Tarantula Nebula NGC2070 - test shot

[troypiggo]

Decided to test out my WO Flattener IV on the ED80 last night. Full moon and light pollution, also thought I'd give some Ha imaging a crack with the DSLR.

This is just a quick test shot, 4x8min subs. Quite happy with the flattened field, but will test some more obviously.

[ameerat42]

Hi Troy. You are speaking a language I haven't heard much of in a while - astronomy. The "WO" I'm not sure of, but [field] flattener and H[alpha]. Hmm. Music of the sphere's - and to the ears! Alas! You make me feel like putting my 12" f/4 reflector together. Oh, and a nice shot. Any others? Am...
[Location: Sydney, NSW]

[Adrena1in]

Very nice...I really must get my a**e in gear and give my WO ZS 70mm and FF mkIII a try, as I never really have...

[Celestron]

Very nice Troy ! Seems that William Optic Flattener is working well for you ? Are you going to have RGB ?

[troypiggo]

Hi Troy. You are speaking a language I haven't heard much of in a while - astronomy. The "WO" I'm not sure of, but [field] flattener and H[alpha]. Hmm. Music of the sphere's - and to the ears! Alas! You make me feel like putting my 12" f/4 reflector together. Oh, and a nice shot. Any others? Am...
[Location: Sydney, NSW]

G'day Am. Sorry about the abbreviations. "WO" is William Optics, a manufacturer of refractors and other astronomical accessories. I have been frustrated by getting eggy stars in the corners of my shots taken with the ED80 refractor. Have tried several field flatteners to date with no success. This was my first shot with the William Optics one and I'm quite happy with it initially. This is the one I was testing (http://www.williamoptics.com/accessories/flattener4_features.php). It's quite huge, but hey - if it gets results...

[troypiggo]

Very nice Troy ! Seems that William Optic Flattener is working well for you ? Are you going to have RGB ?

Thanks Ron! :) Might add some RGB at some stage. It's a very cool part of the sky. Lots to look at with all those little bubbly nebula surrounding it.

I bought a set of Ha, OIII, and SII EOS clip narrowband filters some time ago, but wanted to get some other things sorted out before I attempted using them. Reckon I'm getting there so might be trying some more. My thinking was to take the narrowband shots, mostly Ha I guess, from here at home in inner city Brisbane with lots of light pollution, and RGB when I get to a dark site.

[Nighthound]

This is really outstanding Troy, so much to look at in this patch of sky. I'm envious of such a beautiful object within view. This is a perfect complex for the ED80. 8 minute subs huh? Now you're just showing off. :D

Great Work.

[troypiggo]

Thanks Steve! That 8 mins was guided obviously. ISO1600 too - that narrowband is way too narrow (6nm). I have a 13nm on order to make it all just that little bit easier.

[FarmerDave8N]

WOW! I have got to get one (some?) Ha filters. I stood outside Tuesday night, marvelling at the clear sky and shaking my fist at the full, loathsome glowing orb as it made a mockery of the older, statelier photons.

WO has a FF IV? Man, I have been out of it for a while - the FFII was long the FF/FR of choice for the 80ED. Have you tried it on any other scopes? I have the Orion 80ED and EON 72, so having one FF for both scopes would be cool.

Nice work!

[troypiggo]

I only have 2 imaging scopes - ED80 and a C8 SCT. I've only used the C8 a couple of times, main intention was for planetary. I bought it used and it came with a Meade .63 FR.

Since day 1 I've been frustrated with eggy stars in the corners of the ED80 shots. I had read about the WO FF II, but being new to it all I purchased the WO FF III instead mistakenly thinking that the "III" meant better/newer than the "II". Wrong. It didn't help me. I sold it to a guy who tried it on his WO Megrez 72 (I think that's what it was) and he got good results.

I had also read that some guys were using the Baader MPCC successfully on ED80's, even though it is designed for Newtonians, not refractors. Bought that. Tried it. No good.

By now I was getting really frustrated, and was tossing up on whether to get the WO FF II or IV. I'd heard of good results with the II, but when I read the specs on both it looked like the IV would work on a wider range of scopes. It's adjustable so, I believe, you can set it for your scope.

Based on the product page http://www.williamoptics.com/accessories/flattener4_features.php it should work on your EON 72.

I'm going out to a dark site 20,21 Nov and it's all I'll be imaging with, so we'll see how it goes there ;)

[FarmerDave8N]

I only have 2 imaging scopes - ED80 and a C8 SCT. I've only used the C8 a couple of times, main intention was for planetary. I bought it used and it came with a Meade .63 FR.

Cool, thanks for the background info. FWIW, if you ever do any DSO work with the C8 those Meade FF/FRs made after a certain point in time are generally considered "bad" because a manufacturing flaw gives them a f/l that's a) not what's stated and b) so short that it's almost impossible to reach focus at the point you're supposed to get a flat field. I know I've "seen" you in some of the astro Y! groups, but not sure if you're in SCT-user. There's a *whole* mess of postings about it in there that can help you figure out if you've got a "good" one or a "bad" one - the Celestron 6.3 FRs are thought to be good.


I'm going out to a dark site 20,21 Nov and it's all I'll be imaging with, so we'll see how it goes there ;)

Good luck! I'll be looking forward to seeing the results (aka living vicariously through other imagers who don't have as crap weather).

David

[troypiggo]

I'll have a look at the Meade FR stuff you talk about. I have imaged with my DSLR on it before, so it certainly can achieve focus. But thanks for the heads-up.

I'm not in the SCT-user group. Mostly software Y! groups - eqmod, astroplanner, autoguiding, metaguide, stark-labs (for PHD and Nebulosity), registax, avistack. Think that's it :)

As for weather, it's just turned overcast and stormy here so we'll see how we go in another few weeks :)