The Bow Tie Nebula

To finish off this weekend I tried to photograph something I hadn't looked at before.  What I learned about Caldwell 2 is that I'll probably want to barlow it when using the newt, or try capture it with my Maksutov instead.

The nebula was tiny.  Also, since the DSLR has a (relatively) large sensor compared to some dedicated entry-level CCDs, the DSO was even smaller in the result. At first, using the LCD display of the DSLR, I thought my subs weren't capturing anything but some colorful noise in the center of the images.  However, the noise was a little too consistent and large.

C2 (NGC 40) - The Bow Tie Nebula in Cepheus

One thing I've come to appreciate with the CG-5 is how consistently it pinpoints and centers the target in the eyepiece.  Chalk it up to good mechanics and/or a great alignment, but it sure helps the night go more smoothly!

I've really started noticing now how much coma is in some of these images around the edges.  Although I'm able to crop out some of the vignetting and coma, I'm beginning to understand why a field flattener or coma corrector is needed with these faster scopes.  Maybe this is also why people enjoy imaging with catadioptric scopes, too.  The higher focal length helps reduce some of the coma.