We'll be Counting Stars...

[Retrograde]

Hi all,

In addition to the big scope & mount I also took my 35 year-old Vixen SP mount away with me on last month's dark-sky trip.
One night I set up my old DSLR and 135mm lens on the Vixen and let it run in 'set and forget' mode whilst I went back to imaging with the ZWO/MN190

It's one of the richest regions of the Milky Way and no doubt well known to most here. I managed to fit in the Lagoon and Trifid, as well as the Sagittarius Star Cloud along with IC 1284 at lower left and open cluster M23 at top left.

40 x 90 sec subs at ISO 400 and at f2.8 tracked but unguided.
Astro-modded Pentax K-5iis and Samyang 135mm ED UMC lens.

The high-res version (HD) is here: astrobin (https://www.astrobin.com/full/4srcxk/0/)

C & CC welcome as always. :)

Pete

[multiweb]

:eyepop: Always love a good widefield. Nice one. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[peter_4059]

Impressive. The stars are really well resolved. Always good to see these objects in perspective.

[vlazg]

Nice Pete, a very pleasing wide field.
I can’t get it out of my head that the Lagoon looks like Homer Simpson. :)

[strongmanmike]

Cracking shot Pete, nicely corrected lens :thumbsup: I'm with George on Homer too :)

Mike

[Retrograde]

Thanks Marc! It's a tried and tested imaging combo but as my attention was elsewhere I wasn't sure how it would come out.




Thanks Peter. The lens works really well but correct focus is critical.



Oh yeah - I won't be able to unsee it now, Doh! :rofl:



Cheers Mike! Happy I can now run this combo semi-autonomously as long as I take care during setup. The nights I get under proper dark skies are few and far between so I try and make the most of it. ;)

[atalas]

Yep....love a good wide shot and this turned out nice too :thumbsup:

[Retrograde]

Thanks Louie!

[rustigsmed]

that's excellent Pete ! I've got the same lens keen to give it a whirl after seeing your effort here!

cheers

[Ryderscope]

'tis a great wide field view and the colours have come out well too :thumbsup:

[Retrograde]

Thanks Russell!
It's a great lens - looking forward to seeing some of your images with it. :thumbsup:



Thanks Rodney - appreciate it. :)

[astronobob]

Thats really nice in AstroBin, Pete, I can see finer details compared to my full-frame with larger pixels & the same lens, I'd need near 200mm for that field, & a fast prime are way expensive, I might consider a RedCat down the track but doubt the startracker would do it justice...
Awesome Image and grouse to see for sure :thumbsup:

[Retrograde]

Thanks Bob!

The Samyang/Rokinon 135mm lens has becom so popular there is actually a group on Ast boon dedicated to it.
Plenty of photographers have connected cooled astro cameras to it. Might eventually try connecting my ZWO 2600MC to it one day.