Leo triplet - first light with a new mount

[ONIKKINEN]

120x60s from bortle 4/SQM 20.8 skies with the Rising cam OSC and my VX8. First astrophotography attempt with my new AZ-EQ6.

Mount worked much better than i hoped it would at 0.7'' RMS guiding. Some hiccups to iron out but i assume its on the guidescope attachment method and newt mechanics side rather than the mount, since stars are not as round as the guiding suggests.

Unfortunately looks like collimation is off looking at the star shapes, but still i think i captured some nice detail on the galaxies so ill include crops of each one for more comfortable viewing:

Should probably stop using the dodgy cheap 1.25 inch collimation laser that gives hit or miss results and get a better one, or just use a concenter in the dark too somehow.

[Same old newbie alert]

Looks superb to me 😊

[ONIKKINEN]

18 minutes ago, Same old newbie alert said:

Looks superb to me 😊

Thanks you!

Probably my sharpest image yet, and one that i could not attempt with my previous mount at these declinations. Quite happy about the result.

[Peter Reader]

How can you tell collimation is off? Thanks

[ONIKKINEN]

13 minutes ago, Peter Reader said:

How can you tell collimation is off? Thanks

Stars look wonky when zoomed in really far. Maybe a bit square-ish or triangular? This shape issue is not as obvious as it could be in this shot but i am staring at pictures i have taken far too much and i pick up these issues easily.

Guiding was significantly less than half of my shot resolution in RMS so i find it hard to believe the shapes are purely from bad tracking. Could very well also be differential flexure in my guide scope but i will pretend its not as its harder to fix than collimation 😉.

[Astroscot2]

Its a very nice image, would be interested to know which focuser you have on your VX8, the focuser on my CT8 is unusable for imaging due to flexure. 

[ONIKKINEN]

2 hours ago, Astroscot2 said:

Its a very nice image, would be interested to know which focuser you have on your VX8, the focuser on my CT8 is unusable for imaging due to flexure. 

Yes, found the same to be mostly true with mine (i believe they are the same in VX and CT models). Rotating the focuser 90 degrees and adjusting tension with the locking screw helped somewhat but i replaced it in the end.

I have the baader diamond steeltrack fitted. Buttersmooth action and cant make it flex without considerable misuse and violence involved. Very satisfied with it.

The main hole for the focuser drawtube is barely large enough to fit the BDS, but i enlarged mine a few mm to make sure its not sticking to the tube. Also had to drill 4 holes to fit the thing, but not really that difficult to do.

Edited March 2, 2022 by ONIKKINEN

[Astroscot2]

20 hours ago, ONIKKINEN said:

Yes, found the same to be mostly true with mine (i believe they are the same in VX and CT models). Rotating the focuser 90 degrees and adjusting tension with the locking screw helped somewhat but i replaced it in the end.

I have the baader diamond steeltrack fitted. Buttersmooth action and cant make it flex without considerable misuse and violence involved. Very satisfied with it.

The main hole for the focuser drawtube is barely large enough to fit the BDS, but i enlarged mine a few mm to make sure its not sticking to the tube. Also had to drill 4 holes to fit the thing, but not really that difficult to do.

I'm patiently waiting on the BDS coming into stock in the UK  can't get one anywhere at the moment.