m45 lum...

I had 'second light' with the fs-78 last night. I grabbed two hours worth of lum images of the Pleiades. Tak fs-78 @ f/5.9. SBIG st-2000 at full resolution (1600x1200) all riding on a standard GP mount with cheapo chinese drives. 12x10min unfiltered exposures (except for IDAS lps). Didn't have the whole evening to devote to imaging, so I focused on getting a good high res lum image; color will have to come another night (hopefully soon). Coma is a little more pronounced than I would like, but I guess that's the price I pay for not spending the extra cash for a triplet. Anybody know if this is the norm for using a reducer with an fs-78? I shrank the final image in half for quick download. I may try some halo removal in the future; I'll see what it looks like if/when I get the color...

Attached Image:

That is the best detail I've ever seen, I can't wait till the color comes in! Awesome!!, Tom

Gorgeous Andrew!!!

Thanks too for your info on the Tak' spacers... three of 'em alright (I checked last night). Now the mystery of my diffraction spikes is solved!

Paul

Andrew
Very very very nice.
This is one of of the best images of M-45 I have seen.
I'm still a new born when comes to imaging with ccd's. But I know what I like, and I like this. In my opinion I think this image would be ruined by color....The whole image is all nebula, and having color would be distracting, plus I think it would lose it's 3-D effect, geeeez it's like you could reach out & touch this thing.
I hope you don't mind if I ask you for advice from time to time.

Gerard

A perfect image, Andrew,
I would like to see a full size image!

Johannes
http://panther-observatory.com

The coma is almost undoubtedly because you don't have the correct metalback distance between the reducer and the chip in the camera. The distances can be found here:

http://www.buytelescopes.com/container.asp?dest=/manufacturers/takahashi/back_focus_guide.htm

Gorgeous image, BTW, and one where the ABG of the 2000XM can really shine.

Jeff