Howard a 3 3/4 hour film exposure, now that's an accomplishment, my longest manual guided exposure was 60 minutes Ken Sikes ----- Original Message ----- From: "Howard Anderson" <handy13@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, July 05, 2011 10:42 AM Subject: [AZ-Observing] Re: NGC 6888 - Crescent Nebula Hi Mike, Excellent! I shot that object in 1997 using Hypered Agfachrome RSX 100 film and only got this after 3.75 hours of exposure time at f/10: http://www.astroshow.com/astropho/crescent.htm. That was my best of 4 or 5 previous attempts over a year or two! At the time I considered this object to be pretty difficult. Still is I guess. Your shot is great! Thanks, Howard Mike Wiles wrote: >We had a fantastic time observing and imaging at Fredericksen Meadow this >past weekend. In a full demonstration of the depths of our telescope >junkie-ness, at one point we definitively counted 9 telescopes for 4 >observers. Attached is the first set of really nice data I was able to >capture over the week, a Hyperstar image of the Crescent Nebula. I plate >solved the stack of images as part of my post-processing and Maxim DL >counted just shy of 40,000 stars in the 2.5º x 1.5º field of view. Getting >the nebulosity to really show through all the clutter of the stars was the >most difficult task in processing the image, but I'm pleased with my end >result. >We also hunted the Crescent down visually with both a 15" Obsession and a >TEC 140 refractor. It's a much easier object to capture photographically >than it is to see visually, that's for sure!! Not too difficult in the >15", but I'd have to mark it down as a "maybe" for me through the smaller >refractor - a testament to my lack of visual observing skill more than any >comment on the telescope. In fact, after viewing Saturn through the TEC >140 >this past weekend I can now say I understand what all the fuss is about >when >it comes to APO refractors. > >Enjoy!! > >Mike > >Object - NGC 6888 - Crescent Nebula >Telescope - Celestron 11" Edge HD operating at f/2 via Hyperstar >Guiding - QHY5, Vixen ED80SF and Maxim DL >Exposure - 20 x 2 minutes (40 minutes total) with QHY8PRO camera and Maxim >DL >Calibration - Stacked & Calibrated in Maxim DL (flats & bias, bad pixel >map, >no darks) >Post-Processing - Photoshop CS5 - Levels & Curves, Minimum filter > ><http://www.flickr.com/photos/ewwwtopia/5903066024/> >NGC6888 <http://www.flickr.com/photos/ewwwtopia/5903066024/> by Mike >Wiles<http://www.flickr.com/people/ewwwtopia/>, >on Flickr > >-- >See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please >send personal replies to the author, not the list. > > > > > -- See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please send personal replies to the author, not the list. -- See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please send personal replies to the author, not the list.