On Monday night I was out imaging IC2944 Running Chicken Nebula to test the spacing on my Baader Mk3 coma corrector as coma has been quite evident in the corners of my images ever since I started using the ZWO 2600MC in August 2020. The Running Chicken Nebula has quite a dense Star field so a good object to test coma
I added a 1mm spacer to make the distance from sensor to coma corrector 56mm instead of the recommended 55mm and to my surprise it eliminated coma completely. I will have to now check on my other scope , 8 f5 newt to see if 56mm is the magical distance
Anyway captured the Running Chicken Nebula ( Body only ) under a Full Moon staring down my OTA , Bortle 8 Sydney light polluted skies and my neighbours 5000 lumens of backyard and house lights ( no one in the backyard ?? ) on a warm evening with a howling southerly change thrown in around 10pm
Not exactly ideal conditions for Astrophotography
6 f6 Bintel newt
EQ6-R mount
ZWOASI2600MC set to Ascom highest dynamic range and cooled to -12C
ZWO 2 Duoband filter
42 x 3 minute dithered guided subs
No darks
No flats
PHD2 guiding around 1.00 to 1.20 total arc sec error
EQMOD and Stellarium for Goto and nav
APT frame focus and capture
Stacked in DSS
Processed in Startools V1.7 Linear OSC data set
Original version ( coma free !! )
Crop version to show core area with Bok globules
DSS Stacked linear image showing what gradients and vignetting I had to work with ( Startools V1.7 did a great job of cleaning up the mess whilst maintaining the integrity of detail in the image )
Photo of my neighbours backyard to the left ( Las Vegas in Sydney )
Nasty lights, had the same problem with my neighbors, moved the observatory, I put trees in, took a while to grow but 10m high now ...
Then he fell off the roof, broke his back, lost his job, wife left him... house sold, better neighbors.... but trees are staying !!!
