First light - 130mm f5 newtonian

[rmuhlack (Richard)]

I have been after a second wide-field setup to compliment my VC200L, and recently purchased a 130mm f5 newtonian from Marc (multiweb) here on the Forums, to sit on top of LewisM's ex HEQ5. After a few enhancements, such as Robofocus, a larger secondary, and top/bottom Losmandy plates I was finally ready this week for "first light".

NGC7293 - The Helix Nebula
Exposure details: 102 x 4min dithered subs
Camera: modded Canon 400D @ ISO1600

A bit too much noise to elegantly show the galactic cirrus in this area, however there are hints of the outer Helix shell which I am very pleased about. Still a minor guiding issue to sort out, as there is some elongation in Dec, however this setup shows great promise and I'm looking forward to more.

As always, comments and critique welcome

Edit: hi-res version here http://www.astrobin.com/full/51492/B/?

[04Stefan07 (Stefan)]

Wow! I got the same spec telescope (130SLT) and seeing these photos that you have taken has given me heaps of confidence to get a very nice photo of the night sky. Looking forward to trying it out at Snake Valley in November.

I never actually thought of turning the OTA around so I don't need to stand on my tippy toes to look through the eyepiece since my tripod is quite high. Such a simple thing I didn't even think about haha .

Keep the pics coming!

[rmuhlack (Richard)]

Thanks Stefan. According to the print on the OTA, my scope actually started out life as a 130SLT, so its basically the same telescope! Mine came with a 2" GSO focuser already fitted, however I needed to cut down the tube slightly to shift the focal plane to a suitable position for DSLR imaging. Anyway, i'm very happy with the results so far!

[Lee]

That's a great helix Richard - 400min is a pretty extensive first light!

[rmuhlack (Richard)]

Originally Posted by Lee

That's a great helix Richard - 400min is a pretty extensive first light!

Thanks Lee. Technically i suppose that it is first light and second light. 56 subs on one night followed by 46 the following session (last night). I would have had more than 46 last night, except i noticed at about 2am that the dew heater had stopped working (looks like a flakey 12v cigarette socket on the new power supply), so I decided to call it a night.

[LewisM]

Just lovely.

[Rod771 (Rod)]

Looks good Richard

I like the pic of the scope under the stars too

[hotspur (Chris)]

Lovely image,like the in situ ones too,well done!

[Ross G]

Nice looking photo Richard.

Great colour.

Ross.