Imaging telescopes or lenses: Celestron 8” Rowe-Ackermann Schmidt Astrograph (RASA 8)
Imaging cameras: ZWO ASI 533 MC PRO
Mounts: Ioptron CEM70
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Orion Deluxe Mini 50mm Guide Scope with Helical Focuser
Guiding cameras: ZWO ASI 224MC
Software: PixInsight 1.8 · SharpCap
Filters: Celestron LPI Filter for the 8” RASA
Accessory: Celestron Focus Motor
Dates:Feb. 4, 2021 , Feb. 5, 2021 , Feb. 12, 2021 , Feb. 16, 2021
Frames:
Celestron LPI Filter for the 8” RASA: 289x120" (gain: 100.00) -10C bin 1x1
Celestron LPI Filter for the 8” RASA: 119x120" (gain: 100.00) -20C bin 1x1
Integration: 13.6 hours
Darks: ~20
Flats: ~30
Bias: ~30
Avg. Moon age: 12.50 days
Avg. Moon phase: 28.94%
Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: 6.00
Astrometry.net job: 4228520
RA center: 5h 46' 37"
DEC center: +0° 3' 57"
Pixel scale: 1.940 arcsec/pixel
Orientation: 83.978 degrees
Field radius: 1.116 degrees
Resolution: 2957x2902
Locations: Sofia - Capital of Bulgaria, Sofia, Bulgaria
Data source: Backyard
I can only say one thing - WOW. This target is unreal! I imaged M78 last winter with my C6. I saw Casper the friendly ghost and was very pleased. This year I decided to try M78 with my bigger scope. I centered on Casper and started to acquire data. Then I stacked the first nigh and liked what I saw and decided to gather more light. However being already in February I felt that I am a bit late for this target. At my location it rises at dawn and sets below 30 degrees at about 11 pm. And considering that this winter the weather here is quite unstable - I began to be sorry for myself that I will have to wait till next winter to finish this project.
However I got lucky and managed to steal a total of 3 nights and a half. In Sofia M78 rises to about 47 degrees at the meridian and seeing is not so good there. Actually M78 is right at the celestial equator. This target turned out to be the perfect test for my new mount. The gathered experience showed that guiding is quite dependent on seeing. At some moment in time I got RMS error above 1.3" and at another - 0.47".
After the mere stack of my exposures there wasn't much detail. I got a lot of gradients and stuff. But when I removed them - well then the beauty of this object shined. I am impressed by the cloud formations and I am happy with the achieved result.
Description: Starless version of M78
Uploaded: ...
Description: Tested Topaz DeNoise AI on M78. Looks great!
Uploaded: ...
| Celestron Rasa Group |
| Celestron RASA |
| ASI533MC Pro |
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