First attempt at Guiding

[Rustmonkey]

These are my first Guided images which were taken last night.

Guiding was via my ST80 and SPC webcam which I have to say worked a treat.

One lesson I did learn or should I say will learn next time is dew control. I didn't realise that asome of my images were taken with dew on the lens. Although i still got images out I assume that this would have an effect on the overall quality of the images.

My 480 second guided @ ISO800 subs of the Veil basically showed all the stars but you can JUST (and I mean JUST) make out the smallest fuzziness of a section of the veil to the top right of the large star.

is this:

a/ Due to the dew wiping out the quality?

b/ lack of a suitable filter to pick up the Veil?

c/ Both of the above?

i had 11 subs in this stack which is straight out of DSS but made into a png. file so i could get it on here. if someone thinks thay have the skills to pull it....feel free.

A Tiff image is attached at bottom of thread

these images are 36 minute exposures @ 6 mins each iso800 but heavily cropped.

all help and advice welcome.

VEILTIFF.tif

[Digz]

Looks like your coming along nicely there.

Glad to see the guiding working out for you, it brings a whole new depth to the 'dark side' doesn't it.

To answer your question on the veil its probably a combination of the two, broadly speaking. Were you imaging with your DSLR? I would hazard a guess that it might not be overly sensitive to the veil. That isnt to say you cant capture it, it will just take more subs.

Dew does have a habit of wiping stuff out, so to speak, and it can be hard to notice unless you check your scope / lens regularly. The time I was out I only noticed the dew when the guide star kept dropping out. Some dew tapes will help sort that out though.

If you can host the original tiff on drop box or something then that will give us something better to play with rather than the jpeg.

HTH

[Rustmonkey]

Tiff image now added Lee

[thommo10]

Hi Rustmonkey

Did you use a modded SPC or a standard one, as like you I am about to take my first steps in guiding.

[Rustmonkey]

its modded for astro but does not have the LX (Long exposure mod) which you wouldn't need for guiding anyway. to be fair it worked like a dream until the ST80 lens dewed up which i didn't notice. was surprised how well it worked. must have used for 2 hours easily without dropping once other than the odd 1 second drop but immediately reguided with no noticeable effect. once calibrated i didn't even need to recal once i moved to a new location....simply picked a new star and it immediately started guiding.

[thommo10]

I guess you was using PHD, with eqmod and 2 second exposures ?

[Velvet]

looks like your guiding is working, well done. Still got mine to sort LOL

Velvet

[Pete Presland]

looks like your guiding is ver y well congratulations! is your DSLR modded? not sure whether this important for the veil or not though.as for the ring and dumbell images,i take it you zoomed in and cropped? personally i would resist cropping them to heavily so you mantain a natural looking image.

[Rustmonkey]

DSLR is in modded. I agree about cropping but wanted to look close up.....I keep an uncropped image as well.

[Spikey]

Excellent stuff, guiding makes a massive difference.

I think I was opposite you at PSP ?

I had a go and the tiff aligned the RGB & made a very aggressive stretch and can make the veil out but it's still very faint.

Your RG & B channels weren't aligned; not sure if this is a side effect of stacking perhaps - in DSS under stacking settings on the result tab it might be worth checking that align RGB channels is selected.

[Rustmonkey]

Cheers....will look into that.

[Luke]

Apologies for the harsh adjustments, it's just to see some more Veil. I think taking flats would help with the gradient and blobs. Maybe someone else can show a bit more?

Well done on getting the guiding going!! I was so excited when we managed to get our first guiding working (at 4am!!)

[Pete Presland]

its certainy visible, i am too much of a novice myself. i am sure somebody with the right software could pull even detail more out.

[Rustmonkey]

Certainly some detail in there (amongst the dust bunnies). I think the dew probably took out a lot of the finer detail. I didn't realise till it was too late that my front lens was completely covered in dew.

Not a major issue any more as I have just ordered a dual controller and two dew strips for my main and Guidescope. Lesson learned but thnx for having a go anyway.

Need to get my blower on that CCD too.