The picture of the reflection nebula NGC 6914 (blue) was the first attempt with my newly attached flattener without any further optimization.
NGC 6914
The primary target of my astrophoto evening (NGC 6914) is, for a 600mm telescope with an APS-C chip, a bit small. But i like the contrast of the blue reflection nebula and the red emission nebulae. Here the high resolution Astrophoto on Flickr:
Workflow 2024
Here my attempt to make a better picture with my new workflow. In my opinion it is not better in every aspect.
Lessons Learned
Lightreflection
In the upper left part of the picture is a lightreflection i never had before. Possibly the caused of a nearby lamp. I ll have to see, if this is a one time-effect or if this is caused by the combination of the lamp and my new flattener.
Flattener
This picture is the 1st one i shoot with a flattener in my refractor, the TSFlat2. The stars are round! Even in the corners.
Exposure time
The total exposure time of only about 120 minutes is really a bit too short. It would be good for the image if i could double the exposure time. But taking the weather sitution into count, i can be very pleased with the result.
Technical overview
| Telescope | VIXEN ED80sf |
| Focal Length | 600mm |
| Aperture ratio | 7.5 |
| Erecting Lense | TSFlat2 |
| Filter | – |
| 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 | 0° |
| Camera Control | EKOS, INDI, Gphoto2 |
| Photography Date | 07/18/2021 |
| Moon | 68% |
| Exposure-Time Lights | 37x180s |
| Sensitivity | ISO 800 |
| Calibrationframes | Flats, Bias |
| Post Processing Date | 07/19/2021 |
| Reprocessing Date | 01/06/2024 |
| Stacking, Integration | Affinity Photo |
| Post Processing Software | Affinity Photo |
| Image Editing | Affinity Photo |
| Reprocessing Software | PixInsight |
| Capture Place | Koblenz, Germany |
| Lightpollution | Bortle 5 |
| Scattered light | strong |
