M33

[blinky]

I had another go at the M33 data I captured from my DSI. Added some pretty diffraction spikes and used Trev Boyd's Astro Frame Maker to finishit off.

I am now quite pleased with it, still getting to grips with the DSI (Difficult) and Processing (Impossible).

Anyways have a look and see what you think, i wont take offense

(click to enlarge)

[centroid]

Hi Craig

Well, its not so bad at all.

The 'tracking' is clearly a bit out, but you've captured the spiral arms very well.

The colours aren't 'wildly' adrift, so all in all, well done!!

As for the 'diffraction spikes', you either like or you don't, and I don't :nono:

Dave

[mik]

Very good results Craig just the tracking to sort out oh i like the spikes.

Mick.

[Andrew*]

As for the 'diffraction spikes', you either like or you don't, and I don't :nono:

Very good results Craig just the tracking to sort out oh i like the spikes.

run and hide!

I think spikes are cool, actually. It's an admirable effort Craig!

Andrew

[blinky]

I aint sure I can sort out the tracking, It's only an EQ5 mount and i reckon 30secs is about the max tracking I can get.

I have bought an application to allow drift alignment so will try this next time we have some clear skies, around January me thinks

Dave, I am not 100% sure about the spikes either, it's the first time I have stuck 'em in. I think it maybe does add a little interest to the image, makes it look a bit (very little bit ) like some of the astro images I used to see in my Astronomy books as a child.

[centroid]

Good polar alignment will help Craig, but I don't know how good or bad the Periodic Error (PE) is on those mounts. Even if the Polar aligment is good, a bad PE won't help matters.

With my 10" LX200GPS, after drift aligning it, and getting the PE down to 5 arcs secs, I could image unguided for a good 90 secs. At the moment, I've only managed to get the 12" LX200R's PE down to 9 arc secs.

However, having a peramently mounted scope does help, and I appeciate that when having set things up each time, drift aligning can 'eat' into your imaging time.

As for the 'spikes', I've have tried them myself, but they are purely artistic, while everything else in the image is 'real'.

As I said, you either like them or you don't

Dave

[blinky]

An HEQ5 is on my wish list, unfortunatly I think it may stay there for a few more months

[MikeD]

Deep for 30 sec's subs, well done.

mike.

[blinky]

I checked the fits header last night, this is only 8 X 30sec subs, quite impresed with that. I am reprocessing as I think i may have 'slightly' overdone the colour

[MartinB]

An HEQ5 is on my wish list, unfortunatly I think it may stay there for a few more months

Have a good look at a second hand GPDX. Now I've sold mine I can recommend them without accusation of ulterior motive. There are plenty coming up on UK astro buy and sell and they will track like nothing else in this price range.

Your photo is showing the shape and some of the detail of M33 very nicely. I would tone down the colour a bit! Just needs more time. I think if you get your polar alignment really tight you should be able to go a minute - you will have some trails but these can be sorted out very nicely in PS