Hello all,
I'm happy to say that I finally got a chance to catch some long-travelling photons on my new SW72ED. (Well, new to me, but Wookie's ex-scope.)
Conditions were not good - a thin layer of either high cloud or ground-hugging smoke haze, too much light pollution, and I totally failed to polar align correctly. (I couldn't see any stars through the Star Adventurer's polar scope, so it was a best guess effort.
)
First target was the Jewel Box and despite having to throw away ~80% of my subs I have an image I'd call reasonable. (Stupid "smart" power bank turned itself off because the SA wasn't drawing enough current. A dew heater at full power fixed that, though...
)
Second target is - I think - the Sombrero galaxy. All I can tell is that it's galaxy-shaped, and was somewhere between Spico and Corvus.
I saw Antares and Scorpius rising in the east but haven't yet managed to get a good image from the subs I did capture.
Subs were stacked in Sequator and tweaked in Affinity Photo. Yes, I know, all my images need more work, the Jewel Box stars are over-exposed and the focus could be better. (I blame getting old for worsening eyesight.
)
Equipment:
Sky Watcher EvoStar 72ED + 0.85 flattener
Nikon D7100 DSLR
Star Adventurer 2i
Cheers,
V