When it looks like we’ll have clear nights with little to no moon, it’s time to set up and shoot some more astrophotographs. Last week we had two such nights, and both nights I had two imaging rigs going at the same time (a bit of a juggle, to be sure). My C8 with Starizona SCT corrector (on my GEM45 mount and concrete pier) was busy capturing this beauty, NGC 7331 and its neighbors, comprising the NGC 7331 Group. I shot this in LRGB using my ASI533MM Pro camera and Optolong LRGB filters. PixInsight and Affinity Photo were used to process the image. I was able to capture about 9 hours of 3-min exposures (31 in red, 26 in green, 31 in blue, and 91 luminance).

My C8 has turned into an astrophotography workhorse for me. I always use the Starizona SCT corrector to get a nice flat field. I find myself using this setup more than I anticipated. I got the C8 OTA as partial payment for some freelance coding work, and at the time I wasn’t sure how much I’d use it. So I’m pleased it’s been so useful for targets like this one. Don’t get me wrong–I still love my refractors, but they specialize in the larger targets. There is no “one telescope to rule them all.”

You can see more info about this image on my Astrobin page: https://www.astrobin.com/xi9ffk/