IC1396 - Elephants Trunk Nebula

[RichieJarvis]

Hi All,

I've been trying my SCT F/6.3 focal reducer on the Williams Optics Zenithstar 66 - it gives a nice wide Field of View, but its still not big enough to encompass the entire nebula!

Full details here, and a larger image: South Common Observatory

Thanks for looking,

Cheers,

Richie

[arad85]

Always beautiful pics Ritchie.. Another one here

[NickH]

I recognise that :-)

Nice one!

[RichieJarvis]

Thanks guys

Looking forward to seeing yours Nick! Hows it going on that?

Incidentally, here are the Astrometry.net stats:

(RA, Dec) center: (324.78294359, 57.4685647052) degrees

RA bounds: 323.031 to 326.478 degrees

Dec bounds: 56.4072 to 58.5269 degrees

(RA, Dec) center (H:M:S, D:M:S): (21:39:7.906, +57:28:6.833)

Orientation: -108.86 deg E of N

Pixel scale: 4.98 arcsec/pixel

Parity: Normal ("Right-handed")

Field size : 1.77 x 1.33 degrees

[Astroscot2]

Very nice image Richie,

[NickH]

Rich

Slowly...this weather is a nightmare...

[Dangerous-Dave]

Nice work Richie. The field is nice and flat considering you are using an SCT reducer with a short refractor.

This nebula is ginormous, about 2.5 degrees of arc. You might get it on a DSLR at those focal lengths but you're going to need a shorter lens for the H9.

[Coco]

Lovely.. one of my favourite targets..

Guy...

[Taff]

That's a very nice capture Richie.Mark

[RichieJarvis]

Just done a reprocessing of the image, added some spikes too - heres the new one:

[arad85]

More punch in that one Ritchie. Lovely....

[RobH]

You got a lot in there Richie

The second is great.

Cheers

Rob

[JCJC]

Nice one, the second looks great. Nice FOV.

Jordan

[Tim]

The second one is especially nice Richie. What sort of difference does the FR make to the fov?

[RichieJarvis]

Thanks all

The Astrometry data looks like this for this image:

(RA, Dec) center: (324.78294359, 57.4685647052) degrees

RA bounds: 323.031 to 326.478 degrees

Dec bounds: 56.4072 to 58.5269 degrees

(RA, Dec) center (H:M:S, D:M:S): (21:39:7.906, +57:28:6.833)

Orientation: -108.86 deg E of N

Pixel scale: 4.98 arcsec/pixel

Parity: Normal ("Right-handed")

Field size : 1.77 x 1.33 degrees

That is a slight crop - the full FoV with the reducer on is 1.93 x 1.44 degrees - the native FoV for the SXV-H9 chip is 1.3 x 0.9 degrees, so it makes quite a difference - I really have to get the chip close to the FR though, its at about the limit of 80mm at the moment.

The big advantage with this setup is that I can screw the FR straight into the scope, and then the FR into the filter wheel - its screw thread completely from end to end. I am thinking of seeing if I can get my other focuser barrels SCT threaded as well, as it removes the point of flexsure. Does anyone know of a suitable vendor to do this job, and who you would trust?!

Cheers,

Richie

[Tim]

Thanks Richie. I believe that the guy who makes the trutech wheels is pretty handy, might be worth speaking to him, I cant recall his name right now, Nigel I think.

At any rate, he cut a specific length of adapter for me to get distances right with my OAG and H9 with the baader MPCC.

[RichieJarvis]

Nick Hudson? Yeah, spoke to him today, he didn't have anything suitable. I've ordered something I hope will work from Modern Astronomy today, so we shall see!

Cheers,

Richie

[adamsp123]

Stunning picture Richie, and yes the spikes do give it something extra.

[gary1968]

Stunning Richie, I like the 'spiked' version better, but then I like diffraction spikes......

Gary