Dumbell by the light of the silvery moon

[tornado33]

Hi all
The other day I did some modifications to my 10 inch scope. I moved the primary mirror up the tube about an inch, to allow the Q guider camera to get focus without the 2.8x barlow. Id been having trouble finding bright enough guidestars for some objects with the off axis guider. Using a 2.8x barlow on comatic stars spreads them out too much, over too many pixels. However, going to 1x (no barlow) means (in theory)smaller more numerous available guidestars.

Anyway, to test it, I got out tonight even though moon was full. The Dumbell was the first test. Seeing ,looked awful, guidestar was boiling and shimmering, but I got best possible focus on both imaging and guide cameras and went for it. What I got came out far better than I expected with the seeing and also the VERY moonlit skies. I did use the UHCS filter.

Image is 9x10 mins ISO400. UHCS and UV/IR filters. MPCC coma corrector, Hutech modded 350D, 10 inch f5.6 newtonian, with off axis guider. Ive included a full res. crop

Ive included a shot of the 23 year old mount I used to take the image, after Id packed it away in the garage. It is lit by moonlight! Also a shot of the backyard.

I am amazed at technology today that allows DSO objects to be imaged under a full moon, yet with a scope and mount built 23 years ago, well before that technology existed.

Anyway using the guide cam at 1x seems way better then at 2.8x as the smaller sharper stars outweighs loss of magnification. The interface between the guide cam and the mount (me) was able to hold the guide star steady on the artificial reticle on the laptop.
Scott

[Octane (Humayun)]

Scott,

Well done, mate. There is lots of subtle colouration throughout your dumbbell.

Can you explain why the usually blue parts are showing up as grey in your image? Is it due to filters?

Regards,
Humayun

[RB (Andrew)]

Considering it was full moon, you've done a great job on this Scott !
Good to see your modification has worked and you can now use the guider at 1x.

[tornado33]

Thanks .
Yep the UHCS is a rather severe filter, and while it enhances HA emissions in heavily light polluted skies, it does wash out the blues. With the xtra bright sky due to the full moon, even more so.
Scott

[prokyon (Werner Probst)]

I like the widefield version, very well done! It would be interesting to do it again without moon and compare the two results.

[tornado33]

Thanks.
here is a full sized version

[Hagar (Doug)]

Nice image Scott. The UHC filter lifts the red quite a bit and I think the blue channel has suffered as a result.
Sounds like the mods will do what you need to make everything work well.

Nice one.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Well done. Shame about the moon.