1 reply to this topic

[matt3am]

Curious as to why folks reccomend downloading the entire Gaia catalog for Pixinsight. The first file (out of 16) covers  Mag. <= 16.59

 

My telescope will never resolve anything > 15. And I can't imagine any amateur needing up to 25.6. Unless you are plate solving JWT images ... 

 

These files take up a lot of space. Any idea why someone would need more than a few? 

[luxo II]

You must be using a small rig. My 10" is routinely imaging galaxies to mag 18 and stars to mag 21-something (no idea) and that's in suburbia.

 

Agreed at mag 16 there are enough stars to plate solve any field I'm likely to image, the question "**** is that ?" does arise in respect of some tiny object, and sometime its not a star.

 

For example the brightest known object in the universe in my scope looks for all the world like a mag 16 star ... but oh noooo... that is no star, its a quasar at 12 billion light years away ! And its quite likely in reach of yours.

Edited by luxo II, 04 August 2024 - 11:06 PM.