Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn)  ·  Contains:  IC 4278  ·  M 51  ·  NGC 5194  ·  NGC 5195  ·  Whirlpool Galaxy
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C8 Edge First light experiment with M51, Ian Dixon
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C8 Edge First light experiment with M51

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
C8 Edge First light experiment with M51, Ian Dixon
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C8 Edge First light experiment with M51

Equipment

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Acquisition details

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Description

Hello all,

I just acquired a used C8 Edge SCT to help find some heretofore unreachable galaxies. Very exciting, but the excitement is tempered by the fact that I have never *looked* through any SCT, never focused one, never collimated one, and have balanced something this big (with a bigger guide scope too) – safe to say I am not used to their foibles. This is a standard C8 edge with the stock focuser, locks, and I was using a 0.7 reducer with 105mm spacing back focus to the camera.

The learning curve is steep for me – I am a guy who is familiar imaging in widefield with a small apochromat – which is quite simple and fun.

I decided to hunt down M95 earlier last week using this new scope. I changed my mind and went for M51, just because its rather low hanging fruit, and because its so popular on this site. Popularity is my choice in this case because its helpful to compare my results to others with similar equipment.

Target galaxy (my first close image): M51 - NGC 5194 is the ever-popular Whirlpool in Canes Venatici. It is imaged routinely, and is one of the best-known spiral galaxies in the sky. It interacts rather conspicuously with a smaller proximal galaxy eg, NGC 5195.

Taken at Sandilands park about 50 km east of my city, Bortle 2-3.

Focusing with a Bahtinov was straightforward, but it took me a bit of time to collimate the scope, not sure if I had it right. I can do Newtonians in my sleep, but this is new for me.

I wanted to compare two sets of exposures using similar processing PI.

What I have is 1.) a stacked set of lights (22 @ 180 seconds - gain 100), bin 1 x1, with the 2600 mc camera, and 2.) a second set of stacked lights (7 @ 240 seconds – gain 100), bin 1 x1 with the same camera. My battery died mid way through the 240 s run, so 7 lights is all I have. Each set is calibrated with darks only, no flats.

Let me know what you think!

Clear skies,

Ian

Comments

Revisions

  • C8 Edge First light experiment with M51, Ian Dixon
    Original
  • C8 Edge First light experiment with M51, Ian Dixon
    B
  • Final
    C8 Edge First light experiment with M51, Ian Dixon
    C

B

Description: 240 second lights stacked - only 7 x 240 seconds, as my battery died. Gain 100, bin 1 x 1.

Uploaded: ...

C

Description: Another crack at processing. I reduced the star mask, but its still giving me artifacts. :)

Uploaded: ...

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C8 Edge First light experiment with M51, Ian Dixon