First light, in the Archer's garden

[Camelopardalis]

Folks,

For its first trip out of the bright city lights, last night I took the Esprit 100 out to a mate's place in a green zone for a visual (imaging?) picnic in the Archer's garden...looking at the plants next to the Lagoon :D

After fighting a bit with my polar alignment and OAG, I managed to get a set of subs before the Moon came up. Here we are.

Kit: Skywatcher Esprit 100 on EQ6, modded Canon 1100D

29x 2 minute subs at ISO 1600. Suitably stacked and inappropriately cooked :lol: I will have to work on a new workflow, as I struggled with the colour balance for one.

Edit: thanks to raymo's suggestion, I've gone back and tackled the core that I'd overblown :thanx: I've also taken the opportunity to tickle the blue a little more.

Cheers,
Dunk

[5ash]

I loved the field of view ,great telescope you have. Stars nice and round and nice colours. You have done a great job.
Regards philip :thumbsup:

[raymo]

That's a ripper.
raymo

[cometcatcher]

:thumbsup:That's a most delightful image Dunk. Colour balance looks fine. Well done.

[raymo]

Having another close look, I think that if you quieten down the bright area around the three equidistant stars about a third of the way down
the nebula, you will reveal a bit more detail around said stars. This
would be more important if you should decide to enlarge the image.
In my M8s at a larger scale, there is quite a lot of detail around those
stars.
raymo

[Camelopardalis]

Thanks guys! Hopefully first of many :D

[Camelopardalis]

Thanks for the tip raymo, I'll give it a try :thumbsup:

[killswitch]

Quality result there Dunk! Mmmm new scope goodness.

Did the OAG go well with this refractor?

[britgc]

Nice one Dunk!

[RobC]

Nice one Dunk. You should have posted in Deep Sky. This one is too good for beginners. BTW Nice scope

Rob

[Camelopardalis]

Thanks Edison! Yeah it's a lot easier to get a guide star at 550mm F/L vs 2800 :D



Thanks Bret!



Thanks Rob! Weeeelll it's first light, not everything went smoothly, etc, so I know it's capable and deserving of better :D

[BruceG]

SLAM! Dunk (sorry but i couldn't help myself)
That's a fantastic field and great colours. Onward and upwards.
Bruce.

[AstroJason]

That is fantastic mate, well done. You did a really good job with the colour balance. They look great. Really like the detail you have in the Lagoon with the dark nebs all dotted through it. You have also captured the fainter outer parts of the reflection part of the Trifid. Top stuff Dunk, if this is first light, can't wait to see what you're going to be coming up with in the future!

[Camelopardalis]

Ha ha, thanks Bruce! I'm really excited by this scope so far.



Thanks Jason! I'm really excited by the taste of this scope, at f/5.5 it seems to do a good job with relatively short exposures. And the ol' 1100D is old tech!

[Rod771]

Great start with the new scope, Dunk! :thumbsup:

I like the repo, nice detail in the brighter area's.

[dylan_odonnell]

Looks good to me :)

[Camelopardalis]

Thanks Rod! Yeah the repro Lagoon has almost a vortex-like depth to it :lol:



Thanks Dylan!

[raymo]

Glad it helped.
raymo

[kosh]

Nice job Dunk!

I really like seeing the trifid & lagoon in the one frame.

The skywatcher esprit looks like a great scope too.

Goran.

[Camelopardalis]

Thanks Goran! The scope really shows promise. I have some new and better data in this area and my jaw just dropped when I saw it. And the seeing hasn't even been very good this week with all the wind!

I'd really like to see this scope with a full-frame chip on board...any volunteers for AstroFest welcomed :D