M13 - Easter Sunday

[OzDave]

Hi,

I've not had much luck with imaging over the past few months, what with the weather and generally not being in the same place as my astronomy kit. However, finally, Easter Sunday brought both clear skies and a lack of wind and I was able to image M13 for about 3 hours.

Unfortunately, while it wasn't generally windy, there were a sufficient number of gusts to wipe out a lot of my 3 minute subs. So this is a result of stacking the best 14. They have been processed with flats and darks and stacked and processed using Nebulosity.

Maybe the most interesting thing I found in this image was the "propeller", which I've seen mentioned but never seen. I stared at this image for ages thinking I'd somehow missed it and then suddenly it popped out at me at about 7-8 o'clock on the cluster.

The kit used for this image was MN190 + Canon 450D + Astronomik CLS filter, guided by PHD using 50mm finder-guider.

Looking back about a year, this image is a lot better than one I did then, but you'd expect that I guess given I now have an MN190. However, I'm still not that happy with this image. It's kind of blurry, maybe it's seeing or maybe I didn't spend enough time focusing...maybe I should even upgrade the old-style single speed focuser on the MN190...

It also doesn't seen to have a lot of colour, and has a bluish hue to it. Maybe this comes from the DSLR + the CLS filter? My DSLR is baader-modded.

I've seen other images of M13 from people here with similar kit that look a lot better. Can anyone give me some pointers on what to try next to get better results?

I may try using my 80mm as a guider, maybe use an OAG instead, lose the CLS filter to see what difference that makes, use a 2x Barlow, get better focus... Any other ideas?

Any comments would be much appreciated.

Regards,

David

[kris h]

Great image David It does look a bit blurry when

you click on the pic & enlarge it , i really like it well done

clear skies