The Mak and the CG-5

Since getting the Meade ETX 125, I'd wanted to try take photos of the sky using it.  When I got the C6-NGT, I suddenly had a good mount to try it!

Since the ETX 125 OTA already has a mounting block with dual 1/4-20 holes in it, I just had to find an adapter to marry the scope to the CG-5.  Luckily, ScopeStuff sells just the thing!

Given how much slower the Meade mak (f/15) is to the Celestron newt (f/5), it's not a surprise that the images produced by the mak were much "dimmer".  All things equal, from the camera's perspective (exposure length, ISO), the C6 produced much brighter images.

What I don't recall, and what will necessitate another trip out with the mak, is how much coma was present.

My first shot with the mak and CG-5 was Albireo:

Albireo - Double star in Cygnus

I don't have a good grip on photographing stars yet.

My second shot was a single frame of M57:

Messier 57 - Planetary nebula in Lyra

As an experiment, I decided to do a comparison between a 30 second exposure and a 60 second exposure with all other things being equal:

Messier 57 - Planetary nebula in Lyra

Once I get an autoguider, I'd like to try thing experiment again, bumping up the exposure time incrementally to see how things are affected.