It was a hectic evening, but I wanted to take the opportunity of the first clear night after 3 months (!) to test some new equipment. The biggest innovation is certainly the Starizona FRCC which turns my f/4-Newton into a f/3-Newton.
Of course the moon disturbed again and there was a noticeable wind. It kept away the fog, which would have risen otherwise seasonally, but it disturbed the Guiding clearly. In addition, the high clouds came more and more in in the course of the evening.
I did manage to run some tests and take images of both M42 and NGC 663 to assess imaging, field of view, and collimation.
For this I have measured the tilt with ASTAP (almost none) as well as FWHM with APP (during lucky imaging on M42 around 3"). The mag limit was around 18mag which must be true given the bright moon and the high clouds.
M42 with L-Filter 98 x 1 sec
M42 with Ha-Filter 90 x 2 sec
NGC 663 20 x 120 sec
all with darks and flats.
The results give me confidence and I am excited about the much larger field of view. To what extent the light intensity has an influence on the results, I can not say yet. The moon was just too bright for that. However, I have spoken with some users here and they were all very satisfied with their poor man's RASA.
I had to finish the session bevor midnight due to clouds but I called it a night with a good feeling
Thanks for watching and take care out there!
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