Johns22

Wow - thanks Adrian, this is really helpful! I too noticed that the black point was right across but I didn't want to blow the centre out anymore than it already is. Great info in your post that I will have a go at. I'll load the .tif file later tonight for anyone who wants to try their processing skills on it - it would be really valuable to see what others can do with it too. Thanks again.

Thanks Peter - I use a Bahtinov mask too.

I'm starting to feel like progress is being made in a few areas of my Astrophotography. Until January I had never took a photo on a DSLR camera or used photoshop nevermind a telescope! These photos were taken on 15th March 2020, using a Skywatcher 200P on a EQ5 Goto Mount, a Canon 600D with Svbony CCD Filter and captured in NINA. Unguided (couldn't get new guidecam in focus) using Platesolve with ASTAP; 80 x 20" Lights - ISO800 40 x Bias - ISO800 30 x Darks - ISO800 Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker, edited in Photoshop 2020 Would very much appreciate any advice!

Here is my first attempt at M42 Orion from back on 6th February 2020. At this point it was my first time using a Skywatcher 200P with EQ5 GOTO mount and a Canon 600D Stock DSLR Camera. Images captured via Backyard EOS and consisted of: Lights = 30 x 20 sec @ ISO800 Darks = 10 x 20 sec @ ISO800 I have processed this with Photoshop, to which I'm a complete newbie as well! Happy with the detail, need to work on colours. The scope was also out of collimation at this point and I didn't have a bahtinov mask either. Just waiting on more clear skies!

Hi Simon, I've only been doing this for the past couple of months - not the 8 years you have, so my comments may be worth little. I've got the 200P on an EQ5 mount that I've upgraded with a Synscan goto kit. I'm using a Canon 600D DSLR for my astrophotography. Like you I have read lots on the internet that basically tell me the kit I have isn't the best for the job. However, I'm enjoying learning and have had reasonable success to date considering the scope had not been collimated since I purchased it. I don't yet have a guidescope fitted and everything I have has been bought second hand. I want to find the limitations of my kit and better understand what I need as I go along. Whilst advice on the internet can be helpful, I think you can miss the appreciation of why you need some of the gear along the way. I've just had my scope collimated (and a lesson at the same time) at my local Astronomy club and I can't wait to get on with capturing images of the night sky with it. I won't be changing it anytime soon (if ever!) but I'll be adding some accessories like a guidescope. I've seen some people on Facebook posting in the groups who use the same setup as me and the photo's are incredible. The only thing I have noticed whilst imaging is anything more than a breeze causes star trails but I can live with that for now. I'm going to get on with it and learn myself!

Hi all, Having spent last night collecting data on M42 as my beginner project, I have noticed that even on 10 sec exposures at ISO800 using a Canon 600D camera, a Skywatcher 200P scope and an EQ5 Goto mount I still appear to have star trailing. A single image included below. I haven't yet collimated the scope since I purchased it second hand - I'm taking it to my local astro society on Saturday to learn how to do that. Would this make a difference? The camera was focused on the scope with a Bahtinov mask last night but the moon pictures also look out of focus? I did install the goto upgrade kit on the mount myself, could I have done something wrong? I aligned via ASCOM and Stellarium on my laptop last night and did notice some alignment issues afterwards whereby stars intermittently didn't centre in the eyepiece. Any help/advice much appreciated! John.

Thanks Ivor - I have Adobe Photoshop too and I'm sure I've seen somewhere you can stack in there. So much information to absorb on all aspects!

It's been a tough week of Astro this week! I thought it started well on Monday with a clear sky, I eagerly headed out to setup my Skywatcher 200P on EQ5 Goto mount. For the first time I managed to get it all working via my laptop including my Canon 600D with just 2 days of the Backyard EOS trial left. Unfortunately my new power pack had leaked battery acid during the previous charge which doesn't bode well and will need to be returned. I admit I got greedy and set my imaging run on M42 at 50 x 60 sec exposures with 10 sec pauses. The run completed and the previews in Backyard EOS looked great but the following day I was met with disappointment when I reviewed the images and Deepskystacker rejected them all. Having spent a few hours since reading on here it seems I was well over on the exposures as I don't have a guidescope/camera. It felt like a night wasted. A few books I purchased landed this week including Turn Left at Orion. When Clear Skies appeared last night I decided to head out with the DSLR on a tripod using both the kit lens and the 300mm lens. Once again I got greedy on M42, zooming in on the 300mm lens with 10 sec exposures on the untracked mount. Once again the final images were disappointing and another night lost. More reading tonight has shown me the error of my ways... Lessons learnt the tough way. On the plus side I seem to have had a good second-hand buy on a CLS clip in filter to help with my light pollution which arrived today. Whilst the power pack is being replaced, I've arranged with my local astro society to be shown how to collimate my 200P - I've noticed the secondary mirror adjusters have been loose on the scope housing. The primary mirror looks to have quite a bit of dust on it - the previous owner must have stored the scope with no cap on. I may take this opportunity to clean the mirror (following advice I've seen on YouTube) before collimating. It feel's like I'm still at the foot of a very big mountain - but still enthusiastic!

Hi Chris, I am very new to astronomy and this forum but also hail from the SY13 area! Are you a member of the Shropshire Astro society?

Thanks to Jake for his instructions on this thread - I have successfully fitted the goto upgrade kit to my EQ5 today. Bit of an issue with the threads in the DEC motor but a new bolt sorted that! Now waiting for clear skies...

With the arrival of my recently purchased EQ5 Synscan Upgrade kit, I'm considering refurbing the mount before fitting the kit. I purchased the scope and mount second hand and the original bill of sale included shows it was all purchased new in 2012. I've used it a few times and can't say I find much friction in the movement on both axis but I can't help feeling (having a motorsport background) that it would be an ideal time to do the refurb before fitting the motors. The polar alignment scope is also dusty within the mount where the cap hasn't been used so that would benefit from a clean too. I think I know the answer but being new to this, some advice would be appreciated!

That's a great image - I'm looking forward to improving (and no doubt going backwards at times)! I fitted the DSLR to the scope for the first time last night. Whilst I didn't get any suitable images, I was very thankful to be able to focus on stars at least after a bit of effort!

Last Sunday we finally got some conditions I could have a go at astro imaging! Thanks for the tips in this forum! Using a Canon 600D unmodified, with the kit 18mm lens on a static mount, I captured 10 x light frames at 20 sec shutter speed, f3.5, ISO800 focussed on Orion. I also collected 5 Darks at the same settings. I used a 30 day trial of BackyardEOS to capture the images directly to the laptop. I used Deep Sky Stacker (and some online tutorials) to stack the images and then used GIMP to process (and some more online tutorials...). I'm pretty happy with the result for my first ever! I appreciate there's a lot to improve on, and a lot more to learn but hey, we all have to start somewhere! The colouring towards the bottom left is pesky light cloud which I tried to remove - my Wife thinks it adds character!! 😆 The adaptor T Ring just arrived for my 200P, and I've got some motors on the way for the EQ5!

Well my first scope has been purchased, a great buy from Facebook Marketplace. It's a Skywatcher 200P with EQ5 mount. I'm enjoying building it up, the previous owner had not put the mount together correctly so could never had polar aligned it. Typical that theres been no clear skies for me since picking it up...

Thanks everyone 👍

Hi all, it's been just over a week since I took the attached photo via my 5 year old daughters telescope using my Samsung S8+ smartphone. The telescope was a Christmas gift and is a Smyths Toys TM0090P 50mm. We used a H4mm eyepiece. I was blown away that something so simple could be so amazing! This has led to a week of spending every spare minute reading beginner articles online, enquiring on telescopes for sale, purchasing a pair of Celestron 12x60 binoculars and downloading various apps and software to help me learn the skies! Last Sunday night I ventured out into the garden with binoculars and a laptop and once again I'm amazed by what I saw - and what is out of sight of the naked eye! For me the Eastern and Southern Sky are best for viewing - the North is somewhat obscured unfortunately with light pollution from the pesky street lights. I have been using Sky Map on my phone and Stellarium on the laptop. I have found both useful when used in conjunction with each other. I started viewing Venus first, using it's brightness as a reference point and then worked east from there. Absolutely amazing! Lessons learned from my first session - wear gloves... and I tried using Observation Manager to record my notes but I will revert to pad and paper in the future. I'm sure this application will be great to use in the long term but I don't want to spend more time searching it's database for objects than actually looking at the sky!