First Light With The Planostar 0.79x Reducer/Flattener
The weather wasn't brilliant on Halloween, but it was the clearest night for some time and so an ideal opportunity to test out my new Altair Planostar 3" 0.79x reducer/flattener - and what better target to choose on Halloween than the Wizard Nebula!
Once focussed, I was immediately impressed with the apparent flatness of the preview image. The stars were small bright pin pricks of light and those in the corners did not appear elongated. I chose an exposure length of 600s and set up the camera to capture a series of 15 images. When it came to processing, I had to discard 6 images due to worsening conditions as the night progressed, but in the earlier images it was evident that the faster focal length meant I was able to capture a reasonable amount of nebulosity.
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| NGC7380 - The Wizard Nebula |
Overall I am quite pleased with the final image; especially considering the conditions. I'm sure that on
another night, with better seeing, I could draw out a lot more of
the fainter nebulosity, but the overall flatness of the image and nice
crisp round stars proves the value of the reducer/flattener - I can't
wait to try it out on a crisp and clear night.
Cracking photo David - I came across your site after browsing results on the QHY8L as I am also looking at moving up from a modded DSLR. I use an IKHAROS field flattener (Ian King) and it works a treat for cropped sensors but not on full frame.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind words Steve - you are the first to comment on my Blog. I have been really pleased with the QHY8L, and having moved up from a DSLR, I think the larger sensor size makes the transition easier. It's not the best camera on the market, but it is a great starting point if you are looking for a good quality OSC CCD for a reasonable price. What scope are you using?
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