Imaging at 1400mm and F/7

Imaging is not easy. I have learned that over the past year. I have obsessed about it but as much as I do, it doesn’t make it any easier. In one of my earlier blog posts, I explained how I started imaging with hyperstar and an Edge 8hd and how/why I moved to a smaller, more portable rig. I kept my Edge to use it for deep space imaging that a wide field refractor might not pick up the detail on. I had tried it twice with a .7 reducer and OAG to no avail. In fact, the 2nd time I was upset and ready to sell my big mount and scope. I calmed down and told myself I would do a little more research and give it one more try. That try came last night. Here was my set up:

The night started off the same as the others. There are 3 things I needed working. I needed my main camera to focus, I needed my guide camera to focus, and I needed my mount to connect to everything so the my guide camera could make the tracking adjustments it needed to guide. One or more of these items never worked. Finally at about 12:30am, it all came together. My mount connected, I was able to focus my guide camera, and then begin guiding. It was a very rewarding feeling. It was pretty spot on with the exception of some very gusty winds. It yielded this image:

This is M101, the pinwheel galaxy. I have imaged this before but with a smaller refractor. I am very proud of this image and for only 20 sub frames at 300 seconds per image, gusty winds, and a quick pixinsight edit, I think it came out pretty good. I would like to get data totaling up to about 5 hours on this galaxy and see what I can do with it. I had read about how tough it is to image at this focal length and beyond and I will have to agree, it is not nearly as easy as imaging with a small refractor or hyperstar. But I finally got it. I will post a video on my setup and how I was able to get all this working very soon so that anyone else who might have a similar setup to mine can have a little bit of a head start. Tonight I will be shooting m51 so stay tuned!