It`s all starting to come together :)

[steppenwolf]

How do they get thier stars to have that star shape as opposed to the fat round things I seem to get ?

There are at least three ways of getting the 'star shape':-

1. Use a reflector that has a spider vane to hold the secondary mirror

2. Stretch thin wires in a cross over the front of your telescope (refractor, SCT or Mak)

1 and 2 above produce diffraction spikes

3. Use a plug-in for PhotoShop sold by Noel Carboni which adds artificial diffraction spikes

Here's one that I did using Noel's plug-in - not to everyone's taste I know but it did make it to last week's Sky at Night programme on Cygnus!

[AndyDix]

Hope you don't mind my tweaking your M51 a tad........... see you caught the supernova.

Whoaaaa

Amazing !!! Thank you sooo much.

That image looks great.

Andy

[AndyDix]

There are at least three ways of getting the 'star shape':-

1. Use a reflector that has a spider vane to hold the secondary mirror

2. Stretch thin wires in a cross over the front of your telescope (refractor, SCT or Mak)

1 and 2 above produce diffraction spikes

3. Use a plug-in for PhotoShop sold by Noel Carboni which adds artificial diffraction spikes

Here's one that I did using Noel's plug-in - not to everyone's taste I know but it did make it to last week's Sky at Night programme on Cygnus!

Steve

Thanks for the reply

Thought I recognised that picture. It looks stunning.

Is it worth me getting a reflector for imaging?

If so what would you recommend based on the equipemnt I already have?

Am even now contemplating some kind of observatory in the garden over the next few years.

Really cant wait to get back out there !!! ROLL ON WINTER

Andy

[steppenwolf]

Starting off as you are, the 80ED is a great imaging 'scope - there are some advantages with a reflector like a lack of chromatic aberration and a larger aperture for the same money but there is no reason why you would need one instead of a refractor at this stage in the journey, especially for DSO imaging.

If you really wanted a reflector for the aperture gain at reasonable cost then a 6 inch would be perfect for your HEQ5. My personal opinion is that an 8" and autoguider would put the HEQ5 at the edge of its best operating envelope.

[AndyDix]

There are at least three ways of getting the 'star shape':-

1. Use a reflector that has a spider vane to hold the secondary mirror

2. Stretch thin wires in a cross over the front of your telescope (refractor, SCT or Mak)

1 and 2 above produce diffraction spikes

3. Use a plug-in for PhotoShop sold by Noel Carboni which adds artificial diffraction spikes

Here's one that I did using Noel's plug-in - not to everyone's taste I know but it did make it to last week's Sky at Night programme on Cygnus!

Just puchased the above mentioned plug-in..

Now where was my test data

Will have a crack at it and post the results here in a bit

Andy

[AndyDix]

You certainly tried for a small object with M57 and the 600mm focal length of your refractor! NGC7000 (The North America Nebula) springs to mind but with an unmodified DSLR you would be better off waiting for the deeper nights in a couple of months time to have a crack at this one but keep it on your list for later.

The globular cluster M13 would be worth a try but leave it late when it is well into the west - again, not a big object but fine for your system and no nebulosity to worry about. The beautiful double, Albireo, would be worth a punt but to capture the contrasting colours, be careful not to overexpose the shots.

Had a go at NGC7000 lastnight Got about an hours worth of subs 50ish @800iso@60seconds each and a few darks as well. I have stacked everything and had a little look at the data in Photoshop. I have plenty of stars in there but not much else.. SO herein lies my question.. How do you imaging gods/gurus get it 2 look like it should ??

I have included the test data if anyone would like a play

Again thanks for all the help

Andy

[AndyDix]

Just found Anna`s Stretching tutorial (Thank you Anna)

Had a crack at it and came up with this.

Used the data from above..

I know it isnt much but its a step forward (I think;))

Andy