Stephane's quintet (but not very good!)

[Helen]

Out for a long time last night. I really enjoyed it! but I'm finding the processing today really hard and frustrating

I was reading the Nexstar guide, found the list of CCD objects and thought I'd do something different and give one a go. I had no idea what I was supposed to see on Stephane's Quintet so had to rely on the goto - which worked fine last night (no alignment worries).

So here is my attempt at Stephane's Quintet.

NS8, Alt Az, unguided, 3.3FR, IR block, ATiK 16IC, 30s subs, 10m 30s total (tried 45s subs but trailing) stacked in deepskystacker

processed quickly in elements using layers and curves and Noel

Processing and other tips welcome please!

Helen

[CELESCOPE]

Hi Helen , thats good a go, i pulled a little out , but it has to be longer i,m afraid on those little beasts, they are hard to get , so be rest assured you got them ok just needs longer exposure, processing looks ok to me .

Rog

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

Looks like a hard one to get as the little beggars are Mag. 14 or fainter. Like Rog, says, you need longer subs to get anything to show up. I think I need to have a bash at them with my SW Newt.

Kaptain Klevtsov

[Jamie]

Hi Helen

More/longer subs and more practice.

Must say you are on the right track though...

[Astroman]

Looks great, Helen. Separation between Ngc 7318A and B is tough. Nice!

[barkis]

Don't you dare let your head drop young lady, you are doing great, and next time you do these little perishers you will master them.

Ron.

[MartinB]

That is excellent Helen, better than you probably realise. They never look spectacular and you have pulled them out very well. As has been said, time to move onto more overall exposure time - 1hour plus

[anthony]

Excellent stuff and a tricky target to go for in some respects. Nice to see you are not daunted by the challenge!

Anthony

[Helen]

Thanks guys As I said, I fancied doing something that wasn't being done by everybody eles at the moment, and the thought of multiple fuzzies excites me. Yesterday I continued reading Ron Wodaski and got to the processing chapter. I was surprised to find a picture of Stephan's qunitet! and pleased to find it wasn't too much different from mine

With earlier and longer nights (I can't keep up staying up 'til 2:30 :shock:) I'm looking forward to longer exposures (although I did my first 30 min exposure on Wed ).

Its taking a huge amount of time at the moment learning, only possible because I'm on a career break. Most of my colleagues expected me to be travelling the world while off...instead I'm travelling the Universe and taking snaps to prove it (and its certainly keeping my brain active too!)

Helen

[Akyra]

Very nice Helen!

btw, you got a PM

[MartinB]

Most of my colleagues expected me to be travelling the world while off...instead I'm travelling the Universe and taking snaps to prove it (and its certainly keeping my brain active too!)

I like that!! They're more than snaps though - they are a pale imitation of what is there to be seen. You're producing pictures better than anything that we can see. You're on a billion light year cruise!

[stargazer1980]

Im no expert on astrophotography but comparing yours to the photo i found on the internet i think your doing a great job! I cant wait till i travel down this road!

heres the link to the pic i found! Its the 3rd pic down on the main page on the right hand side!

http://search.msn.co.uk/images/results.aspx?q=Ngc%207318A%20&FORM=BIRE#focal=af8a99716a314bd86359625abb98ffb8&furl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dstrange.freeserve.co.uk%2Fstephansquintet_20031023_dgs.jpg

Keep your head up and you'll be fine young lady

Darren