Into the Heart of Gum14

[matlud]

Hi everyone,

I am pleased to present my first image taken from my new observatory 😀.

https://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=303121&stc=1&d=1678485869
Astrobin: https://www.astrobin.com/on1mpp/

Last year I decided it was time to set up my own observatory. The plan was locate the observatory at our holiday place which is a reasonably short drive from our home - I would control the observatory remotely but as we are often there in the weekends, any observatory work would (hopefully) fit in with family life.

I have been following Mike’s amazing Eagleview observatory with a lot of interest. My location is quite different to Eagleview, and I suspect I can lay claim to having the lowest observatory in New Zealand being a total of 10m above sea level 😂.

The observatory is subject to coastal conditions but it is in lovely Bortle 2 skies. Given the environmental conditions I wanted the maximum protection for my gear and so decided on a dome observatory. A larger dome would just not quite fit in the designated site, so after a lot of research, I decided on a Scopedome 2M. It has been a lot of work (and a lot of fun) getting everything sorted and setup, but very exciting and satisfying to have it all in place. I have attached a few photos of the setup for those interested.

https://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=303122&stc=1&d=1678485869
Scopedome 2M

https://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=303123&stc=1&d=1678485869
Inside view

https://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=303124&stc=1&d=1678485869
Scope in action taken remotely from the internal monitoring camera, bathed in the gentle light of multiple illuminated power switches

I decided to image Gum14 in LRGB as a first light and use my APM refractor. Gum14 is a large emission nebula that was first catalogued by the famous Australian Astronomer Colin Gum, and is also included in the RCW catalogue as RCW27. Gum 14 is located just north of the Vela SNR, and so is not as often imaged compared to its famous neighbour. Within Gum 14 there are numerous molecular clouds, and a number of reflection nebula, including the beautiful NGC2626. It also the site of active star formation, and if you look closely there are a few Herbig Haro objects. These are small nebulas caused by jets of ionised gas being ejected by newly forming stars interacting with surrounding gas clouds.

Cheers,
Mat

Technical
APM 123/738 refractor
ASI6200mm Pro
Chroma LRGB filters
GM1000HPS mount unguided
Exposure 20 hours (L:R:G:B 445:300:240:215)

[Paul Haese]

Hi Mathew,

I really like the colours and the composition of the image.

Nice dome also. Scopedome make a great complete package which has continually improved over the years.

[gregbradley]

A wonderful first light and congrats on your new observatory.
I am in the process of building a new observatory as well.

Greg.

[matlud]

Thanks Paul, and also thanks for your advice regarding your foundation for your 3M -I did a similar slab and has worked perfectly 👍

I have been very happy with the scopedome. One great feature of the Scopedome 2M compared to its larger siblings, is it comes assembled -I only had to install the base tower, and then the dome on top of this. This required installing a number of concrete anchors and sealing the base of the tower with silicone (a lot), but was fairly straightforward. I'm still tweaking a few of the dome geometry settings but great to get up and running.

[matlud]

Many thanks Greg! Look forward to seeing your new observatory in action.
Cheers, Mat

[AdamJL]

Congratulations on the new obsy! Sidereal Trading just did a YouTube episode on the 2M ScopeDome. I was wondering if it was too small to work in, but you seemed to have got it all together well.

[Nikolas]

Great image and composition!!

[alpal]

Hi Mathew,
that's a wonderful image.
That premium refractor is handling your full frame camera very well.
I look forward to seeing many more pictures from you.


cheers
Allan

[kosborn]

Very nice image. Well processed with good colour. Obviously great data from your Bortle 2 Obs!

[matlud]

Thanks Adam! The 2M is quite cozy, especially with the lower tower which I have 😂. I think it is large enough for a 10inch newtonian or 12.5 inch CDK/RC but probably wouldn't fit anything much larger. Jacek at Scopedome did show me a mockup showing a Celestron 14inch on a GM2000HPS, so that may be the max. I did plan the fit out so all the extra gear is placed around the walls of the tower as much as possible, so I have the floor largely free of any extra gear which helps when inside sorting things during the day.

[matlud]

Thanks Nik!

[matlud]

Many thanks Allan! I have cropped this for framing, and the better seeing at the observatory compared to my backyard has shown I still have some work to do with backfocus to get the corner stars sorted for small pixel full frame 😀

[matlud]

Thanks Kevin! I was really stoked with the data and looking forward to putting the dark skies to good use this winter 😀

[strongmanmike]

Looking good Mat, nice first light too :thumbsup:

Mike

[Ryderscope]

Fantastic Matt. Great to see the new obs up and running and a fantastic first published image :thumbsup: