NGC 2244 "Rosette"

Feb 24th, 2025

59 m

First light with the setup, only the mount has been tested before. The camera is attached in the focuser with just one screw and no guide pins, causing a clear sensor tilt—the focuser needs to be replaced. I shot the Rosette Nebula specifically to compare with recent photos taken with a 500mm f/6.3 lens and an ASI2600 camera. The goal of the comparison is to decide which setup to keep and improve. So far, this HAWK is in the lead.

Feb 21st, 2025

3 h 21 m

Added exposure time to the Rosette. Used a cheat technique—stars replaced with synthetic circles from StarNet. Stretched the histogram less. Bright spots from coma remained. But they remained!

Feb 17th, 2025

2 h 24 m

I modified the focuser. Instead of a bunch of clamps, tubes, and brackets—just one 3D-printed part and a string (strings are everything!). I had to use a motor without a housing because with the housing, neither the motor itself nor the smaller gear (30 teeth instead of 38) would reach the lens. It turns confidently, backlash is definitely less than 10 steps (ASIA doesn't allow less). I took it out in the cold (-15 to -17°C) and tested it on the sky. FWHM decreased from 7 to 5, but the coma didn't go away. I can also tighten the stars a bit more, and the coma will be less noticeable. This version is a stack of all test frames from 2 nights, with stars taken from 4 frames.

Feb 8th, 2025

48 m

Suddenly, the sky cleared up. I took out the TTArtisan 500mm 6.3ED to test it. In the cold (around -10°C), the autofocus motor struggled to turn the focus ring—it only worked intermittently, so autofocus didn't function properly. I never knew how to focus manually, and I still don't; the Bahtinov mask didn't help either. As expected, I didn't achieve focus. Just in case, I shot NGC 2244 for testing. The stars bloated unacceptably, as expected—even StarNet didn't help. It's too early to judge the optical quality; I still need to fine-tune the drive and get proper focus... After adjusting the mount, I had no issues with guiding—drift was around 0.5-0.6". At the end, I broke the remote and almost dropped it from the 5th floor. Had to use duct tape... In the cold, the Wi-Fi on the remote glitches more often—I'll probably go back to using a cable.