asteele3

So select any star you want and then when it tracks to it press the enter button. I find for any objects that are easy to see with the eye, I can manually turn it to the object without putting the tracking on.

When I look at the Orion Nebula through my 8 inch dob it looks no way near as good as that. Just a fuzzy look with the trapizeum in the middle

Yes but it's still amazing to think you can see it with just your eye.

No I haven't polar aligned it, I'm not sure how to do that as I've said the instruction manual isn't really as clear as it could be , so doing a one star alignment is a better option then me normally doing a two star?

What I meant is your not actually doing the alignment your just setting it up for it to track what you want. Just turning the scope on isn't enough as it won't be tracking anything... I'm not making that much sense am I?

To save time and because the Orion nebula is so easy to spot, yes you do need tracking. All I did is do the one star alignment then put it on any star and press enter and it should say alignment successful. That way it will track whatever's in the telescope's view. Then use the arrows on the keypad and point it to Orion. Have you polar aligned the scope?

Maybe a EOS clip light pollution filter would be handy which allows a lengthier exposure time.

I saw the nebula for the first time last night, (27th January 2013) I was wondering if there is a common exposure time or is each telescope different? I'm new to all of this as I got my telescope for the Christmas just gone, I've done pictures of the moon easily it's the planets and nebula I'm struggling with can anyone help? The telescope I've got is Skymax 127 SynScan AZ GOTO Telescope i understand I may need a new mount as the one I've got isn't the best if there's tips or trick id be glad to listen

Thanks Chris Twell

The mount may be ok and all you can do is try it out first. The telescope is fine for nebulas and it's just the imaging side. Have a Canon EOS 1100d dslr camera or any dslr camera and then set it to manual mode at about ISO 800 and set the timer to 30s. The image above has been processed through photoshop to get more detail out of it so don't be alarmed if you first image doesn't look like mine above as all of that comes with manipulating the image and bringing out the detail that the camera has already captured.

Not sure what imaging setup you've got? The only problem I can see with your scope is that the F number is 11.8 and the rule for imaging dsos is that you need around the F/5 number.

If anyone else wants to help out then it'd be handy as what I've just told is coming through what I've already done!

Thanks!

My first image of Orion Nebula

Thanks BK! I know, I'm itching to go back out there tonight!

My first DSO was M13. Probably not classified as a true DSO but I think as this was my first attempt at M13, It's not a bad start! A little out of focus but I'm very pleased! ;-D