Larger size: 2400x1592
DATE
August 25th, 2008, 11:00pm to 12:45am PST
PHOTO
Exposure: 10 x 10 minutes
Focal: 432mm, f/4.3
EQUIPMENT
Imaging Scope: NP101is with 0.8 Focal Reducer
Camera:Canon 40D IR/UV filter
Guide camera: StarShootAutoGuider
Guide scope: Orion Short 80mm
Mount: Takahashi EM-400
SITE & CONDITIONS
Site: Montebello, CA
Seeing: Good
Transparency: Regular
SOFTWARE
Stacking: DeepSkyStacker
Processing: PixInsight + Photoshop
COMMENTS
I knew the North American nebula was big, but I was surprised when I noticed I
couldn't make it fit completely in the image at a 432mm focal length! And this is
with the default 2.4" focuser from the NP101-is (no adapters reducing it to 2" or anything like that)
and the Canon CMOS chip which isn't small.
In any case, this nebula is not one of my favorites for imaging, and during processing I wasn't sure
what to do with it, so the processing is indeed very basic. It was however my first "official" image
with the 0.8x focal reducer from TeleVue, so that should make it memorable :-)
