Some more lessons learnt!

[eddy]

Ok so the images below are the fruits of my labour of a 5hour session this evening.

Cant say that IC405 came out as expected, but thats one of the lessons learnt, DSLR's really arent cut out for Emission nebs! *Unless modded i guess*

The other lesson being, wind makes for egg shaped stars!!

Anyways, to be honest, i had a good night, really enjoyed it, and quite pleased with the outcome, regardless of how bad they are

My processing isnt really upto scratch, so any tips, comments (positive or negative) are more than welcomed, after all, i have so much to learn it would be good to get an experts opinion!

Many thanks!

Details :

IC405

90 x 60sec

ISO1600

No darks

No flats

20 bias frames

Leo Triplet

35 x 60sec

ISO1600

20 darks

No flats

20 bias frames

Starwave 80ED

EQ5 unguided

EOS 350D (Unmodded)

[Anweniel]

Seems a plane or something has crashed your Flaming Star party, i wouldnt be too disappointed with those especially the Leo galaxies they look good to my eyes

I wouldnt like to criticise as I suspect your skills with processing are likely to be much better than mine! All I would say is the background sky looks very dark to me, possibly clipped some nice data in doing so?

[RikM]

Pretty good for only 60sec subs. Flats will help make processing easier. You can give things more of a stretch without getting a big glowing patch in the middle of the frame.

With your stacking if you use Sigma Kappa Clipping, the satellite trails etc will disappear.

Keep at it because there is great potential in these.

[Tim]

Not too shabby at all eddy

You actually have quite a bit of detail on 405 for an unmodded camera. The reflection bit is the trickiest to get and need a moonless sky, the red comes through eventually, especially with longer subs.

Perhaps for the triplet the focus could have been a bit tighter there?

[nmoushon]

Those all look very nice! If the darks you used from your Triplet images are the same settings (which it looks like) try adding them to your 405 and I'm sure it will help a lot. Will allow you to process it a bit more and bring out a bit more data. You have good data there for the 60sec subs your using. Like Tim said longer subs will help bring out the nebulae a lot more. Great start though. Make sure to keep this data and add it to your next set.

[Quatermass]

Longer subs but all pretty good I thought if your looking for some processing tips theres tutorials on my blog and I found this great set of tutorials from Ken Crawford

Digging Out The Details with Ken Crawford

[eddy]

Hey all thankyou very much for the responses! And i have taken everything onboard!

Was hoping to get out for a bit this evening, but i think the wad of cloud coming from NE has put me off a bit LOL I will be topping up IC405 when i can and hopefully will improve my processing skills somewhat over the coming days/months/years!

Id love to be able to do longer exposures and i am already on the way to collecting all needed bits for the EQ5 autoguiding mod/addition!

QM > Didnt you ruin a handset whilst trying to do the ST4 mod? If so, where did you get a replacement? If not, my apologies!

[Uranium235]

The Leo triplet is surprisingly good for such short subs and unguided.

An idea to reduce vibrations is to operate the camera as far away from the scope as you can, and if you have to go near the scope - tread lightly. As for wind, its best to situate the mount in a spot that isnt too exposed. It also might help to shorten the legs a little bit too, that will make it a bit more stumpy and reduce its profile

[Quatermass]

QM > Didnt you ruin a handset whilst trying to do the ST4 mod? If so, where did you get a replacement? If not, my apologies!

No that was Pix very bad bit of luck there plugged in to too high voltage by mistake. The mod is fine and works great Got my dual axis kit from Rothervally optics great service