M57 Ring Nebula - 10" Classical Cassegrain

[Roy Foreman]

This was a bit of an experiment.  I knew that the long focal length (3045mm) of the Cassegrain would be advantageous due to the small size of M57, but the F/12 focal ratio was definitely going to slow thing down an awful lot.  Also the ever present haze and passing clouds conspired against me.  Recording the outer gaseous shells was definitely not an option !

However, here it is.  Vital stats as follows :-

 

Stella Lyra 10" F/12 Classical Cassegrain

Skywatcher CQ350 Mount

ZWO ASI 6200 MC Pro - full frame OSC

No Filters used.

60 x 60 sec at gain 300

Cloud and moon stopped play after that.

 

Thought this may be of interest due to the unusual choice of scope,  which by the way performs absolutely superbly for lunar imaging !

Thanks for looking.

[Roy Foreman]

Reprocess using Affinity for stacking - it does a much better job than DSS and sharper too !

Outer halo just starting to show, but definition is not all that it could be as I've pushed it quite a lot.

Definitely needs more integration time.

Edited July 10, 2023 by Roy Foreman
Additional text added.

[CCD Imager]

NIce image, the second is much better with a neutral background, was bluish in the first, and more resolution

Adrian

[Ags]

Outer halo showing, and a nice galaxy at 2 o'clock! Good job!

[Paul M]

Very nice. The second image looks like a different data set! 

The adjacent galaxy is very well defined second time round. 

[Roy Foreman]

4 hours ago, CCD Imager said:

NIce image, the second is much better with a neutral background, was bluish in the first, and more resolution

Adrian

Thanks Adrian - after posting the first image I realised that I could probably get more out of it, and a reprocess from scratch seems to have proved that !

Roy

[Roy Foreman]

3 hours ago, Ags said:

Outer halo showing, and a nice galaxy at 2 o'clock! Good job!

Thank you very much, wasn't expecting the halo to show, so that was a pleasant surprise.

[Roy Foreman]

55 minutes ago, Paul M said:

Very nice. The second image looks like a different data set! 

The adjacent galaxy is very well defined second time round. 

Same data set, just totally different processing. Glad you like the image.

Thank you

Roy

[AstroMuni]

Fantastic detail for just 1 hours worth of capture @Roy Foreman

[Roy Foreman]

1 hour ago, AstroMuni said:

Fantastic detail for just 1 hours worth of capture @Roy Foreman

Thank you and yes, I was surprised how well it came out considering the limited capture time and slow focal ratio of F/12. Perhaps using no filters helped.