Vicky050373

M31 The Andromeda Galaxy 13.09.2018
Altair Hypercam 183C Pro and SkyWatcher Equinox 80 Pro ED
60 x 120, 5 x 240 & 6 x 300 Second Exposures

Thank you. I thought I had captured a little cloud detail but then thought it may have just been wishful thinking. It was nice to have another go at this beautiful target.

Hi Sean, thank you for your kind comments. It was the first time I had tried imaging M97 and I found it very difficult. I'm really pleased with my image, I just wish I'd spent a few more minutes checking the sensor screen for dust! As the object is very faint visually (and I live in a highly light polluted area) it took me around 1 hour to locate it in my EP and then get it on the chip. I don't usually image with the SCT, but knowing this is a very faint and small target I thought I'd get all the light and magnification on it I could. Once I was sure it was on or near the chip, I found that 5 second exposures binned at 8x8 showed it on the screen. I eventually got it framed albeit over to the left hand side but I was frightened of losing it altogether so left it where it was. I use either my NEQ6 or HEQ5 for imaging. In this case it was the HEQ5 which manages the 8SE well enough for a quick back yard session.

Vicky

Thank you for your comments. As well as imaging, I love doing visual astronomy and I often have my binoculars to hand if my scope is otherwise occupied doing the imaging. As I view and image objects such as globular clusters I wonder what the night sky would look like if I was on a planet orbiting one of the stars. I never get tired of the sights we can behold in our sky

1 minute ago, rockystar said:

some lovely photos in this album Vicky

Thanks Lee, I'm hoping to add a few more this season

Nice work Matt

17 minutes ago, g7hej said:

Great shot,  No fantastic shot, can someone explain why you alter from 60-120 seconds ??? regards graham

Thanks Graham. It was a very windy night and my Star Adventurer tripod is quite light. I was on holiday camping and had only taken my portable gear. Just did some 60 second exposures as I noticed considerable shake in some of the 120 second images. Tracking was good but the wind made me cautious. Need more data next time but I hadn't set out to do any real imaging as I was really just outside enjoying the clear sky with very little LP and spotting the odd Perseid