M83 on a budget

[ChrisD]

Hi everyone, this is my first post.

I just wanted to share this image.

I'm using a old C8 OTA, thrown together by Celestron in 1986 during the Halley Era with an HEQ5 Pro mount and a ASI294 MC Pro OSC.

55 x 300 second subs (the best of 150+ subs taken over 6 nights, early this month)
Processed in Pixinsight.

A better quality image is here:
https://www.astrobin.com/full/tcg2nt/0/

Hope you like it.

[strongmanmike]

Very nice M83 Chris, good colour and detail, well done :thumbsup:

The good'ol C8, Halley's Comet, sigh, they were the days.....:)

Mike

[ChrisD]

Thanks Mike.

Yeah, I got the C8 new in 1986 because of Halley.
It was fun, but I never want to go back to setting circles and eyepieces after goto, platesolve and digital cameras.:)

[PKay]

Hi Chris and welcome to the forum.

Your M83 is quite spectacular, one of the best I have seen from an OSC.

Well done :thumbsup:

[multiweb]

+1 top shot. Great details and colors are spot on. :thumbsup:

[Startrek]

Chris,
Welcome
Excellent M83
So much fine detail in the arms and core , colour is really nice too
Well done !!
Martin

[Geoff45]

Very nice Chris. Lots of fine detail. Seeing must have been pretty good

[ChrisD]

Thank your Peter.

[ChrisD]

Thanks Marc.

I found arcsinhstretch in Pixinsight really helped preserve colours during stretching. Made a big difference.

[ChrisD]

Thanks Martin.

The fine detail took a lot of work.

The C8 I used was never a good performer. Always a soft focus and not usable with anything above a 12mm eyepiece. I dragged it out of the garage as a Covid project, to either fix or scrap.

Completely stripped it down and rebuilt. I found multiple problems with how it was assembled. Secondary holder was 2mm off the optical axis. Main mirror was tilted 4 degrees off the baffle axis, things like this. I 3D printed jigs to reassembled correctly.

Fortunately the mirror figuring is excellent. Star tests look great now.

[ChrisD]

Thank you Geoff.

Bortle 5 sky here, not great, not terrible.
If the atmosphere cooperates I can pull subs with FWHM < 2 arc seconds.

[multiweb]

Thanks for the PI tip. Had another look this morning and your C8 field looks great for a SCT. No hint of field curvature. I have an OSC and trying to give it a go Sunday night if it's clear. The seeing forecast looks better than usual that night in western Sydney. Fingers crossed. If I come close to what you've posted I'd be stoked.

[alpal]

Hi Chris,
excellent M83.
It's a bonus that you fixed that C8.


cheers
Allan

[Ryderscope]

Top M83 Peter :thumbsup:

[ChrisD]

Oh, the field wasn't flat on the original subs, I cropped the worst out.:D

Good luck for Sunday.

Chris

[ChrisD]

Thanks you Allan!

[ChrisD]

Thanks Rodney.

[pkinchington]

Really nice!