Nigel G

Ian. Your Cone nebula is great, fine details, well done. It's another on my list too. Do you fancy swapping scopes Nige.

The surrounding area of the cone nebula

The mount did do well last night. I got 90x60s on the Pacman and a further 45x60s on the Horsehead. A slight small problem was the focus had shifted slightly during the Pacman shoot. Not much but enough to blur the image a little. I have processed it a couple of times with much better result than the last time. Just wish I had checked the focus during the shoot. Cheers Nige. First process of 90x60s Second process of 90x60s

Registax is great for planetary or lunar but not for DSO's Nige.

Hi ManixZero and welcome to the No EQ DSO Challenge. A good start there Better than my first attempts. For focusing you can't beat a Bahtinov mask, not expensive and makes focusing a doddle. Keep at it, try different settings ( ISO ) exposure times, Most find up to 60s is max for an Alt-AZ mount, sometimes pushing the limits up to 90 seconds. Stacking multiple images is your next step. Deep Sky Stacker, a free download. Plenty of advice here for using DSS. Your hooked you won't believe the images you will get . Try Rosette nebula, NGC 2244. Globular and open star clusters are very rewarding. Stellarium is a good program to download, it shows you what's up there in real time. Try to get at least 30 minutes of data for processing, example 60 photo's at 30 seconds, the more data the better the final image. Be picky with keeping your light frames, bin any with star trails. When stacking use flat frames and bias frames. both are easy to take and plenty of tutorials on YouTube. Recommend 50 bias frames and 30 flat frames. This helps no end with processing. I have been imaging for only a year so no expert but I hope this helps you in some way. Enjoy the ride and look forward to seeing your images. Cheers Nige.

That's a great improvement Shaun, running man looks good to and great stars. I think you might be missing some detail and dust when processing, it seems quite dark and there's a ton of emissions around the whole area. A little more developing maybe, I'm no expert though Cheers Nige.

I shouldn't say this cos I'll probably jinx myself but, I'm imaging Pacman again tonight and the mount is spot on atm, got a string of 15 x 60s tight stars, bang on, plus a bunch of 45s. going well so far. Nige.

I had a good try with a barlow lens on M1 last night and failed. The longest sub I could get was 20s and a keep rate of about 10 %,... 10s keep rate 50%, all At 6400 ISO I could only see some stars, no nebula visible. After stacking 100 frames and processing there was a faint blur there somewhere. At 1600 ISO and 20s there was only a few faint stars. I also got a few subs on the Pacman with the modified camera. Only about 20 minutes of 30s. Once again its a big improvement on the last try. But needs more time adding. Here's the Pacman and comparison. Cheers Nige.

Nothing wrong with them, very respectable first images. My scope and camera are on the limit of my mount 5 kg. It does take a few minutes to settle in, but will track good enough for 120s subs on a good day. normally 30s exposures keep rate 90%. Startools processing software has a good module for repairing coma stars, just an alternative to a coma corrector. Nige.

Shaun, with my 150p reflector dew can build up quite quick on the secondary mirror. Adding a dew shield to extend the telescope helps a lot. Even putting a flowerpot with the bottom cut out will help. Last night after just 40 minutes of use without a pot extention the secondary had frozen dew on and needed defrosting with a fan heater. With a 8 inch pot extending the tube this would not happen for a couple of hours. I have far more trouble with the scope than my lenses when it comes to dew. Best solution is dew heaters. Looking forward to seeing some images with your new 130p-ds Good luck and clear sky's. Nige.

As far as I'm aware the 1300d is identical to the 1200d except for 1300d has wifi available. Nige.

That will be StarTools star repairs where I missed stars joined during masking. Or it could be UFOs. Nige.

I had a very quick go with a barlow, I should have given it longer but 15s was not good with star trails. I didn't even give it 5 minutes tbh. I might try again tonight if it's clear. Nige

I have had no Internet for 2 days now. So I'm sitting by my front room window where I can just pick up a BT hot spot. Seeing Ken's M1 made me try again with the modified camera. I'm pleased I did. These both have 20s, 30s and 40s subs. The modified camera image has 30 minutes, the other has 45 minutes exposure. I think this image shows the difference between the camera's well. First is unmodded 1300d about 2 months ago, second is modded 1200d last night. Cheers Nige.

Ken, amazing for such short time, good detail in there. I got a multi coloured blob from 60 minutes of 30s on M1. Nige.

Clear but freezing night last night, I got some imaging before the moon came up. 2 targets, Jellyfish nebula and a double cluster I'm looking for the name atm. Having problems with the Jellyfish, very bright green and blue pixels cover the image. Must be some bad sub's or a DSS issue. The double cluster, 30 minutes of 30s and 20s. flats & bias. 150p, modified 1200d with CLS filter. DSS & ST. EDIT. M35 & NGC 2158 Nige.