Exposure Details |
Lens |
Astro Tech AT65EDQ w/80mm 2" extension tube for focus |
Focal Length |
420mm |
Focal Ratio |
F6.5 |
|
Mount |
Takahashi NJP |
Guiding |
unguided |
|
Camera |
Canon T3i w/ Gary Honis Full Spectrum Modification |
Exposure |
350 lights at 45 seconds each |
Calibration |
30 darks, no flats, no bias |
|
Date |
October 5th and 6th of the year 2013 |
Temperature |
It was cold that night =) |
SQM Reading |
Bortle 2 |
Seeing |
Great |
Location |
Comanche Springs Astronomy Campus - Crowell, TX |
|
Software Used |
Backyard EOS, Deep Sky Stacker, PixInsight |
Notes |
This image was inspired by Scott Rosen. He showed me an image he took once of M81 that was truly outstanding. He mentioned the image contained roughly 8 hours worth of 45 second subexposures!! I thought that would be a good way to sell the fact that you really do not have to break the bank to have a good image. So long as you have a mount that will hold a 45 second subexposure (most goto mounts on the market will easily do this with a proper alignment), you are really not looking at a ton of money involved here. I hear folks tell me all the time. "It just costs so much to get into imaging!" I completely disagree. With a small bit of patience, an image such as this can be had for a very reasonable amount of money spent. I only used a Takahashi mount because that's what happened to be available at the time. |