M42 - First Light with Skywatcher Evostar 72ED

[Jasp05]

Hi guys,

This is my first night out with the new scope in my light polluted backyard.

Was a mix of 60sec and 90sec subs totaling around an 1hr worth of exposure time.


Given this was my first time using an actual telescope on the HEQ5 pro (Getting balance with a dslr hanging off the back and guidescope off the side was trickier than expected) I think things worked out pretty well.

The scope does seem to show a bit of what I assume to be CA as a blue halo around the brighter stars. But otherwise I think this setup is going to keep me busy for a while to come.

[Anth10]

Excellent start Jasp,
Nice colour and shape to this brilliant nebula. You will no doubt have plenty of fun with your new setup,
Enjoy, and keep at it!
Anth

[Icearcher]

Hi Aaron

Good to see you got your hands on one, you'll love it. :)

If you are having issues with front to back balance, you might want to look at replacing the dovetail with a longer one, the balance point on mine with a canon 550d and a RDF is right at the front of the silver ring just in front of the focuser. I replaced the dovetail one with a 21cm one and its balances nicely.

[Jasp05]

Yeah I had a longer dovetail bar that I had to put it on to get balance fortunately. My balance point with flattener and camera is right around that same spot too.

When I first setup, my guiding was terrible, but after playing with the balance of things it settled back down to 0.8 - 1.2 RMS. So I'm happy again.

I must admit, that I just kind of accepted the coma in the corners of images with the DSLR lenses. Never let it bother me. But now I have a field flattener, everything looks so much better. Not sure I could go back now :lol: