JohnSadlerAstro

Hi, Reprocess of M42, using 20X1 minute subs @ ISO800, and 10X10sec subs @ ISO 800 from last night as well as the old 35X51 sec subs as used above. John

Hi, Thanks! I'm using a second-hand Canon 1000d, which cost around £120, and a second-hand 55-200mm lens costing £60. I'm then using a home made wooden adapter to attach the tripod screw thread on the cam to the head of my EQ2. The adapter simply has 3 holes in it--one has a bolt with the right size of thread on it to screw into the cam, and the other 2 holes take the bolts on the mount head that screw into the scope tube rings. Because its wood, the adapter also helps dampen out vibration. My EQ2 has an RA tracking drive, and I use drift alignment (the EQ2 doesn't have a polar scope). I'm generally limited to 1 minute subs, but it appears that with enough subs, most objects I've tried come out well. If I remember right, the M31 image has about 35-40 subs, each of one minute and then a few 1.5 minute ones that I took as a test run the night before. This is one of the subs for M31, I usually capture in RAW mode, as the camera doesn't compress the pictures then. John

Hi, Ok, so its been the worst January for Clear Sky that I can remember. But there's still some results!!! My tracking limits me to frames of around 1minute, but at 200mm, f/5.6, that's not too bad. I'll probably do some drift-alignment later this month, as I never really had much opportunity in December. The images can probably have a bit more processing done on them, especially M42, but otherwise, I think that I've more than fulfilled my dreams!!! I think my favourite bit about it is that I've been using 'sub-minimal' equipment. My copy of 'Making Every Photon Count' declares that an EQ3 is the absolute minimum needed for DSO imaging. My mount is an EQ2, and my camera/lens setup cost only £200. So, anyone reading this, GO AHEAD!!! even if your equipment is basic, like mine, there's masses you can do!!! John M31, Andromeda Galaxy M45, Pleiades M42, Orion (Great) Nebula and the Running Man Nebula

I don't know whether this counts...? Taken with a point and shoot cam, held up to the eyepiece of an Explorer 130 'scope. Expo of about 3 secs, undriven. I'm hoping to get some proper DSOs with a DSLR I'm asking for at Christmas. If I had used the RA drive that I got a few months later, I bet it would have looked great, but, of course, the cam broke before then!!! John

My 1000d and 55-200mm lens came through the post last week--I tested it, and everything's working great! I put my own touch on the day's work by forgetting to remove my (only) SD card from the cam when I packaged it up again for Xmas. It wasn't until I had finished a very thorough sticky tape job on the box that I remembered... :BangHead: :grin: :grin: :grin: John

I got up at some unspeakable hour this morning, and found that the sky was not only clear, as had been forecast, but also that the seeing was very good! I had some trouble focusing, but I think most of the images turned out ok. I'm processing at the moment, images to follow! The bahtinov mask that I made seems to work, but it sometimes cuts of a bit too much light to see the 'spikes' clearly. However, one function I did find useful was AmCap's zoom tool, as I could focus and watch for the colour bands to get the sharpest. The only problem is, he zoom only works while imaging in VGA, not any higher resolutions, so its horribly grainy! John

Imaging has always ben a big part of astronomy for me, and part of my imaging dreams were fulfilled last July when I was given an Orion Star Shoot Solar System Colour Imager 4. With this I have taken lots of acceptable pics, however, I want to image DSOs as well. This Christmas, I'm asking for a Canon EOS400d and 55-200mm lens for deep-sky. I'm hoping to post some of my images after then. I managed to get out and image Jupiter on Wednesday: