Folkert

It has taken me quite some time, but finally they are here: my first DSO pictures. First we had no dark skies due to summer (I am in Finland), then we had about 5 months of clouds, then we had nights of -20C in which I needed to learn-by-doing. The problems were getting good focus, and getting perfect SyncScan alignment, so I would actually catch the aimed for objects (I have quite some pictures with just stars on them!).

But finally last week I got it right, the results below. I still have a lot to improve. I obviously need a field flattener, I need to learn more on post processing, and I need to further learn the tricks on the set-up. E.g. Last night, after 40 x 300s on M101 I found out that the guider cable had dropped out from the Lodestar, so now I have 3 hours of useless star trails!). But we are getting there. So these are my first!

first M13 with NGC 6207 by its side (10 x 300s) and the second is M51 (15 x 300s). Both with EOS 1100D through Skywatcher Equinox 120, guided.

Folkert

Nice structured explanation. Clearly having maps with different levels of detail helps a lot (and is a great investment!). I go from Wil Tirion's maps at the back of his "Binocular Astronomy", good old Norton's Star Atlas, through Stellarium to the one and only "The Great Atlas of the Sky" by Piotr Brych. Different atlasses for different tasks. And then you study the map, select a hopping path, check it out through the scope, recheck.... And learn the patterns. Step by step you get to know your hops for more and more objects. And that is kind'a cool!