Rethinking MSFS 2024

[cowpatz]

Some of the stuff out there in the Universe just simply knocks your socks off.
Take the black hole TON618. It is so large that it has its own category……….Ultra massive (up from Super massive).
It’s is located 18 billion light years away. For perspective 18 billion seconds ago would put you at the start of the year 1454. But we are talking about years! (31.5 million seconds in a year)
Its mass is 44 to 66 billion times that of the Sun…depending on what publication you read.
So large that if it was centred on our Sun then by the time you reached Pluto you will have only travelled 5% of its radius.
It powers a Quasar, which is the brightest object in the Universe being 140 TRILLION times the illumination power of the Sun.
I don’t know how they figure this out from just a mere spot in the night sky but the figures are simply impossible to comprehend in our Earth terms. My head hurts.

[Splitpin]

"My head hurts."
Mine as well CP...and if you venture down the Quantum path, it hurts even more.

[toprob]

Another go at the Eta Carinae nebula last night.... the weather has been terrible, rain and wind for days, but last night it cleared for about an hour. This is 83 stacked photos.

[deeknow]

Woah Rob that is amazing .. looks a bit more stable than the last one? well done

PS still freaking about those numbers re TON618

[toprob]

Cheers, Deane. The difference is a LOT of research, but mostly my new Reducer/corrector lens which reduces the focal length of the scope by 37%. This gives a wider view and a brighter image. $330 from Amazon AU, and Jacobs, the NZ store, wanted $130 for a tube to connect it to the scope -- I found a cheap knockoff on AliExpress for $33. Prices here in NZ are bizarre.

In the end I figured out how to get the tool I use to process the images to 'plate solve' the image -- it has to figure out which bit of sky is shown, which you then use to calibrate the colour. I really should figure out exacting what it is doing here. So here's a colour-calibrated version, although somewhat tweaked to add some punch. Reduced for the forum from a bit over 5300x3600 pixels. I really love the fact that my DSLR's resolution gives me a lot to work with -- 6000x4000, but I always need to crop a bit around the edges. My son wants to try his Sony, which is full-frame, so would give a wider image, but with the same resolution, and less noise in the image.

[Splitpin]

Star Rob
That is stunning ....is the colour enhanced in any way ?
Fantastic stuff , deserves its own sub forum

[toprob]

....is the colour enhanced in any way ?

Cheers, Marty. That's quite a contentious issue you've brought up:) I don't actually change any colour values, but some parts of the process do. First, there's the calibration, which I've been looking at today -- the processing tool I use queries an online database to locate the stars, and then it calibrates the white balance by looking at the colour of specific stars.
If you looked at the nebula through the scope you will only see stars, and the photos I take only show a few stars on a very dark background. Then a lot of these photos are 'stacked' into a single image, which increases the amount of detail. I then run a tool which separates out the stars and nebula background. Then I 'stretch' the nebula image by vastly increasing the tonal range to bring out the nebula.
Before I recombine the stars, I increase the saturation which brings out the existing colours.
After adding the stars back in it goes into Photoshop, where I get to tweak the tonal range a bit, and boost it a bit for the final image.
So in answer to your question -- I like to think that the colours are what you would see if you got a lot closer in your spacecraft.

[Splitpin]

OMG Star Rob ....my head is spinning, your replies are so detailed, but appreciated.
You should be here tonight , a pre frosty morning CHC night.... not a cloud insight and zero wind.
Another request when you can....Barnard 33, or otherwise known as the Horsehead Nebula.....only 1300-1500 lightyears away
Your last post photo is now my wallpaper.....I'm loving this stuff

[toprob]

The Horsehead Nebula is my main goal, but it sets earlier now, and disappears behind the trees here soon after dark. since I need a couple of hours to pick up any detail, I may need to wait until the summer.

[Fozzer]

Wonderful stuff, Rob!
As I browse your amazing photos, I often wonder (as I do) what makes our little piece of Rock on which all we "objects" live, so very different from all the other "stuff" out there?
...OR.. is a lot of the stuff out there similar to our little piece of the Universe?
What is amazing is that our planet didn't start off as it is today, but evolved from a mass of super-heated gas, similar to our Sun!
Something changed over time, and certain conditions slowly evolved!
I marvel at things like the blades of grass in my garden, sprouting up long before "creatures" existed!
"Reproduction" is the magic that keeps things going on our Rock!

All this stuff keeps me awake at night...
..in a good sort of way!.... ...!

Keep it up, everyone!

Paul...measuring the Marigolds!.... ..

[Splitpin]

Paul, I may have made a discovery Yesterday...not astronomical sadly, but interesting none the less.
I took a break in the afternoon...to have a smoke across the road from school (no smoking on site) .
Anyway, I'm sitting there reading the news on my phone, when this big bumble bee flew around me and then landed beside me.
It then proceeded to head for a shaded space close to me , and to make sure it pulled a fallen leaf over itself.....Now I'm thinking WTH.

I have encountered them on the ground in the past, dead or almost.
This was different, so before I left, I got a small twig and gave it a prod.... it was like waking a sleeping person... the Bumble spun around, very much alive and took off.
So, if , in the future , you are asked "do Bumble Bees nap" you can say.... maybe

[emfrat]

Marty - I have known dogs to do that with blankets, so mebbe it was a bee-gle in a previous life?

That said, insects know a lot of stuff that we don't. I have often seen the black ants (just one of many varieties that live in my yard) marching up a support of my house, carrying their pupae from their underground nest to a new upstairs nest on the RSJ that supports that end of the building. Within a week or 10 days, there will be at least torrential rain, if not an actual flood. The Met folk can't see that far ahead.

I have read that African elephants are believed to sense a lot of things through their foot pads, including the distant arrival of the seasonal rains they depend on.

My old family doctor was once allowed to visit the flight deck on an overnight trans-Pacific flight, and he said later that there was no way you could see that view from the cockpit and still hold the belief that we are the only sentient beings in this universe. I've never been that lucky, but I totally agree.
I just hope there is someone with the same genius as Sir David, to keep track of these things.
ATB

[Fozzer]

Tiny creaturas....
I have a fascination for observing all the minute creatures that I spot every day.
Tiny little insects no bigger than a dot of a pen on paper!
Climbing over my windows.
They all know who they are, where they are, and where they are going, with their tiny articulated legs, controlled by their tiny brains...
...much like ours, only much smaller!
I do my very best to allow them to go on their way!
They don't deserve to be squashed or stepped on by we Human Creatiures!
....and talking about Bumble Bees, even the pretty flowers in my garden know what time of day it is, and their need to encourage the Bees to collect the pollen to enable them to pollinate and reproduce their kind!
There is always a lot of "Polination" going on, all around the world...
...said the Bishop to the Actress, and Mr Bumble Bee said to Mrs Bumble Bee, and Mr Buttercup said to Mrs Buttercup..... ... !
It's amazing how stuff keeps going on...
...on our Tiny Rock, in the middle of nowhere!

The sun is shining and I'm off to feed all my garden birds again, as they wait patiently for me!
We have one thing in common...Wings, and me, in my Flight Simulator FS2020!

Mother Nature in all her glory!

Paul... ... ...!

[toprob]

Last night was beautifully clear, so out I went as soon as it was dark. My scope aligned itself easily, as there were plenty of stars, but then when I sent it to an object it was much lower than it should have been. When this happens, I guess you are meant to recalibrate to make sure that the camera knows where the scope is pointing, but this didn't help. I couldn't work out why this would suddenly happen, so I brought it inside and reattached the autoalign camera. Still no joy. As it was still working, though, I set it to shoot the Fighting Dragons of Ara, a nebula which really appeals to me.

Absolute disaster. 300 photos which showed that the scope didn't even attempt to track it, and not a sign of any dragons, fighting or otherwise.

This morning I gave the scope a thorough check in the daylight, and found one problem -- the mount wasn't level. There's a bubble level built in. I do remember moving the scope inside one night and as I lifted it over the door sill one leg hit the sill, and it seemed to give a bit. Then I forgot to fix it. So that one leg had slid up the tube a bit, enough to mess up the alignment. I hope. I need to wait until night to test it.

There's also the problem that the phone app didn't seem to track the dragons at all, maybe this is an Android security issue after a recent update -- they've been getting tougher and tougher on security lately, so one day I may not be able to access my own phone.

So 3 hours of perfect skies, and absolutely no result. I love this hobby!!!!

Tonight is meant to be good as well, so maybe I'll catch a couple of dragons.

[toprob]

Yes, leveling the scope made all the difference. As an old autistic bloke, I get a real kick out of clicking on a bright star and then 'go to', and have it slowly drive into the dead centre of my camera screen. I'm easily impressed....
A couple of new issues last night, but nothing which I can't deal with. I did manage to get an image of the Fighting Dragons of Ara, but I can do better.

[Splitpin]

Amazing

[Fozzer]

Breathtaking!
I gasp for breath every time I see these Photos!
..... ... ...!

Paul...under a cloudy sky!.... ...!

[toprob]

Ok, I'm still keen on this astrophotography thing, which is great after the amount of money I've thrown at it. Latest purchase was a dew heater ring, which goes round the front of the lens and heats it enough to prevent dew buildup. Works a treat. However now I've decided to wait a bit before spending any more money, I have a 'fun' budget of about $500 a month on the pension, but only want to spend half of it on astro, the rest is a travel fund. So I really should wait a few months before buying the next thing on the list, an EQ wedge for $1000.

I've been planning a better image of the Fighting Dragons (above) as there are some issues to overcome. First, the field of view of my scope is not quite wide enough, but I can work within this limitation. But a major issue is field rotation -- spending an hour or more taking photos means that the sky rotates around the centre of my target, and this field rotation can really reduce the usable area of my final image. I could fix this with the wedge, but as I have to keep reminding myself, I shouldn't just go out and buy stuff. Another solution I found was a 'derotator', which rotates the camera to match the field rotation, these are small gadgets which look like a rectangle with a hole in it, but this morning I found that these cost even more than the wedge. Oh well.

I have been thinking that I could take 30 minutes worth of photos, then manually rotate the camera a little to reduce the overall rotation. As I plan to spend more than one night on this one project, this would be tricky but manageable, maybe.

I really want a nice image of the Fighting Dragons of Ara on my wall.

I did get a bit obsessed with galaxies this week, as my son dared me to photograph a galaxy for him.

My first attempt was the Sombrero Galaxy:


This is reduced in size for the forum, which doesn't help it much, but this is something that amazed me -- Markarian's Chain, a number of galaxies in a small field of view. In this image I count at least 10 galaxies.



...and here's the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy:

[Splitpin]

Star Rob!! amazing stuff ... I'm loving it

[toprob]

Yesterday I gave in and ordered the wedge, I was planning on saving the money first, which would have taken a couple of months, but in the end I borrowed from myself. I try not to do that too often, as it can get out of control.
I did have a good excuse to buy it now, though. This week we've started to see reviews of Celestron's 'smart' scope which has finally got wedge support, so I figured that there would be an upturn in wedge sales. I had asked Jacob's, the NZ telescope store, to let me know when the wedge was back in stock, but they said that Celestron had stopped shipping anything while they sort out the tariffs. They are a US company, which means that everything is made in China. Luckily there was one left on Amazon, and they do free shipping, so I saved $180. Or wasted $970, depending on how you look at it.
We are currently going into a week of rubbish weather, I've been wanting to try the scope on the driveway here, as the deck is a bit wobbly to take long exposures. I lose about 40% of the images, and I suspect that what is left loses some sharpness. The 'clearoutside.com' website suggests maybe Tuesday evening, so fingers crossed. Otherwise it's just gonna rain for a week.

EDIT: Dammit, clearoutside now says 90% cloud cover on Tuesday.