M51 - AP26MC first light + increasing integration test (noon)

M51 - AP26MC first light + increasing integration test

Revision title: M51 - 3h20mm HaRGB

After 3 years of tweaking I was still unhappy with the quality of the original GSO 250mm f/5 components so I rebuilt my newt from scratch: reusing my TSOptics 3mm thick CF tube (GSO replacement) which I modified to hold an Aurora Precision 10" EQ primary cell, TSOptics 100mm secondary with holder, and AstroReflect 255mm f/4.5 primary. I also ordered a OGMA AP26MC and chroma filters... thereby guaranteeing a few months of overcast weather here in SoCal... yes, it is my fault, I'm truly sorry.

Initial impressions of the Aurora Precision cell leave me very impressed. It is way faster to collimate and stays much more collimated than the GSO cell (which I can't really say ever held it.. at all really. It holds collimation throughout the night well and does not pinch the optics at all. The AstroReflect primary is a substantial upgrade from the GSO primary as well. Immediate results from a single subframe show much tighter stars, and much more detail from the core of the galaxy... all from my meager Bortle 7/8 backyard.

This first upload represents the first light of the finished scope/camera combination since I got everything assembled back in April. Last night I managed to get only 52 minutes of 120sec exposures (9x Green, 9x Blue, 8x Red) before clouds started to form up. I decided to upload this image which was barely processed in Pixinsight:

Dynamic crop
DBE
Image Solve > SpectrographicColorCalibration
Histogram Transformation to Non-Linear
Curves Transformation

Intent is to mirror this processing as I build integration time over the next few weeks so that I can share a sense of what iterative RGB subframe accumulation in Bortle 7/8 looks like.
Hope you enjoy.

First version: 52min RGB
Second version: 120min HaRGB
Third version: 3h15m HaRGB

Original
B
Final
E

B

Title: M51 - 120min HaRGB

Description: added 30 mins of 300sec Ha and 12 more minutes each of RGB

Uploaded: ...

E

Title: M51 - 3h20mm HaRGB

Description: Added 54mins of Ha and RGB

Uploaded: ...

Light Polluted skies
OGMA AP26MC
Astrophotography from home
N.I.N.A. Users
Suburban Astrophotography
Broadband under Bortle 7/8/9
Fast Newtonians
SoCal Astrophotography

	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	10036726
PixInsight job	AP2XR9IREYOGXMS2OE3AXSDO94YH2705
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	13h29m52s.506
RA (top/left)	13h28m29s.232
RA (top/right)	13h28m41s.280
RA (bottom/right)	13h31m15s.620
RA (bottom/left)	13h31m04s.477

Dec (center)	+47°11′43″.73
Dec (top/left)	+47°26′22″.41
Dec (top/right)	+46°55′24″.23
Dec (bottom/right)	+46°57′01″.26
Dec (bottom/left)	+47°28′00″.58

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