Hi folks,
Here is M13. This time I used the red and blue meade filters. Only 9 frames @5min each per channel. The green channel was synthetic created. So in total only 1hr and 30 min of exposure. No flats or bias were used, only darks. I didn't remove the background gradient either. It turns to be quite hard with bright objects if you want to avoid clipping. Hope I can get a better one soon.
Best,
Pablo

Nice job Pablo! If I could shoot one that good I'd print it. Thanks for sharing.
Mike

Thanks Mike.

I finally took the flats this evening. See what a difference they make!
Pablo

Pablo,
Wow, that made a world of difference! Check out Wade Van Arsdales' astroimages via CAAS.org - He has an image of M13 taken thru a TeleVue on an AP1200GT mount, using an SBIG 2000XM w/astrodon filters and adaptive optics and I can't see alot of difference in his versus yours. Thanks for sharing.
Mike

Hi Pablo -

Very nice image! Which scope did you use for this one - your SN8 or the WO 66?

Dave

Hi Dave,
Thanks! It was the WO 66. I kind of gave up with the SN10 (not 8) for photography. It is just way to heavy for my mount. Any, I mean any wind will shake it and make you lose a frame. Within a 5 minute window in Arkansas you will be hit by the wind, for sure.

SN10! SN8? What was I thinking?

The fact that you are getting these great shots with a small refractor is very inspiring to me. Are you mounting ONLY the WO 66 on your LXD75? And if so, what are you using for guiding? I'm also curious about your observing location. Are you shooting these images in Fayetteville, or are you driving outside the city somewhere to set up. I'm curious about how much light pollution you're cutting through.

I know, I know. Questions, quesitons, questions.

I guide through a 70mm f/8.5 Meade refractor ($20 in ebay). I made a costumed tube that can hold the EV-1 Crayford focuser (originally used on the SN-10) with a Philips SPC900NC webcam. Before that, the crappy plastic rack&pinion (nothing better you can expect for $20) caused huge amounts of flexure.

I also made a custom dovetail with rings for mounting the scopes, as well as an extra ring for fixing the drawtube out of the WO focuser. This happened to be the principal cause of flexure after the guider's modification. Now I can be confident there is basically no flexure

I'll try to post some pictures of the setup later tonight.

Oh, and yes, all the pictures, so far, have been taken in Fayetteville. This was the reason I wanted to start imaging with narrow band filters. With broadband filters it gets nasty, in my case, when the scope gets about 40 degrees and lower from the horizon pointing West.

Here is the setup (finally!):



The green cooler at the bottom left of the background happens to be the scopes case. I have them mounted permanently on the dovetail fixture and they fit perfectly in it

A detail on the dovetail. Nothing fancy, but rather sturdy:



And a detail on the cameras. On top is the WO 66-SD with a cooled DSI II Pro. Notice the little ring holding the draw tube from the WO focuser. The blue tube is holding the EV-1 focuser with a modded Philips SPC900NC:



Best,
Pablo

Fantastic Pictures..............I am using the second one as my current wallpaper...................