This image is a kind of test. I can't say that it is first light - it is the first episode of a new season
After ten years this particular scope returned to me and I was eager to spend some time with this old friend
Quite rare scope with very good performance in my memories and am happy find out that that it is not just my nostalgia
The plan is to use this scope for imaging during traveling, so decided that I have to build a package that doesn't use the scope in the obsy as donor - new USB hub, set of cables, power supply. Also moved the Pegasus Focus Cube from my WO 80 to it. After ten years and other new stuff - it was brand new scope to make running. It took time to find the approximate focus point, to get the sweet focusing step for the auto-focus, the actual focal length with the reducer...
Everything was going slow with random hanging and/or disappearing devices in various configurations. It took more than 2 hours to eliminate the possible options - cables, power sources of the hub, focuser, camera... It happened that that reason was very curious. I have had a USB 3.0 repeater cable for a long time which works fine (the only thing not intended to be part of the traveling package). The new hub is fancy USB 3.2 with 12V power supply... It happened that these two don't like each other
Connected the hub to the computer with regular USB3.0 cable and everything ran smooth till the end of the session.
So, the hint that goes directly to the APT User's Guide - If you are using active USB cable (repeater) it is better to be with the same or newer USB protocol version as the connected USB Hub. Consider it as a possible source of problems! The Moon was in the last quarter so I knew that there would not be proper imaging time, also the forecast was not giving full clear night. A bright target with good Ha and OIII was needed, suitable to ~600-650mm FL. Decided that the Pelican is a good target for the Black Swan (a nick name used in the past for the black models of William Optics), even more it is my first time on the object.
After a kind of nervous time getting to know each other, the Swan and Pelican had a nice dance. Nice, but short as I managed to gather only two hours before the sky became too bright and foggy, however the result looks pleasant to me. Hope that it looks pleasant to you too
P.S. The OIII part of the the filter gives massive halos around the bright stars... Never the less it is still giving nice level of detail...
https://www.astrophotography.app/
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