The LX200 and MallinCam Experiment - M57

Messier 57 was my second attempt at astrophotography.  This DSO is Relatively bright and well within reach of the Meade LX200 I was lucky enough to have access to.

Messier 57 (NGC 6720) - Ring Nebula

At this point in my experience, I didn't know whether to expect color in my photographs, but as it turns out, this particular MallinCam couldn't do long enough exposures to get any color.  I forget exactly how many frames this particular video was, but probably several thousand.  Stacked with Registax and then roughly processed in Photoshop.

The LX200 and MallinCam Experiment - M3

My first foray into astrophotography began with a Meade LX200-ACF with a MallinCam Jr.  The LX200 is great catadioptric telescope that sits on a rock solid alt-az mount.  My alma mater made this equipment available for use to help promote astronomy at the school and in the community.

The MallinCam is a very sensitive CCD video camera that features frame integration, allowing a live view of deep space objects (within reach of this telescope) on an external display.  This is a terrific way to show groups of people what the telescope is looking at without having to form a queue at the eye piece.

This particular MallinCam is the entry-level version.  The frame integration is insufficient for capturing color so everything comes through as grayscale.  My very first photograph was of M3 the huge globular cluster in the northern constellation of Canes Venatici.

It was terrible:

Messier 3 (NGC 5272) - Globular Cluster

I took 2.5 minutes of footage and processed it using Registax.  This was an experience in and of itself.  The end result was a low resolution, coma-stricken, posterized shot of M3.

What an awful picture... but what a headrush to have captured something 199 quadrillion miles from earth!