Megrez 80 super Apo

E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle. (Dante, Inferno XXXIV)

The Megrez 80 super apo riding my severely overloaded C8.

A wonderful imaging telescope

A collection of my best images shot through the fluorite triplet. Some of the pictures are shot at the native focal (480 mm, f 6.0), but all my last efforts have been shot ith the televue field flattener which reduces the focal length to 384 mm (f 4.8). The image is almost perfect all the way to the corners.

All images have been processed following a similar scheme: preprocessing, registration and stacking with Iris. Initial strtching (hyperbolic asin) with Iris. Fine tuning of histograms and curves (through luminance masks) with Pix Insight. Final touches with Photoshop CS. Noise reduction with Neat Image.

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M45

The seven sisters and their reflection nebula. This is my first light image for my new Megrez fluo triplet. This is a composite effort: to the short focus stack I have added some the stacks shot with the C8 to add details around Alcyone, Maia and Merope. These images have been scaled, rotated and blended to the wide field image. Processing in Iris (calibration, stacking and hyperbolic sine stretching), Pixel Insight (histograms, gradient removal, masked curves and erosion), Photoshop CS (composition and blending of the long focus images, final touches), Neat Image Pro (noise control). Canon 350D, Megrez 80, f 6.0, 60x4', iso 800 in two separate nights. C8 f6.3, 36x8' in three separate nights. Almost 9 hours of exposure.

The Horse Head nebula and surroundings

A wide field image of the area including the HH nebula and Alnitak. Canon 350D, Megrez 80, f6.0, 14x8' at iso 800.

The Jelly fish nebula in Gemini

NGC 2237 "Rosetta nebula" (Monoceros)

A wide field image of the Rosetta taken with the Megrez 80 at f6.0.

M78

A wide field image of the M78 area. This picture has been shot right after the disapparition of the McNeil nebula, an event that occurred at the beginning of 2006. In response to my alert other observer confirmed the event and the observation was circulated by CBAT at the end of January 2006, with the circular No. 8681.
Canon 350D, Megrez fluo triplet 80 mm f6.0, 30x8' at iso 800.

The Markarian chain

Wide field image of the Markarian chain. Tens of galaxies and and asteroid track (Sulsiva). See here for the labelled overlay. Megrez fluo triplet, 80 mm f6.0.

M81 - M82

Wide field image. On the top-left corner is visible the associated galaxy ngc 3077 (5.2'x4.7'). Megrez 80, 600 mm, 350D, 36X8' over 4 hours of exposure, iso 800.

Region of g Cygni

Wide field image of the area surrounding g Cygni (white-yellow giant, spectral F8). Megrez super Apo, TV 0.8 field flattener. 54x4' iso 800, modified 350D.

NGC 7000 - IC 5067 "North America and Pelican nebulae" (Cygnus)

Wild field image of one of the richest patches of the Milky Way: notice the complex interplay of stars, dark nebulae and emission nebulae . The bright bluish star on the right is Deneb (a Cygni) a white super giant (spectral type A2 Ia) that is regarded to be the main excitation source for the nebula. This is a recent picture shot with the modified 350D (69x4', iso 400, 135 mm, f2.8).

Veil Nebula (Cygnus)

A wide field image of the Veil nebula including the west arch (NGC 6992, 6995), the central filaments (NGC 6974, 6979) and the beautiful east arch (NGC 6960). This picture was a night long effort, blessed by a surprisingly clear night for the season: indeed, the Milky Way was easily visible. This may not sound as much, but at my site this is a rare occurrence in July. Megrez super Apo, TV 0.8 field flattener. 56x4' iso 800, modified 350D.

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Send anything that comes to mind to Gimmi Ratto gimmi@in.pi.cnr.it