An SV405CC TEC-cooled OSC was placed at the Cassegrain focus of a motor-focus modified Skymax 127 Maksutov. The camera was fitted with a 1.25" adapter and an SVBONY IR/UV cut filter. The equipment was mounted on a Celestron AVX mount.
Click on an image to get a closer view
The Equipment used
SV405CC OSC and the Maksutov
A 17" Fedora Linux laptop running AstroDMx Capture for Linux was used to capture 120 x 20s FITS exposures of the Orion Nebula with matching dark-frames; all under an 87.6% Moon.
Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture for Linux capturing FITS images of the Orion nebula
Even with a long focal length Maksutov, the large sensor of the SV405CC is large enough to capture a large portion of M42/43.
The data were stacked in Deep Sky Stacker and Affinity Photo running in a Virtual Win 10 machine running on the Fedora laptop. The resulting images were combined and post-processed in the Gimp 2.10.30. The image was post processed to show details of the Trapezium area as well as the surrounding nebulosity.
M42/43
There is no doubt that the SV405CC performed well with the Maksutov, which is probably more suited to lunar and planetary imaging.
The equipment was aimed at the 87.6% waxing, gibbous Moon.
AstroDMx Capture for Linux was used to capture two, overlapping, 1200-frame SER files of the Moon at maximum resolution (4144 x 2822).
Screenshots of AstroDMx Capture for Linux capturing lunar SER files
The best 95% of the frames in the SER files were stacked in Autostakkert!, Stitched into a 2 panel mosaic using Microsoft ICE, wavelet processed in Registax 6 and post processed in the Gimp 2.10.30.
Click on the image and click again to get a much closer view.
Give the large image chance to load.
87.6% waxing, gibbous Moon
Once again, the SV405CC OSC proved to be a very capable, sensitive and versatile camera.
