First Light New Rig NGC 6744 Pavo Galaxy

[Startrek]

Still have some tuning and testing to do on my new rig but here’s my first light captured from the NexDome South Coast NSW. There’s always a bit of anxiety setting up a new rig but everything worked perfectly the first time which is amazing, I’m usually fixing gremlins or focus or some other issue

Wednesday night
No Moon
Bortle 3/4
Conditions average but improved after 1am ( should have collected more data but I was struggling at 2.00am, felt a bit crook so shut down )
10” f5 Klaus Helmerich Carbon Fibre Newt ( focal length 1250mm )
Skywatcher EQ8-R Pro mount
ZWOASI2600MC cooled to -10C , Gain 0 HDR
No filter
TS Optics GPU coma corrector
ZWO EAF focuser
42 x 5 minute dithered guided subs
40 x Flats
60 x Bias
EQMOD, Stellarium, APT
PHD2 Multistar guiding ( 0.65 to 0.75 ) worms pretty stable ,just need fine tuning , only discarded 3 subs with ever so slightly bloated stars
Stacked in DSS
Processed in Startools V1.7 OSC linear data set

Pretty happy with the first image ( more data would have been nice )

Comments welcome
Thanks

[strongmanmike]

Good to hear everything worked as expected Marty and quite a nice result on a pretty amazing galaxy :thumbsup:

Mike

[xelasnave]

Martin I am so happy to see this post and hear of your progress...fantastic and wonderful first image, I gave it a go but it's still wet here..last night went for the Dragons and a terrible result and fog by midnight...I am going to drop down to the 80mm or just the Nikon and try and manage...it looks clear but so jumpy..

You getting such a good result has cheered me up today.

Your just keep hitting them out of the park and you deserve all your good results and forward progress...

Alex

[PKay]

For a first light ya gotta be happy with that outcome!

Stunning galaxy M, one of your best I reckon.

For only 3.5hrs work that rig certainly performs well.

Congrads :thumbsup:

[Stephane]

Very nice Martin. Well done on setting up the new rig. You have some very, very nice gear. Can’t wait to see your future images. This one at just 3.5h is a great start.

[AdamJL]

Excellent, nice work, Martin. Second image for me! Great detail

[Dave882]

Great work Martin! Fantastic first light and it’s good to see everything’s working as it should! With the 10” newt you will be pulling in lots of lovely detail so I’d love to see some full res links when you have it all worked out! ;) :thumbsup:

[AstroViking]

For a 'shake-down' imaging run, that's a damned good result Martin.

I can't wait to see what you produce next.

Cheers,
V

[Startrek]

Thanks Mike,
I bet you can’t wait to collect some photons from your Obs on top of the world too
Cheers
M

[Startrek]

Thanks Alex,
Very kind comments and glad it has cheered you up
I was expecting problems but all went like clockwork. The Astro gods have been kind to me
Just a bit of tuning on the EQ8-R worms plus some more balance testing
PHD2 just worked seamlessly, I thought guiding this big long OTA with a guide scope would cause problems. I made sure everything was solid as a rock and used big solid Losmandy bars and stainless hex bolts, spring washers and flat washers etc..,

Cheers
Martin

[Startrek]

Thanks PK
Very happy with everything so far
M.

[Startrek]

Thanks Stephane 👍

[Startrek]

Thanks Dave

Yes there’s a big difference between an 8” and 10” in Astrophotography
This things a light bucket ( my big bazooka )
Now my Obs looks like an Obs

Cheers
Martin

[Bassnut]

yes, thats pretty good for a test run, well done !. This trend to many short subs on CMOS is interesting and working well.

[Startrek]

Thanks Steve
Appreciate it

Martin

[Startrek]

Thanks Fred
I would have captured more data but at 2am I was physically sick , so had shut down. It’s been cloudy since. I can always add data later
I reckon 8 hrs on this object with my OSC would be enough , any more it would be a diminishing return IMO

Cheers
Martin

[Bassnut]

Hang on, now that you have an obs, why does it matter how sick you are?. Why do you have to baby sit this all night (or maybe because your in test mode).
Get it going, go to bed and wake up to all night data :P.
Then, despite diminishing returns, you just keep going, night after night. Or is that the plan in the future?.

[Startrek]

Not every Obs is a fully automated remote imaging centre
Mines semi auto and that’s the way I like it !!
I made my own Dome rotation control system with electromechanical time delay relays , contractors and timers etc…. works well and a fun little project
Also Im an imager and an observer , so I have my 12” dob with Televue eye piece collection next to the Obs , so no going to bed when it’s clear ( unless I'm crook or have other private commitments )
Cheers
Martin

[Bassnut]

oh ok, i understand. The observing experience at the same time is all part of the fun.

[gregbradley]

That's an impressive first light of this beautiful, but dim, galaxy.


Greg.

[Startrek]

Thanks Greg

Cheers
Martin

[Startrek]

Spent another hour on the image this arvo and squeezed a bit more detail and contrast out of it using Startools
Same stretch
Added Contrast module
Added HDR module ( reveal all )
Addd some Decon 1.8 pixels
Increased Bright saturation in Colour module

Here’s the result

Native frame version
Crop version

Cheers
Martin

[gregbradley]

Really nice Martin, one of your finest. Top notch.

The problem with images of this object is usually the dominance of the Milky Way's foreground stars.
Yours shows a nice balance.
Greg.

[marc4darkskies]

Great first light Martin! Well done.

[Startrek]

Thanks Greg
Yes this Galaxy has a very prominent Star field
Startools has quite a few modules and operations which can gently tone down the Star field without looking too artificial

Martin

[Startrek]

Thanks Marcus
Everything just clicked , must be a first for me
Gives me confidence moving forward

Cheers
Martin

[kosborn]

Nicely done Martin. Great result! I'm glad you are enjoying the CF Newt. I love mine but took the easy option of Diego building it for me. Putting it together yourself must make the resulting images even more satisfying!

Kevin

[Startrek]

Thanks Kevin,
The build went together quite good, only had to elongate a few holes. The only concern was whether it would come to focus with the TS GPU coma corrector. Lucky I had 10mm spare travel which doesn’t seem much but it’s plenty.
It’s so much easier to collimate compared to my smaller Newts which surprised me. Yes Paul and Diego from Sidereal are always accomodating, great Astro company. They will be producing their own carbon fibre Newts very soon. I hope they make a success of it.

Cheers
Martin

[xelasnave]

I really like those last two Martin and love the spikes.
I may try this object again to see if I can get anywhere near your top quality ...I dont think I have a chance of course but may help me figure out what I need to fix on my rig.
alex

[Startrek]

Thanks Alex,
Appreciate it
From what I gather a RASA ( especially a huge one ) is not an easy beast to tame , that’s why I stuck to using basic newts , they just do the job and easy to collimate , focus and set up.
I think your making steady progress with that big rig and from the sounds of it your conditions are not great with mist and fog and cloud etc… which definitely doesn’t help
Can I suggest something, maybe pick an easy bright target like M8 , try your OSC 2600MC first , then once that’s mastered , move on to your Mono 2600MM with filters etc…
Ive always found small steps lead to quicker progress and eventually satisfying results.
I take my hat of to you for taking on a difficult challenge

Thanks again !

Best always
Martin

[xelasnave]

Good advice Martin.

I tend to jump in the deep end. I had never seen a moto cross race but read about them in a dirt bike magazine ...so on the Tuesday I ordered a new MX bike, picked it up on the Thursday, ran it in on the Saturday and saw my first MX race on the Sunday and went in the race after that one:D. Did not hang back either and got thru the first corner in fifth:D..the first time I went sailing was on the Sunday in the boat I had bought on the previous Thursday.

The big problem with the RASA is the filter drawer is not close to the camera with a 20 mm spacer...I need to rearrange this ... it is bad enough having filters with the short F/L but having the filter set so far away will see issues....I should have sorted it out but after all the waiting for filters, sending back incorrect filter drawers, not being able to sortvout back focus with the bits in the box ....and more... I was happy when I got back focus (thanks to some work with an angle grinder) and finally get some sort of an image...I have worked out the thing most certainly has tilt (if not tilt I have a huge problem) and to get rid of the doughnuts in the bottom left corner I have to make the focus a bit soft elsewhere...

Anyways I will fix it but I suspect it may become just a OSC scope ...which would be good as I reckon I could bag 5 objects a night.

I am thinking of getting a Espirite 150 mm if I give up on the RASA...as you know I like six inch scopes;):lol:

Anyways it is great to see your results I get real excited when I see you have a new post :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
Alex.

[Retrograde]

Congratulations on first light in the new observatory and a fine image too. :thumbsup:

[Startrek]

Thanks Pete
Appreciate it
It’s my first light with the upgraded rig
I’ve had my Obs since March 2021

Cheers
Martin