MarsG76

Ah man....

Low to medium magnifications.... it does depend of which nebula you want to observe.. for example low powers are needed for the Orion nebula, Omega Nebula and Carina Nebula but medium power for the eagle....

I guess being that high in latitude makes high planetary altitudes a rarity... being closer to the equator is winning.

Very Nice result.

Looks great.

You'll find that a guide scope won't be accurate enough at 2400mm FL... I think that you will need to use a OAG...

Amazing image... well done fellas.

Hello and welcome....

Yes that was imaged with my 8" SCT on the CGEM mount with the full spectrum modded 40D DSLR.

I imagine it would be zoomed in more... considerably more since this is imaged at 2032mm focal length and the C14 focal length is 3911mm... and you'd need a beefier mount since (I assume that) the CGEM would not be accurate enough to track for round stars in RA... I dare say that 2032mm is about the limit of the mounts accuracy.... and the C14 weight is already way over the CGEM weight limit without any imaging accessories... With a focal reducer, at 2400mm FL you'd be looking at a similar image just captured 4X as fast.

Thats an idea... what ever is necessary to have yourself up and running in the least amount of time, and have the equipment protected from the elements when not in use and in storage... I opted for a small 1.8 x 2 meter area for my observatory, for the same reason as you, small back yard space.... but I have a movable cover, the half of the cover rolls off the scope to reveal the sky, rolling over the other half which is lower and houses the computer. Nice and compact but does the job... of course the difference is that I'm using a compound scope so it is not even close to the length of yours and the peak height of my movable hut is 2.2meters.

Stacked in Nebulosity and processed in Photoshop... the E & F stars are blotted out because they're obviously over exposed, when I re capture this image and framing I'll have to shorten the exposure for a few dozen subs and concentrate on NOT overexposing the close stars in the trapezium.

Welcome to SGL.....

Great start.. these images are always going to have a sentimental meaning to you and your son as you upgrade your equipment and get more detailed and bigger images in the future.

Personally I just point he scope (parallel) at a white wall in my observatory and shine a bright work light at it. This gives me a evenly illuminated wall at the scope and camera FOV.

Great collection...

Awesome.. you'll probably find that having a not quite dark sky actually helps you in seeing the planets better and more comfortably see more detail.

What a great looking image.. love the detail....

Still shouldn't be that much difference when the conditions play ball...

Hmm, If that's set in stone, it's only a hour and 20 mins... no issue re-capturing it at 3 am tonight when Orion is in the east... 😉

Noise with cooling at ISO1600 is about as much as between ISO400 and ISO800 when uncooled... less than at ISO800 but slightly more than ISO400. I compared 15 minute subs when the night ambient temperature was 24°C.

8"... I use a C8...

Nice image.... I prefer the color in this instance,.

I was thinking the same...

I wouldn't say that it's pointless.. surely you wouldn't be buying a scope to look at only one object. There are a lot of object to see through a scope, even from a light polluted back garden.