IC434

Here is a reprocessed 50% version of IC434, taken with the SXV-M25 one-shot color camera. It was imaged on the 10" Newtonian with an H-alpha filter. There was significant vignetting that required software field flattening (this revised version using Russ Croman's plugin in PS CS). As can be seen from this image and several other SXV-H9C images on this site, the one-shot is quite capable of reasonable H-alpha imaging. As with any fainter image, more time is preferable to improve the S/N (i.e. 4 to 6 hours vs. this shot of 2 hours). This image was created using the R-frame extracted from an RGB converted image in Maxim. In comparison to the RGB image, the R-frame has significantly lower noise. Presumably, the RGB contains a higher level due to the low S/N contributions of the G- and B-frames. This shot also shows the effectiveness of H-alpha imaging at my horrendous imaging site in Orlando, adjacent to Universal Studios and Disney World.

Image info:

10" Homemade Newtonian on a Losmandy Titan Mount

Starlight Express
SXV-M25

29x4 mins

f/4.6 with Paracorr

Acquired in Astroart and stacked in Maxim (no darks and no flats)

guided with an STV on a piggybacked Sky90 refractor

1.2.05

Home (limiting mag 3)