[Startrek (Martin)]

Here’s my 1st lights using a Mono camera , the 2600MM under Sydney’s Bortle 8 skies over the past 2 weeks.
NGC 253 Sculptor Galaxy broadband LRGB Antlia filters
NGC 7293 Helix Nebula narrowband Antlia 3nm Ha Oiii ( captured Sii but it was mostly noise so didn’t use it )
8” f5 Klaus Helmerich Carbon newt
Skywatcher EQ6-R pro mount

The capture side of things was more than double the work of my 2600MC which doesn’t worry me , however I expected better SNR for similar integration time to that of my 2600MC. It is slightly better but not significantly better

I must admit though shooting the Sculptor Galaxy with 90 sec subs through a Lum filter was a bit silly , the histogram was off the richter scale
Total integration for LRGB was around 5 hours

Also capturing the Helix using the Antlia 3nm filters , folk on other forums suggested I push longer subs to achieve better SNR under heavy LP skies, I was using 3min at Gain 100.
Total integration for Ha and Oiii was 8 hrs ( Sii on this object was just noise so I didn’t use it )

Camera worked well
Mount was guiding beautifully over several nights
Filter wheel operated perfectly
Flats a bit of a challenge but found a solution using ASTAP instead of DSS ( a much better stacker at least for Mono data sets used for Startools)
Processed in Startools v1.8

A little disappointed in the fidelity of the images using the 2600MM but I’ve gotta tell myself I’m shooting under a horrible sky and “integration time is the key” always ……..

Man this Mono journey is a lotta work , OSC is a snack compared to capture and processing with Mono.

Heading down to my Dome on Sunday for 2 weeks so hopefully the 2600MM will surprise me under Bortle 3 skies ( pending clear nights )

Thanks for looking
Martin