LMC second and proper light - now with annotated version.
After my quickie first light SMC I decided to hit the LMC properly, well with 4deg X 4deg field available, about half of it anyway
While this is presented in essentially true colour, it is in fact a HaOIIIRGB blend to specifically accentuate the ionised gases (the whole region is permeated with strands of HII and lots of OIII too).
To say I am very happy with how the mount, camera and scope performed ie. absolutely flawlessly, is an understatement (not one sub was chucked!)...it's a great feeling After hearing about the notoriety of the FSQ and focus shift with temperature changes, I have found that the focus actually holds pretty well as far as I can tell and here is what the guide graph looked like all three nights all night and often even better! Other than what happens when applying DDP, I used no specific processing on the stars, this is them out of the scope, I also used no noise reduction at all (just darks and dither guided) so very happy with this chip/camera. With such tiny stars across such a big field, registration is critical at this size chip, particularly when displaying at 100% full res...and critical inspection shows it is veeery close to spot on, so happy bout that . Worth noting I have had to do no shimming or tilting or spacing adjustments, this is how I put it all together, first time, out of the boxes
With lots of weird shaped nebulae strewn all over the scene and dozens of open clusters and globular clusters to find, this image needs to be viewed at full resolution:
The FOV is just staggering! Very nice Greg.
I’ve never considered test images or images taken while fixing issues as being first light so your first light is
There's a benchmark image!
I'm currently working on an SMC/47tuc mosaic which is a challenge with my smaller fov - I can only dream of your WF new setup
Stupendous quality - you gotta be happy with that!
But ---
Before we rest on our laurels, there is a slight sign of achromatic aberration --red --
Cheers Ian ...now, as for the "red" achromatic aberration, I don't think so?..what you are seeing on close inspection is almost certainly simply a registration and saturation issue
Hi Mike, what a stunning pair of razor sharp images!
That FLI must be about the heaviest thing you could put on the back of it, and if you're just using the robofocus to drive the standard Tak rack and pinion I'd say you don't suffer from the dreaded focuser sag. I used to see a lot of thermal shift in mine, especially when sitting out by itself in winter, but found putting a dew strap in the middle as well as on the objective really minimised that.
Anyway - what a cracker of a setup, and I can't wait to see what you do with the Orion Molecular cloud.
cheers,
Andrew.
Hi Mike, what a stunning pair of razor sharp images!
That FLI must be about the heaviest thing you could put on the back of it, and if you're just using the robofocus to drive the standard Tak rack and pinion I'd say you don't suffer from the dreaded focuser sag. I used to see a lot of thermal shift in mine, especially when sitting out by itself in winter, but found putting a dew strap in the middle as well as on the objective really minimised that.
Anyway - what a cracker of a setup, and I can't wait to see what you do with the Orion Molecular cloud.
cheers,
Andrew.
Thanks heaps Andrew
The focuser on this thing has a rack on both the top and bottom of the 4" focuser so not sure if that was the same on earlier FS106's?.. and so far I see no obvious evidence of focuser sag..? Perhaps in other parts of the sky at different altitudes there may be some evident so we will see...I suspect not though. The Robofocus works fine too, moves everything nicely and holds. I guess I am used to mostly babysitting my rig and checking focus every hour or so anyway but I haven't noticed any troublesome focus shift yet . All in all the first 4 nights using this new rig has been bloody enjoyable (touch wood )
After hearing about the notoriety of the FSQ and focus shift with temperature changes, I have found that the focus actually holds pretty well as far as I can tell and here is what the 
)
he he aaah yes, we do trade subservient emoticons when required huh guys? Says a lot, fun stuff 
. All in all the first 4 nights using this new rig has been bloody enjoyable (touch wood 
) 
