When you get just one or two clear nights during the summer in Florida, you want to take advantage of them. So, I was anxious to try my new Tak FSQ85 EDX despite not ideal weather.
This is literally a quick and dirty test, but I was pleased with the results as 4 objects and a partial 5th object were captured in this image: Bubble nebula (NGC7535), open cluster M52, nebula NGC7538, open cluster NGC7510 and a partial of the Lobster Claw nebula SH2-157.
Conditions:
- Temp 77; Humidity 98-99%
- Seeing was average
- Transparency was below average
- Bortle 7
Setup:
- The Baby Q is piggybacked on top of my C11" EdgeHD in my home observatory
- The ASI 2600MM was cooled down to only -5 degrees (-10 could not be reached which is typical during the Floridian summer)
- An Optec ThirdLynx automotor focuser was used to control automated focusing through NINA
- Astronomik Ha (6nm) and Antlia OIII (3nm) filters were used for 5-minute exposures with guiding on an AP1100 mount
Processing:
- A quick, simple HT stretch of the integrated Ha and OIII images was performed and then combined using PM to create a basic HOO final image.
- No darks, no flats, and no dark flats were used
- The final image (about 5 hours) was essentially uncropped
Obviously, this is not meant to be a pretty picture, as I still have some fine tuning to do, but that will have to wait until better weather deep into the fall. However, I am very pleased with this start.
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