The Lagoon Nebula

Here is an image of the Lagoon. It has a funny story... As I was taking the last of the Subs (in Ha), I noticed tracking errors. I was a little disappointed and irritated since this was on my G11 mount. I got some pretty good star streaks. I found out when I dismounted the camera, one of the camera wires was as taught as a base fiddle string. As it turns out, I was slowly dragging the laptop across the table with this wire as I was imaging. I shoulda paid more attention, but these days I have two platforms imaging on my few outings each month and my attention is divided.

Well, I threw away some subs and did some star repair and did manage to get an image. I couldn't get the Ha to help me much with finer detail so the image is a bit soft:

http://www.jthommes.com/Astro/DSLR/M8.htm

Optic: C8 at f/6.3
Camera: Canon 350D, OSC and H-Alpha
Mount: G11/Gemini
Guiding: Megrez II at 555 mm FL, DSI Pro, PHD Guiding

Sure is nice for a soft image with a funny story. Stars were well repaired if there were streaks there to start with.

Fantastic image despite your troubles. Your C8 must have exceptional optics as it consistently produces superior images to other SCT images I have seen.

Greg.

Thanks for the comments guys.

Charlie, the streaking happened mostly on the last several Ha, exposures - so I had to discard some. The OSC subs were fine - its just that the nebula details aren't well defined. I was hoping to use the Ha for some detail, but I only got a little from that. Stars are easily de-streaked, the nebula damage is unrepairable - it just ends up coming out a bit soft.

Greg, yep, the C8 is well columated and when using the 6.3 corrector reducer at optimal distance, things are not too bad. Of course I would rather have an APO refractor or reflector astrogragh at this objective size.

Nothing soft about your image. It's excellent.

Rolando