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First guided attempt with EQ3-2....(M42)

stan26

By stan26
in Imaging - Deep Sky

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stan26

stan26

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Up untill last night everything was going smoothly with the EQ3-2 guiding project. All my test images had lovely round stars and the guiding just went on and on with no extra input.......

SO...last night I decide to capture some data from M42 using my new modest guide setup with PHD. Would it guide.......Would it F !!:D Loosing the start during calibration stage, when it did calibrate it would start to run north/south after about 2minutes! I spent about 3 hours trying to sort the blumming thing out I eventually realised that I had hit the 8x slew switch on on the HC. After switching back to 4x things seemed to settle down. I also found that through the meridian I had to have the DEC set to AUTO, not south/north only. I captured some 5sec subs for the core, then started with the main batch of 2minute exposures. The guiding graph didn't look as smooth as previous nights but I pressed on to see what I could get. Eventually the bitter cold got to the hand controller and it ceased to function, the whole setup covered in glistening ice :D that was the end of that session....

Anyway this is the result after a frustrating night, its 45mins of data using mostly 2minute subs with some 5sec subs stacked in DSS then layered in PS to keep the core from burning out. A few darks thrown in the mix as well. All equipment as per sig Guided EQ3-2, ST102, un-modded canon 500D.

I can't wait to get my L lens, the CA around the bright stars in this pic where a right pig to deal with. Also I need to look at my polar alignment. I have what I think is some quite bad field rotation going on.......:)

I will be returning to this target!

Stan

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Chris

Chris

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Wow Stan! despite your problems you have achieved an amazing image, nice to see that as well as taking long exposures for the extended nebulae and dust you have layered in some short subs for the core, and the running man looks magic!

again I would like to emphasize how amazed I am that you're doing this on an EQ3!!

A big congrats :)

Chris

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stan26

stan26

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Thank you for your kind words guys. M42 is still work in progress for me. Its only 45mins of data, I would like to add another hour or so of longer exposures to bring out a bit more faint stuff, but that can probably wait, I'm to keen to get bagging more targets now I'm guiding :) I'm very eager to get some better quality glass now. I feel that the ST102 is one of the main limiting factors as I start to progress in AP. The CA is a pain and takes up a lot of time and effort in post processing to deal with, and I'm sure it lacks contrast and general sharpness compared with ED models. I have to balance my limited funds between normal photography and AP so I have decided on a nice "L" series prime lens to take primary position for the majority of my future AP. Hopefully I will have this very soon......

Stan:)

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Spikey

Spikey

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Really, really nice image Stan you must be very pleased with that M42. Really contrasty and a nice colour balance. I wouldn't worry too much about the CA it doesn't take a lot away from the overall image and as you say it can be time consuming to remove.

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stan26

stan26

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Very nice for the equipment your using. Do you have a pic of your setup?

Thanks Mik, Yes here is a pic I took during the setting up stage the other evening. You can see a few more pics of my scope/guidescope on this thread http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-discussion/169316-time-change.html

I may do an EQ3-2 guiding write up soon......

Stan :)

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stan26

stan26

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Thanks guys

here's a guiding screen shot if anyone's interested. It doesn't mean much to me though, just that if you trip over one of the cables it looks like an earthquake measuring richter scale 9 :):rolleyes:

stan.

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jimmyjamjoejoe

jimmyjamjoejoe

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You imagers make me laugh, always going on about all the things wrong with your pictures and how you aren't happy with them...

It's always "ooooohhhhh my stars are trailing slightly", then when you look, you have to zoom in to around 500% size to see a slight distortion lol

To us normal folk (:)), it's a stunning image, and gorgeous colours.

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Mik3

Mik3

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Awesome. Just shows what you can achieve with little expense. Fantastic :)

Is your webcam connected to a finder scope for guiding? I tried my first guiding last night with a ST80 and a webcam but couldn't get it to work. I might try it with the finder scope.

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stan26

stan26

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Awesome. Just shows what you can achieve with little expense. Fantastic :)

Is your webcam connected to a finder scope for guiding? I tried my first guiding last night with a ST80 and a webcam but couldn't get it to work. I might try it with the finder scope.

My guide scope is also DIY. its made from cutting down an old 60mm f13 refractor. (See above link) people have used finder scopes to guide.....

Stan

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stan26

stan26

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Thanks guys.

I was a bit unsure about posting it up at first mainly due to the resulting colour mix I had after layering in all the different exposures. I think its a tad on the funky side but makes an interesting image non the less and I'm glad you folk like it. I brought the colours through using various saturation and balancing levels in different layers. There is probably over 20 layers of tweaking in this one image! Its just my style of editing, not everyone will agree i'm sure....

melibum - I don't use any filters whatsoever. This is mainly because of my limited funds for the hobby. I am however lucky enough to benefit from reasonably dark sky's, although there are a few low pressure sodium lamps dotted around the village. I am considering an astronomik filter to use with the canon DSLR, But i will probably get one when I have a modded camera.

Stan. :)

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