This is our first light image using the new QHY600 60 Megapixel Full Frame Monochrome CMOS camera mounted on the Takahashi 130 FSQ, I want to thank QHYCCD for the honor to be testing this amazing new camera. The image was captured in RGB, Ha and OIII. (H-Alpha is mapped to Red channel @70% opacity, OIII is mapped to the blue channel @70% opacity and OIII is mapped to the green channel @50% opacity) Coming soon will be a Hubble Palette version of this capture. The Optolong OIII filter produces halos on the bright stars in this image such as 52 Cygni which is a bit disappointing however I'll be using Chroma Narrowband Filters on this setup from the end of this month.

Pictured here to the left of the image covering an area over 3 x 2 degrees of sky of are the Eastern Veil Nebula NGC6992 to the Western Veil Nebula NGC6960 (Witch’s Broom) far right with “Pickering’s Triangle” in between at the top of the image as well as “The Funnel” just below and the many knot’s and strands visible here and within this beautiful Supernova remnant known as the Cygnus Loop.

This new setup is available immediately for people wanting to subscribe to Grand Mesa Observatory's system 1.



Captured over 5 nights in July and August for a total acquisition time of 8.5 hours.



Technical Details

Captured and processed by: Terry Hancock

Location: GrandMesaObservatory.com Purdy Mesa, Colorado

Dates of Capture July 30, August 6th, 8th, 11th and 13th 2020

HA 210 min 21 x 600 sec

OIII 140 min 14 x 600 sec

RGB 165 min 11 x 300 sec (per channel)

Narrowband Filters by Optolong

Camera: QHY600 Monochrome CMOS Photographic version

Camera Details and Specs https://www.qhyccd.com/index.php?m=content&c=index&a=show&catid=94&id=55

Gain 60, Offset 76 in Read Mode Photographic 16 bit

Calibrated with dark, Bias and Flat Frames

Optics: Walter Holloway's Takahashi FSQ 130 APO Refractor @ F5

Image Scale: 1.19 arcsec/pix

Field of View: 3d 7' 41.0" x 2d 3' 5.3 (127.3 x 190.1 arcmin)

EQ Mount: Paramount ME

Image Acquisition software Maxim DL6 Pre Processing in Pixinsight Post Processed in Photoshop CC