The Cygnus Loop NGC 6960, NGC 6995, and others

Jul 18th, 2024

1 h 54 m

As they say, a small RASA. Samyang 135mm lens with a ZWO ASI676MC camera, 3x3 degree field, pixel scale 3 arcseconds per pixel. I made an aperture stop in front of the lens and glued an M48 ring into it to screw in a filter. I shot for one night and couldn’t figure out why there were strange reflections in the image and the stars looked triangular. I tried adjusting everything, but nothing helped. Then I gave up and placed the filter between the lens and the camera—everything fell into place. But I kept the aperture stop in front of the lens. I shot for one night, totaling almost 2 hours. I really liked the level of detail, though of course more integration time would help. A year ago, I photographed the same target with an Askar 65 PHQ telescope using an Askar 0.75x reducer for 65 PHQ telescopes and a ToupTek IMX571 camera. Of course, there’s a nuance—I shot in September when the nights are dark, while this time it was still twilight. But the difference in resolution isn’t that big. See for yourself.

Sep 13th, 2023

4 h 0 m

First light of the new Askar 65 PHQ telescope with a 0.75x reducer. Captured in a single night, with the Moon nearly full.