First Light with the FRA400 – The Witch’s Broom

 A shakedown session with a new imaging rig ...

A few months ago, a longtime local Astronomy Friend reached out to let me know he was selling his Askar FRA400 Astrograph. This was exactly the telescope I was looking for, and I bought it from him. Clear skies and my free time finally aligned, providing an opportunity to set up and test out this new imaging rig.

In this post, I’ll walk through the first-light shakedown for the FRA400 rig, the troubleshooting that got the new focuser working reliably, and the final image of NGC 6960. The goal was not only to capture a beautiful summer target, but also to learn whether this telescope assembly could become an easy swap-in companion to my wider-field FMA180 Pro setup.

The goal was to create a telescope assembly that could be swapped easily with my Askar FMA180 Pro rig. A few accessories still needed to be added, including an electronic focusing motor and a power/data distribution box. Since the telescope purchase was unplanned but too good to pass up, it took a while to get all the pieces in place. The telescope was mounted on a Losmandy/D-style dovetail plate from ADM Accessories. A PrimaLuceLab Sesto Senso 3 electronic focusing motor was installed on the telescope’s focuser, and an SvBony SV241 Pro data/power control box was installed using the finder-scope shoe on the telescope. Then I just had to wait for clear skies.

Sunday, July 19th, was forecast to be clear. I installed the telescope and camera on the mount and made a first attempt at cable management. Everything was moved into position in my backyard, leveled, and connected to electricity well before dark. Before sunset, I powered everything up and connected all the devices to the software I use for imaging. I set up profiles in NINA and PHD2, found the correct COM ports, and verified that everything connected and worked.

Once it was dark, I ran into a major issue that prevented me from going forward. The focus motor was not working properly. The first time I told it to move inward by a small amount, it moved the focuser outward and would not stop. I had to pull the power to stop it. After recalibrating it in the PrimaLuceLab Play software, I returned to NINA but could not get repeatable results. After several hours, I packed everything up and headed in for the night.

I checked the mechanical connections between the focus motor and the telescope, but everything was tight. I also ran some bench tests inside. The focuser behaved properly in the Play software but not in NINA. Thankfully, the Sesto Senso 3 manual is very well written. It notes that if third-party software produces erratic focuser behavior, the focuser should be connected through Device Hub instead of directly to the ASCOM driver in software such as NINA. Apparently, Device Hub acts as a buffer and smooths out communication between the device and the imaging software. Now all I needed was another clear night.

Thursday, July 23rd, was forecast to be clear. I got everything set up after dinner and waited for dark. Success! Everything worked. After polar aligning the scope and calibrating PHD2, I needed to select a target. The constellation Cygnus passes high overhead in the summer, stays above the horizon through astronomical dark, and is rich with targets, especially targets compatible with narrowband filters. With these factors in mind, I chose the Western Veil Nebula (NGC 6960) in Cygnus for first light with my new imaging rig based on the Askar FRA400. As luck would have it, I was able to image for a few more hours on the following night, Friday, July 24th.

The Western Veil Nebula (NGC 6960) is a beautiful object that is part of the Veil Nebula, also known as the Cygnus Loop complex. Click here for a link to a widefield image of the entire complex. NGC 6960 is also called the Witch’s Broom. Fleming’s Triangular Wisp, as well as many other filaments, is contained within the field of view. The red filaments are made of hydrogen, specifically hydrogen-alpha emission, and the green-blue filaments are from oxygen, specifically OIII emission. These emissions make the region a suitable target for a dual narrowband filter like the Optolong L-eXtreme that I intended to use.

Image 1: The Witch’s Broom and Fleming’s Triangular Wisp

An image of The Western Veil Nebula (NG6960 and Fleming's Triangular Wisp captured on July 23 & July 24 from my backyard with my new deep sky imaging rig based on the Askar FRA400 telescope.

What is it?

Object type: Supernova remnant — About 10,000 to 20,000 years ago, a star roughly 20 times more massive than our Sun exploded as a supernova. The shell of gas and dust from that explosion is still expanding rapidly. When this fast-moving material runs into slower-moving gas and dust in the surrounding region, it heats and ionizes the material, producing the glowing filaments we see today.

Location in sky: NGC 6960 is in the constellation Cygnus, one of the many deep-sky gems located within the Summer Triangle asterism. It is best placed for evening viewing from June through October. Refer to the finder chart in Image 2.

Distance / size / scale: Estimated distance ranges from 1,400 to 2,600 light-years from Earth. The apparent size of the Witch’s Broom is about 70.0 × 6.0 arcminutes, and it is about 53.1 light-years in length.

Visual features: The red filaments of ionized gas and dust represent hydrogen-alpha emission, while the green-blue filaments trace doubly ionized oxygen, known as OIII. The most prominent feature is the Witch’s Broom, roughly centered on the bright star 52 Cygni. Fleming’s Triangular Wisp is also prominent in the field.

Why it matters: NGC 6960 gives us a view of cosmic recycling: material from a dead massive star expanding into space, enriching the surrounding region for future generations of stars. It is also one of the most recognizable parts of the Cygnus Loop, making it a favorite summer target for visual observers and astrophotographers.

Image 2: Finder chart for the Western Veil Nebula (NGC 6960) and Fleming’s Triangular Wisp

Finder Chart for the Western Veil Nebula (NGC6960) and Fleming's Triangular Wisp. The red rectangle indicates the field of view of the image.

Prominent Objects in the Field

Object 1: The Western Veil Nebula, also known as the Witch’s Broom or NGC 6960 — Near the top center of the image, centered on the bright star 52 Cygni — A bright, filamentary section of the Cygnus Loop supernova remnant.

Object 2: Fleming’s Triangular Wisp — Left Center of the frame — Filaments in a triangular shape (Also referred to as Pickering’s Triangular Wisp)

Object 3: 52 Cygni — Top center of the Frame — Bright double star

Additional details: NGC 6979 & NGC 6974 are two irregular patches of filaments 

 Image 3: Annotated image of the Western Veil Nebula (NGC 6960), Fleming’s Triangular Wisp, 52 Cygni, NGC 6974, and NGC 6979

This annotated version identifies the major nebulae and bright stars in the field of view.

Imaging Details

• Capture dates: July 23^rd & July 24^th, 2026.
• Location: Eden, NY
• Target: NGC 6960 (The Western Veil Nebula or The Witch’s Broom) and Fleming’s Triangular Wisp
• Total integration: 7 hours total
• Exposure breakdown:
• 7/23/2026: 85 subs at 180 sec each
• 7/24/2026: 55 subs at 180 sec each
• Gain = 100, Offset =50, & Sensor Temp = -10° C
• Filters / channels: Optolong L-eXtreme
• Moon / sky conditions:
• 7/23/2026: Moon 69% Waxing Gibbous Moon, Transparency = Poor, & Seeing = Fair/good.
• 7/24/2026: 78% Waxing Gibbous Moon, Transparency = Poor, & Seeing = Fair.

Equipment Used

• Telescope / lens: Askar FRA400
• Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
• Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro
• Filters: Optolong L-eXtreme
• Guiding: ZWO 30 mm Mini Guide Scope / ZWO ASI290MM
• Control / acquisition software: N.I.N.A & PHD2
• Other accessories: PrimaLuceLab Sesto Senso 3 & SvBony 241 Pro

Processing Details

• Calibration frames: 50 Darks, 50 Flats, & 50 Dark Flats
• Calibration and integration: All pre-processing was performed in PixInsight
• Background correction: GraXpert
• Color Calibration: SPCC
• Deconvolution: BlurXTerminator
• Stretching: Multiscale Adaptive Stretch
• Star Removal: StarXTerminator
• Noise reduction: NoiseXTerminator
• Contrast and Saturation: Curves Transformation
• Sharpening: Image Blend Script w/high Pass filter & Unsharp Mask process
• Star processing: Increased Saturation with Curves Transformation, removed green noise with SCNR, and corrected magenta stars by inverting the image and applying SCNR
• Final cleanup: Applied contrast adjustments with Curves Transformation to the starless image, then recombined the starless and star images with Pixel Math

Conclusion

Astrophotography rigs are complicated, and setting up a new one can present plenty of challenges. Getting the Sesto Senso 3 focuser to work reliably with my telescope and N.I.N.A. was the biggest hurdle in this first-light session. In the end, the effort was worth it: the FRA400 delivered a detailed view of the Western Veil Nebula and proved that this new setup is ready for more targets. I might just have to point it at the Eastern Veil Nebula before the summer is out.

A Tiptoe Through the Tulip Nebula

 Target Number Two from Friday 7/26

So picking up from where we left off in the last post (click here). After taking flats with no filter to match my B150 exposures, I installed the L-eXtreme filter and took flats. Then slewed the telescope to the Tulip Nebula (SH2-101) in Cygnus. Started collecting subs at 2:40 AM and stopped the sequence at 3:57 AM due to the increasing sky brightness and immanent loss of the target to the trees in the West.  Sky conditions weren't great due to the smoke from the wildfires out west. I've settled on 180 sec as the default exposure time for imaging with the L-eXtreme. Here's the resulting image:

SH2-101, The Tulip Nebula

Something cool in the image:

Any Rush fans out there? Any fans of Black Holes? The star labeled as HD226868 in the annotated image below is the star that orbits the black hole Cygnus X-1! See if you can see a very faint arch starting from the label HD226868 and arcing back towards +35°20’. It is really subtle, but it is the bow shock created by one of the relativistic jets emanating from the black hole interacting a denser area of dense interstellar medium. Cygnus X-1 is one of the strongest X-ray sources detectable from Earth and the first X-ray source to be widely accepted as a black hole. Cygnus X-1's status as black hole was the subject of a friendly bet between Stephen Hawking and Kip Thorne.

Crop of the annotated image of SH2-101 highlighting the star (HD226868) that orbits the black hole Cygnus X-1.

Processing:

All pre and post processing was performed in PixInsight. Pre-Processing: All subs were visually inspected with Blink and subs with issues were removed. All light Frames, Flats, Darks and Dark flats were loaded into WBPP. Linear Post Processing: Background extraction was performed with Auto DBE Script from Seti Astro followed by BXT (correct only). SPCC was used for Color Calibration followed by a full application of BXT. Noise was reduced with NXT. The image was made non-linear with HT. Non-linear Post Processing: Stars were removed with StarXT. Stars: Saturation was increased with CT. Starless: The Narrowband normalization Process was used to get the "SHO" look. Color, intensity, and contrast were adjusted with various applications of CT. Saturation was increased with CT. LHE was applied at 3 Kernel sizes. Unsharp mask was applied and MMT was used to increase sharpness. The DSE script was used to enhance dark nebula regions. The Stars and Starless images were combined with Pixel Math to produce the final image. 

What is it?

The Tulip Nebula (SH2-101) is a bright nebula in the constellation Cygnus. This region of gas and dust is an HII region. Unlike the Dark Nebula B150, the gas in the tulip is ionized and is giving off its own light.

Annotated image of SH2-101

How Big is it?

SH2-101 has a size of 16 x 9 arcminutes (1 degree is 60 arcminutes) on the night sky. It is about 70 light years in diameter.

How Far is it?

SH2-101 is located about 6,000 light-years (ly) from Earth in the constellation Cygnus.

How to find it?

It may be possible to view this object visually (I have never done so). I would suggest a nebula filter (like a UHC filter) to improve contrast and make the nebula "pop" in the eyepiece.

SH2-101 is located in the neck of Cygnus the Swan. About 1/2 way between the head (Albireo) and Sadr.

Finder Chart for SH2-101.

Image Details:

Capture Date: 07/26/2024

Location: Eden, NY

Telescope: Askr FRA600 (no reducer)

Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro

Filter: Optolong L-eXtreme

Mount: Sky-Watcher USA EQ6-R Pro

Exposure: 25 exposures at 180 sec / Gain 100 / Offset 50 / -10°C each for a total exposure of almost 1.25 hours.

Software: NINA, SharpCap Pro, PHD2, and PixInsight

Clear Skies!

Ernie

A Smoky Sea Horse Nebula

 It was perfectly clear, except for the wildfire smoke!

Friday 7/26 was the second night of what turned out to be a string of 4 clear nights. That was the good news. The bad news was that wildfire smoke from out west had rolled in. It would be the only night I would have any chance of imaging, so when we got home around 10 pm, I set up and was collecting subs by 11 pm. The week before I tore down my setup. I removed the dovetail saddle on my EQ6-R pro and replaced it with an ADM Saddle that was purchased at last year's NEAF. I also replaced my telescope with an Askar FRA600 that is on loan from a friend. He is unable to use the scope for a bit and generously allowed me to borrow it. I did some cleanish skies last Saturday night and was able to get focused and verify everything was working. 

The first target of the evening was Barnard 150, The Sea Horse Nebula. The 61% illuminated Moon rose around 11:38 PM. I continued to image this target until a little after 2 am, when the Moon started to clear the trees and was impacting the image quality. I took flats, popped the L-eXtreme filter in the image train, took flats with that and switched to a second target for the session. That will be another story. I captured a total of 74 exposures at 2 minutes each. Hope to get more time on this object, as I believe this will improve the result. Here's the final image. 

Barnard 150, The Sea Horse Nebula.

Processing:

All pre and post processing was performed in PixInsight. Pre-Processing: All subs were visually inspected with Blink and subs with issues were removed. All light Frames, Flats, Darks and Dark flats were loaded into WBPP. Linear Post Processing: Background extraction was performed with Auto DBE Script from Seti Astro followed by BXT (correct only). SPCC was used for Color Calibration followed by a full application of BXT. Noise was reduced with NXT. The image was made non-linear with HT. Non-linear Post Processing: Stars were removed with StarXT. Stars: Saturation was increased with CT. Starless: Saturation was increased with CT. LHE was applied at 3 Kernel sizes. Unsharp mask was applied and MMT was used to increase sharpness. The Stars and Starless images were combined with Pixel Math to produce the final image. 

What is it?

B150 is a Dark Nebula in the constellation Cepheus. It is an interstellar cloud and dust so dense that blocks the optical or visible light behind it (from our point of view). 

An Annotated image of B150.

How Big is it?

B150 has a size of 60 x 60 arcminutes (1 degree is 60 arcminutes) on the night sky. 

How Far is it?

B150 is located about 1,200 light-years (ly) from Earth in the constellation Cepheus.

How to find it?

I'm not going to say this object can't be observed visually because I don't know. I've never attempted to visually observe this. Definitely not a target for beginners. Dark skies with excellent seeing/transparency would be required to have a chance. This object is about 1 degree in angular size, so a fairly wide field of view would be required.

This object is in Cepheus as shown in the finder chart below. B150 is between Cepheus and Cygnus as indicated by the solid red rectangle in the finder chart.

Finding Chart for B150.

Image Details:

Capture Date: 07/26/2024

Location: Eden, NY

Telescope: Askr FRA600 (no reducer)

Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro

Filter: none

Mount: Sky-Watcher USA EQ6-R Pro

Exposure: 74 exposures at 120 sec / Gain 100 / Offset 50 / -10°C each for a total exposure of almost 2.5 hours.

Software: NINA, SharpCap Pro, PHD2, and PixInsight

Clear Skies!

Ernie