M27 - SV Nighthawk

Thanks to everyone that helped me with suggestions on correcting the auto-guiding problems I experienced during my first attempts at it last month. I can't say that I've worked through it completely but I have made some progress. It seems I didn't have enough weight on the east side and adding more helped a bit.

I did not like what the Meade f/3.3 focal reducer did to the shape of the stars in my previous images so I changed things up a bit to experiment. :-) For this picture of M27 I guided through my C8 and imaged through my SV Nighthawk II.

22x5 minute exposures
ATIK16IC color
Nighthawk II - 80mm f6

I assume the large size of the bright stars is an indication that I need an IR filter... Is that correct?

Thanks!

Attached Image:

Great shot Eric!
Very nice detail & colors captured... 8)

And yes, and IR cut filter should help you control those stars a bit...

Eric,
Looks like your guiding is on track to me! Great shot. And I agree with you about the 3.3 FR--it gives an amazing amount of coma, so you'd need a pretty small chip to avoid it I imagine. I use mine now for guiding my LX90 to get more stars.
Larry

Eric,

While the star bloat could certainly use some taming, I like the effect they give to this particular image.

Eric