The Blue Horsehead

[gregbradley]

This is to the left of the Rho Ophiuchi complex. I also took a very widefield image of it for my existing Rho Ophiuchi image to form a mosaic to be posted another time.

CFF 105 F6 oiled FPL55 triplet. Wow I am really liking this scope. The optics are probably the sharpest of any scope I have had. The Feathertouch focuser seems even nicer than other ones I have had. If you are looking for a high end APO consider CFF as they are really at the pointy end of perfection here.

Proline 16803, (round stars to the corners thanks to the also very well made field flattener and precise adapters from Joshua Bunn here).

LRGB image, -30C, 10 minute subs, 70, 40 40 40 all 1x1 binned at my dark site piggybacked on a CDK17 on an AP1600 with ridiculous jerry rigged counterweights (whatever was nearby that was heavy).

Did you know there has been a run on gym weights?? I have ordered some from Ebay to neaten up my mount.

https://pbase.com/gregbradley/image/170728668/large regular size

https://pbase.com/gregbradley/image/170728668/original swimming size.


Greg.

[Atmos]

That’s come up quite nicely Greg, it’s on my to-do list :)
The CFF is correcting for the 16803 very nicely.

[strongmanmike]

Nice work Greggles and the degree of correction and star quality looks pretty much as good as my FSQEDX4...it's so easy to image with these sort of scopes, they just deliver :thumbsup:

Mike

[Andy01]

Nice field Greg!
Sharp too - I wonder if for aesthetic's sake if it would be worth punching up the yellow stars for some colour contrast?

Great stuff - congrats on a new toy that works as it should! :D

[Bart]

That is a nice image, Greg.

[gregbradley]

It had a very specific metal back distance of 77.4mm. I measured everything carefully and added the extra 1mm for the 1/3rd of the 3mm thick Astrodon filters. Joshua Bunn made me 2 very precise adapters so I am at the exact distance. Thanks Josh. I have one for both the Proline and the Microline 16 which I have yet to use on it. I wonder if the smaller pixels will be noticeable.



Yes they are a pleasure to use and make imaging so much easier and really more fun.



That's a good idea Andy. I did a small amount of that and it does look a bit nicer. Thanks for the tip.



Cheers Bart. This area of the sky is really one of the night sky gems.

Greg.

[Placidus]

Utterly pinpoint stars. Oh, so jealous!


Beautifully done.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Mike. And guess what? It was manually focused. The feathertouch focuser is very precise.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

With my image scale (3.5"/pix) seeing is never a big issue, I think that's a big part of making it seem so easy, subs rarely look soft/bad :)

Mike

[Retrograde]

A really nice Blue Horsehead Greg.
Wow this thing is big - you only just fitted it in with the refractor & FF chip.

[JA]

Superb corner to corner Greg.... :thumbsup:

Best
JA

[Peter Ward]

Super result Greg. The CFF looks to be the goods.

A great motivational image!

My FSQ106 got taken out of mothballs last week...just waiting on the 645 reducer to arrive ('aint cheap but a 16803 field at 380mm f/3.6 was too seductive :) )

Images like the one you have showcased here certainly have a wow-factor that
is most worthy of emulating :thumbsup:

[marc4darkskies]

Nicely done Greg! Quite a haunting image.

[gregbradley]

That's true.



Yes it is big. The chip is actually 50% bigger than full frame. Even so I couldn't get all of Rho Ophiuchi in one image and didn't really have time available to do a mosaic of it so I chose this instead.



Thanks JA. Correct spacing and a little adjustment for tilt and it was all good.



Cheers Marcus. It is a bit of moody area. I also imaged this widefield with a Canon EOS R and a 14mm lens to add to the Rho image I did already.

Greg.

[Ryderscope]

Beautiful Greg and an impressive set up.

[PeterSEllis]

Hi Greg,
Another excellent shot to add to your collection.

Peter

[gregbradley]

High praise- thank you. The FSQ is a venerable scope. I don't know if its exactly the same reducer but I used one for a while and it does give a nice super widefield 380mm or so perspective which is usually lens territory.
https://pbase.com/gregbradley/image/124811617/large
https://pbase.com/gregbradley/image/124761790/large

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Can you get a reducer for the CFF..?

I'd love the 645 reducer for the FSQ (although a bit of pain to switch in and out of course) but it's just so expensive :shrug: there will just have to be enough fields that the F5/16803 suits for some time yet :)...besides, preeeetty sure I would get an easy to read facial expression, if I was to ask....:rolleyes:

Mike

[markas]

Great image, Greg:thumbsup:

(That CFF is a super performer!)


Mark

[gregbradley]

I think there are 2 reducers. I used one that from memory cost about US$600 and it went inside the end of the scope on a bucket adapter which I think I still have.

It gave round stars to the corners of the 16803 so no need to get the super expensive one. I see them sometimes on Astromart.

It was this one:

https://optcorp.com/products/tk-73x-reducer-fsq106ed

I think Tak are being conservative with the 44mm corrected field. I got round stars to the corners of the 16803 as shown in those 2 images I linked



Thanks very much Mark. It certainly is an excellent scope and its good to know some super craftsman are still out there once Roland Christen retires.

Greg.

[DavidU]

Very good indeed, love the sharp stars

[gregbradley]

Thanks David. Yes the scope is producing some sharp stars which is what I prefer to see with stars if possible.

Greg.

[Peter Ward]

Correct-a-mun-doh

The 645 has a wider corrected field and is a tad faster...

https://optcorp.com/products/takahashi-fsq-106-645-qe-reducer-set-for-fsq-106ed

Hoping for an ETA in about 3 weeks.

That said, if I didn't already have a FSQ, the CFF would be very tempting.
As I said, that's a great result :thumbsup: