Finally finished up an actual image to publish… This was shot on June 1, 2011, and is of M101, the Pinwheel Galaxy (aren’t they all?).
Besides this image, I have been busy trying to image with my new AT8RC, but with no success, yet. I plan to outline some of my experiences since I last posted, then fill them in as time permits. In addition to the trials of imaging with my new scope, I also completed an artificial light box to use for taking flats. It seems to work well and is worthy of a separate article. Also, I have changed most of my power distribution connections from the cigarette lighter types over to PowerPole connections. They seem much more reliable. Finally, the change from my Netbook Acer to an old Dell Laptop 620 has been a Godsend. Crashes have just disappeared.
In summary, on the adventures of trying to image with the AT8RC, I haven’t been able to do it yet. Sub frames have yielded very elongated stars. While I spent considerable time worrying about polar alignment, it appears that I just am not currently able to track well enough to image in RA. After purchasing and using PemPro to study my periodic error, I first diagnosed and tried to help things with an improvement to my mesh. However, there still appears to be a significant component to my error that is being generated from the stepper motor gear. To make a very long story short, I am currently planning to “hypertune” my mount while disassembling and reviewing the stepper motor gears.
I also have two more images to process… one of M51 with this spring’s supernova in it, and also an image containing the Fireworks Galaxy and a nearby open cluster in the same image.
Stay tuned!