M57 The Ring Nebula

[Roy Foreman]

Deep sky imaging has been a real challenge this year. On the rare occasions when the clouds do part, the skies are still hazy with moisture. At least in my neck of the woods they seem to be.

With this in mind, it was probably not a good idea for me to attempt to image an object that appears not much larger than Jupiter at opposition, but what the heck, I gave it a go.

16" F/4.5 Reflector

ZWO ASI 6200 MC Pro

UV/IR Cut Filter

15 x 30 sec at gain 360

14 x 60 sec at gain 300

Then the clouds rolled in !!!

Not the best rendition, but here it is anyway - thanks for looking.

 

[Paul M]

Very nice job.

What mount are you using for that beastly scope? Its doing a great job!

[Roy Foreman]

20 minutes ago, Paul M said:

Very nice job.

What mount are you using for that beastly scope? Its doing a great job!

Thank you Paul,  glad you like the image !

I have been asked about the mount for my scope many times. I built it myself - apart from the 14" worm wheel sets, and the goto electronics which were supplied by AWR Technology.  The motors connect directly to the worm shafts, so no gears, no belts, and very little backlash !  It is very massive - I can lean against it and nothing moves !  The OTA is from a Skywatcher flextube Dobsonian.

Sadly these days my skies are never transparent enough to realise the full potential of the setup, although they are sufficiently dark (SQM 20.5) that I can image without filters.

Roy

[bottletopburly]

Small object mind so is that spiral Galaxy at 1 o’clock 

[Roy Foreman]

21 minutes ago, bottletopburly said:

Small object mind so is that spiral Galaxy at 1 o’clock 

That galaxy is IC 1296. One day I'll try and tackle it !

[peter shah]

lovely scale...great job

[Catanonia]

Great attempt in challenging conditions.

Would love a link to an image of your mount.

[Roy Foreman]

29 minutes ago, peter shah said:

lovely scale...great job

Thank you Peter.  Planetary imagers have the luxury of lucky imaging for small objects, but with deep sky stuff we are at the mercy of the elements - especially in the UK !

[Roy Foreman]

16 minutes ago, Catanonia said:

Great attempt in challenging conditions.

Would love a link to an image of your mount.

Thank you !

Dont have any good images of the mount but here is a so-so one with wide angle lens distortions and a very untidy observatory !

 

 

[Knighty2112]

Nice capture, along with the mag 14 spiral galaxy too. 👍🏻

[Roy Foreman]

1 minute ago, Knighty2112 said:

Nice capture, along with the mag 14 spiral galaxy too. 👍🏻

Thank you very much !

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice one! Also nice to see the galaxy in the background

[Roy Foreman]

5 minutes ago, michael.h.f.wilkinson said:

Nice one! Also nice to see the galaxy in the background

Thank you.  I have to confess that I was unaware of galaxy IC 1296 nearby until I started processing the image.  It would be nice if I could get a better rendition of it as well, but that's for another day !