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A, B, C, D, E, F, G, I - Close up of Trapezium in Orion

Tim

By Tim
in Imaging - Deep Sky

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Tim

Tim

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My first ever 'proper' telescope was a Celestron C9.25, bought around four and a half years ago. I rarely use it now, except for a bit of visual on planets etc, and I had thought about selling it. But this image has made me think again.

I haven't collimated this scope for well over two years, and it has travelled in my car and been bumped around the garden. This is the image it produced right out of its box, and not even cooled properly. It's not especially pretty, but technically it is probably one of the more challenging photos I have attempted so far.

Imaged at F10, with Atik 428ex, the resolution is in theory 0.4 arcsec/pixel. The seeing was poor though and fog set in before the sequence was finished, so this is just a handful of 20 second exposures with Baader Ha, Sii and Oiii filters.

I really wanted to get a little separation between the A and E stars, and C and F stars. I didn't expect to see anything of the fainter ones, but there they are. Inset pro pictures for comparison along with map of the trapezium. Many more details available here:

Thanks for looking, comments welcome ;)

Tim

tim-albums-atik-428ex-camera-picture15990-orion-m42-trapezium-region-c9-25-f10-atik-428ex-baader-ha-sii-oiii-filters-short-exposures-preserve-star-size-shape-image-resolution-approx-0-4arcsec-pixel.jpg

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johnh

johnh

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Nicely done, trouble it it moves around a bit at this fl which is difficult to guide at. The S2 giving better star separation does not suprise me, if you had gone to IR742 I recon the stars would have jumped out as atmospherics would have been better and the faintest stars seem to respond well in near IR cutting through the dust/gas.

John.

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Tim

Tim

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So Tim, if you were only allowed to keep one of your scopes listed in your signature, which one would it be?

Dani

Aaarrrrgh! You sound like my wife!!! :)

If I could only have one, it would be the SCT. It does everything, and it does it pretty well at that.

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Tim

Tim

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Nicely done indeed...

Interesting that you would chose the SCT as the one scope "compromise" solution... That's how I tend to see them as well...

I can take it down to f3.5 or so and still be useful, or up to f35 for visual. That's quite a drastic range :)

The main thing, this new camera has tiny pixels, 4.54nm or so, so I can image at f10, get in nice and close, bin 2x2, and still get a smooth image at around 0.8 arcsec/pixel.

Also, remarkably, I just tested and the filters are all parfocal using it. Should make for an interesting spring galaxy season methinks :)

Tim

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Auntystatic

Auntystatic

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Thanks for the answer Tim, I'm sure many wanted to know the answer to that question, and by the replies so far I think some were surprised. I am yet to buy a telescope, and if I could get one clear night I'm taking Olly et all's advice, and sticking to my large canon lenses for now.

I might just keep my eye out for one of those, the close in shot like yours here really interest me, but its going to take a bit of saving and a few ebay sales for me to get the right equipment.

Thanks

Dani

:)

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Tim

Tim

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Cheers Dani.

It certainly isn't easy imaging with a focal length of 2500mm or so, but it can be done. Bright targets like this one are easier, but there aren't too many of them. I'd recommend learning the game on something shorter and faster though, which the SCT's can be with a reducer bringing them down to f6.3/1500mm ish

Tim

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NickK

NickK

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That's the plan Nick :)

Here's a single 20 sec, S2 sub. Surprisingly, the best star data comes through the S2 filter.

Here's a 1 second sub from tonight, needs better alignment and conditions but I finally got separation on E without processing! At 0.80 arc sec/pixel.

post-22611-1338777458_thumb.png

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