Hi all,
Wasn't going to show this image at first but then thought "What the heck, just do it." M42 for my first attempt, maybe should of tried something easier, but hey ho. Firstly, I do not have the greatest gear, Skywatcher EQ3-2 goto mount, Celestron Nexstar 102slt, and started with a second hand Canon 450d EOS. Reason I say started with the Canon was that I left it switched on as I faffed about setting it all up, then went in for dinner and left it outside in the bitter cold, and it promptly died soon after, so I switched to Nikon D5300 dslr.
Thought I was good to go so started taking light frames with BackyardNikon software. I took 32 lights of 30 seconds at ISO 800 and 10 darks. And then realised I was shooting jpeg only. Start again with RAW, Nikon battery dies....🙄( note to self, sort out constant power supply). Thats when I switched to a bit of visual observing so as to not waste the evening.
Anyway, decided the next morning to stack the images in DSS and then process in GIMP just to practise. Heres the result. Its not focused to well ( dodgy eyesight and first time with bahtinov mask), unguided, polar alignment wasn't fantastic ( too old to be grovelling around on the floor with a polar scope lit by mobile phone so I could see the reticle) and post processing is first time trying. But its my first go and therefore I am happy, and now hooked (wave goodbye to wallet).
Two images, one in colour and then converted to greyscale for fun
Thanks for looking,
Terry