M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy, a test image with a celestron C8 (Tony A.)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn) · Contains: IC 4277 · IC 4278 · M 51 · NGC 5194 · NGC 5195 · Whirlpool Galaxy

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M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy, a test image with a celestron C8

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M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy, a test image with a celestron C8

I received my new iOptron CEM70G mount. The mount only came with a 25lb counterweight. Until I get a smaller CW I can't use my current imaging scope, the WO Star 71. I had a couple of clear nights, and wanted to get out and use the mount, so I pulled out my old Celestron C8 (8SE) SCT. This is the non-edge HD version. I didn't have high expectations for imaging, but thought I could use it to test the mount's guiding using my OAG.

The first night was a bust, I spent my time just learning the mount. The second night I got guiding going and things were looking good, so I targetted M51 and shot some images until the wind picked up, and I packed it in. I didn't have high hopes for the final result, I knew the C8 would have some heavy curvature, and with manual focusing I'd be lucky not to have blobs for stars. I was right - all of the stars are egg shaped. Still, the image is surprisingly good for 1280mm focal length in bortle 6 skies, and a hair over an hour worth of data. Far better than I'd expected.

The mount tracked and guided great, I was around 0.75" all night, in poor seeing, using entirely default settings in PHD2.

Cloudy Nights

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	4424511
PixInsight job	IAQQBML1ZW58Z70NCJ3LCMRYBLHHT8LC
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

RA (center)	13h29m54s.367
RA (top/left)	13h31m30s.115
RA (top/right)	13h31m15s.285
RA (bottom/right)	13h28m17s.762
RA (bottom/left)	13h28m34s.276

Dec (center)	+47°11′39″.14
Dec (top/left)	+46°57′56″.90
Dec (top/right)	+47°27′57″.45
Dec (bottom/right)	+47°25′17″.31
Dec (bottom/left)	+46°55′17″.14

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M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy, a test image with a celestron C8

M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy, a test image with a celestron C8

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M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy, a test image with a celestron C8

M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy, a test image with a celestron C8

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