First Light, Askar FMA 180 California nebula

[LaurenceT]

For the previous two nights I've set up under clear skies at about 1900 and started imaging only to shut up shop half an hour later due to clouds. Last night was no different but when we took the hound into the garden at 2330 there was a lovely clear sky. My wife, fed up with my moaning obviously, insisted I had another go so I set up and decided on the Elephants Trunk. All seemed to be going well looking at my Ipad while watching a Netflix film  when suddenly I realised I was imaging my trees instead!

Quick re-adjustment of target and I found the California Nebula and started imaging, it was now 0130 and it went well until I wrapped it up at about 1530 and went to bed.

Askar FMA 180, Az GTi mount in EQ mode, Asiair Pro, asi533mc pro.

100x60 second lights, unguided, no calibration frames. Astro Pixel Processor, Dxo Photolab3, Topaz and finally a bit of Lightroom. My astrophotography and processing are in their infancy!

 

[Ratlet]

Very nice mate.  Love the way is kind of fades into existence.  Looks very nebulous. 

[pipnina]

Looks good! Did you use the Astronomik UV-L3 cut trick with your FMA180 or are you shooting it "full spectrum"?

Trying to work out if this little thing is going to satisfy me or if I will want to save up for something like the ACL200 or Borg 55FL

[LaurenceT]

8 hours ago, pipnina said:

Looks good! Did you use the Astronomik UV-L3 cut trick with your FMA180 or are you shooting it "full spectrum"?

Trying to work out if this little thing is going to satisfy me or if I will want to save up for something like the ACL200 or Borg 55FL

I haven't had a chance to use it since then due to health reasons (sciatica!) but I did a test image the other night that I've not yet processed. The image in this thread came in from some criticism:

pages 9 and 10, due to some red/blue star fringing which disappeared when reprocessed and also some comet shaped stars in the corners which could have been due to me not screwing in the camera 100% to the scope. Only a small extra turn but it may have made a difference. Frankly I can't see what's wrong with the stars in the corners but perhaps you could have a closer look at the corners in the image I've posted here. I would add that this image is not full sized, the revised image in the other thread was full size.

The image you are looking at here was taken using an L-Enhance filter, I have considered getting the Astronomik L3 filter but I'm unsure whether if I could stack it with the L-Enhance or use it by itself and lose nebulosity. I'm not going to be the pixel peeper I was for years with my terrestrial photography as I'm now too old and too new to this hobby.

Edited February 17, 2023 by LaurenceT

[Adam J]

10 hours ago, pipnina said:

Looks good! Did you use the Astronomik UV-L3 cut trick with your FMA180 or are you shooting it "full spectrum"?

Trying to work out if this little thing is going to satisfy me or if I will want to save up for something like the ACL200 or Borg 55FL

You can still buy the original FMA180 but there is now a V2 called the FMA180 pro that has some tweaks and improvements. The Borg is much more expensive and faster, personally i like the FMA180 enough that i would not pay more. 

Edited February 17, 2023 by Adam J