Ok so don't laugh at my first efforts....M13, M57 & M51

[tich]

Finally after over 2 months of my telescope & shiney new stuff gathering dust I finally managed to get it set up in the garden last night. I quickly done a polar & two star alignment & then i was off looking around the night sky. Even a resident hedgehog was snuffling under the hedge nearby, either that or my NEQ6 had caught a cold..

Anyway I looked at M51 but I wasn't seeing anything so I slewed around to M13 & it was looking great through the 17mm Hyperion so I quickly attatched the Hyperion Zoom & tried it at various different magnifications & I was impressed.

After gazing away for a few minutes I thought hmmm should I attatch the DSLR? I quickly nipped indoors & set up the camera for 30 second exposures at ISO 800. I focused it as best as I could using the eyepiece on the camera as I didn't bother dragging the laptop out due to work in the morning & started snapping away. All pictures are unguided single frames & not stacked or processed as I've still got to learn about all this lights dark flats malarky.

Cropped version.

After taking a few shots I then slewed around to M57 & peered throught the eyepiece. I'm not sure if i was managing to see colour in the ring nebula or if it was my eye's playing tricks on me but it was looking great so again I fitted the camera to the focuser & snapped away a few shots.

I then slewed round to M51 & I was able to see the faint fuzzies so thought I'd have a shot at it.

Hmmm less said about this the better!!!

I know they aren't going to win any prizes but it was worth a shot & it was nice to be outside at last...

[Pete Presland]

i dont think anybody will be laughing at them tich.M13 is very nice, especially the un-cropped version.M57 is good as well, the central star is visible on the cropped version.M51 is a tricky object, ver faint but its still there!

well done for all of them, a great start

[Bizibilder]

I certainly won't laugh at those - they are exellent unguided shots.There is a bit of trailing that may be down to several possible causes, but for a set of "quick snaps" they are pretty good. M51, like many DSO's, is really faint and you need quite a lot of longish subs to do it justice - maybe 100 or so and with careful stacking and post procesing you would get a really good image from them.

[Arushin]

Hi tich and well done!

Nothing to laugh at here. Way better than my first attempts and I can already see improvement in my second session. This really is a great hobby isn't it... you learn each time you go out and it's done at your own pace. Keep up the good work my friend. Be proud, these objects are light years away and you have captured them on camera.

[WaveSoarer]

Those are fabulous. Congratulations.

[Folkert]

Wow, just 30 sec takes, no processing, this gives me courage. Very impressive, thanks for sharing. Now waiting for clear sky!

[martin_h]

No one is going to laught at those, for a first go they are great...you should have seen my first shots!!!

[Concept]

Well done Tich,

Don't do yourself down, what you have done, at the least, is show any newbie to DSLR photography what can be done on the spur of the moment...kep it up.

[Ewan]

Tich it's always worth grabbing that camera & being bothered :-), i bet your well happy with them considering you did em on a 'quick step' well done mate.

[Gina]

Very good start on some difficult objects Well done

[SJJ]

Nice images, looks like you might get the AP bug!

[Chris]

be proud you've made a great start!

[Spikey]

Nice one Tich mate, if you want a laugh I'll send you my first DSO pic

I'm amazed at the quality of yours (and others) first pics on here; it's by no means an easy hobby.

You've made a cracking start, onwards and upwards now - get that guiding working and have a bash at M51 again

[tich]

Thanks for all your comments. I did notice some star trailing but I did only do a quick polar align because as much as I'd loved to have stayed up all night work spoiled my playtime so I couldn't be out for to long. I'm quite pleased with what I managed though although I think conditions may have played a certain part as I was able to make out the Milky Way by around midnight & the night sky was beautiful.

Spikey feel free to send me your first pics as I'd love to have a look at them. If the weekend is dry I might have a go at setting up all the guiding stuff although my only concern is whether or not my laptop is going to be powerful enough to run all the software but we will see. If not I can see me emptying out my wallet again soon,,,this AP lark is a slippery slope indeed!! But I love it

[Spikey]

You can run everything from a very low powered laptop or netbook. It's processing and dealing with large graphics files thats the system killer.

[Jessun]

That's a flying start in AP!

When I got my first mount I read about a polar scope but thought they'd forgotten to include it as I couldn't find it. I have many 'subs' with the cap on too still trying to frame and focus...

It will be great to follow your AP journey :-)