sarge69 Loc: Ft Myers, FL

Imaged this last night with the moon only 9 degrees away, took some Yankee ingenuity, but I did it with a Baader Moon/Skyglow filter and a piece of gray foam rubber banded to the telescope to act as a 'moon shield'.

Almost 2hrs of data, 120 and 240 second exposures at ISOs 800 and 400. Stacked in DSS, processed and cropped in PS5, noise removal by Noiseware Community Edition.

Nikon D5100, Spencer modded, in a Stellarvue 90mm apochromatic with a Williams Optics .85 reducer/flattener. iEQ45 mount guided by Orion SSAG and Telescope Drive Master.

This really would look nice on a dark, moonless night. Hope I get the opportunity to get some more data to add to it.

Almost 2 hrs of data on NGC2244, the Rosette Nebula. 120 and 240 second exposures at ISOs 800 and 400 from a Nikon D5100, Spencer Modded, Stellarvue 90mm with a Williams Optics .80 reducer/flattener on a iOtpron iEQ45 mount. Bright waxing gibbeous moon, 82% bright was 9 degrees from this target. Used a Baader Moon/Skyglow filter and a piece of foam fitted to the optical tube to act as a "moonshield". Data stacked in DSS and processed and cropped in PS to eliminate layering on edges. Noise reduction by Noiseware Community Edition.

From my Brother Paul

NGC2244 - Rosette Nebula

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

Not too shabby! Too bad I don't speak star geek.

sarge69 Loc: Ft Myers, FL

You? It confuses me up the ying yang. I just know he is getting so good at it that modifications he makes for telescopes are being requested so much he has started taking orders on the internet. Lot of them at his site mentioned previously. I think it's a flickr account

Sarge69

angler Loc: StHelens England

Amazing shot,your brother certainly knows his stuff Sarge.

sarge69 Loc: Ft Myers, FL

Thanks. He lets me know it too.

Sarge69

Algol Loc: Georgia

Great shot Sarge, especially given the fact of the conditions with the moon (been there, seen it, done it and I know how difficult it is). Paul is to be commended on this shot. The Orion nebula is bright and easily imaged, but the Rosette is a low surface brightness object that is difficult to image on dark clear nights. Very long exposures with the right equipment are required in order to get a decent image. I do speak astro-geek and fully understand the method and equipment used. Am especially interested in the iEQ45 as I am considering purchasing it. Could you ask Paul for me how the performance is as opposed to either the iEQ30 or the Celestron CG-5GT. I need something very light weight for overseas air travel yet good on guiding.

Archy Loc: Lake Hamilton, Florida

Cool Image................ :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

sarge69 Loc: Ft Myers, FL

Reply from Paul

Thanks for the nice comment on the Rosette, acquired another hour of data last night, sans Moon, hoping it adds a little more nebulosity when I process it.

Re; iEQ45 and air travel. I have the iOptron 'Pelican Case' for the mount, would be very easy to travel with that. The tripod, on the other hand, would need a tripod bag, a Hakuba bag of the appropriate length would do the trick.

Both items weigh in at around 38 pounds total, 60 pounds with the two 5kg counterweights in the case. That's not an 'easy' package for air travel when you have a couple pieces of luggage to schlep around too...although it could be done.

With the iEQ30, you can shave about 25 pounds off the total package, or about 45 pounds..a little easier to manage.

The CG5-GT series is comparable, weight wise, to the iEQ45.

With any travel solution, the main concern would be the OTA, the easiest telescopes to travel with are refractors, and the upper limit for travel should be an 80mm or below. ( The Orion 80mm carbon fiber triplet fits nicely in an overhead in it's case)

An ideal solution, for overseas astrophotography, with deep space capability would be the iOptron SmartEQ Pro. It's very light...the entire package with counterweights and accessories fits in a 37" Hakuba tripod bag, and it weighs in under 20 pounds complete. It's also possible to autoguide this mount. The SmartEQ has become my grab n' go for casual astrophotograpy, and with a small rich field telescope takes some wonderful images, even with short exposures.

Here's a Andromeda image taken on the SmartEQ with a 50mm 'guide scope' converted to a rich field telescope with the addition of a .80 focal reducer/flattener:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/astronewb2011/8117928050/

Here's my typical setup with this mount:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/astronewb2011/8106526206/

The little 50mm practically fits in your coat pocket, definitely in your luggage.

Anyway, that's some info and ideas, good luck and keep looking up.....

Paul