I have been sitting on this data for a while now and had no intention of processing or publishing but in the spirit of learning I am posting anyway, maybe helpful to others. Biggest challange is collimation, I believe I am able to get the primary and secondary lined up, have used both a cheshire and a laser but am still getting oblong shaped stars as well as them being bloated and soft. One thing I have not done, is introduce a tilt collimator which I have now ordered. Its the only thing I can think of, I thought I maybe able to get away with not having one but based on my research on this RC and its standard focuser, it does suffer from tilt.
Another big lesson is to do your research on your object(s) and its surroundings properly before you start imaging. I had only NGC 2146 in mind and after 2 evenings of imaging realised I had sliced in half the galaxy 2146a which has a direct relationship to NGC2146. Had to readjust framing to accomodate, so the lower 4th of the image has a lot less signal.
I will have to revisit this galaxy as it is super interesting one, being recognised as a starburst galaxy as a result of a brushing with NGC 2146a and or purtubation by it on its stars. Its arms are incredibly twisted giving it a very odd shape.
I beleive I am able to discern more detail if I can get the collimation corrected and add some more integration.
I had to do a LOT of work on the stars to get them to the state they are in now, so please be gentle
CS Brad
Comments