IC1396 "Elephant's Trunk" in HOO false colour - my first dual band image!

[The Admiral]

This is my first foray into NB imaging, using the L-Extreme dual band Ha and OIII filter. Clearly I've got a lot to learn, and there is a need for much more data and is very noisy. Still, early days experience using my Askar FRA400 and Zwo AM5, so at least I do feel a step forward has been made. I processed with the APP  (v2.0.0 Beta 2) Ha and OIII extract routines and the RGB combine tool. Incidentally, does anyone know what the different combine formulæ do? I just used LRGB1, and couldn't see any difference between them. I used Lightroom for much needed image enhancement!

Imaging details -

• Lights 35 x 300s
• Darks, flat-darks  x30
• Date 11 Aug 2022

The mount performed well, giving me a combined rms error of 0.44".

Ian

 

[carastro]

Excellent especially for a first attempt at NB. 
 

Carole

[knobby]

That's really nice !

[powerlord]

the different options reflect in the sliders below.

very nice first attempt. Would you recommend the am5 ? are you using with an asiair ?

 

[The Admiral]

13 hours ago, powerlord said:

the different options reflect in the sliders below.

From another message?

13 hours ago, powerlord said:

very nice first attempt. Would you recommend the am5 ? are you using with an asiair ?

Thanks. Yes, early days and it needs a lot more time on it to get the noise a lot lower.

Yes I'm using the ASIAir with the AM5, and as you'd expect there are no issues with it working with the AM5. I don't have a vast experience with EQ mounts, but I think it all comes down to expectations. For me, with this lightweight, short fl, set-up, I am very pleased with it. I've been pleased with the guiding results, but then again, it hasn't been subject to poor seeing conditions yet, and it has worked essentially flawlessly (other than operator error ). But set-up is easy, and not having to balance the rig or use counterweights is a big bonus. There a reports of it being used successfully with longer fl scopes (even those beyond the recommended). If one is looking for a high end mount for long fl imaging, then this is probably not the mount. And of course, there are more brands now starting to offer harmonic drives. I have created a thread of my experiences here, if you haven't already seen it.

Ian