Eta Carina NGC3372 good seeing last night

[Startrek]

Captured Eta Carina last night under great weather and seeing conditions south coast
45 x 3 minute subs
20 darks
ISO 800
6” f6 newt on HEQ5 mount
Canon 600D ( sensor temp around 30deg )
PHD2 guiding around 1 arc sec error ( RA and Dec even Stevens )
Stacked in DSS
Processed in Startools

The only issue I had was collimation, my stars in the right hand side of each image were flared and the middle and left were perfectly round.Checked the primary mirror for pinching and it was ok, just misaligned a bit. The Repair module in Startools semi corrected the star shape in the final image
Focus was pretty good as even the smaller stars had tight diffraction spikes

Pulled the OTA apart today and recollimated

Might try Eta again tonight hopefully with rounder stars
Cheers

[xelasnave]

Great capture Martin you certainly nailed it.
Alex

[Ant0nio]

Lovely image Martin & nicely framed.
Cheers,
Tony

[Paulyman]

That’s really nice Martin, the skies are teasing me with clear nights when I’m working and cloudy otherwise. Can’t wait to get more data on Eta.

[Startrek]

Thanks all for your kind comments
I think I have learnt one thing in AP , you need heaps of data to expose all the good stuff in emission nebulas plus a clear still night helps too
I was going to set 2 minute subs but changed to 3 minute at the last moment and I’m glad I did
My only disappointment was the flared stars to the right of the image but I had a hunch what was wrong so just kept going all night
Thanks again
Cheers

[ChrisV]

That is a really nice image.
I wish I could figure out what makes good seeing. I thought, other than clear skies humidity might be a factor but that hasn't correlated with good/bad tracking ... I'll have to look into wind/jetstream

[Startrek]

Chris
I use Cloud Free Night CFN app and it’s really accurate , gives you general weather, satellite images, radar images , vapour , cloud, Jetstream everything. I like the dark sky map which is what astronomers need on a day to day week to week basis
You just give it your location and it finds the nearest weather station and provides updated and forecast data

Give it a try , once you have it you won’t stop opening it up and checking

Make sure you register as a “supporter” you just have to fill out a quick survey no big deal

Cheers

[multiweb]

Not bad at all. :thumbsup: I was out too. Both nights were very nice but I had again big issues with my mount. I thought I was on top of it but clearly not. :sadeyes:

[Startrek]

Thanks Marc
Hope you get your mount up and running
Cheers

[ChrisV]

Thanks Martin I use CFN but never get past the clouds ...