teresayvonne
Pinwheel Galaxy (M101) with Supernova (SN 2023ixf)-Starless
There is a lot of unglamorous work associated with owning a private observatory. In our case, we had to upgrade the telescope control system about a year ago and thereafter ensued a lot of additional upgrades and testing which revealed other problems we had not been aware of. Consequently we have cleaned the 26" primary mirror, adjusted the polar alignment, fine-tuned the tracking rate, laser-collimated the optical system, installed new dome control, installed a new auto-guiding system, added three new cameras and a new filter wheel. Each step is followed by testing an exhausting number of star images on every clear night available, which commences after our observatory guests have left around midnight.
You might guess that the glamorous part is getting to capture images of the wonders in our universe, but actually it is meeting the wonderful people who visit us and shake our hands when they leave.
Prior to this image, we had photographed the Pinwheel in April of 2021 and by a complete coincidence chose it as our live-stack object for guests about 10 1/2 hours after Supernova SN 2023ixf was discovered on May 19, 2023. At the time of discovery, the estimated magnitude was 14.9 and the object brightened significantly in our subsequent imaging to an estimated magnitude of 11 on May 22.
This image was taken on July 9, showing that the object has dimmed and while not a perfect image, we are noting significant improvement and claiming a bit of success following the work we have done on our imaging train thus far.
Equipment: 26" Newtonian Reflector Telescope f/4.8
Custom Mount with PMC-8 Controller
ZWO ASI6200 MC Pro Camera (broadband single shot color)
Optec TCF Focuser
Imaging: 119 images captured in Sharpcap Pro @ 60 sec unguided
Processed in Deep Sky Stacker, Pixinsight, Astro-Flat, StarXTerminator and Topaz
Thank you for reading.
Pinwheel Galaxy (M101) with Supernova (SN 2023ixf)-Starless
There is a lot of unglamorous work associated with owning a private observatory. In our case, we had to upgrade the telescope control system about a year ago and thereafter ensued a lot of additional upgrades and testing which revealed other problems we had not been aware of. Consequently we have cleaned the 26" primary mirror, adjusted the polar alignment, fine-tuned the tracking rate, laser-collimated the optical system, installed new dome control, installed a new auto-guiding system, added three new cameras and a new filter wheel. Each step is followed by testing an exhausting number of star images on every clear night available, which commences after our observatory guests have left around midnight.
You might guess that the glamorous part is getting to capture images of the wonders in our universe, but actually it is meeting the wonderful people who visit us and shake our hands when they leave.
Prior to this image, we had photographed the Pinwheel in April of 2021 and by a complete coincidence chose it as our live-stack object for guests about 10 1/2 hours after Supernova SN 2023ixf was discovered on May 19, 2023. At the time of discovery, the estimated magnitude was 14.9 and the object brightened significantly in our subsequent imaging to an estimated magnitude of 11 on May 22.
This image was taken on July 9, showing that the object has dimmed and while not a perfect image, we are noting significant improvement and claiming a bit of success following the work we have done on our imaging train thus far.
Equipment: 26" Newtonian Reflector Telescope f/4.8
Custom Mount with PMC-8 Controller
ZWO ASI6200 MC Pro Camera (broadband single shot color)
Optec TCF Focuser
Imaging: 119 images captured in Sharpcap Pro @ 60 sec unguided
Processed in Deep Sky Stacker, Pixinsight, Astro-Flat, StarXTerminator and Topaz
Thank you for reading.