latest NEX-5 astro shots

I took the scope out to my favorite dark site on a perfect moonless and light wind night on 11/16. I decided to spend more time on a single object through the 8" SCT, I chose the Eastern Veil Nebula. This stack includes a 20 minute exposure at ISO400, and 6x 10min at ISO1600. I'm so glad guiding was so consistent that night. The final image is 7 frames totaling 67 minutes, stacked in DeepSkyStacker.

Shot with a Sony NEX-5. Guiding with the Orion SSAG and 50mm mini guidescope mounted on 8" SCT w/ f/6.3 reducer mounted on CG-5GT.

I also decided to give my 55mm f/1.4 Mamiya-Sekor another try for some wider shots with autoguiding for the first time. These are each 10 minute shots @ ISO400 stopped down to f/3.5. I was running out of time, otherwise I would have done multiple longer exposures and stacked them. The lens performed wonderfully at f/3.5, stars were sharp even in the corners.

Cassiopia widefield

Orion widefield