IC410 Tadpoles - first light for Takahashi FSQ-85

[x6gas]

I was very excited to get a couple of hours of clearish skies last night to get first light with my Takahashi FSQ-85.

It turned out to be something of a comedy session, however.

Firstly, being a cheapskate I hadn't bought the Takahashi clamshell and opted instead for some 95mm tube rings. Trouble was, mounted to a fairly short dovetail I wasn't able to balance the scope properly; it's no biggy but I need a longer dovetail and to raise the rings slightly so that the dovetail clears the focuser...

Secondly, my dew strip packed up for some reason. Not sure what's wrong with it or if it can be salvaged, but the wires feeding the strip were getting plenty warm, but the strip itself wasn't. It's barely been used so not sure what to make of it... Anyway, it meant the optics had slight misting for the latter subs. I am hoping that this explains the halo around 19 Auriga in the top left.

The final thing was pure stupidity though. I somehow managed to turn off the TEC on my CCD camera so the subs were at ambient temperature and therefore very noisy (in comparison). Combined with high whispy cloud this can't be seen as any kind of test for the new scope. In any case, I expect it to come in to its own dealing with blues... so we'll see.

Anyhow 10 x 600 sec subs Baader Ha filter.

Mount: CG-5; Scope: Takahashi FSQ-85; Imaging cam: Atik 460ex; Guiding: PHD & IMG0H.

[Martin-Devon]

Very nice image, despite all the mishaps, the data has come out well.

[Fay]

Very nice, despite your problems

Fay

[Jake Bullit]

Fantastic

Sent from my HTC HD2

[Mark72]

Nice work despite all issues,

Should look great with some colour added.

Mark

[swag72]

What a fab scope - You are very lucky!!! Processing wise, this has been over cooked - the tadpoles have been over stretched and also a part of IC410 above them.

[Gina]

Nothing much wrong with that Very nice

[x6gas]

Thanks Martin, Fay, Jake, Mark, Sarah, and Gina for your comments.

Sarah - I'm led to believe it's a fab scope, but it'll be some time before I am able to prove it! I'll be really interested to see if I can detect a tangible increase in performance over my TS triplet which I have to say I have been very impressed with... Don't get me wrong - I am sure the Tak is a better scope but I'm still a beginner really... Thanks for your thoughts on processing. I wasn't paying too much attention really: just a quick combine in AA5 (and I had to use a sigma combine because of the noise which isn't my preference) and a quick and dirty stretch in PhotoPlus. It looks okay on my laptop screen but I am sure you're right...

Anyway, thanks again for all the comments. I really want to get a good capture of this one. Not sure these subs will make the final cut as the guiding graph was a tad alpine thanks to the scope balance I suspect... but I learn something every time. Wish we had more clear skies!

[x6gas]

Nothing much wrong with that Very nice

Thanks Gina - I really appreciate the encouragement you give on here.

[swag72]

Sarah - I'm led to believe it's a fab scope, but it'll be some time before I am able to prove it! I'll be really interested to see if I can detect a tangible increase in performance over my TS triplet which I have to say I have been very impressed with... Don't get me wrong - I am sure the Tak is a better scope but I'm still a beginner really...

I too will be very interested to see if over time you can detect an increase in performance with the Tak. I will watch with interest