CCD vs Film? Lots of time vs no patience? Alright, this is your place to discuss all the astrophotography what's and what's not. You can discuss about techniques, accessories, cameras, whatever....just make sure you also post some nice photos here too!
notice there are weak blue halos for the brighter stars in the image.
Remus, I don't actually mind the blue halos - they are due to these stars being much brighter in blue than other colours. With bright stars what happens on images is that the centres are saturated and white regardless of true colour, but colour is suggested by the flare surrounding.
My dessicant needs changing as well - but since I don't go below zero, this is sometimes very slight condensation which is not a problem. BTW, with the Sony chip, no darks are needed even at CCD temp of approx 10C.
Wow. The intricate dust clouds of NGC3576 are nicely resolved. Can't have enough of these high resolution images.
While you are there, may i request for a coal sack in Ha? TIA
Hi TG,
Yeah, i noticed the really low noise in the Sony chips utilized by Starlight Xpress CCD cameras as well, but was driven to purchase the SBIG because of its popularity and the fact that it also had a built in autoguider that was more sensitive than the ST4. At the same time, this greatly reduced the need to bring additional equipment like a guidescope, and ease up the balancing issues of a dual scope platform especially if I am embarking on imaging with the bulky E210 next. But sigh, now I can only wait for the dessicant plug to arrive while clear sky oppotunities pass....
You were right about the blue halos - just check focus last night and the blue focus was slightly out resulting in larger stars. The red and green were parfocal, though. Also took a new image, of IC2944 (see separate post), taking care with focus and colour balance which has sorted that out.
