Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn)  ·  Contains:  IC 4277  ·  IC 4278  ·  M 51  ·  NGC 5194  ·  NGC 5195  ·  Whirlpool Galaxy
M51 (RC12 First Light), Peter Cox
Powered byPixInsight

M51 (RC12 First Light)

M51 (RC12 First Light), Peter Cox
Powered byPixInsight

M51 (RC12 First Light)

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

This is the first light of a GSO 12" Ritchey-Chrétien. Acquisition time was limited as there has been constant poor weather here since the beginning of the year, but I was keen to see how the system performed. Collimation of the scope was pretty good right out of the box. I'm glad I didn't try to collimate it before this test, as a look through the collimation scope led me to believe it was severely miscollimated - the mechanical centers of the mirrors and baffle tubes looked badly misaligned.

However, this image shows some mild astigmatism and coma around the edges of the frame (which I ended up cropping out for framing purposes anyway). A few delicate tweaks on the next clear night will hopefully bring everything into perfect alignment.

Comments

Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

M51 (RC12 First Light), Peter Cox