First integration with the Edge HD 8 - M81

[SyedT]

Decided to try my hand at long FL imaging again and to do some equipment testing using my Edge HD 8 with an Atik 490EX sitting on an Avalon M-Uno. What better time to try out galactic imaging than when the moon is almost full (!) The Avalon guided beautifully throughout the night, hitting a lowest RMS of 0.36 which I'm very pleased with considering I set up and tear down every time. The equipment seems to be working together nicely. Star shapes aren't great as seeing wasn't the best, but I'm fairly happy with it for now. I've tried to hold back with the processing due to the data not being of the greatest quality, hopefully can improve this with more RGB and Lum data.

Prior to imaging, I attached a star diagonal with a Baader 8-24 mm zoom and did some observing of Venus and the Moon, was completely blown away by the detail I could see. Just incredible!

Atik 490EX
Atik EFW2
Chroma RGB filters
Atik OAG
Primaluce Lab Esatto 2” Robotic Focuser
Celestron Edge HD 8 @ FL 2032 mm
Avalon M-Uno
Pegasus Ultimate Powerbox
Intel NUC Mini PC

Dark, flat, bias frames and bad pixel map applied
Integration in AstroPixelProcessor, processing in Pixinsight
Bortle 5 skies
Lunar illumination – 97.5% 

R: 60x60s (2x2 binning)
G: 60x60s (2x2 binning)
B: 60x60s (2x2 binning)

Edited April 8, 2020 by SyedT

[souls33k3r]

Very nicely done buddy. 

[StargeezerTim]

Excellent detail 😊.

[Rocket Stars]

Wow! 

Have a edge 8 too! Have had my eyes on the Baader zoom. Is that something you can recommend? 

Also, that's a intresting mount! 

 

[Craney]

Great picture.  

That looks like a seriously smooth mount.

...Oi  !!.... turn those lights off !!!! 

[SyedT]

5 hours ago, souls33k3r said:

Very nicely done buddy. 

Cheers!

4 hours ago, Rocket Stars said:

Wow! 

Have a edge 8 too! Have had my eyes on the Baader zoom. Is that something you can recommend? 

Also, that's a intresting mount! 

 

I've only had one outing with the zoom so far, but it's excellent. Solidly built, the clickstop mechanism is very smooth in the Mark IV version. I wasn't keen on buying multiple eyepieces as I don't do much visual, so this fit the bill perfectly. I think I'll be keeping this eyepiece for a long time. Yes, it's a single fork-arm mount, means fewer counterweights and no need for meridian flips as long as the imaging train length isn't too long (although I do meridian flips anyway as my imaging train is at risk of colliding!).

4 hours ago, Craney said:

Great picture.  

That looks like a seriously smooth mount.

...Oi  !!.... turn those lights off !!!! 

It's a great mount! Tracking is great as long as there aren't wind gusts blowing about.

Haha, I did turn them off once I started imaging.   To be fair, it probably helped with visualising Venus!