I did go
ahead and get that CLS filter, from Astronomik.
Color balancing is easy on nebulae, but hard still on galaxies. I will have to work on that one.
The evening started off rough – Jim did some adjustment on the polar alignment, which appears to have made
it worse. I couldn’t even do 45 seconds
unguided without streaking. I tried
again with my QHY5 guide camera, but I didn’t quite have enough backfocus on
the guide scope. So I took a bunch of
short exposures on the Flame and Horsehead Nebulae, but then Jim on
Facebook suggested I use a star diagonal for the extra length. It worked!
Soon I was up and guiding. This
was after some guests I brought had left – so I was running in and out of the dome before,
trying to show them stuff. Luckily, the
three other club members were there, who were happy to share their views in
the big Dob owned by the club. My guests, a father-son duo, I met by club member Phil, who arranged an interview from the son to me about differences between refractors and reflectors for his middle
school science fair project.
Once I got guiding going, things went great from there! I imaged the Flame and Horsehead Nebulae, and then M81 and M82. They came out great!
Once I got guiding going, things went great from there! I imaged the Flame and Horsehead Nebulae, and then M81 and M82. They came out great!
Flame & Horsehead Nebulae, Nikon D5300, Vixen NA140ssf, Astronomik CLS filter
Guiding: QHY5, Celestron 102mm
25x180s, ISO-1600
M81 & M82, Nikon D5300, Vixen NA140ssf, Astronomik CLS filter
Guiding; QHY5, Celestron 102mm
21x180s, ISO-3200
I still
can’t quite get the memorial scope to do a proper alignment, so I just sync on a
nearby star and then guide. That seems
to work great. I haven’t tested how long
it will guide for yet. At least 5
minutes with still very nice stars. I
was out until 2:30 AM! So glad to
finally have some clear weather.
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