![]() ![]() I framed the objects perfectly within my field of view and achieved sharp focus by using the handy frame and focus tab within BackyardEOS. I so rarely view these objects visually, I spent almost 5 minutes allowing my eyes to adjust and get a deeper view. A rewarding view, even in the heart of the city. There it was in the eyepiece, along with its close companion M82. Once I was polar and star-aligned, I directed the tracking mount towards M81 – Bode’s Galaxy in Ursa Major. Clearly, my collimation session earlier had paid off! They even had the reassuring, round donut shape when unfocused. While carrying out the alignment process of my Sky-watcher mount, I noticed that the guide stars appeared sharp and crisp. I napped for two hours beforehand, to make sure I had enough energy to image late into the night. I studied the weather forecast and satellite animations carefully, and sure enough, the early spring constellations began to appear. Top 8 Deep-Sky Targets for Galaxy Season Markarian’s Chain Where it all went wrongĪ thick cloud cover put a lid on my imaging until about midnight on Saturday. I have imaged these two galaxies before with the Newtonian, but that was before modifying my Canon Xsi that can now pick up more of the pink nebulosity. The lack of interesting nebulae and galaxies in the Southeast also swayed my decision. The reason for this choice is that they are in a great position in the Northern sky from my latitude right now. Thanks to some suggestions on my Facebook page, I narrowed down my imaging choice to Bode’s Galaxy and the Cigar Galaxy in Ursa Major (M81, M82). Step 1: Center the secondary mirror on the axis of the focuser drawtube Step 2: Aim the eyepiece at the center of the primary mirror Step 3: Center your primary mirror’s sweet spot in the eyepiece’s field of view. ![]() Like I mentioned earlier, these steps are a lot easier to take once you understand each part of the telescope from the diagram above. The 3 Step Process outlined by Sky and Telescope‘s Nils Olof Carlin really helped simplify the process. (I am a visual learner – go figure!) The diagram below was an integral part of my collimation success: ![]() Thankfully Sky and Telescope have an extremely helpful tutorial on their website, with the necessary diagrams for my brain to fully comprehend the ordeal. The hardest part is learning exactly what you are looking at when you position your eye over that open focuser tube. The process of collimation is actually quite a simple process, once you know what you’re doing. Not to mention that this telescope has a focal length of 800mm compared to the wider 480mm in my Explore Scientific ED80. That being said, once tuned in, the light-soaking power of that fast 8″ mirror is hard to ignore. The process of constantly collimating a Newtonian reflector is a big reason I generally prefer to use my apochromatic refractor. While the sun was still up, I carefully collimated my Orion Astrograph to the best of my abilities. ![]() On a positive note, I learned a little more about my equipment, and how to deal with the challenging and sometimes frustrating scenarios that come with deep-sky astrophotography.Įxample photo using my Newtonian Reflector for Astrophotography: M51 – The Whirlpool Galaxy Collimating a Newtonian Reflector Orion 8″ f/4 Astrograph Reflector The clouds finally broke (to a certain degree) last Saturday night, and being the die-hard night-sky photographer that I am, I skipped out on all of the fun social activities taking place that night in exchange for a lonely time by myself under the stars.ĭon’t get me wrong, there is nowhere I would rather be, but when things go horribly wrong, you begin to question your decision to stay home. My Newtonian Reflector is Ready for Spring With a proper alignment of the mirrors in this reflector, I should be able to capture a new portrait of the galaxy with my DSLR camera. My deep-sky target is M101 – The Pinwheel Galaxy – in the constellation Ura Major. In this post, I align my 8″ Orion Astrograph Newtonian for a night of astrophotography in the backyard. Collimating a Newtonian telescope is something every backyard astronomer should experience. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |