First real attempt - IC1396 (Elephant Trunk Nebula)

[gingergeek]

Dear all,

It's been a while since I purchased a WO ZS71, Atik EFW2, Atik 460 but the weather, work and some issues with the equipment conspired against me. Well last night I decided to skip an invite to a BBQ and with a cold Spanish beer in hand I setup at 11pm determined to achieve some success and I went all the way through until the first quiet whistles of the dawn chorus was heard and I fell into bed around 4am.

Like many people I have to set up and tear down every night so my polar alignment isn't great and the soft focusing is in need of attention so at some point I will build an outdoor pier. So here is my first real attempt at the Elephants Trunk comprising of 37*5 minute (Astrodon 5nm Hydrogen Alpha) subs at -5c with the appropriate matching darks and bias but no flats yet. The process is a quick one and Steve Richards as sent me a better version to demonstrate the amount of data that is there.

My previous issues with a sagging focal reducer in the ZS71 which resulted in a 65% field curvature is now much improved at 10% but obviously there is still some improvement that can be achieved.

I would like to extend my gratitude to Steve Richards for the huge amount of effort in fixing my numerous "issues", advice, encouragement and for providing the analysis of my pictures. Also my thanks Sara for her kind words of encouragement, I would not have made it this far without the support of the community....thankyou to all !

Best Regards

Gingergeek

[x6gas]

Well the help and encouragement is paying off - that's a stonking image!

[swag72]

A very nice image Mark, coupled with an very good flat field. You should be very pleased with both of these outcomes!

[Freddie]

Looking good. A much wider FOV than my effort.

[Epicycle]

Great capture and I agree with Freddie, great FOV too!

E.

[kirkster501]

Spectacular! Well done

[jnc71106]

Looks very nice well done

[gingergeek]

Thankyou everyone for your kind words, Geekgirl likes it as well