This is my first deepish image with teh 12" F3.8 astrograph.
After spending quite a while trying to tweek the colllimation on-camera using trial and error
and basically going around in circles
...I got lost so pulled the camera and corrector off and just recollimated with the Catseye tools....it's pretty close
Anyway..corner stars not perfect but everything else went well at least and after the high cloud cleared on Saturday night around midnight, I grabbed this reasonably deep image of the Prawn Nebula with just 60min each of SII, Ha and OIII...The Prawn region is not that bright really and I couldn't have gone this deep this easily with the Starfire
Full frame images 1.8deg X 1.8deg field of view
Large image (use your browser to shrink it if you like)
Small image
Crops
Slight crop for a tighter composition
Just the Prawn
Tested out the dew prevention too as the night was dew laden, the AG12 OTA has a heater molded into the tube just above the primary mirror and a heater pad is mounted behind the secondary so with the three rear mounted fans sucking air down the tube all night no dew formed on the primary, secondary or the corrector, so that was a possitive - see the photos of the scope in the morning
here and
here
Sadly although I have resisted and hoped it wouldn't be necessary...I need an off axis guider
or at least need to try stabilising and shortening my guide scope-camera setup (see above photo), 5min subs is all I can get and even that shows some trailing at times
...lucky she is big and fast!
...all part of the learning curve
Hope you liked the darstedly narrow band colour pallet this time
Mike