M16 Eagle Nebula

[Decimus]

From Sept 18 with WO GT102 and ZWO ASI071MC Pro camera; just 20x60 S lights and 10 darks, at -19. Tracked, not guided. I ruined a perfect polar alignment by tightening the altitude screw after PA...Duh.hence the obvious elongation of the stars. No flattener. Just an exciting first night out!:D

Richard

[PKay]

Having fun is the main thing Richard!

I have spent many hours (we all have) trying to get things working.

Any result is worthwhile.

Well done!

[Decimus]

Thanks for the encouraging words, Peter. I am a slow, bumbling learner! Will persist, however.

Cheers,
Richard

[Robert_T]

stars look pretty round to me, but perhaps my experience level is low with this new digital stuff... back in the film days those would have been outstanding :-) amazing detail for just 20min! I have the ASI071MC on order myself so will be interested to see how it goes. I have a much smaller sensored camera at the moment which is more forgiving on back-focus field curvature etc.

[Decimus]

Thanks, Robert. When you get your ASI071MC, don't forget to turn the dew heater on through whatever software you are using. I discovered, through Sky X Pro, that my heater was set to 0 (OFF) instead of 1 (ON), although the manufacturer's instructions clearly imply the reverse! (I had this clarified by ZWO).

Cheers,
Richard

[jahnpahwa]

what a nice result for first night out! For any night out, really. I think the colour you have there is really nice indeed, and the pillars are very nicely defined :)

It looks as though the stars are looking pretty neat on the RHS of the image? Is this a crop? It may have been more the lack of flattener than lack of PA precision if you've cropped out some more field on the right there?

[Robert_T]

thanks for the tip Richard. It's meant to arrive tomorrow :thumbsup:

[Decimus]

Thanks, JP. I do have a massive flattener/reducer for my WO GT 102- it's the WO APO Reducer/Flattener 8 (US $698). It just sits there in its box unused. I think it's too much for a 102mm scope (even though I was assured by WO that it was made for this scope and larger models). So, all my images are without a flattener at all! I am worried about flexure in the optical train because the flattener is so heavy (1kg).

I will have a much longer crack at M16 soon!

Cheers,
Richard