Carina

[Peter Ward]

More toying with the AP130 Starfire GTX and dedicated flattener. Almost perfect...but something weird is going on top right of frame.

Gabby's face has slightly elongated stars...hence something slipped or was not orthogonal to the focal plane...still to be investigated.

Yes...more crimes against astro-imaging.... I know....but I figured what's one more Eta Carina in the grand scheme of things (plus I needed a standard candle)


The result is here

Uncropped and shown at about 60% resolution to give some scale and remain web-friendly.

[Atmos (Colin)]

I feel like I finally have a fighting chance to compete in the sharpness now that you’re down to a tiny 5.1” scope

In all seriousness it’s a lovely shot. Such a wide field! I don’t know how my 130mm focuser would go with the weight of a 16803 (possibly not so well ) but the correction of that AP is difficult to rival.

[Bart]

Wow, nice field, lovely colour!

[joelshort (Joel)]

Excellent Peter!

[gregbradley]

It looks great. Love the colours and stars.
Adjusting for tilt can be a difficult exercise. I spent 3 hours last night chasing tilt. Nearly got it but its still not good enough.

Greg.

[Paul Haese]

An expansive view. Colour looks great but I am sure you could find something else to image.

[Peter Ward]

Thanks guys, but the reason for the post was to illustrate the performance of the AP130GTX....which is a rare bird by any measure.

Sure there are many unusual targets available, but a comparison is difficult with apples and oranges...hence my "standard candle" comment.

Also, as Greg and others have touched on, it's also a case of "careful what you wish for" with a 16803 chip. Fantastic acreage but also shows even the slightest lack of correction, be it optical or mechanical at the edges.

Many systems that take delightful images with an APSC chip do not fare so well 50mm off axis, and in fairness, were never designed to do so.

Fortunately there are many equipment choices available these days, so you don't have go 50mm off axis, yet still get a great result...I simply wanted to show what it looks like when you do.

[LewisM]

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

An expansive view. Colour looks great but I am sure you could find something else to image.

Yes, Carina is so, you know, bourgeois....you need to move on to something obscure like M42 or Thor's Helmet

[Andy01 (Andy)]

Possibly the tightest stars I've seen - impressive!
Now go point it at well, anything else really lol

[alpal]

Looks great Peter with tack sharp stars.
Maybe there is a tiny bit too much saturation?
How can a tilt problem affect only one corner?

cheers
Allan

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by alpal

Looks great Peter with tack sharp stars.
Maybe there is a tiny bit too much saturation?
How can a tilt problem affect only one corner?

cheers
Allan

Yes, I guess the saturation is a tad Las Vegas neon

As for the dud corner...it actually starts to be noticeable about 1/3rd the way out but is masked by the down-sampling in the uploaded image and seeing. I'm pretty sure the CCD nosepiece is a tad off and will shim it in due course.

[alpal]

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

Yes, I guess the saturation is a tad Las Vegas neon

As for the dud corner...it actually starts to be noticeable about 1/3rd the way out but is masked by the down-sampling in the uploaded image and seeing. I'm pretty sure the CCD nosepiece is a tad off and will shim it in due course.

Hi Peter,
Thanks for your reply.
I hope a shim solves the problem?

cheers
Allan