M3 single exposure

[en51nm]

Still not guiding, manual or otherwise as I have been having trouble with my webcam.

Still here's my M3 single exposure using a 200mm f5 NR @ISO800

[rory]

can i ask , how long an exposure was needed to produce that image ?

[Williams]

I'd say 30 seconds or more, I might be wrong.. nice work man it's hard without tracking gear!

[en51nm]

Williams is correct it's 30 seconds. My images could be much better with some farms and stacking subs instead of single exposures, but I don't have a my own DSLR so have to borrow my friends! They don't usually appreciate 2 hours in the cold so I only get time for quick snaps!

[rory]

i know nothing of photography at all. but was suprised that a dso can be photographed without the need of tracking it. thats the reason i asked. thats exellent going en51nm.

[Sam]

Nice image, just goes to show that you can take a fantastic image without guiding. With a few more subs stacked together you'll bring out more detail. Nice work!

[en51nm]

a dso can be photographed without the need of tracking it

Not really...

Just to clarify, there is a difference between tracking and guiding - this photo was taking by tracking the sky using the motors on my EQ5 but I don't have a guiding system. This means that the tracking motors rely solely on how good my polar alignment is.

Guiding is where you manually override the tracking (using the hand controller) to adjust the tracking to keep the object still over the course of the exposure, allowing much longer exposures to be taken before errors in your polar alignment or in the motor gears ruin your image. Auto-guiding uses a computer to do this.

[rory]

ahhh, i understand now, thanks for explaining for me.

[RogerTheDodger]

Nice image, I love the globs.

There is a DSO image somewhere on here that someone did with a dob or an alt-az mount (can't find it or remember the detail) with something like 200 x 2s subs - was quite an impressive result tbh.