Beginner DSO Targets

[johngk]

As I am new to this DSO photography I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions on what are the best “beginner / easier” objects to image.

Many thanks

[Dave Dubya]

Many of the well known Messier objects are a good place to start.

I think most people start out with objects like The Orion Nebula and Andromeda Galaxy and work their way up, gradually progressing to fainter things.

[Dann]

As Dave has said above the brighter Messier objects are your best bet.

M13 was my first DSO imaging target and it comes out nicely even in short 30 second exposures. M27 is also worth a look, I found it easier to choose targets that were clearly visible through the scope for my first view.

That way I knew if I ran into trouble I could always take a peek through the scope to make sure I was in the right place before I attached the camera.

[astroandy101]

The Ring Nebula in Lyra is a good one with a DSLR, its not a big target but its one that shows up well.

[carastro]

M45 is another good one.

Carole

[hemihaggis]

yep try M45, M13 , M42 (in a few weeks ) , the ring nebula , the dumbell , m51,

[LukeSkywatcher]

I dont think i would consider the Ring as a beginners target. Its VERY small. I only saw it because i stumbled upon it one night. M42,M45 certainly would be the top two to look for first.

[johngk]

Thanks for the advice i think i'll start off on M13 or M31 and see what happens. No doubt i'll be back again asking whats gone wrong with the images. ha

[Strugz]

I dont think i would consider the Ring as a beginners target. Its VERY small. I only saw it because i stumbled upon it one night. M42,M45 certainly would be the top two to look for first.

The Ring was one of my first, but only when I was under perfect seeing conditions could I see it. I've tended to go for ones that are easy to navigate to from nearby stars rather than brightness.

Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk.

Skywatcher 130. 9mm 12mm 15mm 20mm 32mm revelation eps. Meade 10 x 50 bins.

[RikM]

M31 is not so easy either. It is big and a lot of it is rather faint.

Globular clusters are good to start out with. M13 was my first DSO but M27 is a peach for a DSLR and is fairly well placed right now. M57 is also quite bright. Otherwise something like the owl cluster in Cassiopia might be nice to start out with because the processing will be straight forward and there are some nice contrasting star colours to play with.