With clear nights limited during my summer months I took the opportunity to image the Carina Nebula from home with a gap in the clouds. Unfortunately imaging time was limited on this as I could only photograph it from 2am onwards, with sunrise before 5am and clouds at 4am…. and light pollution in the mix.
Nevertheless, the 8” Orion astrograph finally saw its first light.
Carina Nebula, 65min ISO400
The Carina nebula is a southern target, huge in comparison to other Hydrogen Alpha regions, and bright, making it a great catch for the light-bucket F/3,9 astrograph.
Image acquisition:
10x 120Sec = 20min @ ISO400
15x 180Sec = 45min @ ISO400
Total 65min @ ISO400
100x bias frames
30x Flat frames
20x Dark frames (2 sets for each exposure length)
Acquisition software: Nebulosity.
Guiding: PHD
Calibration & Post-Processing: Pix Insight
Equipment:
8″ Orion astrograph F/3.9 / 800mm Focal Length
Celestron CCgemDX
Canon60Da
Orion 50mm GuideScope & SSAG
Baader MPCC
Single uncalibrated 180sec ISO400 Sub exposure:
Single uncalibrated 180sec ISO400 Sub exposure:
Integrated, calibrated 65min unedited:
Integrated, calibrated 65min unedited:
Final edit as above, or check a bigger version on Flick: >here<
I’m impressed with the performance of the 8” Orion astrograph at this price point. Earlier this year I took a 10” for a test run on the Helix Nebula & Sculptor galaxy, the results of which made me invest into one of my own. My Celestron CGemDX mount managed the weight perfectly, but I attribute the flat PHD graph more to the proper alignment & balancing (both of which were done by Cory @TheAstroShake, as his first complete setup and alignment in the southern hemisphere). Collimation out the box wasn’t too bad, but definitely something you should pay attention to every imaging session if you want sharp stars. I’m yet to use this scope in dark skies, so this is by no means an entirely accurate representation of the 8”s capabilities. I image from a light polluted sky and I don’t use any LP filters.
Lastly, if you’re looking into purchasing this astrograph, make sure you get a coma corrector for imaging. I use the Baader Multipurpose Coma Corrector which is more suitable to fast Newtonians, and it certainly delivered sharper stars at the edge of the field.
More about calibration, integration and processing from Cory: >here<
More info on the Orion 8” astrograph
>here<
Baader Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector
>here<
