Spiral Galaxy NGC 6946

Here is a shot I did with the ST7 running through the new C9.25. I imaged this galaxy at F5 with a stack of 7 ten minute images.

NGC 6946 is noteworthy as being located near an open cluster. It is also known as the Firework's Galaxy. It is rather dim and can be found in the constellation Cepheus

The Pitfalls of AstroImaging...

Lots of things can go wrong. The most common are trailed stars, computer problems, and bad focus. This image of The Crescent Nebulas, has a lot of them. I started out the night with a computer problem, requiring about 4 re-boots. Then it was a problem with a guider trailing stars in the wrong direction. After I thought it was all squared away, I downloaded the night's images, and found the focus was slightly off.

Some nights you just can't win. Here is the result of this problem ridden imaging debacle. To this date, I have never taken a good image of the Crescent Nebula, NGC 6888.

This is a stack of 20 images at 8 minutes each through my C9.25.

Two Views of the Ring Nebula

I shot the Ring Nebula, M57, last night. I normally do not do this nebula, since it is relatively small, but I thought I would give it a go in the new scope.

I shot two versions. One is a stack of 30 thirty second images done with my Starshoot DSCI 1. The other is a composite of the 30 short exposures stacked on a stack of 15 ten-minute exposures. I managed to bring out the small nearby galaxy, and the outer shell is starting to appear around the ring. It looks like a faint ghost. The colors are a bit washed out because of the stretching process.
All imaged through the C9.25 at F3 'ish, not sure what it is exactly.

Getting the C9 Dialed In...

I went back to M27, since it is an easy target, to start getting the rig set better for the new C9.25 OTA. I ran a stream of 30 five minute images, and played around with the guider settings. The stars are sort of blobby (I think because the focus may be a little off - by a hair). I managed to get quite a bit of detail. I think I over-did the sharpening a bit though.

I can already see the C9.25 has all the benefits of my old SN-10 without the drawbacks.

Note: I shot this with a slight southern breeze. It did not seem to make a difference.