Pacman Nebula

[TerryMcK]

I needed a convenient target to do a quick test upon after I replaced the bearings on my HEQ5Pro Rowan and quickly pointed at Pacman which is a very popular easy target.

I only had about 4 hours on it before the clouds came in one night early December 2021 but the test was successful and I got a decent snapshot.

So this is 40 x 6 minute subs taken with my OSC, the ZWO ASI183MC, using my William Optics ZS103 with a x0.8 reducer. Guiding had improved from around 1" RMS before I replaced the bearings to around 0.6"RMS after replacing the bearings and clearing out the excess grease from the factory replacing it with PTFE based grease.

 

• Camera ZWO ASI183MC
• 40 x 6 minute gain 111 offset 8
• Filter IDAS D2
• Scope WO ZS103
• Image capture software: Astroberry/EKOS/INDI on RPi4
• Processed with PixInsight.

 

 

 

 

[Padraic M]

Good result!

[P Holdsworth]

Looks great Terry ! Really like the processing 👍 

[TerryMcK]

Last night the moon was high in the sky, nearly full and very close to my desired target the JellyFIsh so wasn't really available. Instead I turned back to old faithful the Pacman and started with S2, followed on with a bit of O3 and then finished off in the early morning with some Ha.

So as long as you are facing the opposite direction from the moon even in Bortle 7, with some dodgy O3 and S2 filters (these are 7nm ones), it is (just) possible to get a decent picture if maybe a bit vibrant for many peoples tastes.

 

You have to take the opportunities when they arise in the UK.

 

• 21 x Ha 6 minute
• 35 x O3 6 minute
• 40 x S2 6 minute
• William Optics ZS103 with x 0.8 reducer/flattener
• ZWO ASI294MM all images 2x2 binning - gain 120, offset 8
• Acquisition 14/01/2022 to 15/01/2022 9.6 hours total
• Processed in PixInsight (I quite like the garish green)

 

 

[TerryMcK]

And a less vibrant version. Same subs and equipment as before.