrick Wiggins Sent: Wednesday, July 01, 2009 9:43 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Two new narrowband images - Crescent andDumbbell
Excellent work, as usual, Tyler. Maybe just once you should post a mediocre image to help some of the rest of us feel better about our images. :)
But seriously, when I first say your M27 it seemed to not look like other shots of M27 I've seen. So I goggled "Dumbbell Nebula M27" and looked at several images. None showed the nebulosity your picture shows attached to the top and bottom of the nebula.
Is that "extra" nebulosity real or an artifact of the imaging technique you used?
BTW, have you seen the work of U-A's newest member/astroimager, David Rankin?
Cheers,
patrick
On 01 Jul 2009, at 16:45 , Tyler Allred wrote:
Hi SLAS.
I finally got my Starlight Xpress camera back from England and got a couple of nights to try it out. I decided to image a couple of old friends. the Dumbbell and the Crescent. I used Optec narrowband filters in Hydrogen Alpha (red) and Oxygen III (green and blue) wavelengths and combined them into color images.
Here is a link to my latest images page. Click the top two images a few times for a full versions of these recent efforts.
http://www.allred-astro.com/gpage8.html
Let me know what you think.
Cheers,
Tyler
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