M20

[Paul Haese]

Another test image taken with the 16" RCOS.

Just a little over 10 hours of integration.

I am pretty happy with the resolution which is a lot sharper than any previous image I have taken of this object. The jet is clearly seen in this image.

Click here (https://paulhaese.net/M20RCOS16.html) for the larger image.

[TrevorW]

Nice depth and colour :)

[Ryderscope]

Very nice up close and personal image of one of our favourite objects. Detail has been captured well and if I look closely it think I can resolve the double/double stars in the centre :thumbsup:

[Dave882]

Great closeup Paul. Those jets are stunning!

[alpal]

Superb picture Paul,
I assume it was at full FL?
would it have been better with a focal reducer? ie -
more FOV and more intense light.

cheers
Allan

[Startrek]

Paul,
Beautiful M20 with phenomenal resolution and colour
Jets really stand out too
A bit sharper than Dave’s M20 last month , although his was captured from the Burbs B7 skies with a 14” scope
Thanks for posting

Martin

[AlexN]

Stunning Paul! The sharpness is incredibly good!

[Paul Haese]

Thanks everyone for the comments and discussion.



Hi Rodney, yes those stars at the core are difficult to manage so you can resolve them but not to much that you reduce the light from these very bright O stars.



Hi Allan, Yes this was taken at full FL. Given this scope is 20 years old and about 4 hand to me, that the company that made these excellent scopes is no longer in business, finding a focal reducer for it might well be next to impossible. For a bigger field of view I could use a much larger sensor though. Sometimes one has to be happy with what is available. I take your point though, in a perfect world a reducer would great to have.



Hi Martin, given that the object is very bright, the relative darkness has less effect but rather the seeing becomes critical with such a long focal length. I did have a run of pretty reasonable seeing for this image. We have been having one of the driest starts to the winter season in 20 years, which has led to long spells of quality seeing. The impact of which has led to allowing the resolving power of the scope to shine through. Although I wouldn't mind it being at around 4000 metres to really see what it is capable of achieving.

[alpal]

Hi Paul,
I see your point.
I did a search and I can't even find if RCOS had focal reducers?
I assume they did and that they would have been 3" types?
The only 3" one I can find is an expensive one -
0.75 X Officina-Stellare type here:
https://telescopes.net/officina-stellare-78mm-2-lens-reducer-flattner-fro-pro-rc-telescopes.html


TS has a cheap 2" type for 0.67 reduction but
I bet it would cause vignetting and wouldn't have the optical quality
to be in same league as a premium RCOS telescope.
https://davidastro.com/en-int/products/ts-optics-0-67x-reducer-for-rc-telescopes-2


cheers
Allan

[strongmanmike]

Very up close and personal Paul, looks great, promises to be a great galaxy eater of a scope too :thumbsup:

Mike

[gregbradley]

Stunning Paul. So much more detail than normally shown.

Sometimes reducers from other manufacturers work to some degree. I used to use a Tak 2.7 inch reducer on an RCOS 12.5 inch and it worked reasonably well, not perfect though.

Greg.

[Peter Ward]

An Alluna Optics reducer should work well as it was also designed for F8 RC's.

But you would need an adapter to go from a 2.7" instrument ring to 100mm.

You might not like the price either...€ 2.550. or just under $A5k landed.

[astronobob]

Extraordinary Paul, can almost reach them dark-dust lanes,,

[v8torrie]

Such colour. Amazing detail

[Bodon]

Wow great photo!

[CoolhandJo]

like i was right there! great detail and colour

[Paul Haese]

Thanks guys for the positive comments.



Ouch that is way out side of my budget. I personally can't see the value in getting that particular reducer present.