"First ever DSO" , or "I've finally done it!" (sort of) Widefield M13

[zhgutas]

Uf... OK. Deep breath.. and here we go.

My first ever DSO for your judgement. what else could it be than M13 I was always amazed by this cluster. Not a stunning image (a bit of star trailing, not much colour i.e.) but I am much more than happy given my current setup (modest), my level of knowledge (limited) and practice (none) I just love it. I must addmitt I was not expecting even this kind of result. Seeing was less than good, and as I noticed later on, the sky was actually covered in patches of thin cloud. I have to improve my polar alignment as well.

Nikon D70s at prime focus with Helios StarTravel 102 achromat on RA driven EQ3. 11 subs of 30s each ISO400 (I was so amazed seeing clear sky I forgot to change it:) ) and two darks stacked in DeepSkyStacker and cropped in PS2. A bit of tweaking there as well.

Well, your opinions, advices and comments are more than welcomed.

Marius

[russ]

great first image Marius. the tracking is good and shows that even an EQ3 is a useful mount.

Good to see another Nikon DSO image. My next DSLR will be a Nikon now.

Russ

[zhgutas]

that even an EQ3 is a useful mount.

Very useful indeed. It is still easy to grab all the kit in one go and run outside to check out a black patch of the sky, while it is sturdy enough to carry a D70s. I am very pleased with this mount rus, thank you one more time

marius

[GazOC]

Thats great first image Maruis, I bet you're absolutely made up with that!

[geppetto]

Wowsers!

What a great start to your DSO imaging carreer 8)

Only advice I can give is keep at it, keep on enjoying it and

keep on posting them on here...

Very well done

[centroid]

I'd say that was pretty damn good for a 'first' Marius, well done!!!.

Dave

[jcm]

An excellent starter image.

Keep taking images and with every one you learn something. Onwards and upwards er something like that

John

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

Ditto from me too. I think you should get a cake to celebrate that one.

Turn up the ISO one notch to 800 or even to 1600 and you'll get loads more stuff. Also set it to RAW and you'll get even more out of the individual images.

Try to get hold of one of the infra red zappers to get longer exposures too, they're about £15 from memory. If you can align the mount to do 60 seconds without trailing you'll be very pleased with what will come out.

Kaptain Klevtsov

[zhgutas]

I always set pictures to RAW, since my mate adviced that some time ago,it is much better, and i have just purchased my cabel shutter release,it should arrive this week. so my biggest enemy now is a polar alignment

Thanks guys for kind words

Marius

[barkis]

Give yourself a well earned pat on the back Marius. You did real good, and there is no mistaking what the image is. M13 is prime target, and you have started well in your DSO quests.. You have had some good advice too, and that will only improve you more.

One day you will in line for the SGL POTW award.

Ron.

[anthony]

Well done indeed. A lovely way to kick off and good to see that sort of result on an eq3!

[mpeniak]

Great image Marius!

Martin

[SteelRat]

A great start mate - well done indeed 8)