M97 The Owl Nebula 24.03.2017

Wow, what a great shot.   I have only 'discovered' this object recently as my previous equipment would not have resolved anything other than a fuzzy blob.

I have now got a Meade 8" SCT so look forward to giving this a go since it is now at high elevation.   What mount do you run your Celestron on ?    How easy does you Atik image the Nebula ? ( ie.  what length of exposure will show the nebula on the laptop before commiting to the 300 sec.)   I find it  difficult to get the DSO lined up in the first place without loads of trials, tweaks and adjustments which just eat up precious time.

Cheers,

Sean.

Hi Sean, thank you for your kind comments. It was the first time I had tried imaging M97 and I found it very difficult. I'm really pleased with my image, I just wish I'd spent a few more minutes checking the sensor screen for dust! As the object is very faint visually (and I live in a highly light polluted area) it took me around 1 hour to locate it in my EP and then get it on the chip. I don't usually image with the SCT, but knowing this is a very faint and small target I thought I'd get all the light and magnification on it I could. Once I was sure it was on or near the chip, I found that 5 second exposures binned at 8x8 showed it on the screen. I eventually got it framed albeit over to the left hand side but I was frightened of losing it altogether so left it where it was. I use either my NEQ6 or HEQ5 for imaging. In this case it was the HEQ5 which manages the 8SE well enough for a quick back yard session.

Vicky