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Heart in the Sky

The Heart Nebula in Perseus is an interesting region of red hydrogen clouds mixed with dark nebulosity and bright star clusters. This was a test-run: first light with the Sequence generator Pro combined with the Nikon D750 (with autofocus by PegasusAstro, worked wonderfull). Second test (living dangerously!): first attempt to mosaic automatically with SGP.

The D750 would crash SGP when hitting the “link” button: as soon as I touched that button, SGP would collapse and simply vanish in thin air. Solution: install the 2013 C++ redistributables.

The Optolong Pro filter OR the reducer/flattener (or the combination) imho added a lot of vignetting and uneven illumination to the image, which I had a hard time eliminating. So next test would be with a regular Nikon T-ring. If that does not solve the issue then it must be the F5 reducer. I noticed earlier already that images at F7 with the Nikon were a lot cleaner.


IC1805 or the Heart Nebula in Perseus. Image dedicated to my mom who passed way in September age 79. 

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Nikkor 300mm F2.8 further test

I discovered that the lens I purchased (used) had a UV drop-in filter inserted. So I removed that filter and tested again the last night, under a full Moon… On an EQ8 without any guiding, did 18 times 60 second 800ISO shots on F/4 using BackYardNikon.

There are still skewed stars left in the corners, especially to the left lower side. But that might fall within normal DSLR tolerances. I do not understand the assymetry though / left to right.

The only thing that still worries me is the darker circular donut in the middle of the image. It might be related to the large hood that this lens has, a sunshade. I need to test it without the hood (and with a dew band).

The bright star in the middle is Deneb, the red nebulosity at the top is the Pelican.

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Moon exploration with the 180mm Maksutov

5 times Vallis Schröteri and the crater Herodotus

5000 frames 20% stacked ASI290mm with a Baader Green filter
5000 frames 20% stacked ASI290mm with a Baader Red filter
5000 frames 20% stacked ASI290mm with a Baader Red filter second round
5000 frames 20% stacked ASI290mm with a Baader Red filter third round
5000 frames 20% stacked ASI290mm with a Baader IR filter
20000 frames 5% stacked ASI290mm with a Baader IR filter

The out-of-focus star test of the Mak during the imaging session of tonight. A slight de-centering is noticeable, as well as a thermal chimney 10 seconds stacked.

  • Sirsalis and Sirsalis rille at dawn
    Sirsalis craters and rille at dawn: Mak180 F/15 and ASI290MM
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