Hello everyone!!
Well I finally managed to put my 8" RC through its paces for the second time since I got it. This time I collimated it using the hand & camera method and got a lovely airy disk. I fine tuned my polar alignment using
PHDlab and managed to get it to within ~5 arcmins of spot on, which I was very happy with.
After my somewhat disappointing first light with the Horsehead nebula I decided to image a brighter object and settled on NGC1977, The Running Man nebula, not to be confused with Arnold Schwarzenegger's 1987 film, The Running Man!!
So details of the image are:
Scope: GSO 8" RC F/8
Mount: HEQ5 Pro
Camera: QHY8L
Guiding: Orion ST80, QHY5 & PHD
LP Filter: Baader UHC-S
Subs: 20x5minutes
Darks, Flats and Dark Flats
Stacking: DSS
Processing: StarTools
Final Cosmetics: GIMP
Although a bit noisy, this is about 1 gazillion times better than my first light!
Cheers,
Mario