Galaxies for Fun Astronomical CMOS and CCD photos of peculiar galaxies and other astronomical stuff.
www.galaxies.se - by Ivar Hamberg
12 inch Ritchey-Chrétien telescope
In the fall/winter of 2020, I started to install an upgrade to the observatory. A Sky Watcher EQ8-R mount and a 12"RC telescope.
The RC with the STL11000M attached for first trial.
This setup was used for the first deep sky test of NGC2237 shown below.
The RC with the QHY600M-PH.
The 60MP CMOS camera is using an advanced SONY chip with 3.76um pixel size.
Calibrating the mount.
Ready for starlight.
The Canon EOS Ra hooked up with a small field flattener.
The EOS Ra is pretty sensitive, so it is easy to orient oneself with the help of the display.
NGC 2237 in Monoceros.
This is the great nebula of Monoceros, just to the east of Orion. There are numerous dark globules, where stars are being born. This exposure is the first deep sky test photo taken with the 12" RC instrument. It is an SHO color scheme version with 21 separate exposures of 300 to 600 sec.
Object: NGC 2237
Exposure: SHO. (SII 2700 sec, H-alpha 3000 sec, OIII 2700 sec.)
Date: 22 and 23 november, 2020.
Instrument: 12" RC, AOL, STL-11000M, no field flattener.
Processing: CCDOPS, Maxim DL.
NGC 891 in Andromeda.
This is one of the most beautiful edge-on galaxies in the nothern sky. It is a short LRGB test exposure with the RC instrument, without any field flattener, taken on the first day of instrument tests.
Object: NGC 891
Exposure: LRGB (Clear-3x300sec, R 300sec, G 300sec, B 300sec) Total 1800 sec (30 min.)
Date: November 22, 2020.
Instrument: 12" RC, AOL, STL-11000M, no field flattener.
Processing: CCDOPS, Maxim DL. (Center part of image shown.)
M57 in Lyra.
The great planetary nebula in Lyra. Adjacent to the upper right is the small spiral galaxy IC 1296 at magnitude 14.8. This is a short exposure shown in logarithmic scaling.
Object: M57
Exposure: LRGB (C - 300 sec, R 300 sec, G 300 sec, B 300 sec)
Date: November 22, 2020.
Instrument: 12" RC, AOL, STL-11000M, no field flattener.
Processing: CCDOPS, Maxim DL. Logarithmic scaling
M57 in Lyra, detail.
Detail of the adjacent photo.