M8 + M20 Wide-ish Field

Robby · #1 03-06-2005, 11:24 PM

Hi,
As an experiment I poped the camera into the back of the ST80 apo, that I normally use as a guide scope.

Hit M8 & M20 region to see....
It was pretty much as expected with shocking chromatic aberation, but none-the-less I was resonably happy with the final image.

Pretty tough to get this amount of info down to 60k so here is a link to a higher-res (140k) version...
http://www.star-mate.com/M8M20_Pro1web.jpg

atalas · #2 04-06-2005, 02:30 AM

A lot of CA but still a very nice shot Robby! well done again.

Louie

Rodstar (Rod) · #3 04-06-2005, 08:49 AM

Lovely shot Robby.

[1ponders] (Paul) · #4 04-06-2005, 09:49 AM

Nice shot. Looks like you've been using my Celestron Refractor Robby. About the same amount of lovely blue holo

My wife thinks they look very artistic and sureal

Any exposure details etc?

Robby · #5 04-06-2005, 10:47 AM

Hi Paul and co. Thanks for the comments.
I had a good session last night, but sky fog caused by chimney smoke killed the transperancy. My deep sky shots were all below par. The best was Cent.A, attached.

Exposure details for M8/M20 shot...
Celestron ST80, 80mm Refractor f/5. Canon 300D. ISO1600 10x2mins shots.
Guiding with C9.25, ToUCam, K3CCDTools & Star-Mate. All on-top of G-11 mount.
Stacked & sky fog removed with Photoshop.

Exposure details for Cent.A shot...
Celestron C9.25 @ f/6.3 9x3mins with 300D at ISO1600.
Guided with ST80, rest as above.

Cheers

[1ponders] (Paul) · #6 04-06-2005, 10:50 AM

Nice clear shot Robby. Have you started playing with DSLR yet? I'm interested as the focus seems just just a bit soft.

Robby · #7 04-06-2005, 11:12 AM

Yeah focus is a bit soft. I actually focussed on another object and didn't re-focus when I changed to Cent.A. I haven't battled with DSLR focus yet. I really should though! Just can't bear another cable & more starring into the PC Screen!
Cheers

[1ponders] (Paul) · #8 04-06-2005, 11:22 AM

It is a bit of an issue I guess. You want to try it doing wide field with just the camera. Now that takes some time. You've only got to move the focus ring a fraction too much and you have to start going back the other way. It can take up to half an hour to do it with just a camera lense. I will admit though it is a lot quicker if its scope mounted, even to my rack and pinion celestron. Can't wait till I get my new setup with both crayford focuser and JMI microfocuser. She'll be hummming sweet then.

Found out something interesting about the DSLR the other night that I wasn't aware of, it has a night vision mode. I probably would have known about this if I'd read the manual properly.