My attept at collection enough photons from the galaxy group Abell 2151. Even 2 summer nights are not enough.
56 Subs, each 300s with my Vixen VC200L VISAC at 1280mm focal length on my HEQ5pro with my CANON EOS M100(a) in Koblenz, Germany.
Stacking and integration was done with PixInsight. Finalization with Affinity Photo.
After a series of several clear nights in a row I wanted to test the outcome of 3 short summer nights on a galaxy cluster. The result is ok, but that kind of a target really needs more time, double or more and darker sky. This is not the kind of target I should try from bortle 5.
Workflow comparison – 2023 vs 2024
High resolution on Astrobin:
The annotated image:
Session details
| Telescope | Vixen VC200L |
|---|---|
| Corrector | 0.71 VIXEN Reducer |
| Effective focal length | 1278 mm |
| Camera | Canon EOS M100(a) |
| Mount | Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro |
| Guiding equipment | Pegasus Indigo OAG |
| Guiding camera | QHY 5-III-462C |
| Date of capture | 2023-06-14 2023-06-15 2023-06-16 |
| Nights | 3 |
| Exposure (lights) | 56 × 300 s |
| Total integration | 4 h 40 min |
| Calibration frames | FLATS, BIAS |
| Sensitivity | ISO 400 |
| Capture setup | Ubuntu, EKOS/INDI, PHD2 |
| Processing | 2023-06-19 – PixInsight, Affinity Photo |
| Reprocessing | 2024-01-20 – PixInsight, Affinity Photo |
| Location | Koblenz, Rheinland |
| Focal ratio | f/6,4 |
| Image scale | 0,60 ″/px |
| Field of view | 60,0 × 40,0 ′ |
