3 Hyperion Images from 29 July 2010

Dick Steinberg

Last night I took 3 test images with a new reduced-flexure guiding arrangement.

We now have a support ring on the guide camera focuser draw tube, thereby reducing flexure coming from that source.

We also substituted an 80mm f/11.4 guide telescope for the former 80mm f/6.

The current setup is shown here. Seeing was fair, and the nearly full moon was a significant factor.

Five-minute guided subexposures with the 320mm Hyperion were obtained with very round stars. MaxIm DL reported flatness of most stars in the 2-4% range, about a factor of 5 better than previously obtained in 2-minute exposures with the former setup.

Objects imaged were:

1. the open cluster M52 with the nearby bubble nebula (NGC7635)

2. NGC6946, spiral galaxy on Cygnus-Cepheus border 

and

3. the distant galaxy cluster Abell 2218:  The gravitational arcs in this cluster will have to await better seeing and moonless nights.

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Hyperion 320mm f/8 - Paramount ME - Apogee U16M binned 2x2 - FOV 50 arcmin square - Blue Mountain Vista Observatory -

acquisition and processing: MaxIm DL 5.09 - automation: CCD Commander - piggy-back guider Orion 80mm f/11.4 + Meade DSI Pro II