M13: my first ever attempt at a photo

[Smashtie]

Received my T-adapter for Nikon DSLR in the post, and I managed to get out last night and have a crack M13. I really need to do some reading, I think! Anyway, it's attached here.

Any comments or suggestions?

Cheers,

Rupert

[fatwoul]

Not sure it's much of an improvement, but I tried to bring out the stars a bit:

Nice and sharp, and you can make out several of the details that make it M13.

[Smashtie]

Thanks fatwoul! Hard to believe there are 300,000 stars in that there ball!

[Gina]

Good first attempt - it shows the propeller nice and clearly

[Smashtie]

Oh yeah! I can see what you mean. There is a propellor there.

[Quatermass]

For your first DSO that is a great start, your going to have lots of fun getting into this. Can we have some details, how many shots was this what ISO did you use how long where the shots, did you take darks flats and bias shots as well what are you using to process your images with?

here is that propeller..

[Smashtie]

Scope: Celestron 8SE.

Camera: Nikon D7000, prime focus, no Barlow or eyepiece projection.

Exposure: ISO 6400, 5 seconds. Unguided - just using the goto mount. It was a relatively cold night so I think this helped a bit! No darks, flats or biases. This is just a single best frame from about 20 attempts - I'm going to get on to look at stacks next!

Main problems:

Getting focus correct.

Stability of the mount given I have to use timer release because I don't have a remote. Vibrations damp down after about 3 seconds, then the mirror flips up, and the exposure is about half a second later (this is the Delay Exposure mode - d11 on the options menu).

Backlash in the goto mount - I get it lined up, then I have to wait a couple of minutes to be sure that it is tracking correctly. If I move the mount slightly when pressing the trigger, sometimes I get a trail on stars.

Now I've worked out how to get the camera to take an unattended sequence of shots, so I'll give that a try.

So expect another try when I get a clear night!

Cheers,

Rupert.

[Quatermass]

Ah I see.

I would reduce your iso to 800 or 1600 and take the exp time to 40 seconds for M13. You need to take darks flats and bias shots and then stack them all in deep sky stacker this will give you a 16bit .tiff file that you can then edit in Photoshop or your choice of editing software. 30 shots at an iso of 800 and 40 seconds each should give you reasonable results. Then put the lid on your telescope and take 20 darks same time exp and iso. Then stretch a white t shirt over the end of your scope and set your camera to AF put an led torch just in front and take your light frames. Next put the lid back on and take 20 more shots at the fastest shutter speed this will be your bias shots. Stack that lot in deep sky stacker for your final .tiff file

Also for focus use a bahtinov mask have a read through my blog you will find lots of info on all this on there to help you out. Also read the help manual in deepsky stacker to find out more about darks flats and bias hots.

Get a cheap remote timer from ebay that will save you having to be out there while taking the images. Also a lap top with Backyard eos or astrophotography tool will really help you with focus and framing also lots about that on me blog.

[Smashtie]

Thanks for the tips!