Managed to take the image of NGC5128 this morning with the Sky-Watchers 8" F5 newtonian scope. The sky was surprisingly clear this month, and this morning was one of the best. I can see a star with magnitude 5.71 easily, and I am sure, dimmer ones can be seen if I knew where to look.
I am currently doing some testing with the Sky-Watchers 8" F5 as a photography scope, and I am pretty please with it. Vignetting isn't bad and even without a field flattener, stars are still pin point halfway across the field.
On planet, I think it is slightly better than my 8" SCT. Maybe, my SCT was not properly collimated, but stars appeared sharper even in images when taken with the newtonian.
At 1000mm, it is also easier to guide and at F5, it faster than an SCT.
NGC 5128
NGC 5128
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starfinder
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Thanks guys for the nice words.
I have some description of the equipment used when I post the image in the album section. Anyway, here are the full detail.
It was taken from my observatory in Balik Pulau, Penang. Generally, this place is relatively dark compared to the other location in Penang. However, just in front of my observatory on the SE direction, there is a street lamp.
Still, if the sky condition is clear (no haze), then the lamp doesn't pose much problem. I can usually see the milkyway, all the way across the sky down to about 15 degrees above the horizon.
On this particular object, the lamp does interfered as the object is located near to the direction of the lamp.
I used the Sky-Watchers 8" F5 telescope on EQ6 GOTO mount, and is autoguided with my takahashi FS60C and ToUcam. The camera used is my modified 300D at 800ASA setting. It is a stack of 28 images, each 90 seconds long.
Image taken as JPEG, stack with registax and crop to remove the out of focus stars at the edge. No dark frame or flat field is used. Processing is quite minimal. Just level and curve.
More images to come, including the one taken with the new SW Equinox 80mm ED.
I have some description of the equipment used when I post the image in the album section. Anyway, here are the full detail.
It was taken from my observatory in Balik Pulau, Penang. Generally, this place is relatively dark compared to the other location in Penang. However, just in front of my observatory on the SE direction, there is a street lamp.
Still, if the sky condition is clear (no haze), then the lamp doesn't pose much problem. I can usually see the milkyway, all the way across the sky down to about 15 degrees above the horizon.
On this particular object, the lamp does interfered as the object is located near to the direction of the lamp.
I used the Sky-Watchers 8" F5 telescope on EQ6 GOTO mount, and is autoguided with my takahashi FS60C and ToUcam. The camera used is my modified 300D at 800ASA setting. It is a stack of 28 images, each 90 seconds long.
Image taken as JPEG, stack with registax and crop to remove the out of focus stars at the edge. No dark frame or flat field is used. Processing is quite minimal. Just level and curve.
More images to come, including the one taken with the new SW Equinox 80mm ED.