Focal reducer test run. M101 - 13/02/09

[Whippy]

Friday's clear sky presented me with an opportunity to try using the 6.3 reducer with my Zenithstar 110. After trying unsecessfully to frame M97 and M108 I decided to use M101 a a target instead. What slightly surprised me that I had a fair bit of vignetting so this image had to be cropped a fair bit, I guess that lightbox I've been threatening to make for the last 8 months will have to be sorted out if I want to use the reducer, plus I found I don't have enough space to use the filter wheel in the imaging train so It'll be HA or mono. Still, as a first attempt it looks promising .

Anyway, M101. Total exposure time 3 hrs (36 x 5 mins). Taken by a WO Zenithstar 110, Atik 16HR, Meade 6.3 reducer/flattener IR and IDAS filters. Guided by a Zenithstar 66, QHY5 and PHD all atop an EQ6 pro. Stacked in DSS and processed in photoshop.

Tony..

[jcm]

Hi Tony,

Looks pretty good to me.

I tried an f6.3 reducer with my 130mm APO - it just did not seem to work very well. Spacing is very important , most people use about 100mm or so distance between reducer and camera chip. I ended up with a Televue 0.8X reducer. This has a t-thread so you can connect it directly to a camera or filter wheel.

The 16HR is not a massive chip so I was surprised you had to crop the image using the F6.3

John

[Whippy]

Thanks John. I read that 110mm is the optimal spacing which is what the distance is (give or take a mm or two ) in my setup, so I guess this should give me the impetus to sort out that light box.

Tony..