My first image of M31 - after 34 years!
2021
Optics: WO RedCat51, 250mm, f/4.9
Camera: ZWO ASI6200MC Pro, full frame cooled CMOS
Focusing: ZWO EAF + Bahtinov-Mask
Guiding: autoguiding in RA and Dec, ZWO ASI120MM Mini + AsiAir Pro
Exposure: 3.5 h
1987
Optics: Tele-Raynox, 300mm, f/5.6
Camera: Exakta Varex IIb, full frame, 100% mechanical
Film: Kodak Tri X pan 400 (not hypered)
Focusing: manual with razor blade
Guiding: RA only, manual corrections
Exposure: 20 min
Anyone remember these times? Everything was so much more cumbersome back then:
- no goto mounts, no plate solving, framing done manually and motor only available on RA axis (often record player motors)
- no autoguiding, manually watched guide star all the time and corrections possible only on RA axis
- no Bahtinov mask, focusing with razor blade or magnifying glass
- guiding mistakes happened easily when tired and guiding direction was mixed up
- mechanical cameras used as electronic cameras died quickly in cold humid nights
- no idea about result until film was developed, maybe days later
Today, setting up an image session with the help of computerized mount, cooled CMOS camera and plate solving is a matter of 10-20 minutes.
The computer can run the image session the whole night while I can watch a movie or go to sleep
The results we obtain today with equipment of similar optical power were not imaginable back then, 13 years before the Hubble Telescope started...
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