M27 Again---First Light with the ED80

OK, I know I've got to move on to another subject, but I bought a new (used) Orion ED80 and wanted to put the AT66ED on top as a guider and try out this combination. The AT66 worked beautifully, of course. I wish it were not so heavy. The ED80 has very fine optics. When combined with the WO 0.8 II focal reducer, stars were flat over the middle 70% of the Canon XTi frame. The distortions around the 15% edges were quite minor. It would be possible to use the entire frame for some objects, I think. Anyway, this is not a great shot. I was tired about 11:30 when I began the 2 hour set (60x2') and accidentally changed a camera setting so that the entire imaging session was saved in jpeg instead of RAW. That removed some of what I would have been able to develop later. Also, the sky was covered with haze. I was almost shooting through a cloud, something I wish I could actually do. I would have taken the setup apart and gone to sleep had I not wanted to see first light with the new scope. So I have this nice color in a shallow image, and a deep image from last month in monochrome. Perhaps it's time to add color to the Atik 16 images.

M18, M24, NGC6603, IC 4701, Barnard 93, Barnard 92

Here is the first fruits of the first Utah mountain imaging session. I drove up Provo Canyon about a half mile to the Squaw Peak Road, and up that road about 8 or so miles. About halfway between Hope and Rock Canyon campgrounds, there is a small clearing and camping area. I set up there and waited for the 30% waxing crescent of a moon to stop casting shadows. It was dark, but glow from Orem-Provo lit up the lower part of the western sky. Still, it was a much better sky than I am used to, even a bit better overhead and in the west than the sky at the Huntsville observatory.

Besides the two Messier objects and the two Barnard dark nebulae, the image contains two open clusters, NGC 6603, just to the left of the Barnard objects, and IC 4701, a large open cluster to the right of M18. There are others objects in the image as well, but these were my targets. Here is a closeup of the Barnards:

And here is another of M18:


This image is 64x60' with the Canon XTi through the AT66ED with the WO 0.8 focal reducer (320mm focal length), unguided on the Vixen GP.