First time imaging M8 with my 8” Carbon Newt , 2600MM and Antlia 3nm filters. The Oiii filter is noticeably affected by moon glare, very noisy subs.
My previous 6” metal tube newt use to fit the whole of M8 perfectly in the FOV but this bigger scope with longer focal length only fits around 85% of the main structure.
Captured over 2 nights ( 10 hours integration)
Waxing Moon 89% to 95%
Seeing conditions average to good
Bortle 8 City suburban skies
8”f5 Klaus Helmerich Carbon fibre Newtonian Reflector
Skywatcher EQ6-R pro mount
ZWO 2600MM cooled to -10C , Gain 100
ZWO 7x2” EFW
ZWO EAF
Orion 60mm guide scope with helical focuser
ZWO 120MM guide scope
PHD2 Multistar guiding ( total error avg 0.50 to 0.60 arc sec )
Antlia 3nm Filters
Ha 61 x 5min dithered subs
Oiii 32 x 5min dithered subs
Sii 31 x 5min dithered subs
Darks frames from Library
Flats Ha , Oiii and Sii
Flat Darks Ha, Oiii and Sii
Analysed , Calibrated, Stacked and Aligned in ASTAP
Processed in Startools V1.8 via Compose
Colour HST / SHO preset with saturation and colour bias adjustments
Didn’t capture RGB stars , instead used Startools Shrink module with a Star mask and adjusted colour taming and halo extend parameters. Not perfect but Stars are good enough for me considering it’s an SHO palette.
Used my Astro pedestal fan again on both nights blowing air over the Newt as dew formed early , it kept the mirrors clear all night till the early hours.
Quite pleased with the level of detail in the final image considering condition's
Link to Astrobin for full resolution…..
https://www.astrobin.com/hezbta/
Attached SHO version in 200KB
Attached HOO version in 200KB
Comments welcome
Thanks for looking
Martin