I thought I’d try something a little different than my standard single-target image this week and take a shot of some deep-sky stuff, deep for me that is. Keep in mind that the Unistellar eQuinox2 EAA telescope only has a 114mm mirror and a 450mm focal length, so deep is relative. The result surprised me somewhat, so I wanted to share my image here for those who are curious what the EAAs are capable of. I’ve included a clear image of the full FOV and an annotated version to show what I was able to capture.
The image represents 2,175 exposures of 4-seconds each, for a total integration time of 145 minutes. I did no post-processing, other than darkening it a bit to eliminate the Unistellar app’s characteristic background noise. The image was taken in my backyard in northwest OKC, under Bortle Class 7 conditions. Comments and constructive criticism are welcome.
4 seconds is the default for all Unistellar scopes. We can reduce the time, but not increase it. Most of the other brands the default is 10 sec exposures, and some you can increase to 20 secs.
Mitch is correct. The Unistellar eQuinox2 only does 4-second exposures. Unistellar determined that 4 seconds was the optimal exposure time for their Alt-Az platform. As mentioned in my post, the final image consists of a stack of 2,175 separate 4-second exposures (subs), for a total integration time of 145 minutes.
I just ordered a Celestron Origin. It’s default seems to be 10 second subs, but it’s alt-az mount’s tracking will accommodate up to 20 second subs in some parts of the sky.
Celestron has said that a wedge is in the works for the Origin’s alt-az mount, thereby making it convertible into an equatorial mount capable of minutes-long subs.
Great choice, Russ. I was very happy to see Celestron get in the game. They’ve certainly raised the bar for everyone else. Following the EAA explosion has been exciting – Always waiting for the next new reveal. I also have a Vaonis Vespera and a ZWO SeeStar S50. Each scope has it’s strong points, and whether I deploy one of them or all, depends on the targets for the night.
