Askar 80PHQ first light

[Space Oddities]

Hello  

I received recently my brand new Askar 80PHQ. What a beautiful scope! I love the fact it can be used at 600mm and 450mm focal length with the reducer (I'll get it at some point), and 1200mm with a Barlow lens, which is perfect for lunar or solar photography.

Yesterday the clouds where nowhere to be seen, and so was the Moon, so I thought it was the perfect timing to photograph M13. It's perfectly placed at this time of the year, high in the sky.

It was also the first time I was using ZWO's OAG. I did a rough focusing by day with both cameras, and so it was really easy to focus by night, after an autofocus routine on the main camera.

As always, guiding was flawless with the RST-135! I've actually never had such numbers, I guess having a focal length of 600mm really helps there.

 

I quickly checked some subs taken with the ASI2600MC camera, and the image quality seems excellent. The field is indeed very flat and the stars look great!

 

Here is a stack of about 5 hours, quickly processed in PI. Super happy with how it turned out  

[david_taurus83]

Great result with nice round stars at the edge.

I would advise on taking flats when it's dark though as I have found daylight from a window can add uneven illumination to the screen of the light source. Or at least when your light source is brighter than ambient sources.

[Space Oddities]

Thanks David, that's a very good point!