Despite the telescope being still decollimated, I pointed it to the IC 410 nebula in Auriga, for a couple of nights. I could collect 8 hour worth of data with my narrow band filter.
The result is quite surprising, I must say. The temperature must have been higher, those nights, because the pinching on the mirror is not so obvious, and after all the decollimation doesn’t look so dramatic.
The effect is clearly mitigated by the fact that I have stacked 23 sub frames, but the loss of detail is still there.
However, this is very promising for the future.
IC 410 is a region of faint Ha nebulosity surrounding the open star cluster NGC 1893. The cluster itself is small and located just below center, underneath the central dust region of the nebula. This nebula contains complex wisps of gas and is a beautiful target for Ha astrophotography, although it is surprisingly difficult to find detailed information about this region on-line. The two prominent filamentous columns located just below and left of center may have been blown outward as a result of radiation emitted from the open cluster (notice how their “tails” generally point away from NGC 1893). The lower column has a curved, globular head which might represent a bow shock as gases pushed by radiation accumulate in this region, and/or might indicate an area of star formation. I have no idea if these interpretations are correct, although I will continue to research this and provide updates when I have more information.
(Source: starrywanders.com)