First light "nifty fifty" around Cygnus...

[AndyUK]

This was first light for my nifty fifty (I bought it 3 months ago for £35 as the autofocus is broken!)... I probably should have been trying to get some more practice with the 314L+, but having had a few long days (work- related ), and also with the available "dark" time now down to about 3.5 hours, I thought I'd take things a bit easier and try out a guided 50mm instead.

I did also attempt using APT for the first time to see if I could get the FWHM feature to help me focus, but sadly I had to give up on it, so ended up focusing "the old way" by taking a pic, reviewing it on the liveview screen, tweaking the focus and then taking another frame - Not ideal, not scientific but it sort of worked (ish).

The framing also isn't ideal, due to Deneb taking it's time to clear the garage roof, but I seem to have got most of the Cygnus constellation in the frame:

Your field contains:

• Part of the constellation Cygnus (Cyg)
  
• NGC 6871
  
• IC 1311
  
• NGC 6888 / Crescent nebula
  
• IC 1318 / gamma Cyg nebula
  
• IC 5068
  
• IC 5070 / Pelican nebula
  
• The star Deneb (αCyg)
  
• The star Sadr (γCyg)
  
• The star Gienah (εCyg)
  
• The star δCyg
  
• The star κCyg
  
• The star ι2Cyg
  
• The star 31Cyg
  
• The star ηCyg
  
• The star 32Cyg
  
• The star 33Cyg
  

NOTE: This is a very low res JPG (3) in order to adhere to forum limits - Although Astronomy.net claims the Pelican Nebula is there, you wouldn't really know it as it's only a blob at the bottom of the screen!

(Canon 40D/50mm @ f4, ISO 400, 30x7 min subs, 20 "stock" darks, side-by-side guided via ST102 and Synguider. The exif temp of the subs was 26C - the raw frames at 1:1 look like a Seurat painting!)

[beamish]

I like that !!

[Psychobilly]

Nothing like a bit of relaxing widefield...

I almost went out last night but had an early start this morning (to allow for an early finish) planning to grab a few hours ugly sleep then pop out for the first time in ages tonight...

What aperture did you use...?

When I am on a tracking mount I tend to stop my Nifty down to f4 as this really cleans the a stars up... some examples don't need to be stopped down so far but I know it works for me... Might be worth doing a one of star test with your lens...

I am probably going to give the 24-105 F4L and the Tamron 10-24 a go tonight as neither have seen stars "properly" yet..

Peter...

[AndyUK]

Cheers guys - It was VERY relaxing compared to the last few nights... No MN190, no laptop, less cables... Oh my God, I'm talking myself into an Astrotrac !

Peter, I used f4 for this too... but again it wasn't really a scientifically-based decision. Although I felt that the focus was in, I stopped it down just a couple of clicks further just to be ever so sure. The lens also seems to have a fair bit of coma towards the edges, but nothing I can't live with (for now).

I'm hoping to be able to get out again tonight too, and probably on the same region but with the Sigma 180/f3.5 (I'm tempted with Sadr / IC1318...)

[jgs001]

Nice one Andy.. I've found that at 50mm, I don't need guiding with the HEQ5, so you should be ok too.

[AndyUK]

Cheers John - yes, you're probably right about not needing to guide the 50mm... Oh well, at least it gave me some more practice...!