imakebeer

I feel I have to take some of the responsibility personally... Firstly for getting into the hobby around late-September/early-October, since when it seems to have been more or less permanently cloudy... And if that wasn't enough of a jinx I went and bought lots of new gear last week which has resulted in even more cloud plus some fog for good measure! 😖 Clear skies seem to be so rare lately that I am virtually at the point now where I can brew and ferment another batch of beer between viewing/imaging sessions!

Santa came early this week... First the FedEx elves delivered a brand new SW 150PDS from FLO...😁 (previous SW Capricorn + EQ1 in the background) Then I had a fun drive this week to collect this HEQ5 and other bits sold to me by @Startinez 👍 Had a very quick play last night among the clouds - much work needed to get the hang of the HEQ5 but the dual speed focuser on the 150PDS is kickass! 💪

Thanks for these helpful suggestions. Good point about mirror lockup, I'll investigate (I have a feeling it might as I was looking at this the other day after I saw it mentioned). Regarding a remote shutter release - is your point that I don't want to be physically touching the camera myself as this will make it wobble? I'm using the built in timer so I can set it up to do 100s of frames with whatever delay between them I set (also useful for doing startrails as I've discovered). Hopefully this will work in function with mirror lock up if my camera does it 👍

I'm so sorry @tooth_dr , you're quite right, it was you who posted the FOV examples. I blame myself for reading too many posts at once and posting quickly. And also you lot for all being very helpful 🤣👍👏

@Elp Yeah, I see what you mean now about FOV for DSLR vs. ZWO - no comparison is there! 🤣 It was a good tip already, but the illustrations from the FOV calculator really drive it home ("words fail, see sketch") 👍

Sure - I get exactly what you mean, even if I can't quite express it in words! 😁 Thanks, I'll check out that link. And good to know about the 120MC vs. DSLR. I'm really interested to see how the ZWO compares to what I've manged so far on Jupiter and Mars (looks like Saturn has gone for me now though - boo!) with my DSLRs, but useful advice regarding DSOs. I'm too new to be firmly entrenched either way, except to say that I really like BackyardEOS/Nikon whereas my very brief look so far at Sharpcap and Firecapture suggests more homework will be needed! 😂

@Budgie1 thanks for the tips. I assume that's a typo and you mean bias frames, not bios right? By dark frames I mean I just took pictures with the same settings with the lens cap on - I need to read up exactly what a bias frame is. And if I recall, flats are where you put a white T-shirt over the lens (to take care of vignetting???) @Elp Oh OK, I see what you're getting at - yeah, the lens goes from f/3.5 at 18mm FL to f/6.3 at 300mm. So yeah, if I back off to 200mm FL then the aperture should be a little bigger, so yeah this might allow me to reduce star trailing. I can see what you mean, there are tunes I can play here. The camera has a built in timer so it's easy to set it and forget it to take loads of frames. Oh, and the lens is made of ED glass I think so hopefully CA shouldn't be an issue 🤞 Good point about the Orion Nebula and Andromeda - I've actually already been having a go at the latter here. In fact, while I was playing in GIMP processing these Pleiades shots I had another go at processing my previous Andromeda M31 shot - good practice but not sure I got anything conclusively better. Question for you folks: I've actually just taken delivery of a new SW Explorer 150PDS, plus an HEQ5 mount + ZWO ASI 120MC-S I bought from another forum member. Haven't set it up or used it in anger yet, but am I right in thinking the ZWO can be used for DSO as well as planetary? I'm interested to experiment and see how the ZWO compares with the Nikon D5500, plus I also have a used Canon 450D I can also try. I'd also like to try the Nikon on the HEQ5 (piggy back maybe?) and see what it can produce on a tracking mount.

I managed to get out in the garden the other night and had my first proper go at photographing the Pleiades. At the moment I'm working with a very basic setup so bear with me - simply a Nikon D5500 + Nikkor 18-300mm lens on a very basic lightweight Alt-Az tripod. That said, any tips, advice or suggestions on any aspect of photographing DSOs will be most welcome! (In the last couple of days I've acquired a tracking mount and bigger scope so hopefully that will help a lot!) I got about 40 light frames (plus 5 dark) at 5s exposure and ISO 1000, f/6.3 is as wide open as this lens goes at this FL. Stacked in Sequator where I played with the settings a bit, then tinkered with some more (and cropped) in GIMP, for which I watched a video on YouTube but beyond that I'm still very much figuring out what I'm doing. I have a couple of images to compare: There is some star trailing but I like this first one, the way the stars are very bright against a dark background. But I know I've lost a lot of the background detail in post-processing (looks better on a smaller screen though!) But then when I Googled imaged of the Pleiades I noticed some nebulosity (?) which I'd noticed but dismissed in the original stacked image. So I went back through GIMP and took more care not to lose so much background detail - this image is noisier but around Merope in particular am I picking up a bit of nebulosity there, or just some artefact or something I'm imagining/wishful thinking???

A fine first effort! I posted my own first efforts a few weeks ago and they're also of a similar quality, we all have to start somewhere. I like to think that with a bit more practice one can start to get a little closer to the stunning efforts we see on here. I found this heavy going initially too but quickly got to grips with the basic steps at least (though I'm sure there's still a lot more that I could improve). I found the videos on http://planetaryimagingtutorials.com/ very useful - see the stacking and processing sections to AutoStakkert and Registax.

I shared this elsewhere the other day but I've only just found this thread. Anyway, for my first DSO attempt last week I had a go at M31 - still some way to go, lots to learn but it's a start. Nikon D5500+ Nikkor 18-300mm lens on a very basic lightweight Alt-Az tripod - working with what I have for now but working on getting a bigger scope and tracking mount! I started wide open and took a series of exposures, gradually zooming in on M31, adjusting ISO and exposure time while simultaneously nudging the tripod this way and that to get M31 dead centre in the view, eventually working my way up to the full 300mm FL. Once I got there I took 18 shots (plus 5 dark) at 5s and ISO 4000, f/6.3 is as wide open as this lens goes at this FL. I have no idea if 18 shots is enough or not - I'd have done more but the battery in my remote shutter release died! 🤣 I could have used the built in timer and done loads but having got the shot lined up perfectly I figured pushing buttons on the camera would just upset everything. I've run everything through Sequator and had a play around with the settings - this is the result I was happiest with. I'm moderately pleased, although I had hoped for a bit more - you can see nu- & 32-Andromeda towards the bottom of the image, and I think M110 in the background above the core of M31. I want to get to grips with the post processing to understand if there's more can be squeezed out of the frames I have, or if a lot of work is also still needed on capturing too.

Getting back to my OP, I have an update for you all, though frankly I'm amazed people are still liking and commenting on what was really just a very quick query! 😁👍 To be fair this is now diverging from my original question, away from "Getting Started with Observing" and firmly into the realms of astrophotography - but I've started so I'll finish 😂 To be clear from the outset though, besides a few very basic planetary photos I know very little about AP, and certainly not DSOs! Anyway, I managed to get out briefly last night for just 45-60mins, just in the back garden. I didn't bother getting the telescope out (not that a 900mm/70mm refractor is a behemoth by any stretch!), instead relying just on a small pair of binoculars, plus my DSLR on a very basic lightweight Alt-Az tripod (Nikon D5500+ Nikkor 18-300mm lens). Through the binos I could jump from Mirach to mu-And. to nu- & 32-And. to just make out the faint smudge of M31. Then with the DSLR I started wide open and took a series of exposures, gradually zooming in on M31, adjusting ISO and exposure time while simultaneously nudging the tripod this way and that to get M31 dead centre in the view, eventually working my way up to the full 300mm FL. Once I got there I took 18 shots (plus 5 dark) at 5s and ISO 4000, f/6.3 is as wide open as this lens goes at this FL. I have no idea if 18 shots is enough or not - I'd have done more but the battery in my remote shutte release died! 🤣 I could have used the built in timer and done loads but having got the shot lined up perfectly I figured pushing buttons on the camera would just upset everything. I've run everything through Sequator and had a play around with the settings - this is the result I was happiest with. I'm moderately pleased, although I had hoped for a bit more - you can see nu- & 32-Andromeda towards the bottom of the image, and I think M110 in the background above the core of M31. There's a bit of star trailing and it's a bit grainy but remember at this stage I don't know how to use the histogram, I've no tracking and I've still got loads to learn about capturing AND post-processing beyond basic stuff in Sequator, not to mention I don't have much expeirence of what camera settings work for me. But it's a step in the right direction at least 👍😁🔭

That's quite good 👍 When I put in the details of my scope and eyepiece it wasn't too far off the smudge I saw - in reality it wasn't quite as bright as the simulation, but I suppose they're not factoring in Bortle 5 (I believe) in my location, the seeing at the time, how adjusted my eyes were or not etc etc etc. Also interesting to note though the difference in the picture when I enter detail of a 150mm f/5 Newt!

I had a look the other day at the AstroBackyard reviews for the Star Adventurer 2i, and then the Star Adventurer GTi - he seemed to think the 2i was OK but had some flaws (ISTR it only tracks in RA) but the GTi pretty much addressed all of these points. For me as a newbie the tantalizing thing is that there are AZ GTi bundles of mount + scope for quite a bit less than buying them separately (use the difference to buy the wedge!). It begs the question whether SW will release similar bundles based around the SA GTi 🙏🙏🙏 Sure, this setup is still quite limited in weight capacity and probably ultimately not as good as a ligger/better scope on an HEQ5/EQ6 GOTO but it's probably a good deal more grab & go-able and still a big step forward from my own current setup. It's certainly something I'll consider...

I use Stellarium on my mobile, but I might take a look at SkEye as the push-to sounds interesting. I think my initial uncertainty came down to the fact that I wasn't sure what to expect in the eyepiece - now I understand that I feel like I've got the scent of M31, if only the clouds would clear for a couple of nights! I've also twigged now to check the relative magnitude of this and other targets, and if I do end up going for a much larger aperture scope then perhaps the smudge I've seen so far will be a little more distinct given reasonable seeing.

Dude that is fantastic, loving your DIY CW bar! 😂🙌🤘💪👍 @Drazzic I'm new to the forum, astronomy and astrophotography too. To be honest you've kinda saved me writing my own long rambling thread - I've currently got a very basic small refractor on an EQ1 mount and I'm pleased with the planetary images I've achieved so far, but I want to do more and better so I'm not too far off pulling the trigger on a much bigger scope with suitably heavyweight mount to match. Cost isn't so much an issue for me, it's more my own common sense that's making me hesitate, i.e. is it really the best idea to take such a big jump yet and splurge straight away? What could I achieve by spending a bit less for the moment? It's about the law of diminishing returns and bang for buck. My guess is I can still achieve a big jump in performance without going all in just yet. So I've been having a think about alternatives, not unlike you - I've already got a decent DSLR and zoom lens so what can I do with that? What about pairing it with the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi Mount, or the AZ GTi in EQ mode as suggested here? What about a more modest scope - better than what I have now but lighter than the 150mm Newtonian I'm considering. Your question about the EQ3 Pro GOTO is interesting, I hadn't thought of that. To be honest I don't know the answer - I think the answer might be that the interface isn't so slick, i.e. you can't drive it from your phone straight out of the box but I will let someone more experienced and knowledgeable give a proper answer!

Sure, right now there's a chasm between my gear and yours - I'm realistic about that, but seeing what's possible makes me more positive about upgrading. Yeah, this was something someone on CN pointed out to me. Interesting points about RBG in R6, I'll have to revisit my Mars images - I won't get the detail but I wonder if the colour tones are in there. Also interesting to note you're using more than 20x the number of frames as me. My 450D is only doing about 25FPS! My Nikon is a bit better in this regard but maybe not so suited overall to the task. Interesting point about dedicated astro cams - I only frequented CN briefly but one chap there did point out to me some tests he'd done and found that although his 700D did far fewer FPS there was far less noise than the astro cam so he could get away with far fewer frames.

As I said to you yesterday @LaurenceT that looks a cracking image to me - for me as a newbie it inspires me to keep pushing, keep learning and keep improving. So many things to learn but eventually I'll get there 👍

Nice pic, certainly puts my own first effort (also on the 9th Nov) to shame! As mentioned above, it looks very natural. I'm encouraged though to see what's possible with the right gear and skills 👍 Interesting point about the RGB balance, something to look into - did you process this pic in Autostakkert and Registax?

Nice pic 👍 In my pics that brown band about 2/3 of the way up always more red-purple, maybe I need to play around more with RGB correction (that said, I've never been to Jupiter so hard to know what colour is correct! 😂) Newbie question - how can you tell about the jetstream, what do you look for? I get the general idea about "seeing" and atmospheric turbulence, and the Clear Outside app tries to tell me how good or bad it is, but beyond this what are the telltales?

I'm not really sure where to post this so feel free to give me a nudge if somewhere else would be more appropriate... I was finally blessed with a few hours of clear dark(ish) skies on Wednesday night and managed to get out again and do some telescoping for a couple of hours 😁 Up to now I've done my polar alignment directly on Polaris, but this time I used Stellarium on my phone and aimed slightly offset to where I reckoned the pole was. Not sure if it was luck or judgement but the subsequent planetary images floated pretty much horizontally across the view instead of diagonally, and didn't seem to drift as much. Hopefully a small step in the right direction. I was a bit late getting out so Saturn had disappeared already, though I'm still hoping to have another bash before it's gone completely. But Jupiter was sitting nice and high for me so I started there and tried 3000 frames (about 2.5mins worth) at 3 different ISO's and shutter speeds. Then I moved round to Mars which is sitting a little higher now and did 2 x 3000 frames there. I've posted some pics of Jupiter and Mars here. Not amazing but I think I've got the hang of the general process for planets now. There may be a few minor tweaks I can do in the software, and hopefully upgrade the scope in the near future. I also did 3000 frames on the moon but I wasn't happy with the results so I need to check the process in Autostakkert and Registax, I'm not sure if you need different settings for Lunar vs. planets? Learning point though - for this stage I removed the eyepiece from the adapter to give a wider FOV and hopefully fit in the entire disc (which I did eventually). Initially I wondered why I couldn't see anything until I realised I hadn't refocused 🤣 But in doing so I found I didn't have enough inward travel to focus until I completely removed the eyepiece projection adapter and attached my DSLR directly to the OTA - maybe not surprising but I find you remember best when you learn from your own mistakes. The other day I was asking about the Andromeda Galaxy M31 and I've decided now I'm on a mission to image it. Not going to be easy with my current basic setup, but you have to start somewhere. But it was near as dammit full moon and one thing I noticed was while I could see Beta-And. (Mirach), I couldn't even make out Mu-And unaided. I tried some 30s exposures with a DSLR on a static tripod - wide open I can capture the rough constellation but with M31 more or less at zenith I couldn't get it lined up to zoom in, and when I tried I got star trailing as expected. It may be beyond my reach for now with my current gear but I'd like to make whatever progress I can, even if it's just to understand the process and how to drive the software. By the time I packed up around 11.30pm (I don't think all-night sessions will be very compatible with family life!) Orion had appeared, a reminder for next time to take a look at the Orion Nebula too. Onwards and upwards! 👍🔭

Can I just give a big shout out to @LaurenceT - I'm new to the forum and just getting started with astronomy and astrophotography, and he very kindly invited me to visit him at home to take a look at his many telescopes and tripods and various other boxes of astro-wizardry. I'm looking very seriously at the moment at buying something very similar, but never having seen this gear in the flesh it was a real help to get a good idea of the look and feel of it, how it's going to work in practice and whether it's going to work for me. Thanks buddy, it was a really worthwhile trip - hopefully at some point in the future I'll be in a position to pay it forward to another newbie 👍🔭

I took advantage of a rare clear night last night and spent a couple of hours outside. I did 3 captures of Jupiter at slightly different ISOs and shutter speeds, 3000 frames each (lasting about 2.5mins), then moved on to Mars and did a couple more similar captures there. I think the Jupiter ones are my best yet of the big J, and I'm pleased that for once the GRS was facing me. When I flick through them on my computer the rotation is readily apparent. Mars - well it's a tiny image but even with my very basic gear and a bit of fiddling in Registax I think there's at least a little detail there. But I feel like I'm learning. SkyWatcher 900mm/70mm refractor EQ1 mount Canon EOS 450D Svbony eyepiece projection adapter with 25mm eyepiece BackyardEOS, Autostakkert!3, Registax

Just as a matter of interest, I was just browsing Astro Backyard and stumbled upon this landscape photo showing, among many other things, M31. Comparing it with my photo can see now what you mean about the extent of M31 vs. Nu & 32 Andromeda👍 I'm still itching to get back out there but literally have not had a chance in the last few days due to clouds and rubbish weather ☹️🙏🔭😂

Can you elaborate on this @Freddie , why would you do this? What is it that's so bad about eyepieces, why are Barlows better? From what I've read, the dogma is, yeah, use a Barlow. But... I think I tried it a week or two ago - opportunities have been rather scarce lately, mind you! Apart from being the right way up, I think the images were maybe slightly worse and certainly not significantly better. That could be down to seeing, or altitude of Jupiter at the time, or maybe my Barlow is rubbish... The image in 5x live view mode was same size or similar... I'm more than happy to try again when I get the chance, I'm just curious to understand why a Barlow should in theory be better? Cheers! 👍

Oops, my bad, rookie mistake there - I thought I'd posted this in the Planetary Imaging forum rather than planetary observing 😳😁 Still, at least the folks here are friendly 😁👍 I suspect I'd have been hung, drawn and quartered by now had I commited such a faux pas on "another" forum 🤫😉😜 @Stu I wonder if you or another mod could bump this over to Planetary Imaging? 🙏 Spot on! In fact even Jupiter is pretty small until I go into 5x Zoom mode in BYE.