Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Well I finally got my new scope up and running and took a few shots last night. One of the moon I posted at https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-644543-1.html

I also took a few shots of M104. Unfortunately the moon was quite bright and a lot of high clouds made the matter even worse. Anything longer than a 4 minute sub washed out the image at ISO 1600 on the DSLR at the F10 focal ratio I was using. The seeing was pretty bad and very noticeable at the 4000mm focal length the shots were taken at. I only got 16 subs before the wind then came up and it was time to give up for the night. I did process what I got and have posted it below, I used an unsharp mask to bring out a bit more detail and had to darken the image a bit due to the bright sky background. I expect to do much better in a few weeks once the moon is gone and the sky clears up. I used some 4 minute dark frames I had taken a number of months when the temperature was about the same but didn't take fresh ones as I knew this was not the best set of subs anyway, but I really wanted to get some first light with the new scope.

(Download)

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

Very nice

alberio Loc: Casa Grande AZ

That would be on my wall. Are you using a Meade 16"?

Europa Loc: West Hills, CA

Very nice. With only 16 subs, it’ll be great when you can get some more time on it. You are still using the old mount. It seems to be doing very well. Especially if it’s carrying that big scope.

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Yep. OPT had a good sale on an open box 16 inch Meade LX200, so I went for it. I built a carriage with a simple lift so that I could move it around and attach it to the Astro Physics 1600GTO by my self. I also built a much sturdier base for the mount and have a pallet jack to move the base around.

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Actually I upgraded to an Astro-Physics 1600GTO mount and just finished building a heavy duty base for it and a carriage to move the OTA around and attach it to the mount by myself.

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

That's a fine Sombrero Galaxy!
Very nice indeed!

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Hi SonnyE
It came out better than I expected since there was a waxing gibbous moon out and high clouds making the sky bright.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

Incredible!!! Great capture and processing.

tony85629 Loc: Sahuarita, Az

Looks like you have a great setup there. Excellent first light. Look forward to seeing more images.

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Hi Tony85629
Thanks for checking out the photo. I looking forward to taking more images with the scope. Right now I'm doing some finishing work on the mount base while the moon is full. The current weather says rain next week so it might be a couple of weeks before I can get some more shots off.

stepping beyond Loc: usa eastcoast

Ballard , that's what we say here in the South as "Cooking with Grease" that's some stunning data of the Sombrero galaxy.

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Thanks for checking out the photo. Hopefully I will get out and try again once the rain stops by the end of the week, the moon will also be new so I hope to be able to take longer and more subs to get a better shot. In the mean time I have got the base for my mount cleaned up painted and ready to go.

stepping beyond Loc: usa eastcoast

I'm getting wave after wave of rain here in the Carolinas, trying to get my 2018, 19 and 20 to line up and my recycle dump is full of rejected images from trying .