I created the image from material that I captured with two different cameras. I collected the RGB data using the Canon color camera, while I captured the luminance data with the cooled ToupTek mono camera.
The combination was a bit of an experiment, as I am considering buying a SkyEye24AC camera in addition to my SkyEye62AM. The color camera has pixels similar in size to the Canon, so I was curious about the processing and the final result.
The Imaging Sessions
I created the image from data collected during three photo sessions.
The first session took place in my home garden. Time was limited, so I used the OSC camera — my Canon EOS R(a) with its large pixels. Since the session was supposed to continue for some time after the meridian flip and would eventually be shooting toward the city, I decided once again to use the Baader UHC-L Booster filter.
Sessions two and three were a first for me. By then I had already taken quite a few images under dark skies, but I had never brought my astrophotography equipment along on a family vacation. The weather forecast looked promising, so I packed my travel companion for the trip.
On the day before the first session — the arrival day — I had already tried to start imaging. Setup was quick and everything was ready fairly soon, but for some reason the Raspberry Pi’s Wi-Fi refused to work. At some point I gave up.
Temperatures were around –5 °C. My guess is that it was simply too cold for the Pi. On the following two evenings things went better, although the same startup issues repeated themselves.
Sessions two and three then ran more or less smoothly. Due to the surrounding buildings I had to stop around 1 a.m. each time, even though I would have liked to expose for longer.
High-resolution on Astrobin:
The annotated image:
Session details
| Telescope | Baader Apo 95 CaF2 – Travel Companion |
|---|---|
| Corrector | Baader M68 Field Flattener |
| Effective focal length | 590 mm |
| Camera | Canon EOS R(a) SkyEye62AM |
| Filters | Baader L CMOS Optimized 50.4mm |
| Mount | Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro Hypertuned |
| Guiding equipment | William Optics Uniguide 50 |
| Guiding camera | ToupTek GPM462M |
| Date of capture | 2025-12-25 2025-12-27 |
| Nights | 2 |
| Exposure (lights) | 45 × 300 s L: 80 × 300 s |
| Total integration | 10 h 25 min |
| Calibration frames | FLATS, DARKS |
| Sensitivity | ISO 1600 GAIN 100, Offset 125 |
| Capture setup | Stellarmate OS, Raspberry Pi 5, PowerBox Adv. |
| Processing date | 2026-01-21 |
| Software stack | PixInsight, Affinity Photo |
| Location | Koblenz, Rheinland Rinchnach, Bayern |
| Focal ratio | f/6,2 |
| Image scale | 1,31 ″/px |
| Field of view | 208,9 × 139,3 ′ |
