Another very quick one with old 12”sct Cats eye Nebula

[assouptro]

Hi stargazers! 

When I was playing back in May after a terrible winter of poor weather I was getting bored of my Samyang 135 which I had been using for nearly a year (some results to be shared when I’m happy with them) and I decided to swap my Rig from one extreme to the other. 

I connected my 12” SCT with 6.3 focal reducer to my Atik 490

what to image?

I’ve never imaged the cats eye nebula before and didn’t expect anything special, it’s a tricky nebula with a bright core so I decided to image 10min subs in narrow band 2x2 and try to incorporate 1 min 1x1 subs for the core. 

I got 100min Ha, 70min Oiii 2x2 and 5 min each for the core before clouds spoiled play 

It’s nothing special but as it’s my first attempt to image it I was quite pleased to see something new and I may revisit it using different techniques to try and tease out some of the core details 

anyway, here it is 

thanks for looking 

Bryan 

 

[AnakChan]

That's a great resolution you got there. In the end what focal length and arsec/pixel resolution were you working at?

[assouptro]

4 hours ago, AnakChan said:

That's a great resolution you got there. In the end what focal length and arsec/pixel resolution were you working at?

Thanks for the comment 

I was shooting at a focal length of about 2200

and the arc seconds per pixel around 0.79 for the main 2x2 part of the image 

then at a ridiculous 0.4” to try and get some detail on the core!

I realise how impossible that is now I’ve typed it!! 😂

cheers 

Bryan 

[AnakChan]

4 hours ago, assouptro said:

Thanks for the comment 

I was shooting at a focal length of about 2200

and the arc seconds per pixel around 0.79 for the main 2x2 part of the image 

then at a ridiculous 0.4” to try and get some detail on the core!

I realise how impossible that is now I’ve typed it!! 😂

cheers 

Bryan 

I hear you Bryan  .I shoot at 2500mm and my pixel pitch is like 3.76µm. I tend to shoot at Bin1 too and that comes up to 0.31"/px.  Struggle to keep PHD2 to below that so if I get guiding between 0.24" - 0.4", I'm happy enough - luck of the draw with jetstreams really! Still though the Cats Eye has come up beautifully.

[kirkster501]

That's some serious going at that FL, well done.  I could never get my 14' Meade LX200 guiding in my Bortle 5 skies and so I sold it.  It pained me to do so but needs must.

[assouptro]

5 hours ago, AnakChan said:

I hear you Bryan  .I shoot at 2500mm and my pixel pitch is like 3.76µm. I tend to shoot at Bin1 too and that comes up to 0.31"/px.  Struggle to keep PHD2 to below that so if I get guiding between 0.24" - 0.4", I'm happy enough - luck of the draw with jetstreams really! Still though the Cats Eye has come up beautifully.

Thanks for the reply

What mount do you use to achieve 0.24"-0.4"?

Cheers

Bryan

[assouptro]

7 minutes ago, kirkster501 said:

That's some serious going at that FL, well done.  I could never get my 14' Meade LX200 guiding in my Bortle 5 skies and so I sold it.  It pained me to do so but needs must.

Thanks for the comment

I occasionally look at 14" meades and drool! That must have hurt!

I cannot image at that scale with the slightest breeze, The mount has to have a small amount of backlash to prevent it grinding to a halt with that weight on.

I have the oag set up before the reducer so I am guiding with 3048fl which helps but requires the guide camera to be on the end of a few extension tubes, it's nearly in the next door neighbors garden!

I had managed to modify the meade fork mount to guide as good as the azeq6 by installing new gears and various other mods and it was more solid in the wind too but I love the versatility of the eq mount allowing me to change scopes at will.

I wish I had the space and money for several mounts all working at the same time!

Cheers 

Bryan

[AnakChan]

6 hours ago, assouptro said:

Thanks for the reply

What mount do you use to achieve 0.24"-0.4"?

Cheers

Bryan

Vixen AXD. But it's -really- sensitive/dependent on the weather. I live approx. 8 km from the coast and prob no more than 10m above sea level.  I find during the late autumn to early spring months the skies are reasonably still so can get those figures reasonably consistently. But mid-spring to mid autumn, it's more like 0.45-0.8".  I probably should bin instead.

Cheers!
Sean