First light for my Altair 72 EDF Refractor

[savcom]

I tried my new Altair 72 EDF Refractor out last night, mounted on an EQ5, in the cold - and this is what I got. All I had hoped was to prove Stellarium could control the mount and I could master Stellarium.

 

Only 30x 90s lights, processed in DSS, Siril and GIMP. I'd been using the camera (Pentax K3) elsewhere and hadn't recharged the battery, so the battery died half way through.  No Darks or Bias taken. Schoolboy error on my part, sorry. But well pleased with the result!

 

The Orion Nebula. Hope it passes muster.

 

After the battery died, I did try some observing too. Really clear skies - except for the moonlight... Can't have it all ways.

 

Here's the setup and target:

 

Here's the nebula:

 

[MartinB]

Well that is a very solid start despite the problems, I like the smoothness of the trapezium area, sometimes it is over processed and can easily look quite ugly.  It does look like you could benefit from a field flattener at some point in the future looking at the stars in the corner.

[wavydavy]

I second Martins comment, defo needs a flattener in the image train. A great shot anyway,  Orion nebula is a tricky object due to its HDR. Well done!

[peter shah]

Lovely shot good colour balance and detail....

[savcom]

Thanks everyone.  It wasn't what I expected first time out and that's for sure!

I had intended to take some more of just the core to allow more leeway with processing these pics but, as I said, the battery died in the camera.

I do have a flattener fiitted to the scope but the spacing isn't right yet (I'm mounting the camera with a 1.25" eyepiece adapter, not a proper T2 mount).  The T2 mount is expected to arrive this week so I'll measure the distances up properly afterwards.

Still chuffed to bits - and Running Man came out quite well too.

Edited February 1, 2021 by savcom
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