Two Simple Wide field Images

[lensman57]

Hi,

These are nothing to get excited about but the tiltle says it all, 14X360s for the M101 and 8X600s for IC1396. Ascension 80mm Apo @F6, IDAS D1 and QHY8 OSC. HEQ5 and PHD guiding. I am happy with the effort but it would have been a lot better had some of the equipment  performed as expected. The newly purchased and expensive Field Flattener is not a good match for the triplet ( infact a lot worst than the £60.00 SW one that I have ) and I have now seen it with my own eyes that mount momentarily looses connection with PHD and the guiding suffers, this happened a couple of times as the DEC guiding went AWOL about 10s and then recovered. It may have something to do with the extreme moisture in the air at that moment as no sooner had I turned the TEC on for the QHY8 the sensor started to ice up, it did sort itself out when I put a dew strip round the T extension. Any how these are all part of the fun I guess. Atleast the scope aquitted itself pretty well as I was imaging at 3.35 arcsec/pixel.

Regards,

A.G

[oldpink]

nothing to get excited about

Hell I'd be over the moon to achieve images that good

[neil groves]

Great effort with M101 Alan, I have searched a few times for this fellow but so far it has remained rather Elusive.

Neil.

[Coco]

Good start to the Summer, Ive done some testing with the QHY8, found that if I use a dew band 30 minutes before turning on the cooler it doesnt fog up.. 

I have wired up the rear mirror fan on the quattro together with the dew band, so I now cool the mirror and warm the nose eliminating one mistake..

[lensman57]

May I thank you all for your support, it really does mean a lot to me.

Regards,

A.G

[ChrisLX200]

Both are good images, I like the IC1396 - it's a crowded area of sky with lots to see.

ChrisH