Dragons of Ara with ‘guide-scope’

[Toddylamo (Harry)]

Many people use the Sky-watcher 72ED as a guide scope. From a marketing perspective, the refractor doesn’t tick many of the boxes - it’s only a doublet, it’s not from a flashy brand, and it isn’t FPL-53.

In practice, the scope still allows for nice wide field images, and with a flattener it produces nice sharp stars.

Enjoy this false colour image from my setup, full res can be found on my astrobin here:
https://astrob.in/khrmf1/0/

[AstroViking (Steve)]

Hi Harry,

Looks great!

I've kind of kept away from the dragons because I always thought my SW72ED was too small / not enough focal length. Obviously not!!

Do you mind sharing how many subs you took? I wouldn't mind trying my hand at this one for once. (When the skies clear and I can see the stars again...)

Cheers,
V

[Toddylamo (Harry)]

Originally Posted by AstroViking

Hi Harry,

Looks great!

I've kind of kept away from the dragons because I always thought my SW72ED was too small / not enough focal length. Obviously not!!

Do you mind sharing how many subs you took? I wouldn't mind trying my hand at this one for once. (When the skies clear and I can see the stars again...)

Cheers,
V

Hi Steve,

The full info is in the astrobin link, but I took 230 x 3 minute subs. I used a ASI071MC and, perhaps most importantly, the Antilla ALP-T filter which is a 5nm dual band filter - helps with the stars.

[AstroViking (Steve)]

Thanks for that. I'll remember to hit the AstroBin links from here on...

I don't have an astro-cam, just a DSLR. So the dragons might have to wait a bit longer.

[petershah (Peter Shah)]

what a great shot....one day I will get to visit the South and image it for myself

[Toddylamo (Harry)]

Originally Posted by petershah

what a great shot....one day I will get to visit the South and image it for myself

Thanks Peter, and likewise I’d like to visit the north to photograph the great stuff you have up there too! Heart and soul, cats eye, M81 & M82…

[Stephane]

Harry, a very fine image with great detail. I particularly like how you have processed the “egg” and brought out the bubble. Great job!