20.4.09

Galaxies with the apo.



After a long wait, it seems, a clear night allowed me to give the apo its first serious attempt at astronomy. Initially a fair bit of time was spent re-balancing the mount to get the guider working acceptably. Once up and running I aimed at the Leo trio of M65, M66 & NGC3628 which would give me a good idea of the field available compared to my main scope. Details: WO Megrez88. 8x 4minute exposures @ iso400 with CLS in DSS & CS2.
I went on to have my first ever attempt at the group of galaxies in the Virgo cluster known as Markarian's Chain. This received 10x 5minute exposures @ iso800 with CLS in DSS & CS2.
As I mentioned in an earlier post the absense of a field flattener is obvious at the edge of the image (this is on order but taking its time getting here!). Hopefully, with a flattener, I should be able to get M88 into this image which is just out of reach at upper left. M84 & M86 are the two brighter galaxies on the right.
I am now looking forward to having a go at some of the larger nebulae.

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