M2 – Globular Cluster in Aquarius – Revisited

Telescope: Unitron 510 5” f/16 refractor, Atlas EQ-G

Camera: Canon EOS Ra full frame DSLR

Filter: 2” ZWO IR Cut Filter

Guide scope: Williams Optics 50mm Guidescope, ASI290MM, PHD

Exposure: 29x60sec, ISO 1600, saved as RAW

Darks: Internal (Long Exposure Noise Reduction)

Flats: 32×1/125s sky flats taken at dusk

Average Light Pollution: Bortle 8, poor transparency, haze

Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 18.3 mag/arc-sec^2

Stacking: Mean with a 1-sigma clip

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Backyard EOS, Deepsky Stacker, Nebulosity, Photoshop

I wasn’t planning on taking any more images with the 510 for a while, but the forecast predicted 2 consecutive clear evenings, so I decided to use the 510 for a very special target set (more on that later). While I am processing those I’ll share a couple of bonus images that I took just to fill out the evening. This is M2 revisited from my first night out imaging with the 510 (7/14/2023), this time taking advantage of everything that I have learned since then. This does a nice job highlighting the 510’s ability to produce sharp, high-resolution images.