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Old 30-06-2020, 06:03 PM
Gr4h4m (Graham)
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William Optics Zenithstar 81 - First Light (NGC6188)

After a bit of trial and error i was finally able to get everything up and running at the weekend and attempted to capture some Ha data on NGC6188 (The Fighting Dragons Of Ara).

Unfortunately, not long after starting my imaging session the clouds rolled in and I had to pack up for the night.

It may not be much but, with only 15 minutes of imaging time I was relatively happy to come away with my very first deep sky image.

Looking forward to capturing a decent amount of Ha, SII and OIII data on this target over the coming weeks.

SETUP

Mount: SkyWatcher HEQ5PRO
Imaging Scope: William Optics Zenithstar 81
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI183MM PRO
Guide Scope: William Optics 50mm
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI290MM Mini
Filters: ZWO EFW with ZWO 7nm Narrowband Filters
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Click for full-size image (NGC6188(WU6311MFoRL).jpg)
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Last edited by Gr4h4m; 30-06-2020 at 06:14 PM. Reason: Include more information
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Old 30-06-2020, 06:28 PM
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Camelopardalis (Dunk)
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Nice one Graham I bet that’s a nice scope!
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Old 30-06-2020, 06:45 PM
Gr4h4m (Graham)
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Thanks mate.

Yeah, it's a nice looking scope. It's taken me a little while to get everything set up how I wanted it. I just hope I can do it some justice and capture some half decent images, haha
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Old 30-06-2020, 06:52 PM
jahnpahwa (JP)
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I recently got one of these too, and use it on the same mount, same filters and similar camera (asi1600), and did the same image as this on one of my first nights out i think yours came out a bit nicer, though! Thats an amazing result from 15mins!
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Old 30-06-2020, 07:38 PM
Gr4h4m (Graham)
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Thanks.

It was quite frustrating to be honest. Spent so long getting it all set up only to have to switch everything off just as I was getting started.

I think the images were too underexposed at 180s so I'll probably increase them to 300s at the next attempt.

Forecast is showing clear skies this Friday.....fingers crossed.
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Old 01-07-2020, 12:10 AM
Fernando
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Hi Graham,


Great image!!! Beautiful and with lots of details.
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Old 01-07-2020, 06:02 AM
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PKay (Peter)
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Hi Graham.

If you can get that detail after 15 minutes, imagine 15 hours!

Well done.

Peter
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Old 01-07-2020, 05:55 PM
Gr4h4m (Graham)
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Thank you.

Yeah, forecast for tomorrow and Friday is looking good so I'm hoping to capture 3-4 hours of Ha data.
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Old 02-07-2020, 11:52 PM
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That's a good foundation to work with, I'm looking forward to seeing the end result.
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Old 03-07-2020, 11:51 AM
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That is fantastic.
What did you have your gain set at?
Alex
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Old 03-07-2020, 02:02 PM
Gr4h4m (Graham)
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Thanks mate.

Gain was set at 200 on that one although I started again last night and captured 2hrs at Unity again (111) with 600s exposures.

Almost a full moon but I’m hoping to capture another 3hrs on it again tonight since there’s no cloud forecast.
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Old 06-07-2020, 01:42 PM
Gr4h4m (Graham)
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I've been fortunate enough to have a few clear nights over the past week to add more data to this target.

After the first attempt I decided to amend my exposure settings to:

600s Unity Gain 111 Bin 1x1 -15C

With an almost full Moon I wasn't sure what impact this would have on image quality, even with an Ha filter. Nevertheless, I'm relatively happy with the results so far.

Ha - 41 X 600s (6.83hrs)

CALIBRATION FRAMES

Darks - 17 X 600s
Flats - 100 X 0.81625s
Bias - 100 X 0.000032s

Still a work in progress but the Ha element of the image is almost complete.
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Click for full-size image (NGC6188 - Ha(tolDAMN6GdZ).jpg)
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Old 06-07-2020, 03:35 PM
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Great work so far...I hope you will write a book on how to..if so put me down for a copy.
I can't wait to see the final photo.
Really something.
Alex
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Old 08-07-2020, 07:22 PM
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You've got some serious depth in that image. I'm a fan. Well done.
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Old 10-07-2020, 04:21 PM
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Great start, keep going!
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