bujin

Hmmm...  Ok, so the embedding of images didn't work, but at least you can click on the links in the post to view the images!  

My first real attempt at a DSO.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/94624506@N05/9644441540/" title="Andromeda Galaxy (M31) by rokushakubo, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3728/9644441540_dcb9fb803c_o.jpg" width="1024" height="682" alt="Andromeda Galaxy (M31)"></a>

It's the centre of the Andromeda Galaxy, taken through my Celestron C6-SGT, prime focus on a Canon EOS 1100D with a 2x Barlow lens (because I hadn't figured out how to detach the Barlow at this point...).  It was a stack of 23x 30 second exposures at ISO 3200, with 11x darks.

I recently bought the equipment to attach my camera directly to my CG5 mount and it's made a huge difference!  The Andromeda Galaxy has always been a favourite of mine and here's my first attempt using my 300mm camera lens:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/94624506@N05/9718115757/" title="M31 Andromeda Galaxy by rokushakubo, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7379/9718115757_47d24a4c00_o.jpg" width="1024" height="658" alt="M31 Andromeda Galaxy"></a>

11x 2min exposures, ISO400, 300mm, f/5.6, 5x darks.

The following is a second attempt at processing the same files, this time doing most of the processing in DeepSkyStacker before tidying up in Photoshop:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/94624506@N05/9718266517/" title="M31 Andromeda Galaxy by rokushakubo, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5527/9718266517_228a494922_o.jpg" width="1024" height="682" alt="M31 Andromeda Galaxy"></a>

This last image is my 2nd attempt at photographing M31, this time with 62x 30 second exposures at ISO1600, 300mm, f/5.6, with 24x darks.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/94624506@N05/9752685462/" title="M31 Andromeda Galaxy by rokushakubo, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7418/9752685462_bc6bba7c1d_o.jpg" width="1024" height="682" alt="M31 Andromeda Galaxy"></a>

-7 years old and not watching Neil Armstrong on the moon!

Don't know exactly what age but it was probably 12 or 13ish when my parents bought me a very cheap refracting telescope. Really poor quality scope, but good enough to be able to see the rings of Saturn and the north & south equatorial bands on Jupiter - if you REALLY screwed up your eyes, that is! It was enough to get me interested and I followed that through with a degree in astrophysics at Cardiff Uni. However, not once in my 3 years at Cardiff did I look through a telescope. After uni, I kinda left it all behind for about 8 or 9 years, then started following Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy blog and slowly got interested again. Last December I decided I was going to take it up again, and last week I bought my first proper telescope and joined up here!