It's been a looooong time for me since imaging thanks to the dog**** weather we've had in Sydney. In that 7-8 month hiatus I did end up changing large amounts of my kit though. I added a ZWO EAF, ASIAir, bought a mono camera, associated filters and a new telescope to boot. I still have my Esprit 120, but last night the only bit of gear that I used which I had used previously was my mount! I did try using my Air one night but had issues with it and didn't persist.
First light for the ASI2600MM, Askar FRA500, ASIAir, OAG-L.
Had a few kinks to work out. I wanted to connect the camera up to my laptop first to work out where the focus point for the OTA and OAG were in daylight. The 2600MM refused to play nice though and wouldn't recognise in Sharpcap or APT - although the 290MM plugged into the USB hub of the 2600 worked perfectly! I knew the camera was fine as I had done some darks on the ASIAir, and indeed, it worked first go in the ASIAir last night. Today, my laptop recognised the 2600MM just fine. No idea what the go was last night
I think there's some tilt in the image train somewhere too as the bottom left/right corners have some funky stars, but it's cropped out on this image. Need to figure out how to use the tilt plate on the OAG-L.
I figured NGC3372 was a nice and easy first light target for what was essentially a whole new kit. I am super impressed with the quality of this camera and the filters; the data is just so clean despite relatively low integration time as some high cloud blew in around 11PM and I packed it in.
Was really impressed with the ASIAir as well. It was very easy to use and as someone who had barely touched it prior to last night, I was up and running quite quickly. It's definitely my preferred way of imaging now vs a laptop.
2600MM
EQ6-R
ZWO EFW 7x36
Chroma 5nm Ha & Sii
Chroma 3nm Oiii
Askar FRA500
Sii 22x180s
Ha 30x180s
Oiii 24x180s
Pretty happy with the result for someone who has not imaged since last September
Link to a higher quality version as I have to absolutely murder the quality to fit within attachment guidelines here.
