Carina Nebula - First light with Askar FRA300 Pro

[Ryderscope (Rodney)]

Given that it was my birthday in January I decided to shout myself and new toy and acquired an Askar FRA300 Pro OTA to pair with my ZWO ASI6200 full frame CMOS camera. I like the specifications for the Askar FRA300 as when it is paired with the ASI6200 it provides a field of view of about 6.8d x 4.6d for an image scale of 2.6" / px. A slightly reduced field than when using the 200mm lens that I have been for a noticeable improvement in resolution. The FRA300 is petzval design as well which are designed to have a flat field out of the box obviating the need for additional field flattening or focal reducing hardware. From my testing with the FRA300 so far it is in line with these specifications. This particular image is taken with a 48mm adapter in the image train connecting the OTA to the ASI6200 filter wheel whilst I am waiting for a 54mm adapter to arrive.

The image has been processed from 19 Ha subs @ 900s all captured on Wed night/Thu morning 1/2 Feb with a 90% moon about. Processed in Pixinsight and calibrated with darks and flats.

Link to image on Astrobin here.

Clear skies,
Rodney

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Wowsers! Just getting my rig going up here, turned on the web out at the observatory, meah.. checkout IIS (of course) aaand pow! Yeah BABY! Gota be happy with that mate! Exciting imaging times ahead for you Roddles

Mike

[Ryderscope (Rodney)]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Wowsers! Just getting my rig going up here, turned on the web out at the observatory, meah.. checkout IIS (of course) aaand pow! Yeah BABY! Gota be happy with that mate! Exciting imaging times ahead for you Roddles

Mike

Exciting times indeed. It would have been very nice and clear at Eagleview last night if my splendid clear skies were an indication (apart from the busy moon of course).

[Nikolas (Nik)]

It is a fantastic little scope that’s for sure I couldn’t part with mine

[Ryderscope (Rodney)]

Thanks Nik. Good to see others on the forum using the same OTA.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by Ryderscope

Exciting times indeed. It would have been very nice and clear at Eagleview last night if my splendid clear skies were an indication (apart from the busy moon of course).

Indeed it was...after a mushy start to the evening...by 11pm the FWHM was 1.5"-1.8" until dawn too, with Maxim indicating a few stars measuring down to 1.4" happy now it is not a rare occurrence

Mike

[Dave882 (David)]

Great first light congrats! Looks like it’s a real winner can’t wait to see some more of your projects in the coming months.

[matlud (Mathew)]

Looking good, congrats on the first light Rodney!
Cheers, Mat

[Ryderscope (Rodney)]

Originally Posted by Dave882

Great first light congrats! Looks like it’s a real winner can’t wait to see some more of your projects in the coming months.

Originally Posted by matlud

Looking good, congrats on the first light Rodney!
Cheers, Mat

Thanks Matt and Dave. Appreciate the feedback.

[Stephane]

Looks great! First lights are always exciting. You must be thrilled, well done.

[Craig_]

Looks like a great little scope!