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At long last


reddoss

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Here is the image of M42  I took in October at the star party at Pencilli. It is not my best by along way, but it was the best I could do given the equipment problems I was having at the time. 

Sorry it has taken me so long, but I have had a few problems over the last few months, all sorted now though.

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Here is the image of M42  I took in October at the star party at Pencilli. It is not my best by along way, but it was the best I could do given the equipment problems I was having at the time. 

Sorry it has taken me so long, but I have had a few problems over the last few months, all sorted now though.

 Nice one Justin !  :cool:

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Wow! Good job! What set up were you using?

I'm a bit of a beginner at this so forgive me for asking a silly question but do you only get those colours after editing on a pc or, just by using the appropriate lens filter?

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Hi Justin,

Great image.

I noticed your list of cameras, which one was you using for this shot, and what settings did you use ??

My camera has a very small chip, and isn't too good for DS objects. so I am thinking of buying a new one.

I have a Nexstar 8, which I use for DS viewing, so any advice you could give me to aid my purchase, IE, camera accessories, attachments Etc, would be greatly appreciated.

Due to mobility problems, I am restricted to my back yard, although I have no problem with DS viewing,  DS photography is another matter.

Again, a great image. one I would like to achieve myself.

Cheers

Pete.

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Wow! Good job! What set up were you using?

I'm a bit of a beginner at this so forgive me for asking a silly question but do you only get those colours after editing on a pc or, just by using the appropriate lens filter?

Hi danncat,

What area of Swansea do you live in ?

I am from the Morriston area.

Cheers

Pete.

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Wow! Good job! What set up were you using?

I'm a bit of a beginner at this so forgive me for asking a silly question but do you only get those colours after editing on a pc or, just by using the appropriate lens filter?
       

Hi Dan, Good to see you here in SWL as to your question. You can get results like that by using special CCD cameras or if starting out a good entry level DSLR.

For the DSLR you will need a special adaptor, you just remove the camera lens, attach the adaptor the connect it all to the telescope which then becomes the lens.

You might be able to do that with your current set up using very short exposure times (No more than 10 seconds) on M42. Having sad that astrophotography is a expensive step up from observing, so get used to your current kit and met up with some locals from here to get some lessons on Astro before spending a fortune.

Pat

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To answer your questions danccat and scorpio1948, I used a Skywatcher mn 190 astrograph with a starlight Xpress M25C colour CCD camera, all on a Skywatcher EQ8 mount. The autoguiding is done using a ST80 guide scope and a Mead DSI ii gudie camera through the PhD 1 software. See the photo below.

M42 is not an easy object to image as it has a high dynamic range and is very bright. The image is made up of  is  6 x 15 sec + 6 x 30 sec + 6 x 60 sec + 6 x 129 sec, + 4 x 240 sec + 4 x 360 sec + 2  x 480 sec sub frames all stacked together. At longer the a 60 sec sub-frame, the core of M42 is over exposed, so using some clever image processing you replace the over exposed centre in the final image with the 15 sec sub-frames from the original data. 

I used a new program to process the image where by tou remove the stars, process just the nebulosity, and the replace the stars at the end. It does introduce some artifacts into the image and I am not so sure I like the results.

Scorpio1948 the 8inch nextstar is great for observing (I have one myself) but for DSO imaging you need very long exposures and hence a hefty equatorial mount. However I guess you could do some planetary imaging with the nextstar. It is something I have never done, have a look at the  planetary imaging section on this forum. 

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 The only filter I use is an IDAS light pollution filter which does not alter the colour of the image (and hence its very expensive). Ever in the Brecon Beacons you will pick up LP from Cardiff, Newport and Hereford on very  long exposures. The colour of the image will depend on how you process it. I have reprocessed the image I posed yesterday, and it looks quite different.

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To answer your questions danccat and scorpio1948, I used a Skywatcher mn 190 astrograph with a starlight Xpress M25C colour CCD camera, all on a Skywatcher EQ8 mount. The autoguiding is done using a ST80 guide scope and a Mead DSI ii gudie camera through the PhD 1 software. See the photo below.

Scorpio1948 the 8inch nextstar is great for observing (I have one myself) but for DSO imaging you need very long exposures and hence a hefty equatorial mount. However I guess you could do some planetary imaging with the nextstar. It is something I have never done, have a look at the  planetary imaging section on this forum. 

Hi,

Thanks for the info and the tip.

I have taken some planetary images, and I have had some good results with Saturn and Jupiter. Plus our moon of course.

My camera is an Opticstar PX75C, unfortunately, it has a very small chip so its limited slightly.

Mars is proving a bit tricky to capture. Even stacking don't produce very clear results. Although, one video of the planet (about 550 frames) seems perfect.

I admire your setup. What make is your mount, or did you build/customise it yourself  ??  

Cheers

Pete

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Hi lads, only now reading your post so sorry for the late replies. Good reading, I've learnt so much in the last week, and I'm certain will continue to do so in the future!.

I've ordered at Canon EOS 1100D that will be modded, the t-ring has already arrived. The scope will continue to be the nexstar 8se, I realise that this restricts me in DSO ap due to no polar alignment but have seen some great images from similar set ups on this website so will be trialling for a short while, then might consider a wedge if I'm not happy with the results.

Two nights ago I took these images from the scope, just be putting my camera phone against my x cel eps (ranging from 10mm - 25mm). Loving this new hobby :D

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