First Light with New Scope on M31

[Budgie]

Finally, a clear night when I was at home and not on nightshift!

Chance to try out my Skywatcher Evostar 100ED-DS with flattener/reducer which were both acquired from members on here before the For Sale section closed.

It took a bit of time to get things set up as I had to get the balance right with the new scope and DSLR on the mount, but with that sorted I though I'd start with M31 as M42 was still below the horizon.

Sadly, I only managed 10 x 120 second exposures (un-guided) before high level cloud started to effect the seeing and then thick cloud covered the lot and put an end to the evening.

So I shot some darks and then packed up and went in for processing.

Of the 10 exposures I had to ditch 3 as one was polluted by a cars headlights and two had movement during the exposure. So I ended up using just 7 subs and 4 darks.

Overall I'm quite pleased with the results, given the small number of subs, and it shows that a lot more is available when I get the time and clear skies.

Techy bits:

Scope: Skywatcher Evostar 100ED-DS with 0.85 focal reducer.

Mount: Skywatcher EQ5

Camera: Canon EOS 400D (un-modded)

Images: 7 x 120 second Subs + 4 x 120 second Darks

Stacked in DSS and finished with Photoshop CS3

Thoughts and comments welcomed.

[rocketandroll]

That's looking lovely for such a short total exposure time... lots of detail coming out.

I was looking at the 100ED with the reducer added... very nice scope for a very nice price :-)

Go on, get another hour or so of data and this will be a real stunner!

Ben

[RogerTheDodger]

Looks great that

[Revs]

You've got a start with some good data there. Tracking looking good, too. I take it that's unguided? Looks like you could get away with longer exposures. Excellent!

[Budgie]

Yep, it's unguided at the moment, although I'm planning on using my Celestron 102 as a guide scope with a SPC900 attached to it. I just need to find the time to sort it all out and get it working with PHD.

More data is required on this and I could extend the exposure time, I was about to start some 180 second exposures when the clouds started to roll in. I've had up to 4 minutes with the mount, although that was with the 102 on it which is smaller than the 100ED.