RedCat Heart, Orion & Rosette in Ha - Unguided

[Adreneline]

This was to test 300s unguided imaging on my CEM25-EC using the RedCat 51.

Took care to level the mount and perform an accurate PA using a PoleMaster.

Started with the Heart and then moved to the Rosette and Orion, each one 10 x 300s of Ha but with an additional 20x 30s on Orion. With the Moon being around 50% I saw little point in doing OIII or SII.

The star shapes aren't perfect but overall I am pretty pleased with the end result. The CEM25-EC is an amazing little mount.

Comments and criticisms welcome.

Thanks for looking.

Adrian

[Zummerzet_Leveller]

Lovely Ha images. Nice pairing with the Redcat and the ASI1600MM you can even just make out the double star Epsilon Monocerotis in your Rosette, nicely done especially unguided.

[Adreneline]

22 minutes ago, Zummerzet_Leveller said:

Nice pairing with the Redcat and the ASI1600MM

I have been using the 1600 with a Samyang 135mm (another great pairing).

One thing I find with the RedCat is that using parafocal filters they all do focus in the same position - not the case with the Samyang where Ha is always very different to OIII and to lesser extent SII. The downside with the RedCat is that focus position definitely changes with temperature. Oh well, you can't have everything!

Adrian

[geeklee]

Excellent images Adrian. 

I'm finding my OSC shots with the Samyang that seem well focused with a mask are out of focus in Red. Much more so with an L-eNhance. I'm keen to get my mono camera on it even though more focusing will be involved. 

For the RedCat I have tended to refocus every 60 minutes in a sequence. That's good info on parfocal filters, thanks 👍 (So far, I've only used Ha and OIII and let autofocus do its thing)

[Adreneline]

16 minutes ago, geeklee said:

I'm finding my OSC shots with the Samyang that seem well focused with a mask are out of focus in Red.

I found the G, B and OIII focus positions were very similar but R, Ha and SII were always significantly different with the Samyang. Life got more complicated when I moved away from Baader NB to Astronomik NB filters; the change from 3mm to 1mm thickness has a pronounced effect on focus position.

Adrian