The following image of the Pleiades (M45), which our customer Christoph Kaltseis has achieved with the Baader APO Travel Companion and the 10 Micron GM1000HPS on La Palma (Athos Campus), is a special treat regarding image detail and star rendition. Partically interesting is the Nikon D810A camera with a 36x24mm sensor and 4.87my pixels. Its sensational resolution will show any aberations in the optical system straight to the edges mercilessly. Most CCD cameras either have smaller sensors or much larger pixels, which helps to camouflage optical deficiencies. Not to speak of bad seeing...
Image editing / sharpening was done with the APF-R Method.
Due to the good optical quality of Baader APO, airy discs with 5 micron diameter where archieved – not to mention the excellent tracking of the GM 1000 HPS mount and the brilliant location (observation site).
About the author: Christoph Kaltseis
Christoph is not only an Adobe Photoshop specialist and as Nikon Professional touring for Nikon, but also an experienced astrophotographer. He is one of the founders of the Central European DeepSky Imaging Conference (www.cedic.at), which is held every two years in Linz since 2009.
In addition to his various projects, Christoph has developed an innovative image sharpening process called APF-R (Absolute Point of Focus)in recent years. The procedure is not always the same, but is adapted to the combination of lens and camera. Therefore, a flexible method was necessary to achieve the desired results.
In his career as an astrophotographer Christoph has also created several APODs (NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day), e.g. the APF-R-processed image of the M33 Galaxy or the Heart of the Orion Nebula (M42).
