Meade ETX-80 Images from Winter Park Colorado

Post date: Feb 27, 2014 1:32:26 AM

I was on vacation in Winter Park, CO with my family and took several images through my Meade ETX-80 (400mm EFL, F/5) using a Nikon D5200 camera. The conditions were partly cloudy with occasional gusty winds at 0C. The skies were dark enough to see the winter Milky Way and M44 by eye. The images are unfortunately not focused well, but I was pleased that the very compact little telescope could produce reasonable results. To take the images, I attached the ETX-80 on a modified LX-90 wedge, and bolted the wedge to the ETX-80 field tripod.

Because the images are un-guided, and because of the wind, I used high ISO settings to keep exposure times short.

M45 The Pleiades

M45_20140223-01_Processed20140226-14

Meade ETX 80 in polar mode with Nikon D5200 camera

6 exposures at 20 seconds each and one dark frame

Image size reduced and converted to TIFF in Nikon ViewNX 2 version 2.8.2

Image stacked with a copy of each image, where the copy had lateral and longitudinal chromatic correction.

DeepSkyStacker 3.3.2

Registax 6.1.0.8 contrast stretching, sharpening and noise reduction.

NGC1952 (M1) the Crab Nebula

NGC1976 (M42) The Orion Nebula

NGC1976 20140223-01 Processed 20140226-02.tif

Meade ETX 80 in Polar Mode and Nikon D5200

4 images at 20 sec exposure at ISO-6400

DSC_0985 to DSC_0988

Converted to TIFF and reduced 50% in ViewNX 2 ver.2.8.2

Stacked in DeepSkyStacker 3.3.2

Registax 6.1.0.8 for contrast stretching and sharpening.

B33 The Flame and Horshead

B33_20140223-01 Processed 20140226-05

Meade ETX 80 in polar mode with Nikon D5200 camera

2x20s exposures at ISO-3200 and 3x30 exposures at ISO-3200 for a total of 130 seconds.

Image size reduced and converted to TIFF in Nikon ViewNX 2 version 2.8.2

DeepSkyStacker 3.3.2

Contrast stretched and sharpened in Registax 6.1.0.8

NGC2244 and the Rosette Nebula

NGC2244_20140223-01_Processed20140226-04

Meade ETX 80 in polar mode with Nikon D5200 camera

2x20s and 2x30s exposures at ISO-6400 for total exposure time of 100s.

DeepSkyStacker 3.3.2

Contrast stretched and Gamma adjusted in Registax 6.1.0.8

Nikon ViewNX 2.8.2: Shadow Protection of 41, Brightness -7, Color Booster 25,

Axial Color Aberration 25, Auto Lateral Color Aberration

NGC2632 (M44) The Praesape Cluster

NGC2632_20140223-01 Stacked 20140226-18

Meade ETX 80 in polar mode with Nikon D5200 camera

2 exposures of 20 seconds each at ISO-6400 and one dark frame

Image size reduced and converted to TIFF in Nikon ViewNX 2 version 2.8.2

DeepSkyStacker 3.3.2

Contrast enhanced in Nikon ViewNX 2 version 2.8.2

NGC3623 (M65), NGC3627 (M66) and NGC3628 - The Leo Triplet

NGC3623_20140223-01_Processed20140226-21

NGC3623 (M65), NGC3627 (M66) and NGC3628

Meade ETX 80 in polar mode with Nikon D5200 camera

4 exposures of 20 sec each at ISO-6400

Converted to TIFF in Nikon ViewNX 2 verion 2.8.2

Stacked in DeepSkyStacker 3.3.2

Contrast stretched and sharpened in Registax 6.1.0.8