M101

[Jim]

Just got hold of a Williams Optics Reducer IV and was keen to try it out last night. Quite pleased with it although it took some fiddling to get the CCD to lens distance right. I calculate it turns my Meade 127 from f7.5 to f5.5

CLS CCD filter
Unguided
180secs x 20
QSI 583 binned 2x2
Processed in Maxim


M101 by jim_mehta, on Flickr

[mickw]

Very nice Jim

[Carole]

That looks promising Jim from Orpington, just wondering why the last few images you have posted have been unguided.

Carole

[Jim]

Hi Carole, I have an encoder on the mount that keeps the tracking accurate so provided I do a good polar align I can get away with 3 min subs unguided. I made a mistake on my calculations though, the reducer is taking me down to f6.2 (not f5.5!) Still worthwhile though.

[MarkS]

That's a great image Jim.  The arms of M101 are notoriously faint and difficult to image but you have succeeded well there.

I think the background ia just a tad too black for my liking.  However the stars are nice and sharp though with possibly a very slight elongation vertically.  The focal reducer seems to be working well.

Nice one!

Mark

[JohnP]

Looking very good Jim for unguided image - as Mark says background is too black. Nice wide field & like the galaxy bottom left... Nice - John

[Fay]

well done jim. galaxy with moon around as well

[Jim]

Thanks. Yes agree about the background, I have a tendency to over do it. First time I've tried 2 x 2 binning and quite pleased with it. Considering the seeing conditions in Orpington at 1 x1 I'm doing 1.41 arcsec/pixel which is really oversampling. At 2 x 2 it's 2.82 arcsec/pixel which is more appropriate and coupled with a wider field and the CLS filter hopefully means I can do some more targets at home.