As stated in an earlier post, my original processing on the very brief AG12 first light Cats Paw image to remove the noise, also blured the stars and wiped out many of the fainter ones - I was rushing with excitment
.
This time I have compared raw combines with only DDP filter applied in similar strengths to each image, no noise reduction or extra sharpening.
Now in these two 100% crops we can compare the resolution acheived by taking 9 X 10min with a Astrophysics 6" Starfire APO against 10 X 2min taken with the Orion Optics AG12. Both images were taken through the same 11.8nm Astronomik Halpha filter.
While the AG12 image was snapped under a 3/4 moon (about 30deg away in the sky!) and in severe light pollution, there was no moon or light pollution for the Starfire image so with a 12nm Ha filter in use the signal to noise comparison really isn't fair.
The resolution however is essentially the same with only a lack of exposure and the seeing really being the determining factors - seeing was better on the night using the Starfire.
After this simple test exposure I would have to say that for a fast corrected Newtonian astrograph with a wopping 2.6deg diagonal FOV to have resolution this closely comparable to a World leading APO refractor is really quite remarkable!
Here is the comparison:
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/134190322/original
Mike