Astrophoto: Messier 35 and NGC 2158 – 03/22

The Session-Story of Messier 35 and NGC 2158

Astrophoto: Messier 35 Clear Sky 30: It took months between my clear skies 29 and 30. I think 29 was in december for me. Meanwhile a few things changed at my setup.

• I found my flattener distance to the Chip!
• I am now able to expose 300s with my CANON EOS M100. The trick is, to make one 10s photo and then a series of 30, 40 or whatever 300s photos. Don’t know why it works 🙂
• I got my USB-Hub attached to my Vixen.
• Last but not least: I fixed the backlash on my HEQ-5 Pro and did the Rowan Belt Upgrade. I used the discription of astrophotograph Marten: Install the Rowan belt modification kit on your HEQ5 Pro mount – Frosth Astrophotography
  Thanks for the video! And also for the backlash video!

So, a lot of changes and here is the high resolution result on Flickr:

Lessons Learned

Yes, I learned some things, as always. The Flattener position really seems to be good now, although there is still one thing. That will be fixed at Clear Sky 33 🙂

What really makes me crazy, and this is a new problem is, dizzering makes my guiding crazy. I dont know why, bur after dithering my guiding needs heavy corrections.

Technical overview for Astrophoto: Messier 35 Clear Sky 30

Telescope	VIXEN ED80sf
Focal Length	600mm
Aperture ratio	7.5
Erecting Lense	TSFlat2
Filter	Optolong UV/IR Cut
Mount	Skywatcher HEQ-5
Goto-Control	EKOS
Mount Control	INDI
Guiding Scope Focal Length	162 mm
Guiding Camera Chip	4.8mm x 3.6mm, 8bit
Guiding Camera Resolution	1280×960
Guiding Software	EKOS, INDI
Dithering	3 pixel
Camera	CANON EOS M100(a)
Method	focal projection
Camera angle	30° (as Stellarium)
Camera Control	EKOS, INDI, Gphoto2
Photography Date	23.03.2022
Exposure-Time Lights	30x300s
Sensitivity	ISO 400
Calibrationframes	Flats, Bias
Post Processing Date	24.03.2022
Stacking, Integration	PixInsight
Post Processing Software	PixInsight
Image Editing	Affinity Photo
Capture Place	Koblenz, Germany
Lightpollution	Bortle 5
Scattered light	strong