GSO RC8 First light on M33

[evil_yoda]

Hi all,

I finally managed to get out and grab a whole 12 minutes worth of 120s subs between the clouds last night with my new to me RC8.
I've had it for over a month but the weather gods haven't been playing ball recently.

I've not spent much time collimating the scope yet, the mount isn't properly balanced or polar aligned and my PHD2 guide graph was all over the place. I think my focus was a bit off too.
Perhaps I'm just glad to be out imaging again, but I was quite chuffed considering the small amount of data.

Looking forward to some more clear skies hopefully when everything is a bit better set up.

GSO RC8 CF
HEQ5 Pro
ASI1600MM
A quick stack and process in Pixinsight
6 X 120s Lum

Cheers, Matt
 

[newbie alert]

Nice..

[Craney]

That's a good start to the project.  As you say, with limited data it has come out well.   Is this with the native FL of 2000mm ??, or did you use a focal reducer ??

I find it a difficult object to image and have had mixed success with it.  It's surface brightness tends to be diffuse and those spirals arms are there, but not there at the same time.

Looking forward to seeing more images with the RC8CF ..... one of the scopes on my short list........ maybe next Christmas....

[evil_yoda]

1 minute ago, Craney said:

That's a good start to the project.  As you say, with limited data it has come out well.   Is this with the native FL of 2000mm ??, or did you use a focal reducer ??

I find it a difficult object to image and have had mixed success with it.  It's surface brightness tends to be diffuse and those spirals arms are there, but not there at the same time.

Looking forward to seeing more images with the RC8CF ..... one of the scopes on my short list........ maybe next Christmas....

Thanks.
Yes, this was at native focal length of 1625mm.
M33 is not one I've tried much previously as it was a bit small in the ED80, but looks like it'll be a good test of the RC8 when I have it set up a bit better.

[vlaiv]

Lovely start.

Scope looks pretty collimated to me - not much astigmatism in any of the corners - that is a good sign.

[evil_yoda]

8 hours ago, vlaiv said:

Lovely start.

Scope looks pretty collimated to me - not much astigmatism in any of the corners - that is a good sign.

Thanks vlaiv,

I gave the secondary a little tweak using a defocused star to centre the secondary shadow, but other than that it didn't seem too bad.