Image #2 from the Okie Tex Star Party!

This was such an interesting experience for me... Exactly 4 years ago, I went to Oklahoma for the 2015 Okie Tex Star Party with what I thought would be my ultimate wide field traveling rig in tow.

It was untested and unused before the trip making it a scary experience since it was a good possibility of just being down for the week. It was an M Zero and FSQ 85 with a QSI sony sensor and I shot the NGC 1333 region. That week was the greatest test of my imaging patience... The mount didn't cooperate as I couldn't get it to polar align and the balance was impossible to find due to the geometry of the configuration of the refractor... The scope had some really horrible coma and tilt in the lens and was nearly useless and took some processing magic to get it where it needed to be... And, the rig was really not truly portable as only the scope and camera could really fit into a carry on and that carry on was debatable... They also made me check the mount and tripod at the gate which was super nerve wracking...

Fast forward 4 years and the experience was a complete 180... The widefield rig all fit into a hiking backpack that had no trouble fitting into a carry on that fit into a regional jet overhead compartment so I was even able to carry another bag with all kinds of additional clothes and equipment. The rig was a dream to use and sucked in the photons even faster! The support during the week from Rainbow Astro and Pegasus Astro as well as Astro Mechanics to get me the gear in time for the trip was fantastic all the way around. A few days into the week, the whole rig worked every night all night through with no intervention. It was bullet proof and provided excellent data!

It all led to some really deep images throughout the week of some of my very favorite regions!

Anyways, thanks for looking and as always, C&C's are always appreciated!