M3 Globular Star Cluster (2024, First Light AT92) (Mark Germani)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn) · Contains: HD119081 · HD119391 · M 3 · NGC 5263 · NGC 5272

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M3 Globular Star Cluster (2024, First Light AT92)

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M3 Globular Star Cluster (2024, First Light AT92)

Several weeks ago, thanks to the astonishing generosity of a fellow astrophotographer, I received an Astro-Tech AT92 APO refractor. Half as wide again as my trusty Zenithstar 61, this is an incredible upgrade for me.

I was a little worried about backspacing, but at 57mm from the stock flattener, there was surprisingly little coma on my first night out. I added another 2.5mm and added a second night of imaging, but it didn't seem to make any difference with the coma - in fact it added a funny little bulge to the top-right corner of all of the stars, like a small unresolved double. Not sure what I did wrong, maybe tightened the pressure-fit on the flattener too much? Anyway, I'll play around with it. It's nearly bang-on, and BlurXterminator sure helps.

There are some small artifacts from my quick processing here - with so many nearly-resolved stars, they seemed to blend together and create faint strings which look a little odd after processing. But I wanted to get this image up ASAP. It has been aggressively drizzled, and I ditched about 20% of my subs as I haven't yet installed my auto-focuser and my focus drifted a bit on the first night. I have only cropped the final image a little bit, as I wanted to feature as much of the lovely FOV as possible, including NGC 5263.

Many thanks to the donor of this wonderful telescope!

The refractors!
Broadband under Bortle 7/8/9
The OSC Club (One Shot Camera)
Canadian Astrophotography
Pacific Northwest Astrophotographers
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Astro-Tech AT92
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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	9721226
PixInsight job	R8C2TIPEQUB55H0S6S8XRO2A4H4YXJBJ
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	13h42m11s.35
RA (top/left)	13h44m39s.55
RA (top/right)	13h44m36s.98
RA (bottom/right)	13h39m41s.43
RA (bottom/left)	13h39m47s.50

Dec (center)	+28°22′45″.5
Dec (top/left)	+27°50′45″.10
Dec (top/right)	+28°55′26″.7
Dec (bottom/right)	+28°54′33″.7
Dec (bottom/left)	+27°49′53″.6

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M3 Globular Star Cluster (2024, First Light AT92)

M3 Globular Star Cluster (2024, First Light AT92)

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M3 Globular Star Cluster (2024, First Light AT92)

M3 Globular Star Cluster (2024, First Light AT92)

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