Camera Labs

Double Cluster - 1 hour on the mini-WASP array by cybermystic, on Flickr

So it was a blazing full Moon (that's why it was a clear sky) and the mini-WASP array was fully up and running for the first time, and the whole shebang was being driven from my study indoors - utter bliss. Got an hour of imaging on the Double Cluster and Noel Carboni expertly put the 3 datasets together to produce an extremely nice image of this region in Perseus. One hour of imaging - 3 hours of data - gotta be good. 200 second subs, 3 x M26C CCDs, 1 x Sky 90 and 2 x TS 80mm triplet APOs.
Greg

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Nexstar 11 GPS, 2 x Sky 90, M25C, MaximDL, Photshop CS3, Noel Carboni's Photoshop actions, 7 foot Pulsar fibreglass dome, Canon 40D, 100mm macro lens, 28-200mm zoom lens, 17-55mm f#2.8 zoom lens, 100-400mm zoom lens, 1.4x converter, 2x converter.
http://www.newforestobservatory.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12801949@N02/

Hi Greg,

Nice job. The benefit of ganging together those cameras really shows when you compare the field of view to my own attempt a few weeks ago. A cropped version originally appeared in this thread but here's the full monty, downsized by a factor of four, with just a 12 pixel wide black border, to allow a direct field of view comparison:

5 x 200 second subs in each of red, green and blue (50 minutes of data) using my TEC 140 plus FLI ML16803 camera so telescope time was comparable but your array has allowed you to go wider. Congratulations on finally getting it up and running. And yes, isn't it nice to sit in the warm and watch those subs appear on the computer monitor!

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Hi Bob,

The cameras are all looking at the same FOV - I haven't overlapped to get a mosaic. The M26C on the TS 80mm triplet APO gives me 2.79 x 1.87 degees, and the M26C on the Sky 90 gives me 3.33 x 2.22 degrees. I have decided that for the moment, as the fields are reasonably flat, that I will have all 3 scopes/cameras set up to image exactly the same region, and then I'll do the usual 4-frame overlap if I want a bigger mosaic of the area.

Greg

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Nexstar 11 GPS, 2 x Sky 90, M25C, MaximDL, Photshop CS3, Noel Carboni's Photoshop actions, 7 foot Pulsar fibreglass dome, Canon 40D, 100mm macro lens, 28-200mm zoom lens, 17-55mm f#2.8 zoom lens, 100-400mm zoom lens, 1.4x converter, 2x converter.
http://www.newforestobservatory.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12801949@N02/

Apart from your photos being amazing, I can sense the joy of this sentence. No more frozen fingers.

kind regards,
HTG

You're quite right there Last winter I had to work out in the mini-WASP observatory, and one night the thermometer in there read -5C (might have even been -7C, memory's going), and yes it was a bit chilly
Greg

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Nexstar 11 GPS, 2 x Sky 90, M25C, MaximDL, Photshop CS3, Noel Carboni's Photoshop actions, 7 foot Pulsar fibreglass dome, Canon 40D, 100mm macro lens, 28-200mm zoom lens, 17-55mm f#2.8 zoom lens, 100-400mm zoom lens, 1.4x converter, 2x converter.
http://www.newforestobservatory.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12801949@N02/