Ring Nebula M57/NGC 6720

What I love the most about this image is that we know that the faint star in the middle of this planetary nebula is actually the white dwarf which remains after the red giant star expelled it's mass. 

OTA: RC8 w/ TS OAG

Guiding: QHY5

Mount: HEQ5 Pro w/ EQMOD

Camera: Atik 16IC

ISO: N/A

Lights: 2x10min

Darks: N/A

Flats: N/A

Bias: N/A

Processing: Nebulosity

Post-processing: Photoshop

DSO 7 - Atik 16IC First Light

I had some fun with my new (second hand) Atic 16IC mono CCD camera, attached to my 8" Ritchey Chretein.

The insert in the image below was taken with the above setup. The 16IC is still an incredibly sensitive camera, despite being a few years old now. I can't recall exactly but the image was taken with an exposure lower than sixty seconds, with one dark frame applied to counteract some hot pixels. 

It's so much fun imaging at this rate. I'm going to plan an imaging Moore Marathon some time.

I owned a Newtonian for Three Days

I purchased a second hand 8" Ritchey Chrétien recently, but when delivery day came, I found that I had been sent one of those amazing, fast imaging Newtonian telescopes by mistake. It has since been sent back and I am now the proud owner of an RC8

However, the first thing I thought when I saw the Newtonian, was photo op! 

I wanted to post some pictures of the 8" Newtonian on my HEQ5 for one reason. When researching astronomy equipment, I quickly realised that there weren't very many images online of the kind of set-up I wanted. If someone is thinking of putting this telescope and this mount together, then perhaps these images might help them in making a decision  During the short time that I had the telescope, I noted that it could be very well balanced on the HEQ5. Though being quite a heavy telescope, the mount could more than handle the it. It also has the usual great build quality from GSO.

Apart from this being a little informative, what amateur astronomer doesn't love looking at others equipment photos online?

Thanks to Tom and Neil from Astronomia/Telescope Outlet for taking care of me.

Lunar 9 - RC8 First Lunar Light

Here's a sneaky first light of my new 8" Ritchey Chrétien telescope. 

Torrent of posts to follow, I promise.

OTA: 8" Ritchey Chrétien

Camera: Nikon D3100 14.2mp

Mount: HEQ5

Exposures: 125

Exposure: 1/350sec

ISO: 100