IC434: ZWO AM7 first light

The Beehive Cluster, M44, also known as Praesepe, is one of the closest star clusters to our solar system. It’s located in the Cancer constellation some 600 light-years away from Earth.

The cluster is easily visible to the naked eye under a dark sky like Prades (where the image has been taken from), appearing as a hazy patch of light. Through binoculars or a small telescope, it resolves into a group of stars resembling a swarm of bees, which is how it earned its name. The Beehive Cluster contains hundreds of stars, although only about 40 to 50 are easily discernible to the naked eye. It’s estimated to be around 600 to 700 million years old

Last night under the dark skies of Prades, I had the chance to capture the first light with my new ZWO AM7 mount — and what better target than the iconic Horsehead Nebula in IC 434?

✅ No counterweights
✅ 19,5 kg dual setup on a solid pier

For this first session I went with a pure Hydrogen-alpha capture to really test tracking precision and stability:

Ha: 21 × 300” = 1h 45’
Gear: FRA300 + AM7 + ASI2600MM + ZWO Ha filter📍 Prades – Catalonia, Spain
📅 February 14th, 2026

The AM7 handled 300-second exposures effortlessly — round stars, smooth guiding below RMS 1” (with strong winds), and excellent stability throughout the session. Promising performance right out of the box.

This is just the beginning.
🎥 Soon we’ll publish a full in-depth review together with @astrotivissa , covering performance, portability, harmonic drive behavior, payload capacity, and real-field results.

Stay tuned — more tests under dark skies coming soon.

The full image covers an area of 4º27′ x 2º58′ at a resolution of 2.59″/pixel.