Whilst the reception I had from friends and family for the Crescent Nebula image (see previous post) was really positive, I found the ZWO 183MC camera a struggle to deal with.

Luckily, I came across a guy called Alan on the Stargazers Lounge forum who was selling a used cooled camera – a 533MC Pro.  Whilst this has a much smaller (and square!) sensor than the 183, I decided that I really HAD to upgrade to the flexibility of a cooled camera.

Around this time, I also picked up an Optolong Dual Narrowband filter, and switched my processing workflow away from mostly free applications to PixInsight

An expensive month for sure, but I think there’s a jump in the quality of the image – and the switch to PixInsigh would prove to pay dividends in the coming months.

Image Details:

• Scope: Skywatcher ED80 DS Pro
• Mount: Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro
• Camera: ZWO 533MC Pro
• Filter: Optolong L-Extreme
• Integration: 23×3 mins