Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Orion (Ori)  ·  Contains:  Great Nebula in Orion  ·  M 42  ·  M 43  ·  NGC 1973  ·  NGC 1975  ·  NGC 1976  ·  NGC 1977  ·  NGC 1980  ·  NGC 1981  ·  NGC 1982  ·  NGC 1999  ·  The star 42Ori  ·  The star 45Ori  ·  The star θ1Ori  ·  The star θ2Ori  ·  The star ιOri
M42 from my Driveway in NC, clangorous
M42 from my Driveway in NC
Powered byPixInsight

M42 from my Driveway in NC

M42 from my Driveway in NC, clangorous
M42 from my Driveway in NC
Powered byPixInsight

M42 from my Driveway in NC

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

Had a rare clear night last week so went out to try out a new camera and do some EAA imaging (just getting into that with SharpCap) but I could not get the captures working. So I just did several timed exposures (30 sec) with a Nikon D7200.

Had the scope mounted on my Celestron Advanced GT German EQ mount which holds my C11 SCT. Mounting the small refractor, it was rock solid since it is more mount than needed for an 80mm scope. The funny thing is I had to jury rig a 5 lb dumbell plate on the mount as a counterweight on it because the C11 counterweights are 11 lbs each, and even one was way too heavy. I really did not think it would work because I had to hold it in place with a hose clamp - but it didn't shift during tracking.

It was really fun because in 15 minutes had a solid polar alignment with no noticeable drift. When I stacked the images I only had to nudge two of them and all the other layers were aligned already so i was happy with that!

The real purpose was that I'm looking at buying an 80mm triplet, probably an Explore Scientific, either the ED 80 or hopefully, the one with FCD 100 glass. So I wanted to take this image with the Celestron 80mm for a later comparison. This one as you can see has lots of chromatic aberration because it's a straight achromat.

The C11 and the CR80 are both posted for sale so I can get the other scope and a mount. Looking forward to getting deeper into it!

Comments

Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

M42 from my Driveway in NC, clangorous