SpaceDave

NGC891 - Galaxy Not particularly happy with this image, but I've tried and tried to get more data, but the weather (and full moon) over the last month has be terrible. Clearly very noisy. Still, I love the object. 270 x 20s subs = 1hr30mins - also used darks, flats and biases. ISO 1600. Celestron 6SE, Canon 600D, Optolong L-Pro LP filter, 0.63 focal reducer.

I have the focal reducer and it has helped with exposure times. I've found I don't have to throw away anywhere near as many subs due to trailing, its more forgiving.

Hello all. I’ve tried a few times in the last month to image Mars but have had very little success. Although a decent size, Mars is very blurry and wobbly. I am fairly new to the hobby, but I would say it appears to be poor seeing conditions. I am using a Celestron 6SE and Canon 600D. I have tried 2x and 3x Barlow. I focus using a bahtinov mask (on stars). I used movie crop mode on various ISOs and exposures, stacking at least 3000 frames (keeping the best 1%, 2%, 5%, etc). Is Mars too far away now? Or am I underestimating how rarely you get a night of good seeing? How do you find o

Great, thanks! Yeah, I may have to wait until Mars comes back around.

Awesome photo, Peter! I have the same setup as you. Can you tell me how much Barlow you used and the settings on the camera, please? Struggling to get a decent shot of Mars.

Fantastic image.

Hello Alan. I'm in the same boat. Did you get around to removing the filter and how were the results? Thanks.

Awesome. I’ll edit mine using the directions on the video! Thanks.

Great, thank you.

Interesting. Certainly noticed the steep learning curve with this hobby! Thanks for the info, I’ll need to put some time aside to practice using these programs

Good idea, will do! Thanks.

Great, I've downloaded DDS and have a video tutorial too

Interesting. I'll take a look at those two softwares. Thanks!

Thanks for the advices. I used SIRIL to stack the M31. I am new to astrophotography and it's editing, so I could be making quite a few mistakes during the stacking and editing process. I'll have a go at StarTools. Thanks.

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind. I seem to move toward darkening the image too much in order to reduce the noise in the black of space.