California Nebula with a SW EvoStar 72

California Nebula

My first attempt to a wide nebula with an apochromatic telescope: the EvoStar 72. Good but disappointing result: the object is itself very bright but has few details, while the photo has a great noise-to-signal ratio even if I took only six frames. I wouldn’t buy this telescope, and I’ll explain why.

California Nebula

The nebula

The California Nebula, also know as NGC 1499, is an emission nebula located in the constellation Perseus and is 1000 light-years away.

My photo

Due to clouds, I was able to take only six photos of NGC 1499, six darks and a little more flats and offset frames. Despite all this and light pollution, the result is good, even if the nebula itself hasn’t got many details. I’m highly disappointed by telescope: a friend of mine lent it to me, so I haven’t bought it, and I won’t. I haven’t got a field flattener, but the comatic and chromatic aberration is higher than the aberation of my faithful Newton 200 f/5. In the photo, only at the very centre of the photo stars are sharp enough. I would have expected it because it’s an apochromatic doublet that costs about € 300, not a good triplet refractor.

Comatic and chromatic aberation in one of the raw photos

Comatic and chromatic aberration in one of the raw photos. Also note light pollution: the whole background is blue.