Messier 55 Globular Cluster - Adam Lundie - Eatons Hill Observatory

Messier 55 Globular Cluster

13-Aug-2019
Messier 55 Globular Cluster thumbnail
Messier 55 Globular Cluster
One of the few Messier objects difficult to observe in the northern hemisphere, M55 is a globular cluster 17,600 light years away, comprising of around 100,000 very old stars.

This is also the first light photo from the acquisition of a Skywatcher Esprit 120ED. As I'm still waiting for some adapters to be machined to match the included field flattener, I had to settle for a Baader MPCC II (coma corrector). I'm still pleasantly surprised with the result.

Image:

  • 19x 180s Red
  • 19x 180s Green
  • 18x 180s Blue

Total integration 2 hours, 48 minutes.

Hardware:

  • Skywatcher Esprit 120ED
  • Skywatcher EQ8 Pro mount
  • QSI 683-ws8 Camera @ -15°C
  • Astronomik deep sky RGB filters
  • Starlight Xpress Lodestar X2 Autoguider
  • Celestron large format off-axis guider
  • Baader MPCC II coma corrector
  • Starlight Instruments Feather Touch Focuser + Posi Drive Motor

Location:

  • Imaged on 18th June 2019.
  • Orange zone in Brisbane, Australia. (Bortle 7)

Software:

  • Planning & camera alignment with Aladin 10
  • Captured with TheSkyX Professional
  • Guiding with PHD2
  • FocusMax auto focus
  • PixInsight: Calibrate, align, integrate, dynamic background extraction, RGB combination, noise reduction, photometric color calibration, deconvolution, histogram, curves, crop.

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