Snoani

Thank you for your response. I gave the Veil Nebula a second process this evening. I have no doubt that it can still be processed better, but it is a massive improvement on my first attempt above.

Good evening all This is only my second post on these forums. Following the arrival of my first scope (a humble achromatic) I have taken advantage of a number of clear nights in the last 8 days to capture M51 and NGC 6960. After a couple of tests that I posted last month, these are my first proper attempts at guiding with a complete setup. M51: 123 minutes calibrated with 15 darks, flats and bias frames. Captured using a Skywatcher Startravel 120, Canon 1300D (modified), HEQ5 and guided using a ZWO 120mm attached to a ZWO 30F4 guidescope. I am reasonably happy with the image, although it is a touch out of focus. CA has edited out well without effecting the subject, however, I haven't yet managed to work out whether there is addition colour that can be drawn out or whether this is limited by the data. NGC 6960: 180 minutes calibrated with 15 darks, flats and bias frames. Captured using a Skywatcher Startravel 120, Canon 1300D (modified), HEQ5 and guided using a ZWO 120mm attached to a ZWO 30F4 guidescope. Captured over two nights and I nailed the focus. I am generally very happy with the details captured but I am struggling with the processing. I have spent a couple of hours attempting to tease out the detail of the nebula without exposing the stars too much, which as you can see I have not yet managed to do. It has resulted in a very busy image that detracts for the nebula itself. My conclusion is that I have a lot to learn, particularly processing of images, but that is all part of the fun. I look forward to the new moon next month, with hopefully some clear skies to attempt the Eagle nebula (which I had planned to target this time around but it was behind a tree).

I very much suspect that the same will happen to mine very soon.

Thanks for the tip. I will check it out.

Hi Terry I am far from experienced as I am just getting into guiding myself, but I thought I had a similar problem when I first connected to EQMOD. I came across this post which may help you, assuming that you are connecting the mount to your PC with an appropriate cable. EQMOD only looks at COM ports 1 - 16 (I think from memory) and if your COM ports are allocated to other things and your cable/mount is allocated a higher port, then you may need to clear them out so that you cable/mount can be allocated a port within this range. That said, when I followed this procedure, I discovered that this was not the issue for me as I only had one COM port allocated by my system, which turned out to be the cable/mount. My issue was that EQMOD does not actually autodetect the port and therefore didn't pick it up. Once I identified the correct one manually, it worked perfectly. Whether this helps or not, I hope that you get it sorted. Jem

Thank you for your kind replies. I certainly thought outside of the box, and that setup was my second attempt. The first attempt was hugely imbalanced in comparison. However, while these images are far from perfect, they have blown my previous attempts out of the water and it has reignited my passion for AP. Jem

Hello all I’ve been visiting these forums for a little while now and have recently taken the next step in astrophotography and thought that I would step forward to introduce myself and share what I consider a recent successful outcome, despite the limitations of what I am currently imaging with. To give you a little background, I have been interested in astrophotography for a number of years, with a particular enthusiasm for deep sky objects. However, I have been hampered by a very limited budget until more recently. I originally started imaging with a Meade ETX 80 and DSLR with limited success due to the limitations of the scope and built in mount. I’ll come back to this scope shortly. I then purchased an iOptron Skytracker, which again gave me limited success, partly because I was asking a little to much of this. I intend on returning to the ioptron this summer to capture the Milky Way. My astrophotography endeavours have taken a back seat for the last couple of years after I moved house and having spent most of my spare time working on it and being tired by the end of the night. However, living in a home that has dark skies, which I can image in almost all directions, and with my finances somewhat improved nowadays, I decided to take the leap and purchase my first proper guided mount setup in the form of an HEQ5 Pro, SkyWatcher StarTravel 120, field flattener, ZWO Mini Scope, ZWO 120mm mini guide camera and modified Canon 1300D. I understand the limitations and pitfalls of this scope, but it is very much a beginner setup while I learn the craft and hone my skills, and once I am worthy I will upgrade it in year or two to an apochromatic. I can also edit CA to an extent in the early days However, with the world currently broken as it is, everything has arrived with the exception of the Startravel, which I am told is stuck in Chinese customs. So I have a guided setup without a scope, which I still await with anticipation. However, not perturbed by this setback, I decided to test the rig during the last new moon by fashioning a homemade attachment for my EXT80 to see whether I could at least guide successfully. In addition to this setup pushing the balance, actually finding the targets was initially difficult. Don’t get me wrong, EQMOD and Catres Du Ciel amazingly worked perfectly without the need to troubleshoot (lot of hours reading sites and forums in advance) but because I have a scope with a goto mount that can move independently of the guide setup, and which doesn’t particularly lockdown very tightly, I had to position the scope independently once the mount was locked onto the target. However, once I got over this hurdle, the modest images that I obtained have really filled me with enthusiasm and encouragement for the future and I look forward to the next new moon. Both of these images are taken with the above setup and a Nikon D7100, PHD2 and APT and stacked with DSS and edited with Photoshop CR2. 22 May 2020 Leo Triplet 60 minutes of lights (20 x 180 secs) at ISO 1600 and 10 dark, 10 flats and 10 bias 27 May 2020 & 27 May 2020 M81 & M82 154 minutes of lights (21 x 240 secs and 14 x 300 secs) at ISO 800 and 10 darks, 10 flats and 10 bias I still have a lot to learn but with patience, practise and research I hope to build on these early successes and produce further images to share soon, which if my scope arrives in the next couple of weeks will be a crack at the Eagle nebula this month, weather permitting. Anyway, this is rather a long introduction and I appreciate your time. Jem