What to snap next?

[Astrosurf]

I managed at last to get autoguiding to work and got an image of M51 I was proud of. If I manage to get the dark art of autoguiding to work next time (weather willing) what would be another really good target? Please also give me exposure times! My kit is in my sig block (my camera is unmodded). Ta all.

Alexxx

[nytecam]

I managed at last to get autoguiding to work and got an image of M51 I was proud of. If I manage to get the dark art of autoguiding to work next time (weather willing) what would be another really good target? Please also give me exposure times! My kit is in my sig block (my camera is unmodded). Ta all.Alexxx

Alex - there's a whole Universe-out- there but as you asked why not stick to Plough region with M101, M81 and M82 But please don't ask me about exposure durations as I don't conform Good luck in your quest.

[Astrosurf]

Alex - there's a whole Universe-out- there but as you asked why not stick to Plough region with M101, M81 and M82 But please don't ask me about exposure durations as I don't conform Good luck in your quest.

Ta muchly. M101 is cracking. I'll have a go at that!

[Steve Ward]

Take your pick !

[Steve Ward]

I usually punch the NGC number into Google Images too see what these things look like , there's often picture details in the associated site the images are from .

Happy hunting...........

[Astrosurf]

Ha, Steve, I did that in Stellarium too! I also zoom into the object as Stellarium often shows them. The mind boggles, which is why I've asked people to make suggestions, their fave objects, or me brain's going to explode!

[Gina]

I also suggest M51 as it's easy to identify as well as a good-looker It's not too difficult either

[Astrosurf]

I also suggest M51 as it's easy to identify as well as a good-looker It's not too difficult either

Ah, that's the one I imaged that's set me off in all this excitement!

[Anweniel]

I particuarly enjoyed a session on M109 earlier in the year, again not too far from M51/M101. The real bonus was getting 3 galaxies in one shot really enjoyed seeing that come through in the processing You cant go wrong with galaxies I think each have unique features to pick out. Good luck

[Astrosurf]

M109 looks epic, as my 12-year-old daughter would say! With my 200P I don't think I'd get other galaxies in view but I'm useless at calculating field of view and stuff. I do wish I could afford a focal reducer though, particularly for the Andromeda galaxy.

[Steve Ward]

Have you tried the Ocular Plug-In in Stellarium ?

You can load in all you OTA details , EP details and sensor details which lets you see what's in the frame for any combination you may choose .

Tutorial here ,

[Gina]

There are web sites too that show you how big an object will be in the frame of your particular camera and scope.

[Astrosurf]

Thanks so much guys. That Ocuar Plug-in tutorial is brilliant.

I love this forum!

[badgers]

I'd be lost without the oculars and CCD plugin functionality.

You can also download an extended set of images of DSOs that includes things like lagoon that aren't in the basic Stellarium as DSO images.

See here:

http://www.stellarium.org/wiki/index.php/Nebula_images

[Gina]

FOV calculator on the web :- http://www.12dstring.me.uk/fov.htm

[Steve Ward]

Saw this lot posted somewhere recently if you get stuck again ........

http://www.deepskywatch.com/files/dso-guide/DSO-guide-7000-const-mag.pdf

[Astrosurf]

Brilliant again. Thanks guys!