M51 (LRGB) - Atik Horizon

[dpaul]

Had the chance to use my Horizon mono camera last week for the first time, also the first time I've ever used LRGB filters.
The attached was taken on a 30'' F3.5 dobsonian with unguided equatorial platform. Pixinsight was used to post process the data.
Each filter had 6 frames saved of 12 seconds, gain 20, offset 20, binning 2x2.

Thanks

David

[Jo]

That's a wonderful M51, David, and particularly impressive for a first light, first time with filters, and unguided to boot! It's great to see you're getting the chance to use your new Horizon.

Thanks for sharing,
Jo

[murphyme]

Lovely photo David,

Michael.

[dpaul]

Thanks Jo (and Michael),

I've now got the Atik EFW2 Filter wheel and a correctly positioned Baader coma corrector so hopefully I'll get a chance to do a better job soon. So far I've needed to take the camera off the scope and change filters which was a pain. The interesting point is the arc seconds per pixel. In theory I am seriously over-sampling compared to the seeing, circa 0.6 arc seconds per pixel (with 2x2 binning). Yes the stars are a bit bloated but with Pixinsight I can reduce much of this. So if anyone is worried you can't get ok results with over-sampling then you can - better than undersampling.

Can't wait to try some more targets as soon as possible.

Thanks

David